2013-2014 NHL Thread

[L K]

Meathead Shawn Thornton won't be back with the Bruins next year.  Meet your new Carlyle 4th line - Orr - Thornton - McLaren

 

[bustaheims]

Meathead Shawn Thornton won't be back with the Bruins next year.  Meet your new Carlyle 4th line - Orr - Thornton - McLaren

4 minutes a night of looking for faces to punch so Thornton can retire with the team that drafted him!

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Steve Simmons would be happy.  Source: my sig.

 

[bustaheims]

Steve Simmons would be happy.  Source: my sig.

Makes sense. Steve Simmons is the Shawn Thornton of sportswriters.

 

[L K]

Meathead Shawn Thornton won't be back with the Bruins next year.  Meet your new Carlyle 4th line - Orr - Thornton - McLaren

4 minutes a night of looking for faces to punch so Thornton can retire with the team that drafted him!

Shawn Thornton doesn't look for faces to punch.  He punches who he wants, when he wants.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnlZPohCU7U[/youtube]

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Bit of info on Stastny:

@TSNBobMcKenzie 

COL gave pending UFA C Paul Stastny multi-year contract offer couple of weeks ago. No dialogue since but it's expected to get going soon.

@TSNBobMcKenzie 

Stastny has made no secret of his desire to stay in COL. Question is what's an acceptable hometown discount?

@TSNBobMcKenzie 

Stastny wrapping up a 5 x $6.6M deal in COL. Guessing Avs looking for a pay cut. Stastny may fetch his salary or more on open market.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Meathead Shawn Thornton won't be back with the Bruins next year.  Meet your new Carlyle 4th line - Orr - Thornton - McLaren

4 minutes a night of looking for faces to punch so Thornton can retire with the team that drafted him!

Oh man, Dreger going on on TSN Radio about "Why wouldn't you?" sign Thornton on a 1-year deal because he's such a great guy.

 

[bustaheims]

Oh man, Dreger going on on TSN Radio about "Why wouldn't you?" sign Thornton on a 1-year deal because he's such a great guy.

Experience. Leadership. Rabble rabble rabble.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

@BuffNewsVogl:

The Sabres are waiving Ville Leino today for the purpose of executing a compliance buyout.

@reporterchris 

Ville Leino will receive $7.3M over the next six years from his #sabres buyout. He earned approximately $15M on the deal previously.

His illustrious Sabres career comes to an end.  137 GP, 10 G, 36 A, 46 P.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Oh man, Dreger going on on TSN Radio about "Why wouldn't you?" sign Thornton on a 1-year deal because he's such a great guy.

Experience. Leadership. Rabble rabble rabble.

His playing days with the Boston Bruins are now a memory, but Shawn Thornton has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Bobby Orr, Terry O'Reilly, Ray Bourque and Cam Neely.

 

[L K]

Oh man, Dreger going on on TSN Radio about "Why wouldn't you?" sign Thornton on a 1-year deal because he's such a great guy.

Experience. Leadership. Rabble rabble rabble.

His playing days with the Boston Bruins are now a memory, but Shawn Thornton has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Bobby Orr, Terry O'Reilly, Ray Bourque and Cam Neely.

Remember that time when Bobby Orr sucker punched a guy and got suspended for a large stretch of the season.  I sure do.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Oh man, Dreger going on on TSN Radio about "Why wouldn't you?" sign Thornton on a 1-year deal because he's such a great guy.

Experience. Leadership. Rabble rabble rabble.

His playing days with the Boston Bruins are now a memory, but Shawn Thornton has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Bobby Orr, Terry O'Reilly, Ray Bourque and Cam Neely.

Remember that time when Bobby Orr sucker punched a guy and got suspended for a large stretch of the season.  I sure do.

Read the article: "He served a lengthy 15-game suspension for his teammates."

Selfless.

 

[Kin]

His playing days with the Boston Bruins are now a memory, but Shawn Thornton has earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Bobby Orr, Terry O'Reilly, Ray Bourque and Cam Neely.

Is the breath "Here's a list of guys who aren't good enough hockey players in 2014 to be on the Bruins?"

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Just looking for some opinions here, if some say the mark of good teams is being a good possession team then how long before we start talking about these coaches that have basically dominated with their tactical systems over the past 5 years, namely Quenville, Sutter and Julien?

I mean I know they have good teams, but even with roster turnover their teams have played very successful high possession games.

I think it's the level everyone now aspires to.

 

[Kin]

Just looking for some opinions here, if some say the mark of good teams is being a good possession team then how long before we start talking about these coaches that have basically dominated with their tactical systems over the past 5 years, namely Quenville, Sutter and Julien?

I'm not 100% sure about what you mean because I think those three coaches would probably already be on most people's shortlist for the best coaches in the league(if for no other reason than they're the last three coaches to win the Cup). If by "talking about" you mean in the sense of giving them more credit for their team's success or tying it directly to their strategies on how to be a "good possession team" then I think two things probably needs to happen.

Firstly, people need a better grasp of what those strategies are and how they impact a team's puck possession figures. Coaches get a ton of credit in the NFL in large part because a lot of what they do is easy to describe. The difference in football between a 3-4 defense and a cover 2 defense, for instance, is easy to see the effects of and how it maximizes a team's skillset. Of the 800 hockey analysts that the CBC employs, I don't think a single one has ever definitively broken down what it is that the Bruins or Kings do strategically that makes them better than other teams in that regard.

Second, I think there'd need to be more evidence that the success you're talking about comes from a coach's strategy as opposed to just being able to make the most of an excellent roster of players. I'm not sure how great that evidence is right now. I mean, for all their roster turnover none of them have really lost integral pieces. The Red Wings, when they won the Cup and then went back to the Cup finals the next year, were the 1st and 3rd best possession teams in the entire post-lockout stretch. Then they did lose integral pieces and got older and hit by injuries. This year they were 11th in the league, worse the mighty Canucks. So...did Mike Babcock become a worse coach? Did his tactics get figured out? Well, no. He coached an Olympic team that basically dominated the puck from the beginning of the tournament to the end.

I'm sure someone who was a big believer in the importance of possession statistics would say that nobody would argue that they're divorced from the quality of players on a roster and that losing Nik Lidstrom would reflect badly on anyone's numbers and I'm not trying to say otherwise. That said, coaching a great roster to great results isn't typically what gets a lot of press for coaches. Not many people talk about Phil Jackson in a way that would reflect how many rings he's won. Until the Bruins, Kings and Blackhawks continue to dominate the puck while losing key players, I think a lot of people are going to question just how important a coach is in the equation.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Good post Nik.

I too would like to see more breakdown of strategy than is offered on a nightly basis. They tend to keep it dumb for the masses, or maybe they just can't figure it out for themselves, I'm not sure. A lot of them were players, so you'd think they could notice systems right quick.

Myself, I watch the talent and the plays up the ice and a lot of individual play, so I miss the systems stuff mostly or maybe it's just too dry for me. Obviously you don't miss a trapping team, but I would love to hear more about it from the "analysts".

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

Thanks for the posts guys, you make some interesting points, I like what you said Nik about how do you divorce the system these teams play from the quality of the roster and which side do you give more weight.

Any way, I thought the following article was very good and it's from the same ball park as what we have been talking about.

http://theleafsnation.com/2014/6/16/how-far-are-the-leafs-from-the-stanley-cup

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

NHL makes significant revision to free-agent interview period rule

The NHL has implemented a significant change from last year regarding the free-agent interview period that begins next Wednesday.

In a memo sent yesterday to all teams and subsequently forwarded by the NHL Players? Association to all agents, the league will now allow clubs and agents to discuss general parameters of a potential contract for a pending restricted and unrestricted free agent.

Last year if you remember, Commissioner Gary Bettman sent a last-second memo reminding clubs that they could not discuss contract parameters at all during the interview period prior to free agency, which begins this year on July 1.

In the June 18 memo (read over the phone to me by an agent), the league states, ?After discussions with a number of general managers, we have revised and hopefully clarified with regard to last summer the permissible parameters of player contract and communication during the applicable interview periods.
?Please be advised that clubs are permitted to discuss the potential interest in as well as general parameters of a potential future contractual relationship with another club?s pending RFA or UFA during the applicable interview periods. The clubs may not enter any agreements or make any binding offers, promises, ? oral or written concerning the terms of a potential SPC (standard players contract) with another club?s pending RFA or UFA.?

So in other words, teams and agents can now discuss the general parameters of a deal, as in, ?I?ll be looking for a seven-year deal at around $5 million annually,? etc., meaning now players and agents at least know where each other is at heading into July 1 and know who?s in the game and who isn?t.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/263862641.html

 

[bustaheims]

So, really, teams will be entering into unofficial agreements with players, because, well, that's what they do.

 

[L K]

So, really, teams will be entering into unofficial agreements with players, because, well, that's what they do.

But how will Vancouver accuse the world of tampering now?