NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[StCapps]

The Leafs will be better than the Preds next year, the Preds don't scare me, if there's a team that scares me, it's Tampa Bay.

The Preds should scare you for the next few years, if they don't you're a fool.

[Smitty-48]

The Leafs will be better than the Preds next year, the Preds don't scare me, if there's a team that scares me, it's Tampa Bay.

The Preds should scare you for the next few years, if they don't you're a fool.

They don't, Rinne is not consistent, he's hot right now, but he doesn't do this year over year, and at the end of next year, he's going to retire and go back to Finland, at which point, the Preds will have to fall back on their prospect pool, and since they don't have any, they're gonna be hurtin'.

Tampa Bay on the otherhand, now there's a team that will be dominating for years to come, year over year, every year. If the Leafs could make the finals they could beat the Preds, ain't no thang, the real problem would be; gettng past Tampa Bay.

When I look around the league, there are a handful of teams which are better than the Leafs overall, but Nashville is not one of them, an abnormally hot Rinne and peaking at the right time notwithstanding.

If you're saying that this is not an off year in the West and Nashville is not catching the breaks, and that somehow sweeping an abnormally flat CHI, and then hot Rinne-ing their way past STL and ANA, makes the Preds the new powerhouse in the West, I'd simply have to disagree.

If there's a new powerhouse coming on in the West, I think it will be more like Edmonton or Winnipeg, not Nashville. I see the West coming to be dominated by Connor McDavid and Patrik Laine, not Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson, Nashville this year is just a one off.

Nashville is having a good run, but they simply don't have the depth to make a run at it on a regular basis, and their best players, Josi and Forsberg, are just not Superstar material, there's no McDavid or Laine, setting Edmonton and Winnipeg up to be perrenials, I don't see Nashville as a perrenial, they are what they are, having a good run and catching the breaks in an off year in the West.

The Preds better win right now, because Rinne is at the end, Subban is dropping way off, Neal will be gone UFA, Ellis and Ekholm are complimentary but they're not franchise players, within in twevle months, this team will be Josi, Forsberg, Johansen, and not much else, so, no, the Preds don't scare me, they're not going to have a run like this again, this is it, and so they better start praying that Sidney Crosby still has a headache come next week.

I'm not writing Nashville off, with the Pens being so nicked up, the breaks just keep on coming, this is their shot, but this is not coming around again anytime soon, so it's do or die, right now.

In fact, I think they will miss the playoffs next year, win or lose, this run is gonna cost them, they will have a hangover, and Johansen serious leg injury with emergency surgery? It takes a player a whole year to fully recover from that, his whole off season is wrecked now, and he is it, as far as their centers go, they don't have anybody to step in and take that load.

I'll make a prediction right now, Patrik Laine will absolutely light it up next year, and Winnipeg will ride him right into Nashville's slot, Nashville will miss with a hangover, Winnipeg will be the new news.

I'm not sleeping on Nashville, they're just overacheiving and catching the breaks, but they will come back down to earth, where they usually are, and what they have been and are, year over year, which is a middling bubble team.

[SilverEagle]

Well the Refs won game 6 for the Sens. I mean WOW....how in the fuck do you overturn a good goal by Daley when there was NO obvious goalie interference. Oh and I love the shit ton of missed calls they had but somehow call us for interference in the 2nd period that led to the 5 on 3 and allowed the Sens to get a goal. I mean call the fucking game even and not show favorites. My god it was so obvious the talking head on TV even noted it several times. This series should be over with a 2-1 Pens win. Oh well back to Pittsburgh for game 7. The refs better stay the fuck out of it and only call an even game if they value their lives. Pens will win in a blowout IMO. GO PENS! FUCK THE REFS AND THE CHEAP SHOT SENS!

[StCapps]

The Daley goal should have counted, but what really won the Sens that game was Craig Anderson, a lot of bounces, and two picture perfect shots. 9 times out of 10, the Pens win that game, that's just the way she goes sometimes.

[SilverEagle]

The Daley goal should have counted, but what really won the Sens that game was Craig Anderson, a lot of bounces, and two picture perfect shots. 9 times out of 10, the Pens win that game, that's just the way she goes sometimes.

Oh I agree. At worse that game should've went to OT. Refs need to get their heads out of their asses. Anderson played extremely well but if the Pen put another 40+ shot effort in on Thursday the Sens should get their golf clubs ready.

[StCapps]

The Pens are 0-7 at home in Game 7, after losing Game 6 on the road.
The Sens have never won a Game 7, they are 0-5.
Something's gotta give.

[StCapps]

Talking to Kyle Dubas eh? The Avs sure could use somieone like that in a key position in our front office, if he's looking for a promotion. A guy who has a knack for evaluating young prospects and analytics, plus has been hanging around the brain trust in Toronto since Shanahan brought him in as an Interim GM. What's not to like about that?

[Smitty-48]

What's not to like about that?

Us losing Dubas. Although if it is for the actual GM job, Shanahan's not going to stand in his way, I don't think Dubas is coming just for a "position" in the front office, if it's the not the GM job, I would expect him to hold out for an actual GM job, he's already got a "front office position", he doesn't need to take another one of those, he will be a GM at some point, so he should hold out for the real deal.

[StCapps]

What's not to like about that?

Us losing Dubas. Although if it is for the actual GM job, Shanahan's not going to stand in his way, I don't think Dubas is coming just for a "position" in the front office, if it's the not the GM job, I would expect him to hold out for an actual GM job, he's already got a "front office position", he doesn't need to take another one of those, he will be a GM at some point, so he should hold out for the real deal.

It just so happens the Avs could really use a GM, who is more than a mere placeholder so that the inmates can run the asylum. That's probably the job the Avs are trying to lure Dubas into taking, best to snake him from the Leafs, before some other team beats us to it.

[Smitty-48]

It's not "snake him", Shanahan didn't have to give permission, Shanahan's just a class act, he's not going to hold the kid back, and besides, I think Lou is having a good time up here, he's not going anywhere, and we've got Hunter too, so Dubas is pretty far down in the line of succession, I'm confident that Shanny could go out and find the next Dubas anyways, that's how the model franchises do it, they find the talent which other teams come to covet, wash, rinse, repeat.

But indeed, Dubas is exactly what the Av's need, Joe shouldn't let him get away when he has the chance, he's ready now, just give him the GM job, don't punk him off with a "front office position".

The Advanced Stats Leaf fans are all bitter that Shanahan didn't deny permission just to hold Dubas in the fold, but they're missing the forest through the trees, Shanahan is the key; the top people want to work for him, if he was a dick, that wouldn't be the case.