NFT: NHL Thread (the stretch run)

this is the 5th time Michigan State and Michigan are playing this season? MSU 4-1 vs Michigan I think I heard.

Freshman Trey Augustine (of USNDTP fame) playing really well for MSU. Spartans lead 1-0. Even without Seamus Casey MICH is still loaded with talent.

ties it at 1, we are halfway through the game, another good one.

this frozen four has delivered. such entertaining hockey.

takes the lead in the 3rd. up 2-1 half a period left.

answers, tied at 2 8 left in the game.

pulling away, up 2 now with just a couple min left.

Frankie Nazar is a beast. Dylan Duke MICH - too much today.

5-2 MICH wins and ruins a chalk frozen four.

Red Wings fighting for their playoff lives tonight vs TBL.

DET 2 pts behind PHI with 1 game in hand.

DET wins the RW and ROW battle which I believe is 1st tiebreaker.

that game and FLA @ TOR the most compelling games - right now these two teams meet 1st round in the playoffs - FLA can pass BOS though and BOS vs TOR is awesome. BOS owns TOR and I hate both, but it's funny to see TOR bounced early every year.

.

In comment 16452524 Anakim said:

Quote:

.

unlikely, IMO.

a lot needs to happen for that matchup.

it's likely NYR vs WAS, PHI or DET and while no matchup is easy in the playoffs any of those are about as cake a match-up as you could hope for. it's truly a payoff for being the 1 seed (unlike BOS last year who got FLA)

for Matthews (after 1 period)

the Leafs won the Quillan "sweepstakes".

The Hockey Writers
@TheHockeyWriter
Maple Leafs Sign Jacob Quillan to 2-Year Entry-Level Contract https://ift.tt/jqtM2bh

with the ENG (62).

Who knows, he can get 70 I guess.

for MacKinnon in the 4-1 loss to CBJ, 1 pt for Kucherov in the 4-2 loss to DET.

None yet for McDavid in the 1st.

as of this morning:

MacKinnon 127 points
Kucherov 127 points
McDavid 126 points

McDavid did it in 71 games, MacKinnon 75 and Kucherov 73.

So, McDavid has highest PPG of the three, but it's obviously really close.

Not that I pay much attention to it, but McDavid and MacKinnon tied at +32, Kucherov +5, McDavid has the most 5v5 points of the three with 84

Kucherov has 80
MacKinnon has 83

This is as close a race as I can recall.

McDavid has far less goals that either of the other two, but he is closing in on 100 assists. No one has reached 100 since Gretzky in 90-91. McDavid's 97 already top 15 most in a season all time.

just a side bar to Gretzky for a second.

Gretzky has the top 7 and 9 of the top 10 assist totals in one season (Lemieux has the 8th most) and Gretzky has 11 of the top 15 (Lemieux has two, Orr has one which is pretty f-ing amazing and now McDavid)

in a ROW.

What might be most amazing, though, is that he still led the league in assists at age 37 with the crappy 1998 Rangers.

In comment 16453612 Greg from LI said:

Quote:

in a ROW. What might be most amazing, though, is that he still led the league in assists at age 37 with the crappy 1998 Rangers.

I'm a huge Gretzky fan. I was in school for the Gretzky Ranger years, and my roommate was a Ranger fan. We watched a lot of hockey in procrastination of work. It would have been 12 years easily with competent linemates. It was infuriating watching him setup high danger chances only to watch dogshit like Sundstrom or Todd "heartbeat" Harvey flub the shot. Then the season after he retires they sign Theo, Kamensky, etc. Skill guys who would've been great with Wayne but bombed with the corpse of John Maclean. It enhanced my Ranger hatred.

don't get the dominance of Gretzky. McDavid is the closest I've seen from a pure talent gap standpoint and I'm not sure its close.

The Heartbeat Kid 🤣

In comment 16453679 Greg from LI said:

Quote:

The Heartbeat Kid 🤣

When the islanders shitbag owners had their real estate deal fall through, they wanted to cut payroll to under 10 million.
Had Bettman not stepped in, Ziggy was going to the Rangers for Todd Harvey.
As pathetic and embarrassing as those years were, that would've been a new depth of despair.

In comment 16453662 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

don't get the dominance of Gretzky. McDavid is the closest I've seen from a pure talent gap standpoint and I'm not sure its close.

+infinity

I read hockey reddit from time to time. There can be some good insightful stuff there, but most of the posters are pretty young and they *love* to denigrate the NHL of the 20th century, how bad goaltending was in general compared to today, how the huge point totals of the players of the 1980s was the result of that.

Now, there's truth to that. When most goaltenders were little guys who played standup, coming way out of the net to cut off angles and stacking the pads in the crease, scoring was easier. Plus they wore much smaller pads which were nevertheless much heavier than today's gear. You don't see goalies get beat by unscreened blueline slappers anymore, which used to be pretty common.

So there's plenty of discussion there that Gretzky's accomplishments were inflated, that he wasn't as far ahead of other stars as most people think, etc. Here's the thing about that, though - everyone in those days played in the same environment, and the only guy who could even approach what Gretzky did was Pepe LePew. In those 11 seasons of 100+ assists, here's the gap between Gretzky and second place by year:

1981 - Kent Nilsson, 27 assists behind
1982 - Peter Stastny, 27 assists behind
1983 - Denis Savard, 39 assists behind
1984 - Paul Coffey, 32 assists behind
1985 - Paul Coffey, 51 assists behind
1986 - Mario Lemieux, 70 assists behind
1987 - Ray Bourque, 49 assists behind
1988 - Mario Lemieux, 11 assists behind
1989 - Lemieux and Gretzky tied with 114 assists
1990 - Mark Messier, 18 assists behind
1991 - Adam Oates, 32 assists behind

That is pure dominance. Only Lemieux could come close to what Gretzky did.

when you look at the size of goalies today vs the 80's (60/70's even worse - especially pre-masks) and today they're all like the Michelin man and a 6' 1" goalie is considered on the small side, but as you say it's not just Gretzky vs today it's vs his contemporaries that makes him more impressive.

It also makes players like Crosby and Ovi more impressive too IMO.

Crosby just tied Gretzky for most career seasons at a ppg with 19. 19 seasons of averaging a ppg. People don't consider Crosby in the same offensive stratosphere as Gretzky but for the era he probably is. And Bergeron owned the Selke but Crosby was a heck of a defensive player.

Now offense has opened up a little from the Crosby era especially with 3v3 OT and the way they call slashes and hooks now (I call it the McDavid era since I think it was his rookie year they added 3v3 OT and those stats count), and add in the big goalies and big goalie pads it puts a different view of some things. Like Ovi and the goals record. Matthews pursuit of 70, etc.

in the post-season.

Michael Russo
@RussoHockey
Quinnipiac’s Collin Graf is down to a handful of finalists and could make a decision today or tomorrow. About 25 teams pursued the right-shot forward and 2-time Hobey Baker nominee. He cut them down and did Zooms with about 6 teams three weeks ago. Hearing #mnwild still alive

Mark Divver
@MarkDivver
Bruins are not in on Collin Graf and have not been all season, per source

Quinnipiac winger down to half a dozen teams with decision expected in next couple of days

Washington loses

game and I thought they're going to watch WAS lose to BUF (a game they were expected to win) and get beat by CHI aren't they?

lol, they woke up in time.

WC2 in the East (and MET 3) are really the only "races"

surpassed 70 points for the 1st time in his career.

I remember seeing the scouting reports on him. For the most part they were close - "off the charts IQ, surprising toughness for smaller player, skill in all areas.." but..."he will never be a 70+ point scorer".

if you don't exactly have an NHL future. Now I'm not saying I was ever this good, but back when I played no one was really this smart (or maybe the eligibility rules have changed).

Spends 3+ years in juniors - doesn't get drafted or signed by an NHL team (or probably even a SHL/KHL/La Liga, etc. team).

Joins Quinnipiac as a 21 year old freshman (for reference, I am most of my class was 21 when we graduated college). Spends 4 years at Quinnipiac, probably has a BS in something, now transfers to Miami of Ohio for a 5th year, maybe gets an MBA out of it. He'll be 25 when he graduates but will not have paid a cent for school and probably (or possibly) has a BS and MBA. Oh, and he has a national title.

Christophe Fillion
@ChristopheFill7
Thank you to everyone at Quinnipiac University for a wonderful 4 years there. I am now happy to announce my commitment to play for the Miami Redhawks! Excited get things going! @MiamiOH_Hockey
12:26 PM · Apr 3, 2024
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with #63 (so far after 2) and 2 pts for Kucherov.

Kucherov keeps putting up points like this will be hard for McDavid to catch him

and the Oilers blanked by Otter and the Stars.

Kucherov has a 3-point night and now holds a 4 point lead.

Kucherov: 130 points
MacKinnon: 127 points
McDavid: 126 points

still alive for WC2 in the East (and MET3 for some).

MET3: PHI 83 pts, 6 games left

WC1: TBL 91 pts, 7 games left
WC2: WAS 82 pts, 8 games left (MET)*
E9: DET 82 pts, 7 games left (ATL)
E10: NYI 81 pts, 7 games left (MET)*
E11: PIT 79 pts, 7 games left (MET)*
E12: BUF 77 pts, 6 games left (ATL)

The * means they could be in play for MET3 too

I think the West spots are wrapped pretty much, just jockeying for position remains.

In comment 16455858 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

still alive for WC2 in the East (and MET3 for some). MET3: PHI 83 pts, 6 games left WC1: TBL 91 pts, 7 games left WC2: WAS 82 pts, 8 games left (MET)* E9: DET 82 pts, 7 games left (ATL) E10: NYI 81 pts, 7 games left (MET)* E11: PIT 79 pts, 7 games left (MET)* E12: BUF 77 pts, 6 games left (ATL) The * means they could be in play for MET3 too I think the West spots are wrapped pretty much, just jockeying for position remains.

This Metro/WC race is freaking amazing.

Gun to my head, I think the Flyers fall all the way out, Caps in and Red Wings in.

have the most well rounded team and they have one of those goalies who can steal games in the playoffs so I feel like as an 8 seed they'd be way worse a "reward" for the 1 seed than WAS or PHI, but I think it's wide open right now. I'd like to see DET sneak in, just because original 6, tradition, blah blah blah.

Key games tonight in the East:
NYI@CBJ
TBL@MON (j/k lol)
huge game PIT@WAS

finalists named:
Cutter Gauthier (BC ANA '22 #5 overall)
Jackson Blake (ND (North Dakota) CAR '21 #109 overall)
Macklin Celebrini (BU 2024 draft eligible, presumptive top pick)

"sweepstakes" won by SJS. He's not a needle mover for me. Hope he proves me wrong.

Cameron Levasseur
@c_levasseurr
More on Collin Graf signing with San Jose, for @QUChronicle
. He'll immediately join the Sharks, burning the first year of his ELC.

....

New Jersey Hockey Now
@njdhockeynow
Lots to like about forward Dylan Wendt - a 2023-24 NCAA Hobey Baker nominee - who the #NJDevils are reportedly signing.

WAS loses.

latest bottom of the EC:

MET3: PHI 83 pts, 6 games left (no change)

WC1: TBL 93 pts, 6 games left
WC2: NYI 83 pts, 6 games left (MET)*
E9: WAS 82 pts, 7 games left (MET)*
E10: DET 82 pts, 7 games left (ATL)
E11: PIT 81 pts, 6 games left (MET)*
E12: BUF 77 pts, 6 games left (ATL)

also interesting is TBL gets 2 points closer to ATL3.

ATL3: TOR 95 pts, 7 games left

3 point night for Kucherov (plus a typical dirty play).

MacKinnon has 3 pts through 2 to keep pace.

McDavid a lot of ground to make up.

PHI@BUF, BUF has been playing spoiler
WAS@CAR, WAS lost last two
NYR@DET, 1st round preview? If DET winds up 8 seed you could see this - NYR would love this I believe


That's it, but interesting matchup in the west:

COL@EDM - not just MacKinnon vs McDavid in the Art Ross battle, but possible playoff matchup eventually.

Playoff run in the West to the finals is going to be a grinder!!!

In comment 16457135 Rick in Dallas said:

Quote:

Playoff run in the West to the finals is going to be a grinder!!!

definitely a reverse of most years.

the East will possibly have two teams in the playoffs with negative goal differential. And while goal differential isn't everything as an indicator, it's not nothing.

I'll get to in a min, but the only new clinching scenarios are:



Here are the Stanley Cup Playoffs clinching scenarios for April 5:

The Nashville Predators will clinch a playoff berth if they defeat the New York Islanders in any fashion (7:30 p.m. ET; MSGSN, BSSO) AND both of the following occur:

-- The Minnesota Wild lose to the Winnipeg Jets in any fashion (4 p.m. ET; BSWIX, BSN, TSN3)

-- the St. Louis Blues lose to the San Jose Sharks in regulation (6 p.m. ET; BSMWX, NBCSCA)


After last night in the East (x = clinched):
ATL1: BOSx 105 pts, 5 games left
ATL2: FLAx 101 pts, 5 games left
ATL3: TORx 095 pts, 7 games left

MET1: NYRx 108 pts, 5 games left
MET2: CARx 103 pts, 5 games left
MET3: NYI 083 pts, 6 games left

WC1: TBLx 093 pts, 6 games left
WC2: PHI 083 pts, 5 games left
EC9: WAS 082 pts, 6 games left
EC10: DET 082 pts, 6 games left
EC11: PIT 081 pts, 6 games left
EC12: BUF 079 pts, 5 games left

5 teams fighting for one WC spot and really MET3.

In the East the teams are basically locked but still some jockeying for PAC3 and WC1 and WC2 between LVG (PAC3), NSH (WC1) and LAK (WC2) (current place in ())

Art Ross race:
Kucherov: 133 pts (6 games left)
MacKinnon: 131 pts (5 games left)
McDavid: 128 pts (7 games left)

TBL@PIT 1pm
FLA@BOS 3:30
PHI@CBJ
TOR@MTL - ok, j/k, lol
NSH@NYI - rare inter conference late season game with playoff implications for both, should be a good one

In comment 16458523 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

TBL@PIT 1pm FLA@BOS 3:30 PHI@CBJ TOR@MTL - ok, j/k, lol NSH@NYI - rare inter conference late season game with playoff implications for both, should be a good one

Tor/mtl can be big. Tb may jump them

In comment 16458535 JayBinQueens said:

Quote:

In comment 16458523 pjcas18 said: Quote: TBL@PIT 1pm FLA@BOS 3:30 PHI@CBJ TOR@MTL - ok, j/k, lol NSH@NYI - rare inter conference late season game with playoff implications for both, should be a good one Tor/mtl can be big. Tb may jump them

true, I doubt it, but it's true.

If WAS makes it and their goal differential stays similar to what it is now (-40) I wonder if they will be the team with the worst goal differential to ever make the playoffs.

As it stands it seems like some MET team will make the playoffs with negative goal differential.

Between NYI (-25), WAS (-40), and PHI (-19) - at least one likely gets in. DET, from the ATL is currently +1, so in theory they could get in with negative goal differential, but it's not likely.

blows a 3 goal lead vs TBL (4-1), but have enough poise to come back and win 5-4.

Three more points for Kucherov. I think the Ross race is done, but who knows.

temporarily (at least) in WC2 spot (and in striking distance of MET3). Sort of miraculous if they hold on.

Bob Grove
@bobgrove91
Pens were 9 points out of a playoff spot after games of March 27, when there were still 22 days left in the regular season. Since Sid entered NHL, the farthest any team who made the playoffs was out of them with 22 days to play was Colorado in 2018-19 (5 points out).

FLA in OT to basically clinch ATL1 (5 pts lead with 4 remaining for each team).

Only real competition for NYR for EC1, but I think NYR have a significant edge. Up 1, a game in hand and easier schedule (two NYI, one PHI, one MTL and one OTT).

In comment 16458944 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

FLA in OT to basically clinch ATL1 (5 pts lead with 4 remaining for each team). Only real competition for NYR for EC1, but I think NYR have a significant edge. Up 1, a game in hand and easier schedule (two NYI, one PHI, one MTL and one OTT).

Yeah was hoping for Bos to get no more than 1 today.

But this would be a huge win for the Isles tonight. Didn't look dominant against Chicago and Columbus and have a good Predators team tonight. Place should have a great atmosphere

for NYI.

With TOR win I think the flipping of TBL to ATL3 is off the table. Obviously not mathematically but TOR is up 4 with 1 game in hand.

must wins tomorrow for WAS and DET in winnable games.

Losses could be the death blow.