NHL 2024/2025

Just learned that the ‘Ball’ sponsor for the Avs is the company that makes the popular mason jars.

I love learning new shit.
 
Well deserved win for the Avs, two best teams in the NHL for me so it was a worthy final.
 
It's something to see pro athletes that have been around many years, often over a decade, having never won the biggest prize in their sport finally get that championship win.
 
I'm really happy for my boy Artturi Lehkonen! He scored the series OT winner in the 3rd round last year, he scored the series OT winner in the 3rd round this year, and now he has scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal.

It's something to see pro athletes that have been around many years, often over a decade, having never won the biggest prize in their sport finally get that championship win.

This is the beauty of the Stanley Cup. Many players can spend nearly 15-20 years without ever coming close to winning it, but the joy is simply unmatched on their faces when the few ones finally win it for the first time to cap decades of hard work since childhood to get there.
 
Congrats to Lekhonen and the Avs. What a great season.

Commiserations you Tampa lot on here.
 
I'm really happy for my boy Artturi Lehkonen! He scored the series OT winner in the 3rd round last year, he scored the series OT winner in the 3rd round this year, and now he has scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal.



This is the beauty of the Stanley Cup. Many players can spend nearly 15-20 years without ever coming close to winning it, but the joy is simply unmatched on their faces when the few ones finally win it for the first time to cap decades of hard work since childhood to get there.
That’s why I was desperate for the series to get to a game 7. There is absolutely nothing better to watch than a game 7 for the Stanley Cup. The emotions are so visceral.
 
One thing that always gets me since the days past of Hockey Night in Canada on CBC (and now on Sportsnet) is that there is always a fantastic closing montage that shows great moments of the postseason. Makes you happy that hockey exists and yet makes you feel sad that hockey only comes back in October.



Now onto the NHL draft on July 7. Since the draft is hosted in Montreal this year, I will definitely be there to enjoy the viewing party and the speculations prior and during the draft. I have a feeling that we could see surprising picks or even trades.
 
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Sucks how long it is until meaningful games of sport are played by the NFL. I love baseball, but games in July & August are more on in the background than me glued to the screen (AL East games being the exception).
 
The NHL draft is happening in less than 24 hours, and I'm a nervous wreck right now. It's not that drafting 1st overall is bad, but drafting the right player for the Habs is really important to rebuild properly, especially with a new regime in place. There are wild debates everywhere among fans and among the media as to who will be drafted first overall. I would say go with the guy with the best sample of the last 3 years (Shane Wright, Kingston Frontenacs), but there are many people enamoured with the late comer who had very good Olympics and a really good World Championship for Slovakia although his club stats are low (Juraj Slafkovsky, TPS Turku).

I hope they will go for the centerman (Wright). No one can build a Cup-winning team without a deep middle lane.
 
The NHL draft is happening in less than 24 hours, and I'm a nervous wreck right now. It's not that drafting 1st overall is bad, but drafting the right player for the Habs is really important to rebuild properly, especially with a new regime in place. There are wild debates everywhere among fans and among the media as to who will be drafted first overall. I would say go with the guy with the best sample of the last 3 years (Shane Wright, Kingston Frontenacs), but there are many people enamoured with the late comer who had very good Olympics and a really good World Championship for Slovakia although his club stats are low (Juraj Slafkovsky, TPS Turku).

I hope they will go for the centerman (Wright). No one can build a Cup-winning team without a deep middle lane.

I think Shane Wright is the only correct choice here. Picking first is always a bit nervy because you have to get it right - this applies to a lot of the first round too but it’s especially crucial to not screw up the number one pick.

There are rumours the Habs might trade up from the 26th pick. Don’t know how they’ll package that move but it would be interesting to see.
 
I think Shane Wright is the only correct choice here. Picking first is always a bit nervy because you have to get it right - this applies to a lot of the first round too but it’s especially crucial to not screw up the number one pick.

There are rumours the Habs might trade up from the 26th pick. Don’t know how they’ll package that move but it would be interesting to see.
Exactly. My biggest fear about the possibility of drafting Slafkovsky is that we could repeat a similar mistake to 2018 when we went for the late comer (Jesperi Kotkaniemi) instead of the guy available who had a better record for the 3-year period (Brady Tkachuk). Choosing Kotkaniemi over Tkachuk is something I never digsted well, especially when Tkachuk is making the Habs pay every time that the Senators are in the way.

I think the 26th is about a very good bait that can be combined with someone else to move up in the draft. I can't wait to see what could happen with that one.
 
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This is what was missing from the NBA draft where Wojo (I think) was basically announcing the picks before the commissioner. Genuine shock

EDIT - Slovak 1-2! Who would have guessed that??
 
Romanov is gone. A player I really, really liked. A player thought we had for the foreseeable future. We still got our center, his name just isn’t Shane Wright.
 
Might need a wellness check on @RedDevilQuebecois.

I swear to you that it was mostly utter shock outside the Bell Centre (bar the pro-Slafkovsky minority) when the pick was announced. And then the New Jersey Devils and the Arizona Coyotes passed on Shane Wright, so much that I was wondering how reality can be stranger than the fiction seen in Draft Day (with Kevin Costner). Perhaps the first 3 teams may have seen something recently in Shane Wright that does not fit their needs nor their ethos. Perhaps Kent Hughes found something in that final interview with Slafkovsky that forced a change his mind. Some people pointed out at the glare that Wright gave at the Habs' brass when he received his Kraken jersey as a Bo Callahan moment. I guess only time will tell who drafted the better player, but I'm still in shock at the entire turn of events.

Romanov is gone. A player I really, really liked. A player thought we had for the foreseeable future. We still got our center, his name just isn’t Shane Wright.

I really feel sad for losing Romy too. :( I would have loved to see him grow further as a physical beast for us like Ben Chiarot was, but I guess he paid the price for us having so many promising LHDs in the system. We also have Arber Xhekaj, who is touted as another Ben Chiarot.

As for Kirby Dach, I will give him a chance. However, I will be very careful as his stats weren't groundbreaking with Chicago.
 
Must have been a terrible draft year if Slafkovsky went as number 1. In Finnish league he was one tenth of a player compared to Laine or Barkov and quarter of a player compared to Kakko or Lundell. Even Kemell, picked 17th, was better in Finnish league, albeit great in first half and poor after injury in the second half.

Sure Slafkovsky was great in the Olympics and good in WC, but rather underwhelming prospect for a number one pick. Of course, it is possible that he will have a great career, but on an average draft year he probably wouldn't be top 5.
 
Must have been a terrible draft year if Slafkovsky went as number 1. In Finnish league he was one tenth of a player compared to Laine or Barkov and quarter of a player compared to Kakko or Lundell. Even Kemell, picked 17th, was better in Finnish league, albeit great in first half and poor after injury in the second half.

Sure Slafkovsky was great in the Olympics and good in WC, but rather underwhelming prospect for a number one pick. Of course, it is possible that he will have a great career, but on an average draft year he probably wouldn't be top 5.

I know. Looking at his stats for TPS Turku (which is known to us in Quebec because it was Saku Koivu's team in Finland twice), no one was impressed at all by his performances against adults on a regular basis. Just like in football, we also know that performances for the national team doesn't count much if a player can't cut it with his club. The bad memory of drafting Jesperi Kotkaniemi over Brady Tkachuk still leaves a bad taste in our mouths.

In truth, COVID must have fecked a lot of things in the last year or more.
 
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I have no idea about who was the correct pick. Even scouts couldn't really agree because when you look at reports Nemec was likely the most talented player, then Wright, Cooley and Slafkovsky were the other members of a tight top 4.

I think that I would have gone for Wright and traded up from 26th. But Dash plus Slafkovsky is a decent gamble.
 
Very slow day for the Habs. Thank you very much, Bergevin, for shackling us with unmovable contracts before you got sacked.:mad::nono:
 
Very slow day for the Habs. Thank you very much, Bergevin, for shackling us with unmovable contracts before you got sacked.:mad::nono:

You expected a busy day? And outside of Gallagher and maybe Price, the other contracts are definitely movable.
 
You expected a busy day? And outside of Gallagher and maybe Price, the other contracts are definitely movable.

Then Hughes should have done a Chicago with those burdensome contracts (Hoffman, Armia, Drouin, Petry) before going for a re-arm that matches his vision. I personally want Nazem Kadri on board.
 
Then Hughes should have done a Chicago with those burdensome contracts (Hoffman, Armia, Drouin, Petry) before going for a re-arm that matches his vision. I personally want Nazem Kadri on board.

Wingers will leave because there is too much of them but no Hughes shouldn't a do a Chicago it's the dumbest thing done in the NHL in recent years. And why do you want Kadri? He won't be part of the team's future.
 
Wingers will leave because there is too much of them but no Hughes shouldn't a do a Chicago it's the dumbest thing done in the NHL in recent years. And why do you want Kadri? He won't be part of the team's future.
I want Kadri because our center line does not have much mileage in the NHL. I would feel far more comfortable if Kadri can resume that role he had in Colorado as one of the top 2 centermen. That would also be a good way to stick it to the people who got into the Pierre-Luc Dubois hype train; I just do not like Dubois' attitude going back to his junior days.
 
I want Kadri because our center line does not have much mileage in the NHL. I would feel far more comfortable if Kadri can resume that role he had in Colorado as one of the top 2 centermen. That would also be a good way to stick it to the people who got into the Pierre-Luc Dubois hype train; I just do not like Dubois' attitude going back to his junior days.

What is your goal though, outside of sticking it to people for having a different opinion? Because on one hand you tell me that Hughes should have done what Chicago did and on the other hand you say that you want the team to bring Kadri who if everything goes "well" would make the team good enough to miss on the best 2023 prospect but not good enough to be a playoff team. You are essentially proposing the worst of both worlds, a veteran that is not a game changer but good enough to put the Habs in the NHL purgatory.

Regarding Dubois I don't know where I stand, it seems that his attitude toward Columbus was strange but I don't really know what happened behind the scene. Now on paper he has the right age profile unlike Kadri.
 
Crazy day today. Glad we locked up Cernak, Corelli, &, most importantly, Sergechev.

Sergachev was key, can't believe he's still only 24 years old. Hopefully he's ready to take yet another step now that Mcdonagh is gone.
 
Sean Monahan traded with a 1st round pick from Calgary to Montreal. It's a move to clear cap space as Nazem Kadri signed with Calgary for 7 years.



However, today's big news is that Carey Price's recovery is not going well. He is placed on LTIR and it looks like that the Habs' 2021 Stanley Cup run has claimed a second major victim. I don't think that Carey will ever play again, and I feel both sad for him and disappointed that we missed on signing Marc-André Fleury knowing the risks about Carey's health. No matter what happens next, we definitely needed a stop-gap in net until a young goalie can pick up the torch.

 
Sergachev was key, can't believe he's still only 24 years old. Hopefully he's ready to take yet another step now that Mcdonagh is gone.

Pains me every time I remember we gave him up for Drouin.
 
Mason McTavish with the clutchest save of all time. This was in the gold medal game of the replayed 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton.



If that puck went in, Finland would have won the gold medal. That save off the goal line set things up for a Canadian golden goal moments later.
 
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JT Miller saga over then.

Another 7 years at 8 million a season...

I loved watching JT Miller last year and it sounds like the trade value wasn't quite there...but damn I hope he's one of those who adapts well to mid 30's hockey at that contract.

I see Tyler Motte is still UFA...that surprise anyone?
 
A legend retires. What a player he was for the Habs in his prime.