NHL Off-Topic thread

[Majingir]

Rumors are rumors, but Canucks apparently open to dealing Lindholm in a deal involving Pens/Bruins and Guentzel (I'd imagine Guentzel to Canucks, Lindholm to Bruins, something from Boston to Pens?).

Which would be crazy because Lindholm was one of the Canucks big deadline moves.

Can't remember last time a team traded for an impact guy ahead of the deadline, he played for them, then they traded him again before the deadline!

Quote: Originally Posted by Dead2009

So apparently the 2 expansion cities have leaked. Salt Lake City and Atlanta. https://x.com/TheFourthPeriod/status...051108517?s=20

How does Atlanta get a team before QC, or even Houston?

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

Rumors are rumors, but Canucks apparently open to dealing Lindholm in a deal involving Pens/Bruins and Guentzel (I'd imagine Guentzel to Canucks, Lindholm to Bruins, something from Boston to Pens?). Which would be crazy because Lindholm was one of the Canucks big deadline moves. Can't remember last time a team traded for an impact guy ahead of the deadline, he played for them, then they traded him again before the deadline!

Yeah, that would be bonkers. Seems more and more like Lindholm was acquired at least partially as Pettersson insurance, and since Petey's now signed and Lindholm hasn't really fit in on the Canucks top-6, Rutherford's looking for a shiny new toy.

Still wouldn't surprise me if Guentzel winds up in Vegas, though, even after they dealt for Mantha.

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

How does Atlanta get a team before QC, or even Houston?

The next wave of expansion is going to cost $1 billion US minimum. Where's that money coming from? How many corporate HQ are located in Quebec City, compared to say, Atlanta? QC is a tiny market, and Winnipeg is having issues of their own, despite currently having the best record in the West.

When the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg (May 2011), the Canadian dollar was worth $1.03 USD. Today, it's $0.74 USD. As much as I'd love to see Quebec get a team (I have a Guy Lafleur Nordiques jersey hanging in my closet), I don't think it's ever going to happen.

As far as Atlanta over Houston, the NHL would want a team in the Eastern time zone. If SLC got an expansion team in the West, I imagine Houston would be Coyotes insurance.

[Majingir]

PWHL continuing to introduce cool ideas.

The highly talked about "pick your poison" format is happening.

Whoever finishes 1st gets to pick between 3rd or 4th seed to face (4 of the 6 teams make the playoffs).

This season its a 3 team race for 1st so it'll likely be the obvious 4 seed that gets picked. But what if they don't...Still 9 games left, but what if whoever finishes 1st has a much better record against the stronger 3 seed than they do against the struggling 4 seed?

Too bad the NHL is too soft for that. I hate the current format and would rather the 1-8 format back, but I also wouldn't be opposed to doing this format for it too. If anything, this will cause more of a rivalry and stir up more drama than just "play vs your division in round 1". If season ends today, do Panthers pick Wings or Tampa to play? And Bruins with the 3rd choice, do they take the Leafs, Canes or Flyers (they'll probably choose the Leafs since they've won every game the last 2 years it seems like, but what drama will that stir up getting chosen).

[l3ulvl]

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

too bad the NHL is too soft for that. I hate the current format and would rather the 1-8 format back, but I also wouldn't be opposed to doing this format for it too. If anything, this will cause more of a rivalry and stir up more drama than just "play vs your division in round 1". If season ends today, do Panthers pick Wings or Tampa to play? And Bruins with the 3rd choice, do they take the Leafs, Canes or Flyers (they'll probably choose the Leafs since they've won every game the last 2 years it seems like, but what drama will that stir up getting chosen).

Wings

[Majingir]

Quote: Originally Posted by l3ulvl

Wings

That's the thing, you'd think Wings, but Panthers also are 2-0 vs Tampa this year outscoring them 12-4 with both games in Tampa.

Though they're 2-0-1 vs Detroit outscoring them 8-3 with both wins being shutouts.


That's part of the fun in it would be guessing who would be chosen.

[DrJones]

Absolutely zero teams would ever choose an opponent other than the one they'd be facing anyway.

Let's say the Panthers choose the Wings over the Bolts. 100% of the story (in the media, on message boards, etc.) would be about Florida "disrespecting" Detroit and being "afraid" of Tampa. The majority of neutral fans/media would be rooting for Florida's downfall, and any loss would be treated as "karma". Whoever deemed responsible for this choice (the GM?) would never hear the end of it.

Now imagine a situation where Toronto ducks the Bruins or Lightning and lose anyway. Anti-Leafs fans/media would feed on that until the end of time.

This is all anathema to "don't rock the boat" hockey culture. As Maj said, they're too soft and don't want additional pressure. Will never happen.

[Majingir]

If anything, I'd see it way more likely in NBA because they feed off drama.

[Majingir]

Cool thing the PWHL has done. Molson is putting ads on their jersey, but not in an obnoxious NHL jersey ad way. They put their logo where the name bar usually goes and moved the player name under the number. For women's hockey, you typically have players with longer hair so their hair covers the name. This way their names are visible and the hair covers the ad half the time (which is part of that marketing campaign "covered our name so you can see theirs").

https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/stat...F1PERe6Vg&s=19


Why is everyone so determined to do NHL in Atlanta 3.0?!