NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 8, 2021
The Tampa Bay Lightning repeat as Stanley Cup Champions, Andrei Vasilevskiy wins the Conn Smythe Trophy, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
NHL.COM: The Tampa Bay Lightning are Stanley Cup champions for the second straight year following a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the Final, winning the series four games to one.
Tampa Bay Lightning are the 2021 Stanley Cup Champions (NHL.com).
Ross Colton scored the game’s only goal while Andrei Vasilevskiy turned in a 22-save shutout. Vasilevskiy was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price made 29 saves.
THE SPORTING NEWS: Lightning winger Pat Maroon became just the fourth player in NHL history to win three straight Stanley Cups with two different teams. Maroon won his first with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 before joining the Lightning as a free agent.
SPORTSNET: Lightning winger Alex Killorn revealed he suffered a fractured fibula during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. He underwent surgery last week to have a rod inserted in his leg and hoped to be ready to play in Game 6 or 7 if the series went that far.
THE SCORE: Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov ripped Montreal fans for the wild celebration of their club’s victory in Game 4 during his post-game press conference. “I didn’t want to go back to Montreal, but they acted, the fans in Montreal, come on. They acted like they won the Stanley Cup last game. You kidding me? Their final was last series.”
Appearing shirtless and chugging a beer, Kucherov also tore into Vezina Trophy voters for selecting Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury over Vasilevskiy. “I was telling him every day, ‘Vasy, you’re MVP. You’re the best player.’ And then they gave it to whatever the guy in Vegas, the Vezina. And then last year, they gave (the) Vezina to somebody else. No. 1 bullshit!”
MONTREAL GAZETTE: Montreal goalie Carey Price blamed himself for his club’s loss in the Stanley Cup Final. “At the end of the day I just don’t think I played well enough at the start of the series,” he said during a post-game press conference.
Seated next to Price, Canadiens captain Shea Weber disagreed. “I don’t think that’s the case at all”, said Weber. “To be honest, I think that we weren’t good enough in front of Carey.” He also praised the Lightning. “Give them credit, they’re a heck of a team. They’re here for a reason and they were better than us in the end.”
Habs coach Dominique Ducharme revealed Weber played with a thumb injury. He also said Jeff Petry had an injured finger, Tyler Toffoli suffered a groin injury while Brendan Gallagher had a groin injury “and more.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Congratulations to the Lightning on becoming the third team to win consecutive Cups since the Pittsburgh Penguins (2016, 2017) and the Detroit Red Wings (1997, 1998) within the last 25 years. They were unquestionably the best team in this series and throughout this year’s postseason.
Changes will be coming to the Lightning this summer as salary-cap constraints and the expansion draft could cost them two or three players. I’ll have more on that in the Rumors section.
This was also a heck of a run for the underdog Canadiens, overcoming the odds and defying the critics by upsetting three heavily-favored opponents to reach the Final. Whether they can build on this going forward will in part depend on whatever moves they make in the offseason.
NBC SPORTS: This year’s Stanley Cup Final marked the end of a 16-year affiliation between NBC Sports and the NHL. The league recently signed new broadcasting deals with ESPN and Turner Sports starting next season.
CALGARY SUN: Plans for a new arena in Calgary are running as much as $60 million over its $550 million budget.
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Newell Brown has returned to the Anaheim Ducks for his third stint as an assistant coach with the team. He was an assistant in 1998-2000 and from 2005-2010. He spent the past four seasons with the Vancouver Canucks.
Blow taps for habs fans now let’s get on with the business at hand build the bruins into winning contender.
Hi Rick, have you thought about starting your own blog where you can post anything you want for an exclusive audience? I just think it would be really therapeutic for you to read comments from people who already subscribe to your thoughts and feelings about hockey. It could be really good for you.
As a Habs fan, I love the Bruins. It might not always be the best hockey, but the rivalry is terrific. When the Habs lose to the Bruins, I like to shrug it off and look forward to the next battle. When the Habs win against the Bruins, I don’t gloat because I know the Bruins will be back. The rivalry keeps me going. Maybe deep down you really love the Habs too?
Why’d you change your name Rick?
Juvenile to the bitter end eh Rick? Turn your hat around and grow up.
yeah, with Don Sweeney and Cam Neely making your moves good luck with that.
Neely went on my turd list when he ran TS out of Boston
Late yesterday you responded to others here tired of your comment Rick, when you stated you had the right to respond to people’s posts. Dead on. This is site is for exchanges.
Your mistake is that you said you would call out “dumb” comments, a phrase you used several times to describe others. I found that bemusing as I just don’t see intelligence in your comments. So where are these self declared smarts that elevates you from other posters here?
The strength of this site is that most others here put out ideas in good faith and try and be constructive. The tone and content of this site improved when Wendel disappeared. So there is a way where you could make a positive contribution …
Congrats to the Bolts and all Bolts fans…. B2B and done in a tad over 9 months👍👍👍
T-Bay rocks the night…. 3 Championships (two Stanley Cups AND the Bucs championships) in 9 months…. And Rays went to the World series last year!
The last time Toronto was the reigning champs in two sports was in ‘92 (Jays/Argos) but that lasted only a few weeks as Stamps won the ‘92 Grey Cup
Has any city had concurrent champs in 3 major sports?
Although heartbreaking for Habs and Habs fans; this was a very successful season for them. Excellent playoffs. Fantastic job by Bergevin for all his moves.
Montreal should be very proud
This Leafs fan is uber jealous
Don’t think it’s ever happened in North America where a city could boast 3 major league championships in the same year, Pengy. In 1980 Philadelphia could have had 4 with the Phillies, 76ers, Flyers and Eagles all in championship game (or series), but in the end only the Flyers won. In 2020 of course Tampa Bay had two champions with the Buccaneers and Lightning winning, but they could have had 3 had the Rays won.
It has been a long time, but it has happened. The 1935 Detroit Tigers won the World Series, and the Lions were the NFL Champs the same year. The Red Wings earned Detroit the title of “City of Champions” by winning the Stanley Cup after the 1935/1936 season.
Thanks Iago and George
Did not remember that Phi was in 4 championships in ‘80….. but for sure Flyers didn’t win that year… that was the first (of 4 ) for Isles
1935 Detroit teams … 👍👍👍
Yeah, I realized after I posted it that I had typed Flyers when I meant Phillies.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies feel dissed. The Tampa mayor is very relieved. The fans are looking forward to another boat parade, something we do rather well. Lot’s of stuff online, but the Habs fans who we had contact with at Amalie during the three games here were classy & knowlegeable.
Did I mention the Rays threw a no-hitter (sort-of) Wednesday afternoon? Just to get the fans ready for something special.
@ Pengy..
The Penguins are looking for a goalie and are testing the UFA college market where they have been successful in the past.
Quinnipac goalie 6ft 5 Keith Pertruzelli
Umass goalie Filip Lindberg
Both strong goalies coming out of college. Lindberg was drafted earlier by the Minnesota Wild..
Both are options and big goalies something the Penguins never seem to have.
Pro wise i like Linus Ullmark another big young goalie UFA from the Buffalo Sabre.
9-6-3 917 save % 2.78 GAA Only 27
Thnks BnG
I looked them up on eLite prospects… Lindbergs numbers are absolutely great this past year
They obviously are not the solution next year but could prove well on Pens in 2-3 years
It won’t happen; bug I’d love to see the Flower back as a Pen
Thnks BnG
I looked them up on eLite prospects… Lindbergs numbers are absolutely great this past year
They obviously are not the solution next year but could prove well on Pens in 2-3 years
It won’t happen; bug I’d love to see the Flower back as a Pen
Not much congratulating here.
a pair of ** asterisk ** beside these two cups for me. The Covid Cup and The Cap Circumvention Cup.
yawn.
On to next year and some real legal hockey hopefully
Imagine if the Raptors had been able to not have Leonard officially count toward the cap, be secretly and mostly healthy the whole season and then magically join the team for when it mattered most – fresh and relaxed – . Good times.
So after a hip surgery less than 9 months ago, Kucherov was healthy and ready to go for the season? I MUST meet his miracle making doctor!
Oh the sour grapes.
On another note, Kucherov seems to share the same sediment many fans feel. Especially regarding the Habs fans! It great to see them called out by a superstar player. Good for him to call out them and the BS Vezina award.
Price was great but vas was much better.
Well, considering “sediment” is “matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid; dregs” I agree that it suits Kucherov and “many fans.”
Ron what did the Habs fans say and why was Kucherov calling them out on ?
Hey Dark G.
No asterisk on either one.
Every team was in the same boat.
Would you prefer they cancelled the season instead? Other than that, how would you have done it to avoid the “asterisk”?
Just curious.
And while you are at it explain how you know Kuch was secretly mostly healthy the whole season? So he faked the surgery? The team Dr’s and hospital, clinic, rehab folks are all in on it? The MGT, the players, the coaches, trainers as well? But nobody spoke up? Wow, this is a big deal!
Please let us know your sources of information.
Wait! Are you Q?
I don’t like the rules for the cap during the playoffs either, Dark G, but the Bolts didn’t cheat. They absolutely fleeced the Rangers and the Habs for McDonagh and Sergachev, and Goodrow, Coleman and Savard were also savvy.
Let’s give credit where credit is due.
The LTIR issue definitely helped the Bolts, impossible to argue otherwise honestly, but yes was within the rules.
So, how do you change the rules?
Let’s say Matthews hurts his knee and is out for the season, but might be ready come playoff time, but you never know for sure. Leafs pickup a high end D with LTIR $ available.
So having the cap apply in the playoffs means one of those guys can’t play if Matthews makes it back. If he doesn’t?
Tough call. Having one of your best guys have surgery, and the timing work out this way is pretty rare.
Which would you guys prefer if it was your team?
Ray: My answer is a question: If the purpose of the cap is to ensure equity amongst teams for the regular season, why does the issue of equity disappear in the playoffs?
The solution seems to me to be simple: a team in the playoffs can only ice a roster that does not exceed the total regular season salary hit against the cap. Not to keep poking at the Bolts, but Kucherov comes back to the line up, his 9.5 million is factored into the cap. Other players have to be dropped from the roster. If he were injured for the duration of the playoffs, his 9.5 million comes off the books.
I know it is not quite as simple as that but the regular season cap rules have complexity as well to deal with twists and turns.
Further, The reason for a trade deadline is so teams in the running can’t gain an unfair advantage in loading up from teams that are out of the race. So again I ask: if the issue of equity via a cap is so wealthy teams can’t use their $$ to unfair advantage, why does the notion of equity not apply in the playoffs?
Kucherov is a fresh and egregious example, but the Bolts weren’t the only team above the cap this year – but most were not. Is that a level playing field?
Fair enough LJ.
I tend to lean that way as well.
The down side is that a good team get’s punished more by injuries to key players. Season is over.
I can live with that I suppose.
I really dislike “fans” who want to put an asterisk on records or championships knowing full well they’d be cheering throatily if it was their team or their player.
Only one team can win it all and the TBL deserved it. Full stop.
Kucherov’s post game comments were disappointing but I’ll write it off as having a few brews.
Gallagher has character, the kind to build a team around and described it best ” I take nothing out of moral victories”
Congrats to TBL and all their fans
Well said and appreciated to Habfan!z
It is truly hard to imagine every team not having similar cap issues to Tampa Bay if they drafted and develop players well enough to sign them to second and third contracts. I had the Increased as expected for this year we both know the situation would’ve been different. Tyler Johnson and a number of other players around the league who were waived would’ve been claimed with an increase. The increase would’ve taken care of the rest.
The bottom line is smart people are able to applaud success of others where others through their jealousy or disdain Will always find a reason to discount it. Your response proves that for sure.
Congrats too to the Canadiens for a really valiant effort. I was there last night and Montreal’s effort was notable on every shift
Agreed 100% hf30.
Yeah. It’s not like they actually cheated like spygate or deflategate. Just playing within the rules.
@Chrisms…….Yeah didn’t like the whole LTR injury thing but they did play by the rules…unfortunately.
They are the best team, they have a great coach, the best goalie, the best defenseman, and two of the top 10 forwards in the game.
The defense corp of Hedman, Sergachev, McDonough, and Savard wow.
tip the cap…
Absolutely NOT sour grapes.
I’m an Isles fan.
What I find amusing reading all these replies to me—you guys are some VERY astute hockey brains. I mean that in all sincerity. And the free pass you’re giving the Bolts here…..I just find it a little odd that’s all.
Yes–I could have lived with a cancelled season the first time.
And yes it’s borderline Houston Astros of hockey for the second (this cup)
Not sour grapes at all. There are teams that try and win the right way. Then there are teams that bend rules (that should and probably will be changed) to their competitive advantage.
I mostly tuned in nightly to see if Elliot Freedman was once and for all going to put the Joker’s make up on to match the suit and hair.
Sitting here sipping my BRC…can’t help but think that the Bruins wish they didn’t have Coyle 5 = 5.25 or Moore 2 = 2.75 on the books, those two contracts would pay the Hall 8 million per…..Coyle is a ok player but not at that $$$$ and with a NTC nice sign Sweeney…..Moore will never get a regular shift with the B’s
BTW..nice job by TB….. checking teams with size & toughness still have a place in the NHL especially during the playoffs
I’ll give credit where credit is due , while the past 2 seasons have been unique and challenging the Bolts came through and congrats to them. I don’t like that the cap counts during the season and not the playoffs but those are the rules and all teams knew them. Not a Habs fan but I know many long time & hard core Habs fans having grown up in Montreal. The fans and the organization needed that cup run, the challenge now is following up next year. Suzuki and Caufield are going to be very good moving forward.
Kucherov is a very gifted offensive player, however I have never been a fan and I like him even less now after his post game presser. To say the Habs fans overreacted to the game 4 win proves he knows little about the history of that franchise and the loyalty f their fan base. His rant about the Vezina was also not the time or place.
He just put a big target on his back for next season with his mouth.
George I am sure you saw Kucherov already had a target on his back throughout this series and most of the playoffs. But you are right in suggesting what he said isn’t going to sit any better with some moving forward. Makes me recall the old saying ‘when you lose say little when you win say less.’
That said, I’m a big MAF fan for the humility he possesses that Kucherov does not but Kucherov is right on the Vezina. The piece about Montreal was way out of line and unnecessary.
Yeah, ShaneinTpa (congrats to you and all TB fans by the way), I always liked that old adage. First thing I thought of when I heard the Kucherov rant was Homer Simpson saying “here’s to alcohol – the solution to – and the root cause of – all of life’s problems …”
The best “team” won, hands down … blame the flawed system regarding the cap, not the Bolts …
I am not a Tampa fan but it will be very interesting to see what they look like when next season starts …
as far as my Penguins go I am not holding out much hope … I fear they will be built for the regular season and exposed in the playoffs yet again … even if they address the goalie situation …
can’t wait for Free Agent Frenzy …
Ed, the Pens will be truculent, book it.
@ Ed van Impe….The Penguins have the forwards and speed to match.
They lack a strong goalie, defensive prowess, and need more sandpaper. Tampa has Hedman, Sergachev, McDonough, Savard and more…
When the Penguins won back to back in 2016-17 they had speed, skill, and grit.
They had strong goaltending Murray/Fluery
Up front they had Nick Bonino, Eric Fehr, Carl Hagelin, Matt Cullen, and a younger Patric Hornqvist.
On Defense they had Ian Cole, Ron Hainsey, Trevor Daley and Jamie Oleksiak to compliment Letang, Dumoulin and Schultz.
They don’t have these anymore !
We need to find another top 4 defenseman to put with Dumoulin and Letang. whoever that maybe.
Doug Hamilton
Seth Jones
Nikita Zadorov
Oliver Ekman Larsson
Mattis Ekholm
One good defenseman, a strong goalie, and some grit we will be competitive. Tampa is in Cap hell and will lose some really good players..
Congrats to TB winning B2B, they deserved the victory.
I came away from last night game with new appreciation for Ryan McDonagh. He for me was the best player on the ice last night. The plays he made; looking like he going to shot it in deep, but turns around and makes a tape to tape pass to the far winger to go in on a rush. What a game he played i was very impressed with his hockey smarts.
I said for the start of the season i Liked the moves Montreal made, they played a system to compliment the players they have. Then they added Anderson.
Montreal 4th line are all UFA’s not sure if they bring any of them back.
Phillip Danault is a premiere shut down C but offers little offense and coming off at $3.25 how much do you pay a C who can shut down the other team best player but has a career high 13 goals? This is an interesting one to watch.
Congrats Montreal you had a great run.
Caper, Danaut could be one of the more interesting UFAs to watch. As you say, how much value does a team put on a mainly defensive C? Will he get more than his current $3.25 mil? Does he expect more?
Something to remember though is that the Montreal brain trust clearly decided that his best value to the team structure was in that role – shut down the other team’s top C – and he did it that very very well.
Perhaps some other team sees that quality but also realizes that, given two wingers who can put the puck in the net, along with some pp time, his offense could well pick up. A team with lots of cap space who might have room if one of their Cs is plucked by Seattle. I’m thinking of Ottawa and Tierney.
The kicker, however, is how many years he and his agent are seeking along with the cap amount.
Caper and George: remember that Danault turned down 5 million a year, earlier this year. You both have the dilemma Berg has: how do you value an excellent defensive center who puts up almost no offense?
I have to think the decision on what to offer Danault will depend on what the Habs brain trust thinks KK will show next year. If they let Danault go and KK doesn’t take a big step forward then they regress.
Good call Caper. Other than Vas, I thought McDonagh was Tampa’s MVP of the series. He was phenomenal !
Great observations lago and Caper. I was also really impressed with the work by Goodrow. Not sure what the team has in store for expansion draft but the issue with the years and term of McDonagh will result in. Definitely going to be a different look next year here
Two things about Danault.
There has never been confirmation about a deal he turned down, in fact his agent denied getting an offer.
The story was based on a comparable mentioned by his agent.
People who don’t follow the Habs misunderstand his role by calling him a checking centre.
The line of Gallagher/Danault/Tatar has been checking opposing #1 lines and outscoring them, yet nobody pigeonholes Gallagher and Tatar as shut down wingers.
Danault is the set up man not the goal scorer and has a +/- of 17, 18, 9 in the past 3 seasons playing against #1 lines all the time.
I would take Danault on my team any day of the week.
What he does is not common.
You nailed it HF30.
During the regular season the Habs out score the other team when that line is on the ice and more often than not, it is against the other teams best. The game is about scoring more than the other team, not getting the most points.
In the playoffs he was a minus 1 and that is with 75% of his shifts started in his own zone. Again against the best in the world. Just think about how hard that is to accomplish.
He will get paid. In this cap world, tough to guess, but how about $5M??
That may be true, Habsfan30, a “plus” of 17 for a center is important. But Danault had one goal in the playoffs, 2 goals in 38 lifetime playoff games, and has never scored more than 13 goals in a season.
Yes, terrific defensively and defense is important. But flip things around for a different way of looking at things: players who are all offense and terrible on defense don’t stay in the NHL.
The Selke nominees this year were Stone, Bergeron and Barkov. All put up consistently good offensive numbers to go with their defense.
I hope the Habs keep Danault but he isn’t worth $5 million a year. He is a checking line center and he deserves to be paid like one.
Habsfan30, an advantage Montreal may have with Danault is teams don’t pay for defense, they pay for offense. This will bring down any offer for Danault.
Yes he finished the season with a plus 9, while going up against the other teams best.
Danault in 56 regualr season games had 18 games as a negative player and additional 13 games of a +/- 0 out of them 31 games he had 0pts in 28 of them; in fact Danault had 0pts in 37 of the 53 games he played. He simply doesn’t generate much offense and that will hold down the $$ being offer.
This isn’t to take away from him being a premiere shut down guy. But you can’t sell me on the offense side.
After completing the Stanley Cup finals last night, it seems there’s as many bruin comments as comments about Tampa Bay and Montreal.
That’s funny in my eyes.
That’s just the surfacing of the normal change in comment direction once the Cup is settled and we move onto the REALLY important “season” for opinions/choices/wishful-thinking/reactions, Nasdaq40 🙂
Hi all….As I understand hockey is a team sport. As I also understand $81.5 million is the team cap.
As per the picture of the Tampa Stanley Cup team picture, there are about 30 players shown.
Can someone present a breakdown of the individual salary amount paid, to the combination of all of those shown in the photo in todays segment.
81.5 million divided by 30 equals 2.7 million average.
How does cap work ?????
Before appearing to degrade the achievements of the Habs I would say upfront as a Leaf fan that I would a 1000 times prefer what happened to the Habs happen to the Leafs. They also would be an excellent example of what the Leafs lack that the Habs have….the infamous “killer instinct” . They play for each other and the team not for themselves, They do not accept defeat easily.Their leaders ( Weber, Price , Gallager) lead….These guys have more leadership in their little fingers than Tavares has in his whole body. And it is important to the other 20 guys on the team if you want them to overachieve.
While all the above IMO is true but so is the following. The winning windows in Montreal for Price and Weber closed last night. Gallegar at 6.5 million over 5 or 6 years will soon be a very bad contract, not as bad as Marner’s but bad. While Suzuki is an embryonic star who improving every year, he will still be small next year. The CBC crew let out a Fruedian on this last night calling him ” little Nick” and tried to take it back. The truth sometimes slips out. KK was benched the last deciding 2 games. He is the player who looks around for Weber’s location before face washing anyone. Danaunt may leave. Can Montreal management look him in the face and say he deserves a lot less than Gallegar or Anderson? . CBC cheerleading commentators can say down the middle is good for Montreal 3 years out (IMO) are simply not telling the truth. There is no there there to paraphrase Gertrude Stein.
Again what Montreal achieved on the ice (the only place it matters) this Leaf fan envies. But unless structural changes are made, Cinderella’s clock struck last night.
Agree and disagree OBD. I too think Gallagher’s contract will be bad in a couple of years. I just don’t think he can take the punishment he does for his size and he can’t change the way he plays.
KK has to improve for sure. But I say this to you once again: he is 20 years old. Kaprizov won the Calder this year at 24. Isn’t it a little early to write him off?
I made the mistake of writing off Price this year. Fleury won the Vezina this year at age 36. Price is 33. Did you see anything in Price’s playoff performance that suggested decline?
Suzuki is not quite 6′ tall. But weights 208 pounds. Is that little for an NHL center? He weighs more than Patrice Bergeron and Mark Stone for example. Not saying he is as good as they are, but a player’s size is a combination of height and weight. He certainly demonstrated last night that he can shake off a big hit.
Certainly the Habs are several players away from being a legit contender and they do have some tough calls on personnel. Danault certainly is one. What to do with Perry and Staal are others. But I think it is not just boosterism to think that the old guys still have something in the tank and their young players will only be better for this year’s experience.
LJ agree with you on Gallagher, l appreciate him as a leader and a player. I was happy the Canadiens rewarded him however I think the term was 2 years too many and 1 mil too much $. He plays a big mans game in a smaller mans body ….having visions of Ryan Callahan, a warrior who’s body wore out.
OBD,
“While Suzuki is an embryonic star who improving every year, he will still be small next year.”
Nathan MacKinnon- 25y/o 6’0 200 lb.
Mathew Barzal- 24y/o 6’0 187 lb.
Sidney Crosby- 33y/o 5’11 200 lb.
Brayden Point- 25y/o 5’10 166 lb.
Nick Suzuki- 21y/o 5’11 208 lb.
Maybe little Nick isn’t so little?
Folks have been calling Price and Weber washed up for a few years yet in the playoffs last year and this one, they were both towers.
The line of Lehkonen/Evans/Byron was the most effective one down the stretch till Evans was injured. That’s why KK was replaced when lines were juggled.
KK isn’t soft, he’s had one fight in the NHL, that guy made the same mistake you just did.
I’d be surprised if Danault doesn’t sign soon, he owes his career to Bergevin and was overpaid in his last contract. GMMB knows his value.
Habs strength down the middle grows every year and there’s more to come from within the organization.
There’s something to be said for a team growing stronger and building character from a long playoff run.
How will next season go? I have no idea 🙂
HabsFan30….there is a lot to be said for growing stronger and building character from a long playoff run….you can’t buy it….you got to earn the right to learn that way…..and the Habs did….it will improve everyone already on the roster….not many things can do that….
But that does not change other realities ….size and strength of players nor their age …nor the wear on those bodies….
A new reality that may effect the Habs more than most teams is if the NHL comes down on repeat cross checking or unnecessary play after the whistle….the big 4 D heightened their relevance to the game by replacing their lack of mobility with theses techniques that can be done when the player is standing still…Bettman (I think) has already stated cross checking needs to be looked at
Hi OBD
Good points
Re “ Bettman (I think) has already stated cross checking needs to be looked at”
Ron McLean specifically asked Bettman about this and Bettman did his usual deflect/detract/dance and not answer the question
In addition… he (Bettman) not only fully lauded praise on NHL refs; but went out of his way to provide Kudos on the job Parros is doing (that’s not a typo…. He actually told Ron [and us] that GP is doing great….. which; as everyone here knows; is the biggest load of ballhooey/horse💩
So, IMHO, Bettman will not look in to anything to do with cross checking
It will have to come from a majority push by League GMs; if at all
OBD,
Cernak, McD, Hedman,Sergachev, crosscheck at least as much as the 4 Clydesdales.
Same goes for Mcnabb, Pietrangelo, Martinez and Theodore.
Logan Stanley tried to decapitate Perry fo 4 games, Forbort, Pionk crosschecked with distinction.
Brodie, Bogosian, Holl, standard after the whistle cross checing, Rielly less so.
Point is they all do it and the 4 Clydesdales is a media invention, they are big, but not bigger than the other D pairings.
Luke Richardson just got them to box out better and TML media complained about it.
On the other hand if Bettman and the NHL cut down on it, Gallagher will extend his career easily 🙂
I didn’t spend the playoffs complaining about the specific dirty hits but easily could have and that goes for last night too, however the lack of consistency was something I brought up.
I don’t even know what the team will look like next year between UFA’s and the young guns being groomed in Laval.
One of the failings in the Habs organization in the past was development and that appears to have been solved with the hiring of Joel Bouchard and his right hand man Daniel Jacob,
Next season will be interesting 🙂
I am not looking to quarrel with you, OBD, but why do you think that Chiarot and Petry have a lack of mobility?
I take both players in Boston LJ
Wise, Caper.