NFT: NHL Opening Day (North America One at Least)

re-ups in FLA for 8 years.

It seems that so few players hit FA anymore. I like that, but in some ways I also don't.

extends Ullmark 4 years. 4 years 8.25M AAV.

But to me goalies are like relief pitchers. Not crazy about giving them long term deals because they are so inconsistent year to year. That's a lot of $ to budget to Ullmark. Then again sometimes like QB hell in football, teams find themselves in goalie hell like the Leafs have in the past although they're hoping Woll is the long term answer.

Peter Baugh
@Peter_Baugh
NHL players by nationality, per the league:

🇨🇦: 297
🇺🇸: 200
🇸🇪: 66
🇷🇺: 47
🇫🇮: 38
🇨🇿: 22
🇨🇭: 9
🇸🇰: 8
🇩🇪: 7
🇱🇻: 5
🇩🇰: 4
🇧🇾: 2
🇳🇴: 2
🇦🇺: 1
🇦🇹: 1
🇫🇷: 1
🇳🇱: 1
🇸🇮: 1

particularly in the US.

Sportsnet
@Sportsnet
Joseph Woll will miss the Leafs' season opener against the Canadiens due to lower-body tightness, with the team keeping him out for precautionary measures.

Anthony Stolarz will get the start in net.

on the PP, Dach to Slavkofsky to Caufield. MTL up 1-0

Hope to see a lot of that this year.

what a performance.

48 save shutout.

TOR was all over MTL all game, hitting crossbars, posts, and the big goalie.

NHL record for most saves in a season opening shutout (ok obscure, but still a record).

1st time TOR was shutout in like 3+ years, I believe ending the longest streak in the league.

Caufield with the only goal in the game (mentioned above) while sporting the #13 jersey in honor of his hero Johnny Hockey.

cool ceremonies. Still nothing in hockey like opening night in Montreal. Devs with their North American opener vs Toronto. That's a tough spot for the Leafs- back to back road games to start the season especially with Woll out.

In comment 16642385 Stu11 said:

Quote:

cool ceremonies. Still nothing in hockey like opening night in Montreal. Devs with their North American opener vs Toronto. That's a tough spot for the Leafs- back to back road games to start the season especially with Woll out.

Absolutely. MTL and Vegas the best pre-games. Vegas knows how to entertain, MTL knows how to do hockey. I'd pay admission just to see the openings.

18 teams in action (obviously, lol).

Key games include:

BOS vs MTL (I am going to BOS vs MTL on 12/1 when the B's celebrate their centennial).

NJD vs TOR
NYI vs UTA
OTT vs FLA
SJS vs STL - Macklin Celebrini first game.

Tristan Jarry allowed 6 goals to the Rangers. 6.

And there are 5 starting goalies with a worse save percentage.

1 game, 2 pts, trip to the IR.

week to week. No Tkachuk tonight for FLA either. Maybe take the money line on BUF to get their 1st win.

Boone Jenner could be out for the year.

is going to be good, really good, if he can avoid heavy contact.

His pucks skills IMO are as good as Quinn Hughes, maybe better.

MTL still has structural problems in the D-zone. They sustain long, really long, periods of being hemmed in their zone and their breakout doesn't take advantage of their personnel IMO.

Also Cole Caufield has 4 goals in 3 games to start the year.

Connor Bedard won the battle of the Connor's.

4 games today, no one's teams on here AFAIK

Colorado has given up 14 goals in 2 games, Edmonton has been out scored 11-2 to start the season at home.
Really touching and emotional tribute to Johnny Hockey in Calgary last night before the home opener.

....

StatsCentre
@StatsCentre
Worst goal differential recorded by a team through their first 3 home games played in a season - NHL history:
-12 by the 2024-25 #Oilers (Thanks to their 4-1 defeat to the visiting Flames tonight)
-12 by the 1961-62 Bruins
-12 by the 2000-01 Blue Jackets
-11 by seven other teams

6 games.

Kicking off with a matinee at the Garden (the Boston one) with a rematch of opening week BOS vs FLA - now no Barkov.

NJD hosts the Utes, also in a matinee.

an original 6 matchup at the "other" garden NYR vs DET

LAK visit OTT (also a matinee)

Habs host Crosby and the Pens
NYI travel to the winless Avs

And turned it into a bunch of early season matinees over the past decade or so. I remember I took my daughter to one in like 2010 when she was like 6 it was the first game she ever went to. The called it kids opening day or something like that.

In comment 16646548 Stu11 said:

Quote:

And turned it into a bunch of early season matinees over the past decade or so. I remember I took my daughter to one in like 2010 when she was like 6 it was the first game she ever went to. The called it kids opening day or something like that.

that's awesome, they should do more of these. like all games during Christmas break should be matinees and focus on kids. There are always a lot of kids at games in Boston at matinees - probably like that everywhere.

game in BOS. One I thought BOS would win with no Barkov or Tkachuk, but they came up short.

Those two teams hate each other. It was obvious from puck drop.

Fun rivalry in an era without too many.

and OTT each with a TD and XP, tied up at 7 in a real old fashioned goaltenders duel.

6 different goal scorers for OTT, 5 for LAK.

still 5+ left.

Seamus Casey stealing Dougie Hamilton or Luke Hughes job as PP1 QB.

Devils hand the Utes their 1st loss as the Devils move to 4-1 on the young season.

get the extra point with the 2-point conversion and win 8-7 in OT.

Totally shut down the hot Utah team 3-0. Can't see Casey going down any time soon. Got his 3rd today yet another snipe. Nice start to the season.

But getting Allen at the deadline to set year is huge too. Gives them a real steady dependable vet 2nd goalie.

In comment 16647369 Stu11 said:

Quote:

But getting Allen at the deadline to set year is huge too. Gives them a real steady dependable vet 2nd goalie.

perfect role for Allen. If he's not your #1 like he was forced to be for a couple years in MTL he is a great backup. Just hope you don't need him for long stretches and he will be a great complement to Markstrom.

on full display vs PIT. Stuck in their zone all night.

Lost to the pens 6-3 (ENG) it was close than the score.

NYI rolling, Avs reeling, Isles leave Denver with a convincing 6-2 win to get even on the season while Avs remain winless with a minus 10 goal differential. I caught some of this game, Avs are all out of sorts. Sorokin played well after giving up a goal 1 min in that he had absolutely not shot at - Av's rookie got behind the D takes a cross ice feed to an open net. Tsyplakov is a steal. Very noticeable.

9 games today including:

CAR vs NJD (Devils 6th game, Hurricanes 2nd)

the other 8 are mostly not teams with fans on here. Maybe WAS vs LVG - isn't Tony a fan of WAS and he checks in the hockey threads every now and then.

I don't know how many teams have scored 6+ goals in games thus far but it's more than a few.

In comment 16648054 Greg from LI said:

Quote:

I don't know how many teams have scored 6+ goals in games thus far but it's more than a few.

4 out of 12 teams yesterday scored 6 or more. One lost. lol.

That's get the coach canned material there.

Maybe expanding it a bit, to either 6+ goals by one team or teams combining for more than 8 goals in the game

10/9: 6-0, 6-0, 6-5, 8-4
10/10: 6-4, 6-3, 5-4, 5-4
10/11: none
10/12: 6-5, 6-3, 6-4, 5-4
10/13: none
10/14: 8-7, 6-2, 6-3

Just seems like a lot, particularly to see two teams scoring 8 in the first week of the season. You have to go back to the '80s to find anything like that, I'd bet.

winning without Barkov and Tkachuk. Spencer Knight with his first win in almost 2 years (substance abuse/player assistance program).

Goalie goal in MIN as Gustafsson ices the game.

Ovi joins the 700/700 club as Caps win

Devils upended by CAR

Kraken put up a TD on the preds, with 4 3rd period goals.

Oilers off the schneid, Flames remain unbeaten, Stars win in a SO.

Just two unbeaten teams (regulation) in the East. TBL and NYR.

In the West, DAL, WIN and CAL remain perfect on the season, while LAK and MIN haven't lost in regulation.

Crosby point 1600, 1601 and 1602

Malkin 500 goals

and some commentary by me

Crosby the 10th player in NHL history with 1600 points. the last one to reach the milestone was Jagr (2011). Crosby 5th fastest to reach the milestone behind only Gretzky, Lemieux, Dionne and Jagr. Gretzky did it in a ridiculous 667 games. Gretzky averaged around a 2.4 ppg pace for his first 8 years. lol.

Crosby had the lone assist on Malkin's 500th
and
Malkin had the lone assist on Crosby's 500th (Feb 2022)

Malkin:

Quote:

I work hard every day and people probably don't understand that sometimes it's not easy for me. But, it's a great story, Sid pass to me… it's amazing, I love it. Again, congrats to myself

In comment 16650007 BrettNYG10 said:

Quote:

Malkin: Quote: I work hard every day and people probably don't understand that sometimes it's not easy for me. But, it's a great story, Sid pass to me… it's amazing, I love it. Again, congrats to myself

Adding euros to the NHL made the game so much better in every way.

the Athletic has an article today with the demographic stats on all the players on all 32 teams.

youngest team, oldest team, tallest team, shortest team, heaviest team, lightest team, nationality breakouts, etc.


link - ( New Window )

22 teams in action including:

MTL vs LAK
OTT vs NJD
STL vs NYI
DET vs NYR

extended in DAL. 8x8.25 - good for the Rangers.

Igor is better, but not that much better and Otter is younger

2017 draft class is proving to be one of the best in recent memory.

Heiskanen
Oettinger
Robertson

still racking up points without Tkachuk and Barkov - Barkov back next week I believe, OTL in VAN.

light slate today.

just 3 games.

PIT vs CAR the closes to teams anyone on here cares about.

There has been little to no drama at the end. Increasingly it looks like Nemec may be the odd man out when Pesce is back not Casey. Casey is a case of a guy playing his way into a regular spot.

A pair of 6-4 games Thursday and 8-3 last night

of games, still not like last year where in the first week they had a day where every team played, but today we have 26 teams in action.

All 32 teams *will* be in action on Tuesday 10/22.

highlights for today:

TOR vs NYR - an early season match up of contenders. Woll should be back soon, not sure if he plays today though.

NJD vs WAS

NYI vs MTL

UTA vs BOS

DAL vs EDM (no one on here likes either team, but should be a battle of western conference contenders)


I will leave this post with Marc-Andre Fleury as McLovin from Superbad for Halloween. lol - he nailed this.

In comment 16650429 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

2017 draft class is proving to be one of the best in recent memory. Heiskanen Oettinger Robertson

Nill has been GM since 2013, usually future GMs harvest those gains.

I remember wanting the Rangers to fire Sather and hire Nill during the 04 lockout lol.

In comment 16652046 BrettNYG10 said:

Quote:

In comment 16650429 pjcas18 said: Quote: 2017 draft class is proving to be one of the best in recent memory. Heiskanen Oettinger Robertson Nill has been GM since 2013, usually future GMs harvest those gains. I remember wanting the Rangers to fire Sather and hire Nill during the 04 lockout lol.

Not just a one-draft wonder either.

Like the Rangers, the Stars have been contenders for a while, so they pick late.

His 2021 draft was awesome too with Wyatt Johnston (one of my favorite young players) and Logan Stankoven (another one of the mighty mite players like a Caufield).

Thomas Harley is a legit to pair D in the making (2019).

Roope Hintz is also one of my favorite players - grit/skill combo (2015 2nd).

I like most of his FA adds too.

Need to win though or he's an "almost got it done" type.

in net for MTL vs Varlamov for NYI.

Maybe no Slafkovsky (injured in practice).

in a 9 round shootout. Kind of entertaining game made entertaining by NYI power play woes. MTL was a parade to the box, but NYI, who did score an early PP goal, was not effective on the man advantage.

Varmy let in a late softie (unless it was tipped which I could not see) to send the game to OT, at which point maybe 1 min in MTL promptly took a high sticking PP (must have been their 3rd or 4th of the game) and wasted most of the OT.

PP MIN were 12 for NYI, 2 for MTL. Even though it didn't hurt them in terms of PP goals, MTL cannot play that undisciplined and expect to be in most games. It wears you out.

MTL did score on their lone PP, in the waning seconds of the 1st to cut the NYI lead to 2-1.

Everything Caufield is shooting now is going in (he was the beneficiary of the Varmy softie too - only thing I could see on that one is maybe his defenseman got in his way - not like a screen but more impeded him from "getting his net" or it was tipped/deflected - but no doubt he'd like that one back. Caufield has 6 goals on the young season.

Jets as the only undefeated team through two weeks, you win.

5-0-0. Beat the Pens today.

Other teams without a regulation loss?

NYR 4-0-1
MIN 3-0-2
CAL 4-0-1

Teams who are winless:
SJS 0-3-2
NSH 0-5-0 (wow)


best goal differentials:
WIN +16 (5 games)
NYR +14 (5 games)
DAL +9 (6 games)
CAL +8 (5 games)

worst goal differentials:
NSH -13 (5 games)
EDM -12 (6 games)
COL -11 (5 games)
SJS -11 (5 games)

Sharks, Avs, Ducks and Kings still to play today, so could change a little