THE BUSTED WINDOW OF CONTENTION WON'T STAY OPEN: THE NHL 2023-2024 SEASON THRED (INC KNIGHTS HANGOVER & PANIC MOVES. HOCKEY IS THE BEST)

did not expect Patrick Roy at all, but it was time for a change. Isles do have a more offense approach this year, but it seems to have come at the expense of 1) no longer being able to close out games in the third period 2) allowing way too many shots per game

brutal elbow to the face from brendan gallagher last night and he won’t even have an in-person meeting for it, meaning the suspension can be no more than five games

that guy is a real pos imho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0faZG1iFzeo

That now makes it 13 NHL head coaching changes since the end of last season: NYR, Calgary, Anaheim, Washington, Nashville, Columbus (twice), Edmonton, St. Louis, Ottawa, Minnesota, NYI and now LAK.

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 2, 2024

TmC has been on borrowed time for the last month

real shame that the oilers failed to match the 1993 penguins' NHL-record 17-game win streak

(tbf, they got goalied)

but

Since the Penguins’ 17-game winning streak in the 92-93 season is receiving much attention at the moment, a reminder: Mario Lemieux, in those 17 games, put up 27 goals, 24 assists and 51 points. And he did it only weeks after undergoing two months of cancer radiation treatments.

— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) February 7, 2024

I don't really follow hockey much anymore so don't post here much, but I was following it very much in 92-93 (good year for a Habs fan) and that Mario Lemieux season continues to be the most impressive thing I've ever seen in sports.

I was 13-14ish at the time and I don't think I realized just how crazy it was that he could do it, but as an adult, holy shit.

he's 58 now (born the same day as patrick roy!) but in the back of my mind i somehow keep vaguely expecting him to make another comeback

i know i've said this in several earlier threads but nevertheless the last time i saw anything more terrifying than mcdavid coming out of his own zone with the puck and a full head of steam was barry bonds circa 2001. and you can't walk mcdavid

i can understand why morgan rielly was upset about losing to a shitty team but crosschecking a guy in the head has nothing to do with Respect or The Code

The Code says you drop the gloves, at which point grieg either gets his ass kicked or ducks and runs. what rielly chose to do instead was throw a tantrum, so fuck him

even if they are on your team you can’t defend that kind of stuff

happy 52nd to jaromir jagr, whose number will be retired in pittsburgh on Sunday

https://theathletic.com/5263536/2024/02/12/jaromir-jagr-stories-pittsburgh-penguins

as i understand it, he's still occasionally playing for kladno (which he now owns) in czechia, so the hall of fame has no idea what to do with him

what a player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwoh4HGmfdQ

A thread of my favorite Jaromir Jagr goals for the Penguins. To both celebrate his jersey retirement and educate the young among us, let's travel back down memory lane and have ourselves a nostalgic Sunday.

— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) February 18, 2024

nice goal

CHARLIE MCAVOY WITH A BEAUTY TO WIN IT FOR THE BRUINS IN OVERTIME!#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/aDEC5VAGqu

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) February 22, 2024

reading about how Auston Matthews was the fastest to reach 50 goals since Lemieux in '95-'96 reminded me how great Mario was, he did that after missing a season and a half (69 goals in 70 games!) then he retired again, and after three seasons he came back and scored 35 goals in 43 games.

tbf, the goalies matthews faces are much better and his average opponent is much faster than those in lemieux's era. and those mid-90s penguins teams were absolutely stacked with hall of famers and all-stars. and lemieux didn't have all of southern ontario calling him a loser for never leading his team past the second round

otoh, lemieux *also* had a league-leading 92 assists that year (matthews has 24). and there's the whole back surgery/cancer stuff. and that holding and interference were all but ignored 30 years ago

anyway matthews is super-impressive. somewhere i saw an 'era-adjusted' stat that gave him a slight edge over lemieux re: goal-scoring

52 now, ten in the last five games, six-game leafs win streak after blowing out the reigning champs on the road

waiting for leafs fans to panic that they're peaking too early

No, usually they peak right about Period 1 of Game 7 in the first round.

i take no pleasure in noting that the rangers have won 10 straight (for the first time in 51 years) and are now atop the league

Cackling uncontrollably, where is Bill Magill

Patrick Kane wins it in overtime in his return to Chicago.

No. Way. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/uWRyZiPMHs

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) February 26, 2024

rip the penguins' sidney crosby era : /

(tbf he's still awfully good, but he can't do it himself)

tom fitzgerald doesn't seem to understand that when you fire a new jersey devils coach this late in the season, you replace him with yourself

show some cultural awareness ffs

sorcery

Barkov JUGGLED the puck to assist on Reinhart's goal 😱 pic.twitter.com/OSko3aVSYv

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 5, 2024

that is awesome but seriously almost all NHL players -- even the shitty fourth-liners you wish would fuck off -- could (theoretically*) do that

these guys are the best ever and it is incredible <3

sometimes it's useful -- when you think to yourself, 'my team has games in hand; maybe they could go on a heater' -- to see said team blown out at home by another also-ran

anyway i feel like these playoffs could be really great? unless you're a leafs fan, i mean

btw we really need to go back to conference 1-8 playoff seeding rather than divisions imo

seems like not a huge price for Guentzel (wish the Canucks had got him)

love him but i'm not sure how much more you can get for a guy who is a pending free agent

wish that 'conditional first-round pick' was much more likely to happen tho

he's so smart/sneaky -- poster boy for color commentators talking about finding empty areas (that are nevertheless prime scoring areas)

and by far the greatest hockey player ever born in nebraska

Gonna be in Seattle for a few days, my pal who works for the Kraken hooked me up with tickets to see them play Buffalo. The Sabres are so bad but they're kind of my second team, so I will be rooting for them. The arena looks very nice, will be cool to see a pro game in person for the first time in a while.

pretty good

Less than a minute into the game, the home point streak continues. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/kIgt5BhS25

— NHL (@NHL) March 9, 2024

also dan m. please ask your pal if he can get me a job with the kraken. me and ron francis go way back

70+ points in 32 games is manic

cheeky

RUSLAN ISKHAKOV IS A MAGICIAN IN THE SHOOTOUT🪄🤯@AHLIslanders | #HFDvsBRI pic.twitter.com/2BX6a7mLl9

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) March 10, 2024

Woop

I’ve heard his last name pronounced three different ways but he seems to be doing well in the ahl. Isles fans wanted him up this season but that was before they turned it around the last 5 games.

things are not going well for the detroit red wings

Nope, and especially after a very good run

red wings were doing so good like 2 weeks ago.

is it just me or do big winning streaks followed by big losing streaks have the real potential to get the head coach a contract extension by the middle and then fired by the end.

maybe i like claude giroux now

hell ya pic.twitter.com/0G1QeZmg81

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) March 15, 2024

that’s a great still

Sabres and Kraken put up four goals in the first six minutes, then Buffalo took control and it ended 5-2. Kraken home fans are loud but clearly lots are new to the game. Rink is super nice and easily walked to from downtown hotels. Overall a nicer experience than with similarly newb Chicago fans and Tomas Tatar should have stayed with the Wings.

rip chris simon, 52, and konstantin koltsov, 42, both by apparent suicide

have to suspect that CTE was a factor in the former, at least

Just saw the simon news :\

classic penguins game today: sid records 40th four-point game of career, team blows four-goal lead for just the third time in franchise history

oh and mackinnon’s home points streak is now at 34 games, tied for fourth-longest ever

the second eastern wild card -- and third in the metro -- are really coming down to who shits the bed least

currently lined up for a vegas-edmonton first-round series, which should be awesome