@StitchJones Thanks, man! Honestly, I had to listen to the game on the radio as I was at work so I didn’t see the play exactly but the way I see it is he was just doing what McDavid does any day of the week. It’s is role, especially on the Oilers 😂 I wouldn’t hang the game on him though. CAN had many opportunities to put it to bed but just couldn’t. He makes that play 9 times out of 10 but Hellebuyck wasn’t letting anything past him anyways.
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” -C.S. Lewis
@Metonymy well, another trade deadline is upon us my man. I actually love this each year. Its esp interesting for my Rangers, since they're are retooling and gonna be sellers. Any thoughts overall league wide with certain players, and/or for the Flames? I see they'll be moving Kadri this week. He was a great player, but up their in age. You guys need to get some picks or young assets I think right?
@StitchJones Well, it looks like things took off yesterday! I figured I knew where the Flames’ heads were at once Huberdeau went off for surgery but this trade pretty much confirms it: we’re in full rebuild mode now. I was expecting a Kadri or Coleman trade to kick things off so I’m a little taken off guard but honestly, it’s a good trade for both teams. I love what Weegar brought every night, Mammoth should be happy. I expect this is only the beginning, we’ll see what happens here. All quiet on the Rangers front?
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” -C.S. Lewis
@Metonymy I read about Calgary's new arena coming. It looks amazing. I'm surprised they'd want to go into a full rebuild with a new place to play. Gotta pay the bills. A winning team does just that, but we'll see.
Yes so far the Rags haven't made any moves and I'm starting to get worried, because our GM is a total clown and everyone has been clamoring for him to get fired the last 2 seasons. Our owner is a complete joke as well.
Trocheck is our biggest trade piece and was said to get a haul for him. He played great at the Olympics and is a high % faceoff winning Center, almost a pt per game. Centers are always needed. The original talk was that he was gonna get moved the next day after the olympic freeze lifted, but nothing yet. We got totally fleeced for Artemi panarin before olympics, but he had full control with his NMC. Trocheck wants to stay on the east coast and has a 16 team no trade. No west or canada or he will not waive.
So i'm starting to get worried that Drury is going to get fleeced again like in the Artemi deal. We are in a retool mode, not full rebuild. there's no way my team can get fleeced twice with its too biggest trade pieces, or we are royally F'd. Sorry for the book report. Once I start talking hockey i can go on forever hahaha. just be warned in future communications lmao
@StitchJones Full rebuild might’ve been a little strongly worded but I don’t think we’re far off. We’ve stocked up on picks, have some serious young talent in the wings, more than enough cap space and now another core veteran gone, with more likely to follow.
The arena is looking great but I’ll miss the saddledome. So many memories in such a ridiculous building.
No worries! I don’t mind listening. Wish I could add more to the conversation but I don’t follow outside of Calgary too closely. Never been good at BSing so I just speak to what I know and keep my ears open 😊
@Metonymy I totally get it. I guess it would be like if the Rags picked up and left MSG with all that history there. They would never do it, but I can see when there's history and nostalgia built there it would be missed.
Ive always been a Rangers fan since 10yo, I'm 51 now. But one of my fave non Rangers of all time is Jarome Iginla. Such a great player. That whole era with him, prime Jagr, Teemu Selanne, Pavel Bure, Alex Mogilny, to name a few was a great era. They kind of ushered in the modern hockey that guys like Mcdavid, Mackinnon and Matthews have perfected with a bit more speed overall and more dekes and dangles. When I was really young, I always loved Al Macinnis. He's another Flames player I liked growing up. He had one of the wickedest slap shots in the game.
actually check that. pregame they said he was playing, now the game started and he's out for "roster management decisions" lol drunk old Dave Maloney strikes again in pregame.
I'm really starting to get worried now man. Got the Rangers game on now. They have Trocheck in the lineup and the deadline is tomorrow. If there was a deal in place, or something working, they would be sitting him to keep him healthy. This sucks man. 2 years ago the Rangers were 2 wins away from making it to the cup finals. No shame in losing to Florida that year. But how do we go from that, to a dumpster fire 2 seasons in a row and w.o. really selling the roster off? So much disfunction in NY right now.
@StitchJones Exactly! And the whole ‘cowboy’ thing Calgary has going on just feeds into it that much more. Like MSG, it’s such an identity piece.
Iginla is a legend around these parts. Great player, great for the city and an absolute gentleman. You’ve got just over 10 years on me but I remember these players in their heyday. I still can’t believe Jagr rode out of the NHL with a flaming C on his chest. MacInnis was my favourite player growing up. It was a great time for CGY. Wolf is giving me Mike Vernon flashbacks these days.
Today is the day. Looks like any dysfunction didn’t bleed onto the ice last night for the Rangers, I’d say that was a decisive win over the Leafs!
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” -C.S. Lewis
@StitchJones Quiet day apparently, though this Strome trade seems odd. I don’t want to speak to soon but it feels like there’s more to this. If not, I’m really not sure what the point of it is. No Trocheck move. As a fan, what are your thoughts there?
Edit: well this makes more sense now. Looks like Kadri is headed back to Colorado.
@Metonymy I liked Strome's time with the rangers but that was awhile ago. I didn't follow him as a duck, so IDK what kind of player you are getting at this pt in his career. He's prob there to fill a void with Kadri moved, a roster spot, nothing more.
I'm furious with the Rangers right now. Maybe I got too built up with all the podcasts, analysts and media people saying "trocheck is gone by deadline, Rags should get a haul for him". They were not wrong; they could have gotten a haul for him. however, the asking price was apparently too high and no teams bit on it. Trocheck should stay all together in a perfect world. But the Rags have way too many unmovable players because of NMC's. So Tro was supposed to be the sacrificial lamb to get us some picks and prospects. So I have no idea where this team is going and I don't think the GM does either, so I am furious and bummed.
Yeah, nice win last night, but they are out of it. We need Mckenna like alot of other teams do. But esp now that the trade deadline is over and no assets were acquired. The only thing that will reverse my outlook on the team is if we land the #1 in the lottery somehow. If not, prob another "dark ages" is upon us here in NY.
I cannot stand all these NMC's in the sport. I think they are BS and don't belong. I could go on an hour rant on why I think they are BS and just handcuff teams that are paying these guys 10's of millions, but I'll spare you. hahahaha
@StitchJones Oh dude, I'm just seeing this one now. I see Calgary got my boy Brennan Othman (aka Otter). Otter was the 16th overall pick by the Rags in 2021, he was our top prospect for awhile and things just didn't pan out for him. But I need to tell you this. Ive followed him closely when he was up with the Rangers and also, I have the AHLtv package, so I watch the wolfpack games as well. I've seen pretty much every game of his. He was a complete beast in the OHL before draft. Hence the high draft pick.
I know that doesn't write a player in stone in the NHL. But you have reason for optimism. And I'll tell you why, the Rangers have totally mismanaged Otter from the start. they did the same to alot of their former 1st rounders. He productive enough in the AHL, and some of his goals showed glimpses of brilliance. But it didn't translate on the Rangers. But the key thing is, he was sorely mismanaged. The Rangers last two coaches Lavy and Sully do not like younger guys. Otter was our top prospect, yet he was always buried on the 4th line, only getting 9mins of ice per night, playing with totaly trash line mates during two tanking type seasons and no PP time. Constantly called up, brought down, called up over and over. How is that gonna develop a player? And all that did was also trash his confidence. Its no wonder he didn't work for us. Not the kids fault.
I still think he has a high ceiling. He may fail, we'll see. But he def needed a change of scenery. I wish you guys the best with him and hope you bring him along. I would love for him to turn out to be a regular in your top6 at some point and make the Rangers look silly.
@StitchJones Turned out to be a busier day than initially thought. Sounds like similar mismanagement to how we dealt with Sam Bennett. I’m still upset about how we handled him here but am happy to see the success he’s had in Florida. Hopefully this goes better. Conroy’s continuing to prove himself as a very competent GM and I like Huska so we’ll see. I don’t know much about Battaglia but hopefully that works out for you. Sounds like you could use some good news! It’s hardly comforting, but at least you’re not a Devils fan.
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” -C.S. Lewis
@Metonymy Yeah I tried looking into Battaglia. I know he's just gonna be turning 20 this month and is a young prospect like Otter. The whole trade is sort of puzzling. But the only element I see is maybe Otter/Rags agreed he needs a change of scenery. Or we don't know what happens behind the scenes. He might have requested a trade. How Calgary got on board is beyond me. I guess they didn't think too highly of Battaglia, even though he's still an unknown, but I'm willing to bet Conroy is detailed enough to understand what the Rags did to mishandle Otter and saw the ceiling.
Otter is an abrasive type player, hits alot, goes to the dirty areas and battles, in on the forecheck. But the kid has a wicked freakin shot man. Its just hard to use your shot when you are on the 4th line playing with scrubs. I mean bro, every shift out there, him and his line mates were hemmed into the Def zone 95% of the time. How are you supposed to utilize a top prospects strengths, when you deploy him on line4, with bums for 9mins a game and they are on Def the whole shift. I mean am I crazy here, is it me, or??? lmao
@Ravix Dude… not too bad of a debut, eh? He started off cold but I’d say he played fairly well and the Celtics should feel properly like contenders now. It’s just one game against the pitiful punching bag Mavericks, but I’m no longer concerned that JT will ruin the chemistry
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution honestly! The missed dunk was hilarious, but it was like that kind of lifted all the nervous energy he had shooting. I've never seen someone settle so quickly into a rhythm after such a long time out in any sport. And even before then his passing was super crisp. Like, we are not a great passing team technically, even White who averages about 8 assists lately can pass a little lazy and telegraph it at times, but the ball was zipping so fast from Tatum's hands, noticably sharper than the team overall, so there is no doubt his brain was up to game speed right away in terms of his reads and execution.
The lineup that ended the game was kind of scary (they didn't stay on long as they blew the game open) but Tatum, Brown, White, Pritchard and Queta to end a game is pretty scary now Queta has advanced so much as a starting center. 4 ball handlers that are also 4 shooters, one screener/roller/dunker. The lineup is spacing bliss, and the floor was so open. All 4 ball handlers can go and get a bucket if needed, teams can't focus on stopping one or two guys, they have to stop all 4 at once and even then Queta can just play the 2 man game with anyone for a quick 2v1.
3 tough games coming up though vs Cleveland, San Antonio and OKC! And it may be too much to do too soon with the playoffs not far away. Teams defend extra hard in the playoffs, but there should be chances to score on every key possession with this set-up, and that is all you can ask for. Interesting to see if we can still defend at an elite level as we started Hauser rather than Baylor or Hugo (Walsh was out, but Scheierman has moved ahead of him recently anyway) and I still think starting with a pesky defender adds more than all 3 coming off the bench. But then again, Hauser getting open looks = money most of the time too, so we could feasibly get fast scoring starts that way. And as he is player one on the report of who not to leave open, it can give Tatum or Brown an open lane or 1v1 match up.
Fun to watch, regardless. My expectations are the same as the start of the year: enjoy the ride, see what happens.
Brown has gone so cold from the midrange recently, so we do need to see that efficiency rise up, but he has been hitting more threes, so it kind of balances out. It just means more missed shots which is always a risk, but then Joe got them rebounding well this year, so 🤷♂️
Joe turning our biggest weaknesses into strengths in the space of 4 games at the start of the year is literally insane, by the way. I do not understand how they did it.
And remember... this is a team that shed 380 million of contracts and got under the tax exemption thing and can still grow from this baseline if that is what they decide to do 🤯
Did you get to watch the game, or was it just extensively covered nationally because of the marquee nature of the game/return?
@Ravix I didn’t get to watch it live. I had intended to but forgot that since it’s an East Coast game it’s earlier tip off and didn’t get to it so had to settle for highlights.
The Spurs (now gradually becoming my focus team) had a crazy one last night too. Came back from 25 pt deficit to beat the Clippers. They’ve won 14 of their last 15, including beating Pistons twice and Thunder once in that stretch. In fact they’re 3-1 against the Thunder this year. Could next Tuesday’s game possibly be a Finals preview?! 😅 It’s going to be a blast to see the new Celtics with Tatum against the upstart Wemby and his minions.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@StitchJones From what I’m gathering, Battaglia had a fantastic first season in the OHL was fantastic but had seen a drop off this season due to a log jam in his age group. Moving him should be great for his development and you potentially have a great player on your hands as well. I love when a player has some of that old school game in their play style, not enough of it in the game anymore in my opinion. Looking forward to seeing what Otter can bring to the table!
“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” -C.S. Lewis
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