Disappointing Kaprizov got injured but as long as they make the playoffs, I'm not sure how much it matters as long as he and the vast majority of the team are at or near 100% healthy in postseason.
I cannot stand the current NHL playoff format that forces you to get out of your division and it needs to change.
If the NFL collapsed their divisions like this and did something similar, folks would be incensed at a much broader scale.
@estang said:
Disappointing Kaprizov got injured but as long as they make the playoffs, I'm not sure how much it matters as long as he and the vast majority of the team are at or near 100% healthy in postseason.
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Hopefully he'll be at 100% for the playoffs. It's frustrating that the NHL doesn't really tell you much about what's wrong. "Lower body injury" is all they are saying.
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I cannot stand the current NHL playoff format that forces you to get out of your division and it needs to change.
If the NFL collapsed their divisions like this and did something similar, folks would be incensed at a much broader scale.
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I guess this could be an advantage for some teams and a disadvantage for others. The Wild have been eliminated in the first round lately, and after that I don't follow as close.
Despite the fact that the Wild are playing at a top 6 level, points wise, I don't think they have the depth to make a deep playoff run. For that to happen, ALL their players would have to be healthy and have a hot goalie too.
Next year they have almost $15M more to spend on players. A good chunk of that will go to Kirill, but there should be enough left over for a couple of nice free agents. Like a lot of teams, they could use a great center!
GO WILD!
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
Next year they have almost $15M more to spend on players. A good chunk of that will go to Kirill, but there should be enough left over for a couple of nice free agents. Like a lot of teams, they could use a great center!
GO WILD!
yeah but the Faber extension kicks in next season where he'll go from making $900k to $8.5 mill, Middleton's contract nearly doubles to $4.35 mill + Rossi is an RFA. So that will take up a large chunk of that. Perhaps a buyout of Spurgeon's inflated $7.5 mill might be able to get you something if you don't think Rossi can be a #1 even though he's at 0.88 points per game right now. One of JT Miller or Elias Pettersson is going to be dealt soon. Don't think the Wild can really pay Rossi, Ericksson-Ek + Trenin is making over $3 mill and then pay a top center without dealing one of them.
Next year they have almost $15M more to spend on players. A good chunk of that will go to Kirill, but there should be enough left over for a couple of nice free agents. Like a lot of teams, they could use a great center!
GO WILD!
yeah but the Faber extension kicks in next season where he'll go from making $900k to $8.5 mill, Middleton's contract nearly doubles to $4.35 mill + Rossi is an RFA. So that will take up a large chunk of that. Perhaps a buyout of Spurgeon's inflated $7.5 mill might be able to get you something if you don't think Rossi can be a #1 even though he's at 0.88 points per game right now. One of JT Miller or Elias Pettersson is going to be dealt soon. Don't think the Wild can really pay Rossi, Ericksson-Ek + Trenin is making over $3 mill and then pay a top center without dealing one of them.
Nice win last night!
Damn! I really miss capfriendlydotcom! Is there another site to go to that shows salaries and cap space?
I like Rossi and think he is a fine second line center. He's on the small side, but he had great puck skills and plays well defensively. Like just about everybody who gets on a line with Kaprizov (see Ryan Hartman), his scoring has jumped this year. Speaking of Kirill, he's having surgery and will miss at least a month. Hope this isn't going to be a recurring problem, he's a little guy.
Spurgeon is a great defender (another little guy), but he seems to be wearing down and getting hurt a lot. Not sure how they can get help with his salary, but he makes A LOT!
Hoping Jiricek can be a second unit defender, who can score a little. He's got some size, but hasn't shown much in his few games with the big club. What's your thoughts on him?
Stramel is a big center we're looking for in the future. He seemes to be playing better this year. Any thoughts on his potential?
If the Wild can't afford a top center, maybe a face off specialist and a couple of better guys to replace their forwards who can't score.
Khusnutdinov looks like he is gaining confidence in the offensive zone. He's extremely fast (another little guy) and he has been focusing on playing responsibly in the defensive end.
GO WILD!
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
there are quite a few other sites that are all pretty similar
Capwages.com
hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/
Cap is projected to rise by $4.4 mill next season. Fleury is the only even barely noticeable contract expiring and that's only $2.5 mill and will obviously be replaced by Wallstedt at $900k. Probably going to need some some blueline help even if Spurgeon and Brodin are "healthy", but yeah both of those guys have a lot of miles on them at this point you don't know what you're going to get. Chances are you're lucky to get 40-50 games per year out of both.
Jiricek was a nice buy low/high upside pickup - excellent mobility for a 6'3 guy. Thought he looked good in the game vs the Avs, then a couple days later he was back in Iowa so Meatball Billum must not have liked something in the couple games that followed. At this point, he sorta reminds me of a less ready version of Moritz Seider who is a better fantasy hockey player than actual hockey player. Has a tendency to run out of position to chase hits and gap control & man to man defending is often lacking. Another Darnell Nurse type who is paid like a #1 but at best is a second pair guy. So I suppose a slightly better skating version of Alex Pietrangelo would probably be the best outcome for Jiricek....but there's also the chance he becomes another long forgotten Red Wing - Jakub Kindl if he can't put it together. Lots of flashes, but the stretch passes and the little link up plays need work, But it's not unusual for some d-men to take 4-5 years to develop. If he can figure it out, he, Faber, and Buium would look pretty good as 3/4 of a top 4 and then maybe Brodin and/or Spurgeon can make it through more than half a season without an LTIR stint.
Great game again for the Wild and especially Marc Andre Fleury, who, in his final game in Montreal, gets a shut out and a tremendous ovation from the fans.
Just beautiful.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
caught some of that one, but also beautiful was the night Dylan Larkin had against McJesus. Just a goal, but generated 10 shots, 24 faceoff wins and the Larkin/Raymond/Kasper line absolutely buried the McJesus/Leon/Drinky Perry line to a 66% share. Oil had to get out the line blender to pair McJesus with an anchor (Nugent-Hopkins) to put an end to that knifing.
Here are the latest ESPN Power Rankings and their comments as of yesterday:
Edmonton has been consistently 7-3 or better over 10 game cycles for the past 2 months. Minnesota has been struggling to keep it at 5-5. Now that the Karp is gone for an extended period, I don’t see this changing. The good news is that their goalies letting in too many goals changed over the last few games as they and their defense seemed to hunker down. But they still are going to have to find ways to score without the Karp. Again I see the Vilde as at least 1 season away if they can keep it together next year and add another elite scorer.
If Edmonton can keep up the momentum they have had for the past 2 months, they have a good shot at the Cup, as good as any. Drais has to keep scoring and be at the Hart trophy level, and everyone else has to keep up where they are. And Skinner has to keep those porous periods to a minimum. We will just have to see how it goes but I am hopeful that this is the year. I would love to be in the HUB at UA if and when they win, the pub scene will be crazy and spilling into the HUB Mall main walkway. That would be pretty cool to celebrate but alas my days at UA/Edmonton are loooong gone……….
@dallasactuary said:
If Derian Hatcher were playing tonight for Ottawa, the next time they played the Wild Ryan Hartman's jaw would be separated from his skull.
He's a nasty little f#%ker.
Maybe if some of our bigger guys did a little hitting, he could focus on trying to score. No, that's not a good idea either. I call him "high and wide" Hartman.
The only guy on our team that hit anyone was Trenin(?) with 10 hits, I don't even know who he is.
Foligno-2 hits, Middleton-1 hit, Begosian-1 hit.
Two of our best players (maybe our two BEST) are out with injuries from cheap shots, but that's OK.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
@dallasactuary said:
If Derian Hatcher were playing tonight for Ottawa, the next time they played the Wild Ryan Hartman's jaw would be separated from his skull.
Incredibly dirty play from a guy with a history of trying to injure players on faceoffs. Legit can kill a guy slamming the into the ice like that. Todd Bertuzzi broke Steve Moore's neck doing it, albeit from a higher height and with guys piling on top. He should get 15+ games but likely will get like 2. No place for that kind of garbage.
And Hartman somehow thought he shouldn't get a penalty.
@dallasactuary said:
If Derian Hatcher were playing tonight for Ottawa, the next time they played the Wild Ryan Hartman's jaw would be separated from his skull.
Incredibly dirty play from a guy with a history of trying to injure players on faceoffs. Legit can kill a guy slamming the into the ice like that. Todd Bertuzzi broke Steve Moore's neck doing it, albeit from a higher height and with guys piling on top. He should get 15+ games but likely will get like 2. No place for that kind of garbage.
And Hartman somehow thought he shouldn't get a penalty.
Hartman NEVER thinks he should get a penalty.
I was surprised the Wild signed him for a long term deal at $4M.
Kaprizov, having surgery from a cheap shot, out for at least a month.
Spurgeon slew footed into the boards by a punk a$$ rookie who gets a two game suspension. That was a BRUTAL cheap shot, looked like it could have been a season, or career ending injury. TWO GAMES.
Johannson elbowed in the face, gets a concussion and gets called a "flopper". What happened to McDavid on that hit?
Faber, elbowed in the head, misses several games, no penalty even called.
Let's see; our Captain, our best player, our best young defender along with a guy (Johannson) who never throws a check, all out for multiple games from cheap shots.
But Hartman gets the outrage? When teams stop trying to end the career of one of the best, if not the best players in hockey, as well as our other top players, maybe I'll give a $hit.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
Had Hartman done what he did to one of the players who had injured his teammates I would cut him some slack, lots of it. And it would make what Hartman did a "response", as you phrased it. But he didn't, it wasn't a "response", and it makes him as bad - and I agree with Tabe, worse - than the players you're complaining about. I will be rooting for Ottawa to injure Hartman - badly - the next time they play. Unless the NHL does what I would do, and not let Hartman play again. What he did went way beyond "cheap"; it was criminal.
Years back the Stars signed Sean Avery, I believe on the advice of Brett Hull who had some made-up position in the Stars front office. He didn't last long because he's a POS human being and nobody wanted to be on the same team as him. I was debating whether to stop watching the Stars, but was spared that decision when the Stars cut him 20 or so games into the season. I would be in the same spot today if I were a Wild fan. I could not root for a team with Hartman on it. He, too, is a POS human being. The rest of the Stars team made no secret of their desire to get rid of Avery, and rumor had it that Mike Modano told the Stars office "either he goes or I go". If the Wild welcome Hartman back with open arms when his suspension ends (I'm assuming he's going to get suspended for an extended period) then we'll know all we need to know about the Wild.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.
@Tabe said:
Yes, he does. What Hartman did was the worst of the bunch.
Kaprizov has been intentionally injured on three separat occasions with the NHL going NOTHING to the offenders.
Hartmans response is not surprising. He got a 5 minute major and the other guys got NOTHING.
None of which changes that Hartman's was the worst of the bunch.
No, it wasn't.
An open ice knee on knee hit is the worst in hockey. A slew foot with both players racing to the boards and the guy then follows the player he slew footed into the boards smashing him in even harder is also worse.
Did you see either the hit on Kaprizov or Spurgeon? I hope not, because they were FAR more dangerous. Both players were injured. Kaprizov had to have surgery. Spurgeon's hit was one of the most violent I have ever seen. I figured he was out for the season and maybe a career ender. It's miraculous he was able to return.
Hockey face offs not won cleanly often turn into wrestling matches and when you go under the other guy, he's going to fall on you. Did Hartman drive him into the ice, yes, a bad hit.
By the way, and not that you'll care, but apparently Stutzle had just slashed Hartman prior to this and no penalty was called.
You say Hartman's hit was worse, it wasn't. Stutzle isn't injured and getting surgery and missing a month or more because of it.
Our best player has had a target on his back for the last 2+ years and is being intentionally injured. Why should I give a $hit if we fight back?
I watched that game, and while I did NOT see a slash on Hartman, the refs weren't calling ANYTHING, when that happens, things gets out of hand.
Did McDavid even get penalized for elbowing Johannson in the jaw, giving him a concussion? NO.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
You keep saying things like "fight back" and mentioning Wild players who were injured by players on other teams. Neither of those things has ANYTHING to do with Hartman's hit on Stutzle. "Some guy killed my wife but didn't get punished harshly enough, so I killed another guy who looked like him to fight back". Yeah, try that one on a judge. That Stutzle wasn't seriously injured was pure luck because Hartman was certainly trying to seriously injure him. Because he's a POS that no self-respecting team would want on their roster, and no self-respecting player would want as a teammate. Maybe that's also true of some other players in the league, but whether it is or not makes no difference in recognizing what Hartman is.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.
@Tabe said:
Yes, he does. What Hartman did was the worst of the bunch.
Kaprizov has been intentionally injured on three separat occasions with the NHL going NOTHING to the offenders.
Hartmans response is not surprising. He got a 5 minute major and the other guys got NOTHING.
None of which changes that Hartman's was the worst of the bunch.
No, it wasn't.
An open ice knee on knee hit is the worst in hockey. A slew foot with both players racing to the boards and the guy then follows the player he slew footed into the boards smashing him in even harder is also worse.
Did you see either the hit on Kaprizov or Spurgeon? I hope not, because they were FAR more dangerous. Both players were injured. Kaprizov had to have surgery. Spurgeon's hit was one of the most violent I have ever seen. I figured he was out for the season and maybe a career ender. It's miraculous he was able to return.
Hockey face offs not won cleanly often turn into wrestling matches and when you go under the other guy, he's going to fall on you. Did Hartman drive him into the ice, yes, a bad hit.
By the way, and not that you'll care, but apparently Stutzle had just slashed Hartman prior to this and no penalty was called.
You say Hartman's hit was worse, it wasn't. Stutzle isn't injured and getting surgery and missing a month or more because of it.
Our best player has had a target on his back for the last 2+ years and is being intentionally injured. Why should I give a $hit if we fight back?
I watched that game, and while I did NOT see a slash on Hartman, the refs weren't calling ANYTHING, when that happens, things gets out of hand.
Did McDavid even get penalized for elbowing Johannson in the jaw, giving him a concussion? NO.
Nobody is dying from a knee-on-knee. Guys can die, or be crippled, from having their head spiked into the ice. Your description that Hartman fell on him is hysterical and not even close to accurate. Stutzle wasn't "injured", he was just busted open.
Using outcomes is an awful way to judge hits. Intent and the action are what you judge because outcomes are often just dumb luck.
McDavid not getting penalized for his dirty elbow doesn't change that Hartman was rightly suspended. Inconsistent punishment is the most consistent thing the NHL does. Ex: not punishing Kucherov for injuring Michael Rasmussen on an empty net goal last week.
@JoeBanzai said:
Our guys are getting intentionally injured and no penalties (in most cases) are even called.
When someone starts giving a $hit about guys on my team getting targeted AND INJURED INTENTIONALLY, I'll MAYBE give a rats a$$.
SICK OF IT!
Just watched the "knee on knee" on Kaprizov. Nothing dirty about that hit. Bad outcome but he didn't even stick his leg out. He squared up Kaprizov and there was just an ugly result.
@JoeBanzai said:
Our guys are getting intentionally injured and no penalties (in most cases) are even called.
When someone starts giving a $hit about guys on my team getting targeted AND INJURED INTENTIONALLY, I'll MAYBE give a rats a$$.
SICK OF IT!
Just watched the "knee on knee" on Kaprizov. Nothing dirty about that hit. Bad outcome but he didn't even stick his leg out. He squared up Kaprizov and there was just an ugly result.
Yeah sure and Hartman just lost his balance and fell on Schultze.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
From ESPN: "Hartman had 48 hours from the league's ruling Monday night to decide whether to appeal the ban for slamming an opponent's head to the ice with his right forearm, the longest for on-ice conduct in more than six years.”
Deserved, slamming a guys head to the ice? Yikes the Vilde has some quality players.
Last 2 games, Vilde had 2 shutouts, that, er was the other teams shutting the Vilde out. Vilde is going nowhere quick………..
From ESPM: "Hartman had 48 hours from the league's ruling Monday night to decide whether to appeal the ban for slamming an opponent's head to the ice with his right forearm, the longest for on-ice conduct in more than six years.”
Deserved, slamming a guys head to the ice? Yikes the Vilde has some quality players.
Last 2 games, Vilde had 2 shutouts, that, er was the other teams shutting the Vilde out. Vilde is going nowhere quick………..
Figured I could count on your support.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
From ESPM: "Hartman had 48 hours from the league's ruling Monday night to decide whether to appeal the ban for slamming an opponent's head to the ice with his right forearm, the longest for on-ice conduct in more than six years.”
Deserved, slamming a guys head to the ice? Yikes the Vilde has some quality players.
Last 2 games, Vilde had 2 shutouts, that, er was the other teams shutting the Vilde out. Vilde is going nowhere quick………..
Figured I could count on your support.
Well, driving someones skull into the ice is just not a good thing. Hopefully he learned from this, I assume he will be cut to 6 games which is still large penalty.
Let’s recall your comments above to McD when he was penalized 3 games for stick work. He owned it and moved on. Did Hartman own it?
Good news on the Oil front. They won 2 tight games on the road 2 nights in a row, a tough feat against any teams. They have strengthened their lead on Vegas in the Pacific.
For overall points this season, we now have a new leader:
Drais also has a commanding lead in goals. McD is in 4th overall even after missing 6 games to injury and penalty.
ESPN have come out with the player rankings for the 4 Nations Face-Off. And here is #1:
Yup, the greatest, generational, player in the game, Oil Captain Connor McDavid.
Vilde plays Carolina next, does not look good for them. Their Goals For-Goals Against for the season is now 0. A loss puts them in a negative. We will see…………..
From ESPM: "Hartman had 48 hours from the league's ruling Monday night to decide whether to appeal the ban for slamming an opponent's head to the ice with his right forearm, the longest for on-ice conduct in more than six years.”
Deserved, slamming a guys head to the ice? Yikes the Vilde has some quality players.
Last 2 games, Vilde had 2 shutouts, that, er was the other teams shutting the Vilde out. Vilde is going nowhere quick………..
Figured I could count on your support.
Well, driving someones skull into the ice is just not a good thing. Hopefully he learned from this, I assume he will be cut to 6 games which is still large penalty.
Let’s recall your comments above to McD when he was penalized 3 games for stick work. He owned it and moved on. Did Hartman own it?
McDavid did a blubbering interview where he threatened to boycot NHL "events", so no, the crybaby did not "own" it.
You are, if nothing else, consistent. Consistently WRONG!
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
From ESPM: "Hartman had 48 hours from the league's ruling Monday night to decide whether to appeal the ban for slamming an opponent's head to the ice with his right forearm, the longest for on-ice conduct in more than six years.”
Deserved, slamming a guys head to the ice? Yikes the Vilde has some quality players.
Last 2 games, Vilde had 2 shutouts, that, er was the other teams shutting the Vilde out. Vilde is going nowhere quick………..
Figured I could count on your support.
Well, driving someones skull into the ice is just not a good thing. Hopefully he learned from this, I assume he will be cut to 6 games which is still large penalty.
Let’s recall your comments above to McD when he was penalized 3 games for stick work. He owned it and moved on. Did Hartman own it?
McDavid did a blubbering interview where he threatened to boycot NHL "events", so no, the crybaby did not "own" it.
You are, if nothing else, consistent. Consistently WRONG!
Where was this interview? All I can find is whispers that he MAY have threatened to boycott.
@dallasactuary said:
If Derian Hatcher were playing tonight for Ottawa, the next time they played the Wild Ryan Hartman's jaw would be separated from his skull.
and then Foligno or Middleton would float over and offer to bounce their fists off of his face and Hatcher would instead offer a Chara-grade crosscheck slap fight...you know, like he always did to anyone who posed a (fight related) challenge.
@dallasactuary said:
If Derian Hatcher were playing tonight for Ottawa, the next time they played the Wild Ryan Hartman's jaw would be separated from his skull.
and then Foligno or Middleton would float over and offer to bounce their fists off of his face and Hatcher would instead offer a Chara-grade crosscheck slap fight...you know, like he always did to anyone who posed a (fight related) challenge.
That may be, but Hartman's jaw would be separated from his skull nonetheless. As it should be. And Hatcher wouldn't have "offered" to do so, he would just have done what needed to be done.
For the record, "fights" that are "offered" and "accepted" aren't fights, they're theater. I have always thought they were worse than pointless. If Hatcher, or anyone else, isn't participating to your satisfaction in this ridiculous charade, I'm sorry this is happening to you but it would be a very heavy lift to get me to care.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.
noted: a cheapshot to one's jaw is better than squaring up for a fair fight. You can think whatever you want about fighting in the game, but the reality is when the vote comes up to abolish fighting in the NHL during rule change off-season discussions, the players vote in the high 90's to keep it every time (97% was the last vote, I believe)...even among players with zero career fights. The reason for that is simple - the belief that if it were to be scrubbed, the stickwork and the Hartman type plays ramp up.
There are tough guys in the sport, and then there are fake tough guys. The guys who avoid anyone who poses a real challenge, or on the flipside, in actual game toughness, and the stuff that doesn't get recognized by the average dope watching, the guys who are willing to play the puck first on a dump in, and/or on the wall and absorb the hit to make a play or smother the puck if need be. Guys like Chara and Hatcher along with Lucic and Barrett Jackman and a handful of others are at the top end of the fake-tough guy club of players in my lifetime.
I was at a game where Dave Manson tracked Hatcher around the ice for several shifts after the knee on knee on Roenick and he wouldn't go. Now according to your logic, Manson should have just put an elbow through his jaw. But Manson wasn't a fake tough guy, you see, so he would expect a guy to answer for his crap because that's the culture of the game at that level. You're supposed to answer for your crap. But it's not unexpected. In an era where 94-95% of US born players went to college, Hatcher opted to be child-trafficked boy labor in Canadian Junior taught by other dolts whose educations ended in the 8th grade. Thus the end result was a dumb, waffle-stomping slice of fake-tough guy Michigan trash. Even his fellow MIchigan trash brethren, Jacob Trouba, current league leader of predatory hits in the league since Tom Wilson ran up his repeat offender violations to unsustainable levels, will answer for his crap, every time. I bring up Trouba because if one were wondering what Hatcher would look like in today's game, it's a less mobile version of that, and Trouba is circling the drain himself.
From ESPM: "Hartman had 48 hours from the league's ruling Monday night to decide whether to appeal the ban for slamming an opponent's head to the ice with his right forearm, the longest for on-ice conduct in more than six years.”
Deserved, slamming a guys head to the ice? Yikes the Vilde has some quality players.
Last 2 games, Vilde had 2 shutouts, that, er was the other teams shutting the Vilde out. Vilde is going nowhere quick………..
Figured I could count on your support.
Well, driving someones skull into the ice is just not a good thing. Hopefully he learned from this, I assume he will be cut to 6 games which is still large penalty.
Let’s recall your comments above to McD when he was penalized 3 games for stick work. He owned it and moved on. Did Hartman own it?
McDavid did a blubbering interview where he threatened to boycot NHL "events", so no, the crybaby did not "own" it.
You are, if nothing else, consistent. Consistently WRONG!
Where was this interview? All I can find is whispers that he MAY have threatened to boycott.
Saw it on Facebook. I do realize Facebook has some fake interviews, but this looked legit.
2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
@lanemyer85 said:
noted: a cheapshot to one's jaw is better than squaring up for a fair fight.
So Hartman can be a bully and potentially cause a life changing injury to someone as a cheapshot and that is ok?
Here are the latest of our 2 teams in the ESPN Power Rankings:
Yup the Oil is finally spending coin to be great. The next few years look good.
This Power Ranking article was supposed to be about what each team had that was ’Super’. All they could talk about for the Vilde is what is not Super. And it is Hartman who IMO should never play in the league again. A Vilde thug, not a hockey player. 5th suspension.
On a good note for the Vilde, they beat Carolina last nite. That puts their Goals For/Goals Against for the season to +1 and they have improved their last 10 record to 5-5. I suspect that is what it will be for the rest of the season. W/o the Karp they are listless. Next year they need one more elite scorer in addition to the Karp to move up and consistently win over the course of a season. We will see…………….
@lanemyer85 said:
noted: a cheapshot to one's jaw is better than squaring up for a fair fight. You can think whatever you want about fighting in the game, but the reality is when the vote comes up to abolish fighting in the NHL during rule change off-season discussions, the players vote in the high 90's to keep it every time (97% was the last vote, I believe)...even among players with zero career fights. The reason for that is simple - the belief that if it were to be scrubbed, the stickwork and the Hartman type plays ramp up.
There are tough guys in the sport, and then there are fake tough guys. The guys who avoid anyone who poses a real challenge, or on the flipside, in actual game toughness, and the stuff that doesn't get recognized by the average dope watching, the guys who are willing to play the puck first on a dump in, and/or on the wall and absorb the hit to make a play or smother the puck if need be. Guys like Chara and Hatcher along with Lucic and Barrett Jackman and a handful of others are at the top end of the fake-tough guy club of players in my lifetime.
I was at a game where Dave Manson tracked Hatcher around the ice for several shifts after the knee on knee on Roenick and he wouldn't go. Now according to your logic, Manson should have just put an elbow through his jaw. But Manson wasn't a fake tough guy, you see, so he would expect a guy to answer for his crap because that's the culture of the game at that level. You're supposed to answer for your crap. But it's not unexpected. In an era where 94-95% of US born players went to college, Hatcher opted to be child-trafficked boy labor in Canadian Junior taught by other dolts whose educations ended in the 8th grade. Thus the end result was a dumb, waffle-stomping slice of fake-tough guy Michigan trash. Even his fellow MIchigan trash brethren, Jacob Trouba, current league leader of predatory hits in the league since Tom Wilson ran up his repeat offender violations to unsustainable levels, will answer for his crap, every time. I bring up Trouba because if one were wondering what Hatcher would look like in today's game, it's a less mobile version of that, and Trouba is circling the drain himself.
How much rent does Hatcher pay to live in your head? I hope it's a lot because he's taking up a whole lot of space.
Bottom line, Hatcher was named the Stars captain when he was 22 and served in that role for the rest of his time in Dallas. He was, without question, the most respected player on the team by the players on the team. His de-jawing of Roenick runs neck-and-neck with winning the Stanley Cup as the fan's favorite moment in Stars history. I don't know if he gave you a wedgie once or reminds you of a mean ex-boyfriend, but nothing, no matter how long-winded, could ever persuade a Stars fan to feel anything but respect for Hatcher. You'd find it easier to make a Reds fan hate Johnny Bench.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.
How much rent does Hatcher pay to live in your head? I hope it's a lot because he's taking up a whole lot of space.
Bottom line, Hatcher was named the Stars captain when he was 22 and served in that role for the rest of his time in Dallas. He was, without question, the most respected player on the team by the players on the team. His de-jawing of Roenick runs neck-and-neck with winning the Stanley Cup as the fan's favorite moment in Stars history. I don't know if he gave you a wedgie once or reminds you of a mean ex-boyfriend, but nothing, no matter how long-winded, could ever persuade a Stars fan to feel anything but respect for Hatcher. You'd find it easier to make a Reds fan hate Johnny Bench.
are you new, here? I've been doxing the Chara/Hatcher/Jackman types for 20 years. But I guess since you're the guy who has been oddly affected by the Modano hit for 30+ years, being the type of fanboy for the local boys is on brand. I guess I never became the type of sports watcher who delves into that as an adult. Treads too closely to the type of people who become fanatics for political idealogues who don't know, or couldn't care less than you exist. Or the boomers and Gen- Xers who never figured out that Springsteen's everyman front not only came complete with being a musical sellout, but also came with being a land-tax dodger - in addition to the 340 very boring songs about skipping town and abandoning your family.
But being named captain means very little. It's not that dissimilar to Jeter being named captain of the Yankees while simultaneously refusing to move off of SS for a superior defender (A-rod). Connor McDoncic is captain. He doesn't do anything that a typical captain of a club does. Darnell Nurse sucks, but is probably the real captain of the Oil. What does Mumbles Crosby do as captain? Argue/complain and whine for calls, is about it. You can go down through the years of mediocre to terrible players being named captain from (a career 3rd liner like) Chris Clark in Washington to freaking Shayne Corson in Edmonton to an in-decline Alexei Yashin on the Island...a guy who had his contract subsequently bought out soon after.
It's a PR position. Many (if not the majority of) clubs just give it to a guy who they think will be there for the foreseeable future. Jonathan Toews was the C wearing captain of 3 cup winning teams while Brent Seabrook was the actual captain. It's largely just a guy who is a locker room leader, or the guy who will stand up for teammates when there is a Hatcher/Hartman type cheap hit, a media friendly interview who toes the company line while like most of the posts in this thread, saying nothing interesting or accurate. Every club wants a Chelios type as captain, but a star level player who brings everyone together is a rarity, so the end result is usually a Nick Foligno/David Backes type. The difference there is those two didn't duck challengers like certain other fugazi captains. .
are you new, here? I've been doxing the Chara/Hatcher/Jackman types for 20 years.
Oh, I know. Why you do it is the mystery. NHL players are not required to play according to lanewyer85's personal preferences; you know that, right? Darian Hatcher played the game exactly as his teammates wanted him to play it, and they would, to a man, have taken a bullet for him.
And comparing established superstars who get named captain of their teams (as Modano was late in his career by the Stars) as an award for scoring accomplishments or for PR reasons to a 22-year-old low scoring defenseman who gets named captain because he is motivational and inspirational is just silly. Your Hatcher Derangement Syndrome is blinding you. Read the rest of what you just wrote after the silly part. Darnell Nurse is probably the "real" captain of the Oil? Brent Seabrook was the "actual" captain of the Blackhawks? I'm not disagreeing, mind you, just pointing out that Darian Hatcher was the "real" and "actual" captain of the Stars. Teams do not name 22-year-old no offense defensemen with one full year of service under their belts as captain because it's good PR. Naming Modano at that point was the obvious PR move, coming off a 50-goal season. But they named Hatcher because he was already the "real", "actual" captain despite his young age and lack of scoring. You have to see it, but for some reason you want to pretend you don't.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.
And comparing established superstars who get named captain of their teams (as Modano was late in his career by the Stars) as an award for scoring accomplishments or for PR reasons to a 22-year-old low scoring defenseman who gets named captain because he is motivational and inspirational is just silly. Your Hatcher Derangement Syndrome is blinding you. Read the rest of what you just wrote after the silly part. Darnell Nurse is probably the "real" captain of the Oil? Brent Seabrook was the "actual" captain of the Blackhawks? I'm not disagreeing, mind you, just pointing out that Darian Hatcher was the "real" and "actual" captain of the Stars. Teams do not name 22-year-old no offense defensemen with one full year of service under their belts as captain because it's good PR. Naming Modano at that point was the obvious PR move, coming off a 50-goal season. But they named Hatcher because he was already the "real", "actual" captain despite his young age and lack of scoring. You have to see it, but for some reason you want to pretend you don't.
I'm happy for you that you have all this insider knowledge of the Stars locker room from this era. The era where the roster was composed of 30-something FORMER CAPTAINS like Carbonneau, Nieuwendyk, and Kirk Muller among others and not even including his 6 year senior brother, and a completely nuts Ed Belfour or Brett Hull. The latter two have the personalities of known followers who would have definitely fallen in line with a 20 something. Carbonneau captained the 93 Montreal cup winner in the 1B to Toronto's 1A most insane/pressurized hockey market in the league, and was so old that Brendan Morrow literally married his daughter, but it was noted slobbering incel, D-Hatch, that glued that operation together. Good call.
I'm not sure what to do with your last post. Other than Kevin Hatcher, NONE of the players you just mentioned (the ones anyone else here has heard of) were on the team when Derian Hatcher was named captain. But Modano and Neil Broten were, and every single thing you've said disparaging captains would apply ONLY if one of them had been named captain. That, and you didn't address anything I said. I'm pretty sure you know something about hockey, but you clearly don't know a whole lot about the Stars. Pity, because I thought that was the topic.
Derian Hatcher was named captain of a team at the age of 22 despite having 20-some goals in about 200-some games. Care to list all the other teams that have ever done that? The only statement you've made remotely related to why the Stars did that was something about PR, but that statement was so farcical when applied to Hatcher that I know even you don't believe it. So, why did the Stars name Hatcher captain, and why did they keep him in that role for the remainder of his long tenure with the team despite all the much bigger names and former captains of Cup teams that joined later? If you have a real answer that doesn't insult my intelligence (all you've offered so far), I'm all ears.
This is for you @thisistheshow - Jim Rice was actually a pretty good player.
Yes!!!!!! OH CANADA! The Canadians win the 4 Nations Championship! Oh wait, and look who scored the championship goal. Connor. McDavid. Yep. Love it!!!!
So the second half of the season is coming up. I am very optimistic about the Oil. Everyone is rested up, and now teams are going to be playing at their highest level. As McD just showed, the Oil is laden with uber talent. They have momentum, and McD is likely bursting with confidence given his superhero goal.
The Vilde? They are going to have to do some soul searching to hang in there. As I have said, they need at least another elite scorer and now Karp is out. So we will see how they handle it.
"McDavid producing the overtime game-winner was simply poetic.”
From the Edmonton Journal when McD was held down by the Canooks at the end of the game:
"It is absolutely insane that with the Oilers pressing hard in Vancouver’s end for the equalizer that Garland could hold McDavid down on the ice, literally wrapping his legs around him and then tackling him again when he tried to escape, for a full 15 seconds and both Wes McCauley and Chris Lee refused to make the call.”
Gutless referee……………. It is exactly what I saw. Imagine the outrage if that was done to MJ or Kobe in the US? Those refs need to be fired, as does the Vilde thug who smashes other players faces into the ice…………….
Mess and Subban when McD scored the championship winning goal:
Comments
Kaprizov to have surgery. Out at least 4 weeks. 😞
Disappointing Kaprizov got injured but as long as they make the playoffs, I'm not sure how much it matters as long as he and the vast majority of the team are at or near 100% healthy in postseason.
I cannot stand the current NHL playoff format that forces you to get out of your division and it needs to change.
If the NFL collapsed their divisions like this and did something similar, folks would be incensed at a much broader scale.
Erik
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Hopefully he'll be at 100% for the playoffs. It's frustrating that the NHL doesn't really tell you much about what's wrong. "Lower body injury" is all they are saying.
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I guess this could be an advantage for some teams and a disadvantage for others. The Wild have been eliminated in the first round lately, and after that I don't follow as close.
Despite the fact that the Wild are playing at a top 6 level, points wise, I don't think they have the depth to make a deep playoff run. For that to happen, ALL their players would have to be healthy and have a hot goalie too.
Next year they have almost $15M more to spend on players. A good chunk of that will go to Kirill, but there should be enough left over for a couple of nice free agents. Like a lot of teams, they could use a great center!
GO WILD!
Did anyone happen to watch the Islanders last night? They have been fun to watch lately. That goal by Lehkonen was impressive.
yeah but the Faber extension kicks in next season where he'll go from making $900k to $8.5 mill, Middleton's contract nearly doubles to $4.35 mill + Rossi is an RFA. So that will take up a large chunk of that. Perhaps a buyout of Spurgeon's inflated $7.5 mill might be able to get you something if you don't think Rossi can be a #1 even though he's at 0.88 points per game right now. One of JT Miller or Elias Pettersson is going to be dealt soon. Don't think the Wild can really pay Rossi, Ericksson-Ek + Trenin is making over $3 mill and then pay a top center without dealing one of them.
Nice win last night!
Damn! I really miss capfriendlydotcom! Is there another site to go to that shows salaries and cap space?
I like Rossi and think he is a fine second line center. He's on the small side, but he had great puck skills and plays well defensively. Like just about everybody who gets on a line with Kaprizov (see Ryan Hartman), his scoring has jumped this year. Speaking of Kirill, he's having surgery and will miss at least a month. Hope this isn't going to be a recurring problem, he's a little guy.
Spurgeon is a great defender (another little guy), but he seems to be wearing down and getting hurt a lot. Not sure how they can get help with his salary, but he makes A LOT!
Hoping Jiricek can be a second unit defender, who can score a little. He's got some size, but hasn't shown much in his few games with the big club. What's your thoughts on him?
Stramel is a big center we're looking for in the future. He seemes to be playing better this year. Any thoughts on his potential?
If the Wild can't afford a top center, maybe a face off specialist and a couple of better guys to replace their forwards who can't score.
Khusnutdinov looks like he is gaining confidence in the offensive zone. He's extremely fast (another little guy) and he has been focusing on playing responsibly in the defensive end.
GO WILD!
Puckpedia.com.
Not as user friendly as capfriendlydotcom, but helpful!
there are quite a few other sites that are all pretty similar
Capwages.com
hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/
Cap is projected to rise by $4.4 mill next season. Fleury is the only even barely noticeable contract expiring and that's only $2.5 mill and will obviously be replaced by Wallstedt at $900k. Probably going to need some some blueline help even if Spurgeon and Brodin are "healthy", but yeah both of those guys have a lot of miles on them at this point you don't know what you're going to get. Chances are you're lucky to get 40-50 games per year out of both.
Jiricek was a nice buy low/high upside pickup - excellent mobility for a 6'3 guy. Thought he looked good in the game vs the Avs, then a couple days later he was back in Iowa so Meatball Billum must not have liked something in the couple games that followed. At this point, he sorta reminds me of a less ready version of Moritz Seider who is a better fantasy hockey player than actual hockey player. Has a tendency to run out of position to chase hits and gap control & man to man defending is often lacking. Another Darnell Nurse type who is paid like a #1 but at best is a second pair guy. So I suppose a slightly better skating version of Alex Pietrangelo would probably be the best outcome for Jiricek....but there's also the chance he becomes another long forgotten Red Wing - Jakub Kindl if he can't put it together. Lots of flashes, but the stretch passes and the little link up plays need work, But it's not unusual for some d-men to take 4-5 years to develop. If he can figure it out, he, Faber, and Buium would look pretty good as 3/4 of a top 4 and then maybe Brodin and/or Spurgeon can make it through more than half a season without an LTIR stint.
Great game again for the Wild and especially Marc Andre Fleury, who, in his final game in Montreal, gets a shut out and a tremendous ovation from the fans.
Just beautiful.
caught some of that one, but also beautiful was the night Dylan Larkin had against McJesus. Just a goal, but generated 10 shots, 24 faceoff wins and the Larkin/Raymond/Kasper line absolutely buried the McJesus/Leon/Drinky Perry line to a 66% share. Oil had to get out the line blender to pair McJesus with an anchor (Nugent-Hopkins) to put an end to that knifing.
Here are the latest ESPN Power Rankings and their comments as of yesterday:
Edmonton has been consistently 7-3 or better over 10 game cycles for the past 2 months. Minnesota has been struggling to keep it at 5-5. Now that the Karp is gone for an extended period, I don’t see this changing. The good news is that their goalies letting in too many goals changed over the last few games as they and their defense seemed to hunker down. But they still are going to have to find ways to score without the Karp. Again I see the Vilde as at least 1 season away if they can keep it together next year and add another elite scorer.
If Edmonton can keep up the momentum they have had for the past 2 months, they have a good shot at the Cup, as good as any. Drais has to keep scoring and be at the Hart trophy level, and everyone else has to keep up where they are. And Skinner has to keep those porous periods to a minimum. We will just have to see how it goes but I am hopeful that this is the year. I would love to be in the HUB at UA if and when they win, the pub scene will be crazy and spilling into the HUB Mall main walkway. That would be pretty cool to celebrate but alas my days at UA/Edmonton are loooong gone……….
If Derian Hatcher were playing tonight for Ottawa, the next time they played the Wild Ryan Hartman's jaw would be separated from his skull.
He's a nasty little f#%ker.
Maybe if some of our bigger guys did a little hitting, he could focus on trying to score. No, that's not a good idea either. I call him "high and wide" Hartman.
The only guy on our team that hit anyone was Trenin(?) with 10 hits, I don't even know who he is.
Foligno-2 hits, Middleton-1 hit, Begosian-1 hit.
Two of our best players (maybe our two BEST) are out with injuries from cheap shots, but that's OK.
Incredibly dirty play from a guy with a history of trying to injure players on faceoffs. Legit can kill a guy slamming the into the ice like that. Todd Bertuzzi broke Steve Moore's neck doing it, albeit from a higher height and with guys piling on top. He should get 15+ games but likely will get like 2. No place for that kind of garbage.
And Hartman somehow thought he shouldn't get a penalty.
Hartman NEVER thinks he should get a penalty.
I was surprised the Wild signed him for a long term deal at $4M.
Kaprizov, having surgery from a cheap shot, out for at least a month.
Spurgeon slew footed into the boards by a punk a$$ rookie who gets a two game suspension. That was a BRUTAL cheap shot, looked like it could have been a season, or career ending injury. TWO GAMES.
Johannson elbowed in the face, gets a concussion and gets called a "flopper". What happened to McDavid on that hit?
Faber, elbowed in the head, misses several games, no penalty even called.
Let's see; our Captain, our best player, our best young defender along with a guy (Johannson) who never throws a check, all out for multiple games from cheap shots.
But Hartman gets the outrage? When teams stop trying to end the career of one of the best, if not the best players in hockey, as well as our other top players, maybe I'll give a $hit.
Yes, he does. What Hartman did was the worst of the bunch.
Kaprizov has been intentionally injured on three separat occasions with the NHL going NOTHING to the offenders.
Hartmans response is not surprising. He got a 5 minute major and the other guys got NOTHING.
None of which changes that Hartman's was the worst of the bunch.
I can’t defend that play.
Had Hartman done what he did to one of the players who had injured his teammates I would cut him some slack, lots of it. And it would make what Hartman did a "response", as you phrased it. But he didn't, it wasn't a "response", and it makes him as bad - and I agree with Tabe, worse - than the players you're complaining about. I will be rooting for Ottawa to injure Hartman - badly - the next time they play. Unless the NHL does what I would do, and not let Hartman play again. What he did went way beyond "cheap"; it was criminal.
Years back the Stars signed Sean Avery, I believe on the advice of Brett Hull who had some made-up position in the Stars front office. He didn't last long because he's a POS human being and nobody wanted to be on the same team as him. I was debating whether to stop watching the Stars, but was spared that decision when the Stars cut him 20 or so games into the season. I would be in the same spot today if I were a Wild fan. I could not root for a team with Hartman on it. He, too, is a POS human being. The rest of the Stars team made no secret of their desire to get rid of Avery, and rumor had it that Mike Modano told the Stars office "either he goes or I go". If the Wild welcome Hartman back with open arms when his suspension ends (I'm assuming he's going to get suspended for an extended period) then we'll know all we need to know about the Wild.
A little over the top. Wow.
Hartman, btw, got 10 games. Per the NHL, Hartman averages a fine or suspension every 60 games. In other words, he's a dirty player.
No, it wasn't.
An open ice knee on knee hit is the worst in hockey. A slew foot with both players racing to the boards and the guy then follows the player he slew footed into the boards smashing him in even harder is also worse.
Did you see either the hit on Kaprizov or Spurgeon? I hope not, because they were FAR more dangerous. Both players were injured. Kaprizov had to have surgery. Spurgeon's hit was one of the most violent I have ever seen. I figured he was out for the season and maybe a career ender. It's miraculous he was able to return.
Hockey face offs not won cleanly often turn into wrestling matches and when you go under the other guy, he's going to fall on you. Did Hartman drive him into the ice, yes, a bad hit.
By the way, and not that you'll care, but apparently Stutzle had just slashed Hartman prior to this and no penalty was called.
You say Hartman's hit was worse, it wasn't. Stutzle isn't injured and getting surgery and missing a month or more because of it.
Our best player has had a target on his back for the last 2+ years and is being intentionally injured. Why should I give a $hit if we fight back?
I watched that game, and while I did NOT see a slash on Hartman, the refs weren't calling ANYTHING, when that happens, things gets out of hand.
Did McDavid even get penalized for elbowing Johannson in the jaw, giving him a concussion? NO.
You keep saying things like "fight back" and mentioning Wild players who were injured by players on other teams. Neither of those things has ANYTHING to do with Hartman's hit on Stutzle. "Some guy killed my wife but didn't get punished harshly enough, so I killed another guy who looked like him to fight back". Yeah, try that one on a judge. That Stutzle wasn't seriously injured was pure luck because Hartman was certainly trying to seriously injure him. Because he's a POS that no self-respecting team would want on their roster, and no self-respecting player would want as a teammate. Maybe that's also true of some other players in the league, but whether it is or not makes no difference in recognizing what Hartman is.
Nobody is dying from a knee-on-knee. Guys can die, or be crippled, from having their head spiked into the ice. Your description that Hartman fell on him is hysterical and not even close to accurate. Stutzle wasn't "injured", he was just busted open.
Using outcomes is an awful way to judge hits. Intent and the action are what you judge because outcomes are often just dumb luck.
McDavid not getting penalized for his dirty elbow doesn't change that Hartman was rightly suspended. Inconsistent punishment is the most consistent thing the NHL does. Ex: not punishing Kucherov for injuring Michael Rasmussen on an empty net goal last week.
Our guys are getting intentionally injured and no penalties (in most cases) are even called.
When someone starts giving a $hit about guys on my team getting targeted AND INJURED INTENTIONALLY, I'll MAYBE give a rats a$$.
SICK OF IT!
It's a tough position to walk back.
Just watched the "knee on knee" on Kaprizov. Nothing dirty about that hit. Bad outcome but he didn't even stick his leg out. He squared up Kaprizov and there was just an ugly result.
Yeah sure and Hartman just lost his balance and fell on Schultze.
No, wait! Schultze grabbed Hartman from below pulled him down and smashed his own face to the ice.
LOL Hartman the thug:
From ESPN: "Hartman had 48 hours from the league's ruling Monday night to decide whether to appeal the ban for slamming an opponent's head to the ice with his right forearm, the longest for on-ice conduct in more than six years.”
Deserved, slamming a guys head to the ice? Yikes the Vilde has some quality players.
Last 2 games, Vilde had 2 shutouts, that, er was the other teams shutting the Vilde out. Vilde is going nowhere quick………..
Figured I could count on your support.
Well, driving someones skull into the ice is just not a good thing. Hopefully he learned from this, I assume he will be cut to 6 games which is still large penalty.
Let’s recall your comments above to McD when he was penalized 3 games for stick work. He owned it and moved on. Did Hartman own it?
Good news on the Oil front. They won 2 tight games on the road 2 nights in a row, a tough feat against any teams. They have strengthened their lead on Vegas in the Pacific.
For overall points this season, we now have a new leader:
Drais also has a commanding lead in goals. McD is in 4th overall even after missing 6 games to injury and penalty.
ESPN have come out with the player rankings for the 4 Nations Face-Off. And here is #1:
Yup, the greatest, generational, player in the game, Oil Captain Connor McDavid.
Vilde plays Carolina next, does not look good for them. Their Goals For-Goals Against for the season is now 0. A loss puts them in a negative. We will see…………..
McDavid did a blubbering interview where he threatened to boycot NHL "events", so no, the crybaby did not "own" it.
You are, if nothing else, consistent. Consistently WRONG!
Where was this interview? All I can find is whispers that he MAY have threatened to boycott.
and then Foligno or Middleton would float over and offer to bounce their fists off of his face and Hatcher would instead offer a Chara-grade crosscheck slap fight...you know, like he always did to anyone who posed a (fight related) challenge.
That may be, but Hartman's jaw would be separated from his skull nonetheless. As it should be. And Hatcher wouldn't have "offered" to do so, he would just have done what needed to be done.
For the record, "fights" that are "offered" and "accepted" aren't fights, they're theater. I have always thought they were worse than pointless. If Hatcher, or anyone else, isn't participating to your satisfaction in this ridiculous charade, I'm sorry this is happening to you but it would be a very heavy lift to get me to care.
noted: a cheapshot to one's jaw is better than squaring up for a fair fight. You can think whatever you want about fighting in the game, but the reality is when the vote comes up to abolish fighting in the NHL during rule change off-season discussions, the players vote in the high 90's to keep it every time (97% was the last vote, I believe)...even among players with zero career fights. The reason for that is simple - the belief that if it were to be scrubbed, the stickwork and the Hartman type plays ramp up.
There are tough guys in the sport, and then there are fake tough guys. The guys who avoid anyone who poses a real challenge, or on the flipside, in actual game toughness, and the stuff that doesn't get recognized by the average dope watching, the guys who are willing to play the puck first on a dump in, and/or on the wall and absorb the hit to make a play or smother the puck if need be. Guys like Chara and Hatcher along with Lucic and Barrett Jackman and a handful of others are at the top end of the fake-tough guy club of players in my lifetime.
I was at a game where Dave Manson tracked Hatcher around the ice for several shifts after the knee on knee on Roenick and he wouldn't go. Now according to your logic, Manson should have just put an elbow through his jaw. But Manson wasn't a fake tough guy, you see, so he would expect a guy to answer for his crap because that's the culture of the game at that level. You're supposed to answer for your crap. But it's not unexpected. In an era where 94-95% of US born players went to college, Hatcher opted to be child-trafficked boy labor in Canadian Junior taught by other dolts whose educations ended in the 8th grade. Thus the end result was a dumb, waffle-stomping slice of fake-tough guy Michigan trash. Even his fellow MIchigan trash brethren, Jacob Trouba, current league leader of predatory hits in the league since Tom Wilson ran up his repeat offender violations to unsustainable levels, will answer for his crap, every time. I bring up Trouba because if one were wondering what Hatcher would look like in today's game, it's a less mobile version of that, and Trouba is circling the drain himself.
Saw it on Facebook. I do realize Facebook has some fake interviews, but this looked legit.
So Hartman can be a bully and potentially cause a life changing injury to someone as a cheapshot and that is ok?
Here are the latest of our 2 teams in the ESPN Power Rankings:
Yup the Oil is finally spending coin to be great. The next few years look good.
This Power Ranking article was supposed to be about what each team had that was ’Super’. All they could talk about for the Vilde is what is not Super. And it is Hartman who IMO should never play in the league again. A Vilde thug, not a hockey player. 5th suspension.
On a good note for the Vilde, they beat Carolina last nite. That puts their Goals For/Goals Against for the season to +1 and they have improved their last 10 record to 5-5. I suspect that is what it will be for the rest of the season. W/o the Karp they are listless. Next year they need one more elite scorer in addition to the Karp to move up and consistently win over the course of a season. We will see…………….
How much rent does Hatcher pay to live in your head? I hope it's a lot because he's taking up a whole lot of space.
Bottom line, Hatcher was named the Stars captain when he was 22 and served in that role for the rest of his time in Dallas. He was, without question, the most respected player on the team by the players on the team. His de-jawing of Roenick runs neck-and-neck with winning the Stanley Cup as the fan's favorite moment in Stars history. I don't know if he gave you a wedgie once or reminds you of a mean ex-boyfriend, but nothing, no matter how long-winded, could ever persuade a Stars fan to feel anything but respect for Hatcher. You'd find it easier to make a Reds fan hate Johnny Bench.
I don’t respect Hatcher. Him and his brother are losers.
are you new, here? I've been doxing the Chara/Hatcher/Jackman types for 20 years. But I guess since you're the guy who has been oddly affected by the Modano hit for 30+ years, being the type of fanboy for the local boys is on brand. I guess I never became the type of sports watcher who delves into that as an adult. Treads too closely to the type of people who become fanatics for political idealogues who don't know, or couldn't care less than you exist. Or the boomers and Gen- Xers who never figured out that Springsteen's everyman front not only came complete with being a musical sellout, but also came with being a land-tax dodger - in addition to the 340 very boring songs about skipping town and abandoning your family.
But being named captain means very little. It's not that dissimilar to Jeter being named captain of the Yankees while simultaneously refusing to move off of SS for a superior defender (A-rod). Connor McDoncic is captain. He doesn't do anything that a typical captain of a club does. Darnell Nurse sucks, but is probably the real captain of the Oil. What does Mumbles Crosby do as captain? Argue/complain and whine for calls, is about it. You can go down through the years of mediocre to terrible players being named captain from (a career 3rd liner like) Chris Clark in Washington to freaking Shayne Corson in Edmonton to an in-decline Alexei Yashin on the Island...a guy who had his contract subsequently bought out soon after.
It's a PR position. Many (if not the majority of) clubs just give it to a guy who they think will be there for the foreseeable future. Jonathan Toews was the C wearing captain of 3 cup winning teams while Brent Seabrook was the actual captain. It's largely just a guy who is a locker room leader, or the guy who will stand up for teammates when there is a Hatcher/Hartman type cheap hit, a media friendly interview who toes the company line while like most of the posts in this thread, saying nothing interesting or accurate. Every club wants a Chelios type as captain, but a star level player who brings everyone together is a rarity, so the end result is usually a Nick Foligno/David Backes type. The difference there is those two didn't duck challengers like certain other fugazi captains. .
Oh, I know. Why you do it is the mystery. NHL players are not required to play according to lanewyer85's personal preferences; you know that, right? Darian Hatcher played the game exactly as his teammates wanted him to play it, and they would, to a man, have taken a bullet for him.
And comparing established superstars who get named captain of their teams (as Modano was late in his career by the Stars) as an award for scoring accomplishments or for PR reasons to a 22-year-old low scoring defenseman who gets named captain because he is motivational and inspirational is just silly. Your Hatcher Derangement Syndrome is blinding you. Read the rest of what you just wrote after the silly part. Darnell Nurse is probably the "real" captain of the Oil? Brent Seabrook was the "actual" captain of the Blackhawks? I'm not disagreeing, mind you, just pointing out that Darian Hatcher was the "real" and "actual" captain of the Stars. Teams do not name 22-year-old no offense defensemen with one full year of service under their belts as captain because it's good PR. Naming Modano at that point was the obvious PR move, coming off a 50-goal season. But they named Hatcher because he was already the "real", "actual" captain despite his young age and lack of scoring. You have to see it, but for some reason you want to pretend you don't.
I'm happy for you that you have all this insider knowledge of the Stars locker room from this era. The era where the roster was composed of 30-something FORMER CAPTAINS like Carbonneau, Nieuwendyk, and Kirk Muller among others and not even including his 6 year senior brother, and a completely nuts Ed Belfour or Brett Hull. The latter two have the personalities of known followers who would have definitely fallen in line with a 20 something. Carbonneau captained the 93 Montreal cup winner in the 1B to Toronto's 1A most insane/pressurized hockey market in the league, and was so old that Brendan Morrow literally married his daughter, but it was noted slobbering incel, D-Hatch, that glued that operation together. Good call.
I'm not sure what to do with your last post. Other than Kevin Hatcher, NONE of the players you just mentioned (the ones anyone else here has heard of) were on the team when Derian Hatcher was named captain. But Modano and Neil Broten were, and every single thing you've said disparaging captains would apply ONLY if one of them had been named captain. That, and you didn't address anything I said. I'm pretty sure you know something about hockey, but you clearly don't know a whole lot about the Stars. Pity, because I thought that was the topic.
Derian Hatcher was named captain of a team at the age of 22 despite having 20-some goals in about 200-some games. Care to list all the other teams that have ever done that? The only statement you've made remotely related to why the Stars did that was something about PR, but that statement was so farcical when applied to Hatcher that I know even you don't believe it. So, why did the Stars name Hatcher captain, and why did they keep him in that role for the remainder of his long tenure with the team despite all the much bigger names and former captains of Cup teams that joined later? If you have a real answer that doesn't insult my intelligence (all you've offered so far), I'm all ears.
Yes!!!!!! OH CANADA! The Canadians win the 4 Nations Championship! Oh wait, and look who scored the championship goal. Connor. McDavid. Yep. Love it!!!!
Link to NHL.com article below.
https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/4-nations-face-off/connor-mcdavid-delivers-signature-moment-in-4-nations-face-off-final
So the second half of the season is coming up. I am very optimistic about the Oil. Everyone is rested up, and now teams are going to be playing at their highest level. As McD just showed, the Oil is laden with uber talent. They have momentum, and McD is likely bursting with confidence given his superhero goal.
The Vilde? They are going to have to do some soul searching to hang in there. As I have said, they need at least another elite scorer and now Karp is out. So we will see how they handle it.
Best, DM
From ESPN:
"McDavid producing the overtime game-winner was simply poetic.”
From the Edmonton Journal when McD was held down by the Canooks at the end of the game:
"It is absolutely insane that with the Oilers pressing hard in Vancouver’s end for the equalizer that Garland could hold McDavid down on the ice, literally wrapping his legs around him and then tackling him again when he tried to escape, for a full 15 seconds and both Wes McCauley and Chris Lee refused to make the call.”
Gutless referee……………. It is exactly what I saw. Imagine the outrage if that was done to MJ or Kobe in the US? Those refs need to be fired, as does the Vilde thug who smashes other players faces into the ice…………….
Mess and Subban when McD scored the championship winning goal:
https://x.com/PKSubban1/status/1892798646715843053?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1892798646715843053|twgr^a242b6a2e7ae758e79cc0167402f586540082dec|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2025/02/p-k-subban-and-mark-messier-went-bonkers-over-connor-mcdavids-4-nations-championship-ot-winner&mx=2
Oh Mess, we all knew that during the Oil dynasty they were playing for you, including Gretz, you da man!!!!!
Wild with a come from behind overtime victory!
Same number of points as the Oilers.
WITHOUT their best player!!!!!!!
GO WILD!