The NHL Thread

I know news of deals always break after the deadline, but has it ever been as late as this Kadri one?

Anyway, good on Calgary for tearing it down. Question is will ownership let them stick to it for a couple of years.

Canucks-Flames-Spidermanpointing.jpg

So Winnipeg first overall miss playoffs
Toronto no playoffs
Stanley Cup Champs Florida look to be missing playoffs
Oilers ????

Oilers need a decent goalie. Backups in the league are better than what they've got. Of course anyone can get hot if they make the playoffs.

And the Oilers did not acquire a decent goalie

just checking in to see if the Sabres just won again. oh they don't play (win) until tomorrow? carry on

Welp. At least my Chicken Alfredo got rave reviews.

trending on my X...

Well they stuck with him after his awful start as I advocated here but my point was see if he really lost it. They changed goalie coaches...he looked ok for a bit, but the last several games have been terrible... it seems clear the dude has lost it. Nobody wanted him at the deadline. Habs didn't make any moves. I think just gamble with Fowler. The kid is .935 his last 3 games, .915 overall in Laval. .902 in first ten NHL games. idk what the plan is.

Monty is crap and as I said a month or 2 ago, if his surname was Miller, he would've run out of chances long ago.

His age doesn't even work with our core, so even if he magically re-found some form to top out at a top 15 or 20 goalie in the league (his ceiling), who cares? He'll be on his way down for the middle and end portion of our Cup competing window anyway.

To be fair, he did make some nice saves, but my god, he'll let in some absolute stinkers. Take a look at Anaheim's goals and there were 3-4 of them from near the blueline that weren't even tipped. Also got scored on on the first 2 shots of the game (1 called back for being 1mm offside).

Saw that the Habs are a -2 when the opposing team has their goalie pulled. How is that even possible?

There is 1 team even worse in that spot though, I think you can guess which one.

Having a Quebecois in goal is a factor. I disagree with your "who cares" if he played well this year since he doesn't fit their window...He had two years left on a ten million dollar deal when you originally said to dump him. They tried to get his value up, hoping to make a deal and another team would take on some of that salary. Maybe he could have regained his form and helped them gain experience with a playoff run. Fowler is in his first year of pro hockey. They had zero plans to bring him up to the pressure cooker his first year. I am sure they looked at the goalie market and didn't find anything that fit their window for their price and term. They had a goalie that played well the last few years and rolled the dice. The results say you were right, but I suspect it was close and not really all that much about nationality but more about money.

Edmonton, the 2nd Toronto Maple Leafs

McDavid leaving Edmonton, watch back on!

Your window argument works both ways, they probably realized they f'ed up with Monty but what are the alternatives? They don't want anything beyond like two years for any position if the dude can't help them make a cup run. They have Fowler for that. they made zero moves at the deadline for this reason, they don't want the cap hit. They got Monty for Laval next year I guess. They save cap money that way. Only get charged 1.9 mil or so. That is what I mostly mean by money, they can get out from Monty for minimal cap hit when they are ready to make big moves for a cup run.

Did you see the tantrum he has leaving practice ?

Will see how Austin Mathews does now that the media will turn on him ?

I see both gone in Less than 2 years

No, but did see he looked PISSED on the bench. Same with Tavares, who took a discount as well. Welcome to the real world, all those who took a discount.

Me too, I see both gone in the next 2 years.

Just subbed to the Gotham sports app to watch Sabres and I guess the Yankees. I'm excited to watch my first Sabres game since 2023 today.

May as well ride the wagon while they're hot.

turns out i'm going out for the game. still nice to actually give a damn.

the vibes in town are sweet. so many people wearing Sabres gear. it's like a real professional hockey team just randomly appeared in December.

ho hum

Every time I see you post this song pops in my head, except I sing it "nate dog nate dog natediggity dog."

The rest of you are welcome. 😆

Odd stat. The Flames have now won 51 straight games when scoring 4 or more goals, which is the 7th longest streak in league history.

Makes you wonder why they don't just score 4 or more goals in every game.

Kinda interesting stat but doesn't make me wonder why they don't score 4+

Yah, I mean it's fun to speculate and debate, but at the end of the day, the Habs are still the youngest team in hockey and thus weren't really expected to compete this year or even next.

I'm just glad that Hughes and co. aren't forcing any silly moves, and only jumping on opportunities when the price is right (Dobson). Seems like there was a chance to get Thomas from the Blues, who would've been a nice piece, but the asking price was ridiculous, they wanted a similar return to Hughes. Pass.

I suspect we'll circle back around to a couple potential moves in the Summer and if not, the cupboard is overflowing.

In the weird stat category. In 2026, Dobes is #1 in goal support with ~5 gpg, with #2 almost a full goal behind. Monty is also getting close to 4 gpg in support.

lulz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BGceyHJ...
This is on now. Sounds good to me. Grant did in preseason when nobody was talking about it and everybody was "Habs need to trade for 2C now!"...he was 100% committed to Kapanen at 2C. And he wasn't saying this was a the long term solution, but he nailed it that Kapanen is a solid, high IQ rookie who can handle a top six C roll with Demidov on wing. Nobody had that afaik.

Oh look, the guy who our coach wouldn't let on the ice at the Olympics scores shorthanded on the Avs