Author Topic: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe  (Read 285221 times)

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Offline Adrock

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I thought the menacing red eye was a tongue at first so now all I see is a happy snake.

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #426 on: August 03, 2020, 03:06:07 AM »
The Stanley Cup Qualifiers are underway, and even though we're just one game in, and not even that for some teams, there have been some surprising results so far. My Flyers beating Boston today wasn't exactly shocking given how they played them during the regular season, but just how thoroughly they did it was surprising. Carter Hart was nearly flawless in goal in his first career playoff game, with Boston's lone goal not being his fault, and the Flyers depth really showed, with the 4th line scoring two goals. They're picking up right where they left off as the hottest team in the NHL when things shut down.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #427 on: August 03, 2020, 11:46:48 AM »
Canucks lost game one.  Waiting months to see hockey again and five years to see your team in the playoffs (though maybe I should write it as "playoffs" for the qualifying round) only for them to get shutout is very disappointing.  In the context of a whole season the odd shutout isn't that deflating as you've probably watched lots of games throughout.  But I realized as the third period was wrapping up that there was no moment where I was excited and cheering and after such a delay that was a real letdown.  The Canucks fell behind pretty early on as well so that initial beginning-of-game buzz wore off quickly.

Hockey works quit well without an audience.  Baseball is uncomfortably silent if crowd noise isn't piped in but hockey is very loud on it's own with all the skating sounds and voices echoing.  The game sounded like if you went to your kid's game and the audience is just the small group of parents.

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #428 on: August 07, 2020, 08:21:13 PM »
Lol, Penguins.

EDIT: Lol, Oilers.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2020, 10:13:33 PM by NWR_insanolord »
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #429 on: August 08, 2020, 02:21:37 AM »
In my work playoff pool we're including the qualifying round and the round robins.  So a safe strategy would be to only pick players from the round robin teams because they will stick around at least to the first round of the "real" playoffs.  But I was thinking that maybe they wouldn't try as hard and the teams in the qualifying round would score more because their games were more important.  Plus the goal is to pick who goes all the way so if I thought a team was good enough to do so I should pick players from that team regardless.  And my thinking also was that some weak teams that were not going to make the playoffs pre-covid would be matched up with clearly superior teams.

I had some players from Pittsburgh, Nashville and Edmonton - 10 players from my 20 player roster - and they all got eliminated tonight.  That's all the players I had that were in the qualifying round as I split my roster evenly between that and players from round robin teams.  Well it looks like my strategy was the shits as I'm now probably doomed after one bad night.

But on the bright side my Canucks made it to the next round and can be considered a proper playoff team.  I didn't pick them in the pool because I never do.  If I did then if (or let's be honest, WHEN) they get eliminated it then is a double-shot of bummers - my team is out and my playoff pool is screwed.

Offline Shaymin

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #430 on: August 08, 2020, 08:26:54 AM »
Today we are all Peter Mansbridge.

Though really, peak Leafs is blowing game 5 the same way they blew game 3. I think the "beat Columbus, go to the Finals" thing ends this year.
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #431 on: August 08, 2020, 10:47:14 PM »
#1 seed, baby! Bring on the Canadiens, and everybody else, Carter Hart's got ice in his veins and all the other kids are up for this too!
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #432 on: August 12, 2020, 10:54:44 PM »
That was a little more nerve-wracking than I was hoping for, but a win's a win. Carter Hart, who turns 22 tomorrow, out-dueled Carey Price, his idol growing up, in game 1. Flyers got annihilated territorially in the 2nd period but managed to answer right back 16 seconds after Montreal leveled it, and that turned out to be the difference.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #433 on: August 13, 2020, 11:20:33 AM »
That was a little more nerve-wracking than I was hoping for, but a win's a win. Carter Hart, who turns 22 tomorrow, out-dueled Carey Price, his idol growing up, in game 1. Flyers got annihilated territorially in the 2nd period but managed to answer right back 16 seconds after Montreal leveled it, and that turned out to be the difference.

Carey Price is old enough to be another player's idol growing up?!  But I'm older than Price so that must mean...

Canucks won game one so I'm happy.  In the first two periods they would get a lead and then let the Blues tie it up like a minute later due to a boneheaded turnover but in the third they got that out of their system and put them away decisively.  They were never behind so I didn't spend any time stressed out of my mind (watching sports where you care about the team is surprisingly stressful for something that's supposed to be fun).

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #434 on: August 21, 2020, 10:31:49 PM »
That was an incredibly ugly series, but the Flyers survive. Montreal is just a bad matchup for this team, they struggled against them in the regular season too, but they got it done. The Flyers have gone from a trendy pick to win it all to people completely writing them off after that performance, but I think they'll look a lot better going forward, even if the Islanders aren't the best matchup either. The Habs' speed is what really gave them fits, though, and that and the opposing goaltending should be less of an issue.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #435 on: August 27, 2020, 07:16:47 PM »
Demonstration of the Power of the Platform people.

This is why the NBA should continue in my opinion (and i realize that's the opposite of my oiriginal position, but I explained it in the NBA thead)

NHL post pones ALL GAMES on Thurs & Fri in solidarity

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #436 on: August 27, 2020, 10:39:30 PM »
Evander Kane, one of the most high profile black players in the NHL, was hitting the league pretty hard yesterday for their lack of response to this issue. Glad to see they've come around.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #437 on: August 27, 2020, 11:13:08 PM »
Evander Kane, one of the most high profile black players in the NHL, was hitting the league pretty hard yesterday for their lack of response to this issue. Glad to see they've come around.

I saw that. But that wouldn't have happened if the NBA didn't flex it's influence.
and the NBA wouldn't have had the balls or support to do that, had it not been for the immense uprising of support from the community at large.

This is the time we've been waiting for to finally demand the change that we've been "promised".
I'm glad we've come far enough as country to gather such support from all walks of life to demand that we all be seen as equal and all have the same rights and privileges as the next person.

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #438 on: September 04, 2020, 12:33:11 AM »
The Flyers were down in the series 3-1 and facing elimination. Then they won game 5 in overtime. Now tonight they won game 6 in double overtime to force game 7 on Saturday night after both Western Conference semifinal series have their own game 7s tomorrow. A fun stretch of games for neutrals.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #439 on: September 04, 2020, 01:36:27 PM »
Double game sevens!  Unfortunately I won't be able to watch it tonight.  D'oh!  No way I could avoid spoilers either.  If the Canucks win then I'll hear horns honking and if I don't hear them that it will mean they lost.

All things considering though, I wouldn't have expected this group of players to be one game away from the conference finals in their first playoffs so whatever happens there is lots of optimism for the future.  Hughes has really impressed me and he's a rookie so he should only get a better.  Pettersson and Horvat have been great.  Boeser was disappointing me at first but he's picked it up the last few games.  I was really happy with Markstrom's goaltending and was worried that he would leave in free agency.  But he's been "unfit to play" (ie: presumably has covid) and Thatcher Demko has come in and killed it.  So maybe we can let Markstrom leave if his asking price is too high.  Though I notice Demko gives up a lot of rebounds which hasn't gotten him burned yet but is something I hope he improves on over time.

The Canucks seem quite overmatched against Vegas so I'm blown away they were able to force a game seven.  It's a nice situation because the pressure is on the Knights.  They lose and it's a choke.  Vancouver loses and it's an underdog team going down after a strong effort.

Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #440 on: January 13, 2021, 08:04:36 PM »
Hockey season is back and in the first game of the year the Flyers beat the Penguins 6-3, so take that, Khush!
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #441 on: January 13, 2021, 11:49:27 PM »
Hahaha! Pittsburgh teams on a losing streak right now. Good thing I forgot about the game and just played SNES games instead. However, this reminds me of something I was going to suggest to you a couple days ago and change the Honk!/Honk!! system to Browns/Steelers. You got the admin powers. You should be taking advantage of things like that!
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #442 on: January 14, 2021, 03:37:12 AM »
They play again on Friday, so I've got a chance for 4 in a row.

Beyond just the win, tonight's game was super promising for the Flyers. Going into the season there were a few things that seemed like they could be the difference between the Flyers being a good-to-really-good team and being a true Stanley Cup contender, and at least for one game a lot of them look pretty nice. Getting Nolan Patrick back after missing all of last season was big, and tonight he had a goal and generally looked good. Improving the power play after an awful showing in last year's playoffs was hugely important, and they went 2 for 3. And Joel Farabee showed some signs of a potential breakout season coming in, then scored 4 points tonight. All in all a very nice start.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #443 on: February 16, 2022, 09:43:03 PM »
Now I'm no fan of the Philadelphia Flyers but, man!, are they starting to win me over this season. A 10 game losing streak which they later followed up with a 13 game losing streak?! Letting Crosby score his 500th goal against them! Be still my heart. They've got one more game against the Penguins this year and I hope they keep up this goodwill by losing once more and giving the Pens a 4-0 season sweep on them.
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Re: Hockey Discussion: The Leafs Would Like To Borrow Taylor Hall's Horseshoe
« Reply #444 on: February 16, 2022, 10:00:39 PM »
I'm just mad they took it to overtime last night. Beating the Penguins would have been fun, and they really should have given the lead they had, but if you're going to lose, lose in regulation. Can't be needlessly hurting our draft position like that.
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Crazy Long Term Bump!

My Flyers and Khush's Ducks just made a big trade. How you feeling about the Zegras deal, Khush, if you're still here?
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Offline Khushrenada

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Ha! Yeah, of course, I'm still here. I'm still banning spambots every once in awhile.

I've thought of bumping this thread a few times. Like in back in 2023 when the Penguins playoff streak came to end and for the first time in almost 20 years (specifically the lockout year), neither the Ducks or the Penguins were in the playoffs so I didn't really have a team to follow. And now that has continued with neither Ducks or Penguins in 2024 or 2025.

And you know what? I've kind of found it to be a relief. The amount of hockey I was watching say back 15 years ago in which I was subscribed to Center Ice and watching most of the regular season games for those two clubs and then all the playoff games to now in which I watched like 4 games in the past season is a big change. I'd say COVID was sort of the catalyst that accelerated the change. Sure the NHL did a playoff format of some kind but, to me, that was alost season and one wonders what might have been had it been able to continue uninterrupted like that. Then the bubble season the following year was just so-so and awkward. 2022 got me kind of excited again but then the playoffs began in which Penguins faced off against the Rangers and it was just so aggravating as the Rangers proceeded to injure like a third of the Penguins team through the first 4 games. The Penguins were forced to use their third string goalie and they were still dominating and winning with a 3-1 series lead. Finally, the Rangers were able to injure and concuss Crosby and that finally allowed them to start winning and they won the series thanks to their work of depleting the Penguins line-up. I was so glad to see the Rangers implode this year and those players sent packing all over the league.

That experience also brings me to another point in why no playoffs has been a relief. The realization of how invested I'd become. All these highs and lows over something that I have no say in or can affect the outcome in anyway. The playoff losses would leave me feeling down for days. And ultimately, the longer you are a fan then the more losses you are going to see. The Penguins made the playoffs for 16 years. 4 of those runs made it to the Finals with 3 wins. 25% of the time, the team made it to the Finals. Yet they were also knocked out in the first round 8 times or 50% of the time. In a way, that seems right for the odds. Technically, every series is 50/50 of whether a team will win or lose. Overall, the Penguins lost about 82% of the time they were in the Playoffs. That's a lot of time spent watching a team lose. That's a lot of time I had committed to watching a negative outcome and be disappointed or upset at the result. Even if you go by the regular season, a team making the playoffs may usually win around 45 games. In an 82 game season, that's about 55% of the time they are winning but it's still 45% of the time they are losing which is close to 50/50. Following the regular season of a team and it will likely be about half the time you are watching them lose which, again, seems like a lot of time spent on something just to get a negative outcome. (And for some quick Ducks math, let's start with 2003 to present. They made the playoffs 12 times and won 1 cup which means they lost in the playoffs about 92% of the time.)

And I haven't even touched on the whole referee situation and how the NHL is unable to find consistency in its rulings which is further frustration in being a fan. In any case, by drifting away from hockey more and using that time watching games doing other things like playing games or watching movies or reading or whatever else has felt like better time spent. As a further aside, instead of the NHL Playoffs, I actually got more excited about the Ice Hockey World Championships when it turned out Crosby was going to be playing with Fleury and MacKinnon for team Canada. That seemed like it could be a fun event to see Crosby reunited with Fleury and maybe winning one more championship together along with his Nova Scotia buddy in MacKinnon. Instead, they got upset and knocked out in their first quarterfinal game. Cue the Futurama quote!



Now with all of that griping and wall of text information you didn't ask about done, let's actually get to the question Insanolord did ask. How do I feel about the trade? It's a mixed feeling. Honestly, I've watched very little of the Ducks play in the past 5 years. Like maybe 3 or 4 games of theirs. With them having been basement dwellers for so long, its' been hard to care much about the team. That said, when Zegras first joined the team, he brought a lot of attention to the Ducks and it created a hope that maybe this team would be competing again in the playoffs pretty soon like in 2 or 3 years depending on some other future trades or other rookies joining the team. However, that hope soon faded and just didn't hear or see many stories about Zegras after that rookie year aside from trade rumours. Ultimately, my take is just that Zegras represented potential. Having not really seen him play much, it's hard for me to have an opinion on whether the Ducks should have tried to hold onto him longer or not. It's particularly vexing since it seems like the Ducks may finally be trying to take a step towards playoff contention again. It was a bit of a better season for them last year. The Quenneville hiring suggests management may be thinking there's a possibility that this team can get to the playoffs and is hoping his coaching experience can do that. I'd like to have seen what Zegras could do on a playoff contending team and a bit of a stronger roster. It's untapped potential now. No idea what difference he could have made with the team in the playoffs or if it was more of a contender. At the same time, he's gone through some injuries so maybe that could have an effect on him. I think of Matt Murray and how much his career got derailed from a couple concussions and injuries. Accumulated injuries can take their toll on a person and stunt their ability.

It's also been discussed how Zegras is more suited as a center but the Ducks have been playing him on the wing because they feel they've got two other players stronger as the first and second line centers. To me, that's one of the dumbest reasons to trade a player. That suggests a failing by the coaching of the team. You know what helped make the Penguins a dominant team during 2007 - 2012? It was having 3 top centers in Crosby, Malkin and Staal. Jordan Staal was their third line center but that wasn't a knock on his ability. It was just where he fell compared to Crosby and Malkin. Staal's been the top line center with the Hurricanes for like a decade after they traded him in 2012 which just shows the crazy riches the Penguins had during that time when it came to centers. After they traded Staal, they were much weaker. If Crosby was injured, they'd move Malkin to the top line and Staal to the second and keep rolling. If Malkin was injured, again, Staal could go to the second line. Having multiple talented centers is a good thing. The Penguins managed to find some good centers for their third and fourth line with Bonino and Cullen in 2016 and were able to get back to back Stanley Cups with them. When they lost Bonino and Cullen in those positions, they struggled again to find suitable replacement centers for those lines and its been diminishing returns ever since. Why the Ducks couldn't have Zegras as a third line center if that is his better position is beyond me. Just indicative of the team failing the player.

Ultimately, whether this was a smart trade or not will be decided in the next few seasons on how things end up for the players. Did the Ducks give up too soon? Is having older Rangers players a better choice than keeping a younger player with more potential? Zegras seems happy enough about the trade and reconnecting with some friends of his on the Flyers. Maybe that gets him motivated and producing more. I don't know. Ducks have a weapon in cap space that they keep holding onto. At some point, they may finally make some moves and spend big on some other established talented players and a player like that may make up for whatever they would have had with keeping Zegras. I just don't get what the urgency was for the Ducks in needing to trade Zegras now.
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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It seems like the Ducks were just done with him to trade him for what amounts to a pretty low return. I think you'll like Poehling, you probably remember him from the Penguins but he's turned himself into a very good bottom 6 center. The Flyers desperately needed players with high end skill, though, particularly at center, so this feels like a swing worth taking. If he can bounce back it'd be huge, and if he ends up playing with Michkov that could result in some crazy highlight reel plays (on both ends, since neither of them seem all that interested in defense).
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