Down the Frozen River

Tag: Marco Sturm

  • Feeling lucky? The Bruins might be

    The Boston Bruins have won their last six home games as a result of their, 3-2, shootout victory against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.

    They’ll go for lucky number seven on Sunday against the Florida Panthers after a brief road trip through Pittsburgh Thursday night.

    In the meantime, Matthew Poitras was back in the lineup on the fourth line in place of Sean Kuraly in the win against Vegas. Jonathan Aspirot remained alongside Mason Lohrei from Saturday’s overtime win against the Chicago Blackhawks to Monday night’s battle with the Golden Knights.

    Other than wondering “so when does Frédéric Brunet get back into this lineup?” I have no major complaints about anything.

    Poitras looked like his usual self before getting absolutely clobbered and bloodied with an elbow (he returned to the night’s action with a fishbowl, fear not) and Aspirot looked a bit more comfortable in his second-straight game.

    Looking comfortable is fine and all, but being effective is another matter and that’s where Brunet is more likely to pull ahead whenever Marco Sturm decides to re-insert the 23-year-old defender.

    James Hagens extended his point streak to three games with a goal to open the scoring. He now has 6-6–12 totals in 16 games this season– good enough for the second-most goals on the roster and third-most points behind David Pastrňák (eight goals, 20 points) and Elias Lindholm (13 points), respectively.

    Once again, however, we’re left wondering what kind of an impact Hagens might have late in the game or in overtime as he didn’t see much ice time as regulation was coming to a close.

    Mark Stone scored a power-play goal for Vegas and– stop me if you’ve heard this before– the Bruins’ penalty kill gave up Stone’s goal just eight seconds into the special teams action.

    At the very least, it was the only time the Golden Knights converted on the power play.

    Morgan Geekie had a power-play goal of his own prior to Stone’s goal and now has a goal in back-to-back games.

    Oh and Jeremy Swayman looked great in the shootout on route to securing the win, his eighth quality start in 12 starts and a 2.31 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage on the season.

    Boston outshot Vegas, 27-23, and held their weight against one of the expected top teams in the league coming into the season. The Bruins are now 11-4-1 overall and still in command of the Atlantic Division with 23 points to Montréal’s 20.

    We’ll see how the B’s handle their momentum with only two games in the next nine days before things resume a somewhat routine flow for the rest of November.

    Now for the positives:

    You wouldn’t be able to tell from the scoresheet, but Hampus Lindholm looked involved and very in-tune with whatever was going on– whether it was in his own zone or while creating rush opportunities through the neutral zone.

    Maybe it’s a glimpse of his former self returning to form after all the injuries he’s battled in the last couple of seasons. Definitely something to keep an eye on as the other Lindholm (Elias Lindholm) has his own renaissance.

    The two Lindholms crashed the net and nearly ended the game in overtime as it was.

    The Bruins play 11 games this month. Two of them are road games.

    If they continue to be as dominant and/or as resilient as they’ve been on home ice, they could really stockpile a ton of points by American Thanksgiving.

    Personally, I am always a fan of teams making their home ice a living hell for their opponents. I’m also a fan of teams getting as many points as possible before the December and January slog of the schedule takes hold.

    Alright, that’s about it for this one.

    Some nights are just a grind and could’ve gone one way or another, but you’re happy to get two points and focus on riding the momentum of the win into the next game where you aim to clean things up a bit.

    I’ll have more takeaways as the week unfolds, I’m sure, but for now I should get back to rating Hometown Remix jerseys and figuring out some points models entering the month of November. Enjoy the ride.

  • Tricks with the occasional treat

    One game isn’t that unexpected. Two games isn’t fully a trend. But three? That’s officially the start of a slump.

    Thankfully for the Boston Bruins, they’re not slumping courtesy of Morgan Geekie‘s game-tying goal seconds before the end of regulation and Elias Lindholm‘s game-winning goal in overtime as the Bruins came from behind to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4, Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.

    Boston went 9-4-1 in October after their perfect 1-0-0 in September and are now 10-4-1 overall with 21 points on the season.

    Lindholm now has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his last eight games.

    It was a sloppy effort all-around, but resiliency is an important factor in hockey.

    Despite allowing four goals in the effort, Michael DiPietro was peppered with 41 shots against. He stayed in the fight all afternoon and sprawled out to make a save while attempting a poke check on Anton Frondell‘s breakway bid for a hat trick.

    Had DiPietro’s confidence been affected by anything earlier in the game, Frondell would’ve been walking out of TD Garden feeling elated. Instead, DiPietro is dialed in.

    He has three wins, as well as a 2.00 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage in his last three games. He also has a shutout in that span.

    Sure, Saturday’s win came with four goals against, but DiPietro is one of the best backups in the league currently. He’s 3-1-0 overall with a 2.26 GAA and a .929 SV%.

    In the meantime, Saturday’s victory also secured five consecutive wins on home ice for Boston.

    Marco Sturm made two lineup changes between Thursday night’s loss in St. Louis and Saturday’s matinée matchup with Chicago, replacing Matthew Poitras on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly and Connor Clifton on the third defensive pairing with Jonathan Aspirot.

    Both Poitras and Clifton were healthy scratches.

    I’d have to imagine the lineup moves were more about getting reps than any sort of indication of poor performance or poor standing with the coaching staff on Poitras’ behalf, at least.

    It’s not ideal to remove one of your better, faster forwards on the fourth line, but it’s understandable that a fourth line player gets swapped with a fourth line player for a game.

    Entering Saturday, Kuraly had a 67.6 faceoff win percentage in four games this season.

    He’s now up to a 69.0 FOW% in five games, while Mark Kastelic– who has also taken quite a few faceoffs on the fourth line when either Kuraly or Poitras is playing– went from a 61.4 FOW% in 14 games entering the afternoon to a 60.3 FOW% after Saturday’s effort.

    Poitras currently has a 59.4 FOW% in 11 games played.

    Kuraly (69.0) leads the team in faceoff win percentage, though Kastelic (60.3) leads among the regulars with Lindholm (60.2), Poitras (59.4), Pavel Zacha (54.7), James Hagens (50.0), Fraser Minten (46.3), Geekie (45.7), Tanner Jeannot (45.0) and Marat Khusnutdinov (38.9) rounding out the top-10 on the entire roster.

    Late in the middle frame, Kuraly and Kastelic had a great shift on the penalty kill. If Kuraly is a depth forward nowadays, Saturday’s showing in 8:45 time on ice was what you need him to do in a pinch.

    We spend far too much time arguing about bottom-six forwards and third pairing defenders on hockey Twitter. One occasional appearance early in the regular season is not worth fussing about.

    At the same time, it wasn’t a great afternoon for the Aspirot-Lohrei pairing.

    It’s hard to build chemistry on-the-fly, even if Aspirot and Mason Lohrei spent a good chunk playing together last season, but it’s a new season. These things can happen.

    It also doesn’t help if one player (Aspirot) hasn’t played much this year to begin with in terms of establishing a baseline. That said, two things can be true– Aspirot is a depth defender on this roster and Lohrei can be a candidate for being the next healthy scratch.

    Well, the latter part would’ve been true if Lohrei didn’t end up turning things around later in the game– scoring his third goal of the season in the process.

    Nevertheless, the good news is that if you follow my “observation game (or two)” logic, then you should expect Frédéric Brunet to be back in the lineup Monday night against the Vegas Golden Knights.

    Crisis averted.

    Whether or not Aspirot or Clifton get another game if Lohrei is to be scratched remains to be seen.

    Crisis back on?

    File this in the “needs improvement” dept.

    Penalty kill woes continue to haunt the Bruins.

    You may look at the scoresheet and say “but Chicago’s power play was only 1/3 on the afternoon?” Yes, but prior to Saturday in Boston, the Blackhawks hadn’t scored a road power-play goal so far this season.

    That and there’s this observation from Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe— that St. Louis’ two power-play goals in Thursday’s loss for the Bruins were scored four and six seconds into the power play for the Blues. Chicago only needed 11 seconds to score on their first power play opportunity of the afternoon Saturday.

    Sure, that’s an improvement by about double the time it took Boston’s penalty kill to allow a goal against, but it’s still a goal against in a “that’s way too soon to give up a power-play goal while shorthanded” sense.

    There’s effective power plays that wear down their opponents and then there’s giving up before things even get started and right now the Bruins need to find a way to avoid the latter.

    Now for the positives:

    David Pastrňák scored a goal midway through the first period to tie things up, 1-1.

    It was the 428th career goal for Pastrňák– passing Patrice Bergeron for sole-possession of the third-most goals in Bruins history in the process.

    If the last couple of games needed more production from Boston’s top-six forward group, Pastrňák and Geekie heard the call as each had a pair of goals in Saturday’s win. Geekie’s goal was just his second of the season.

    Players go on hot streaks and cold streaks throughout the season. It’s when an entire line or majority of the top-six goes cold for multiple games at a time that’s troubling.

    Though he didn’t have a goal in the game, JJ Peterka, had a pair of assists and tied Pastrňák for the most shots on goal among the Bruins with four each.

    Despite Chicago badly outshooting Boston, 28-13, through 40 minutes, the B’s managed to amass 17 shots on net– the most they’ve had in any period so far this season– in the final frame of regulation to the Blackhawks’ 10.

    Chicago still finished with a 41-32 advantage by the end of the afternoon, however.

    Oh and Elias Lindholm’s overtime-winning goal looked cool as hell.

    Sick hands like that, even Peter Forsberg has to nod approval out of respect.

    Finally, whatever this is

    “What if the Bruins traded Pavel Zacha, Dean Letourneau, Will Zellers, Matt Poitras and a first round pick for Nikita Kucherov?”

    One thing’s for sure, you’re definitely not eating Halloween candy before saying these kinds of things. You should lay off of whatever you’ve been getting into.

    Then again, with the way Nikita Zadorov has been disciplined by Sturm for his undisciplined actions this season and in light of the fact that Zadorov and Kucherov share the same agent (Dan Milstein) what are the odds Boston could trade Zadorov for Kucherov one-for-one? I’ll hang up and listen.

    After all, the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to have to do something on defense sometime with Victor Hedman, John Carlson and Ryan McDonagh being 35, 36 and 37-years-old, respectively. O.K., I’ll hang up for real this time.

  • Yikes! O.K. maybe a little overreaction

    Thursday night’s, 4-1, loss by the Boston Bruins against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center was a lot worse than Tuesday night’s, 2-1, loss in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes.

    Playing well against the good teams (Carolina), even if you ultimately lose (and are outshot) is a good sign of growth in a youth movement.

    Playing like whatever that was in St. Louis, however, is not.

    Shots on goal and giveaways were both pretty even through 40 minutes, until Boston had a, 14-2, advantage in shots in the third period alone.

    But by then, one of St. Louis’ two shots on net in the final frame hit the back of the twine for a Blues power-play goal– giving them a three-goal lead and their fourth unanswered goal of the night after Boston opened the scoring back in the first period.

    Something about Boston’s play looked worse all night.

    They weren’t forcing the play. They weren’t pressuring St. Louis’ offense in the defensive zone when they maybe should have (see, Robert Thomas’ goal).

    They were just sloppy.

    Is it concerning if a team plays sloppy this early into the season? Sure. Could it just be that they’re figuring out the rhythm of an 84-game season, so they’re going to have a night like this– possibly a stretch? Also yeah.

    Again, the Bruins are not Stanley Cup contenders this season and we’re not even technically sure if they’ll be a playoff team, despite entering Thursday first in the Atlantic Division.

    The B’s are now 9-4-1 overall with 19 points– one point ahead of the 8-3-2 Montréal Canadiens.

    Remember, the Detroit Red Wings were “a lock” for the 2026 postseason by about December last year. And then what happened?

    If anything, Thursday night’s game in St. Louis was all the more reason why the Bruins shouldn’t be aggressive to add a piece that will barely move the needle but give the appearance of a “win now” team.

    This is a two-to-three year process and (depending on if you started counting in 2024-25 or 2025-26) they’re still not out of the overhaul yet.

    Last season’s playoff appearance for the B’s could’ve been a fluke, but it raises the expectations for consistent improvement overall.

    As for the one lineup change…

    No, Connor Clifton replacing Frédéric Brunet for a game (or two, even, if Marco Sturm leaves Clifton in for Saturday’s home matinée against the Chicago Blackhawks) is not a punishment.

    Unlike Nikita Zadorov‘s discipline struggles from time-to-time in his Boston tenure (see, “finding the right time for heavy hockey” and “how to avoid crossing the line” for more), Brunet is a young, first-year full-time NHL defender.

    Brunet is going to have a bad game every now and then.

    Honestly, it’s not a bad idea for young defenders in the NHL to get a look at the game from the press box once in a while.

    Call it an “observation game” if you will, since learning by observing is one of the many ways people learn.

    The further away from the ice that you sit, the more you can see how plays develop and start to understand– from observation alone– the differences between NHL and AHL action, plus where defensive positioning should be applied and how things go wrong when they go wrong.

    It’s a good mental reset and as long as you haven’t completely lost your coach’s confidence, you’ll be back in the next game or two, ready to contribute.

    I’d be more concerned if someone like Will Borgen regressed to the point of needing an “observation game”, since he’s had more than enough NHL experience by now– he should know the game.

    Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if Brunet plays around 69 games (barring injury) this season given the number of games he sat out as a healthy scratch to start the year and (roughly) how many more potential “observation games” he might experience.

    But if you want more recent young Bruins defender examples:

    Johnny Boychuk played in 51 games in 2009-10, then 69 games in the 2010-11 season with Boston after working his way up from Providence.

    He was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2nd round (61st overall) in 2002. He made his NHL debut with the Avs in the 2007-08 season two weeks shy of turning 24.

    Boychuk was 27 when he won the Cup in 2011. Brunet is only 23.

    Dougie Hamilton was the 9th overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft and spent one more year in junior hockey with the Niagara IceDogs (OHL) for 2011-12, before participating in 42 out of the lockout shortened 48-game 2012-13 season for Boston.

    Kevan Miller only played in 47 games in his first full season in 2013-14 (he spent 19 games in Providence that year as well and, no, I didn’t look up if he missed any time due to injury, but probably).

    Torey Krug was slowly implemented prior to his first full NHL season with a pair of games in Boston in 2011-12, one game during the 2012-13 season (before fully emerging as the offensive defender that he was in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs) and 79 games in 2013-14.

    After finishing his time at Ohio State, Mason Lohrei played five games with Providence in 2022-23, and 21 games with Providence the following year while making an impression in 41 games with Boston in 2023-24.

    Lohrei was a full-time NHL player– playing in 77 games– in 2024-25, and through his ups and downs last season still managed 73 games.

    Miller (Vermont), Krug (Michigan State) and Lohrei played college hockey before spending time in Providence while rising to the NHL ranks. Lohrei, however, was the only one of the aforementioned trio to be drafted– having been selected in the 2nd round (58th overall) by Boston in 2020.

    Now for some positives(?):

    Morgan Geekie has one goal this season (Oct. 8th in a, 6-1, win against the Utah Mammoth). He’s off to a slow start, but we’ve seen this before. Some players are just like that– I call them “second-half of the season players.”

    David Krejčí got better as the season went on like that.

    I’m not saying Geekie is like Krejčí, but rather that anytime Geekie would like to score again would be more than welcome– even if it’s not nearly at the rate he’ll eventually start scoring by the midpoint of the season.

    Now, that’s not to say I’m in agreement with Dom Luszczyszyn at The Athletic‘s latest takeaways about the Bruins as a whole. Sure, the underlying analytics look good…. For now.

    There’s some cracks that will need addressing, but they’re overarching goals to be reached in one or two years from now, really.

    Speaking of goals, however, James Hagens scored in Thursday night’s action. It may have been the only goal that Boston scored, but Hagens is now on pace for 30 this season.

    That’s probably a bit much for the first-year NHL forward, but never say never.

    If Hagens can get to the 15-20 range, that’s still a solid first season.

    In the meantime, something has got to be done about the special teams– specifically the penalty kill. It might be a problem.

  • No, you’re overreacting!

    With first place in the entire league on the line, one team showed why they’re the defending Stanley Cup champion while the other… …showed why they’re somehow here when you least expected it.

    The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1, at Lenovo Center Tuesday night in Raleigh, but admit it, you’re enjoying the ride, aren’t you?

    Boston’s eight-game point streak came to an end, but somehow they’re 9-3-1 to start the season and remain in command of first place in the Atlantic Division.

    Carolina, meanwhile, showed their patented game of calculations and patience that drives opponents insane and suppresses shots against in such a way that even Martin Brodeur would be jealous.

    After all, Brodeur played in an era before shots on goal were reviewed with a fine-toothed comb in light of sports gambling’s (legal) existence and the many, many parlays that depend an the accurate shot count.

    Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski be damned, the official scorer is now your greatest defender.

    Anyway, Shayne Gostisbehere had one blocked shot, Jalen Chatfield blocked two, Juuso Välimäki blocked one, K’Andre Miller stood in front of two, Sean Walker blocked three and Jaccob Slavin blocked two.

    Even if Boston had gotten those 11 shot attempts through to Pyotr Kochetkov, they still would’ve trailed in the total shot count.

    Carolina outshot Boston, 30-15, including a, 12-7, advantage in the first period, an, 8-2, advantage in the second period and a, 10-6, advantage in the third period.

    Standing around and letting your opponent force the play is a signature component to why the Hurricanes are successful.

    The Bruins were making too many pass attempts and forced passes that Carolina had no issue picking them off– intentional or otherwise.

    And when the B’s started carrying the puck midway through the final frame it proved costly.

    It wasn’t a great night for the defensive pairing of Mason Lohrei and Frédéric Brunet. It’s an 84-game season, not every one of them is going to be a winner.

    The hope is that Brunet uses this poor performance as motivation to learn and do better in the next game.

    Alternatively, Bruins head coach, Marco Sturm, could use Tuesday night as a reason to rotate Connor Clifton or Jonathan Aspirot back into the lineup Thursday night in St. Louis. Perhaps both even.

    Lohrei held the puck in the offensive zone for too long– passing and shooting opportunities went by the wayside– and he promptly turned it over while corralling the puck in the slot, leading to a rush the other way for the Hurricanes.

    William Carrier skated through the neutral zone with ease, moved the puck to Andrei Svechnikov to his right, then Brunet pinched while Svechnikov let go of an easy backhand pass to beat Boston’s defense.

    Carrier nearly got a touch on it as Lohrei– while overcompensating to get back and defend the play– made the decision to sprawl out and sweep the passing lane– completely missing the puck in the process.

    Sebastian Aho had no trouble ricocheting the rubber biscuit with a backhand off the post, off Jeremy Swayman and in on the high-danger scoring conversion.

    All in all, just that kind of night for Boston. Frustrating, sure, but a good reminder that the Bruins are not close to contending for the Cup and still have 71 more games left in the regular season before any potential playoff action. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

    Stick to the plan.

    Now for the positives:

    Pavel Zacha had a power-play goal to kick things off 1:31 into the first period. Great!

    The power play went 1/5 on the night. While you’d like to have seen them convert on one or two more skater advantages, going 1/5 is better than going 0/5 (or 0/4 like how the Hurricanes did in Tuesday’s contest).

    Elias Lindholm had the primary assist on Zacha’s goal and now has a three-game point streak (1-3–4 totals) and points in four out of his last five games (2-3–5 totals).

    David Pastrňák had the secondary assist and now has a three-game point streak as well (3-3–6 totals) and points in four out of his last five games (4-4–8 totals).

    Swayman made 28 saves on 30 shots faced– good enough for a .933 save percentage in the game and his seventh quality start in 10 games this season.

    Despite dropping to a 7-2-1 record, Swayman has a 2.19 goals-against average and a .921 SV% on the season.

    And to steal a phrase from Canes head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, “that game was closer than you think.”

    No, but seriously, the first period looked promising in terms of the “can they keep up with a real contender” aspect, then the rest of the night was just overthinking and inexperience.

    Matthew Poitras may have missed an open net and rang the post a couple of times, but getting breakouts, showing a solid backhand shot and creating chances helped showcase that he is a certified fourth line forward.

    There are going to be other nights.

  • Hurricanes storm Bruins, 7-1, in road victory

    Hurricanes storm Bruins, 7-1, in road victory

    Nearly 11 years after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, Willie O’Ree was called up from the Québec Aces minor professional hockey team and suited up for the Boston Bruins at Montréal Forum in what became a, 3-0, shutout for the Bruins against the Montréal Canadiens on Jan. 18, 1958.

    The next day, O’Ree read in the paper that he had been the first Black player in National Hockey League history.

    He played in the following game with Boston, a 6-2, loss to Montréal in his Boston Garden debut before he was sent back to the minors for the remainder of the 1957-58 season.

    In a, 3-2, win against the Canadiens on Jan. 1, 1961, at Boston Garden, O’Ree scored his first career NHL goal– the eventual game-winner at 10:07 of the third period.

    In total, O’Ree amassed 14 points (four goals, ten assists) in 45 career NHL games with the Bruins from 1958-61– paving the way for many Black players since then while being subjected to the brunt of racial epithets from fans, players and coaches alike.

    In some tragic sense, not much has changed within the culture of the sport and society at large.

    No one is a product of their time. Ignorance, inequality and racism are always ignorance, inequality and racism.

    O’Ree’s hero, Herb Carnegie, was never given a proper chance at making the NHL.

    Carnegie received a similar sham of a tryout that the Boston Red Sox gave Robinson on April 16, 1945, only this time it was at training camp in a different sport with the New York Rangers in Sept. 1948– a little more than one year after Robinson first played for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

    In 1998, O’Ree was hired by the NHL as a Diversity Ambassador, having given many speeches since to kids and adults alike– those that play the game, those that have played the game and anyone that will listen in-between.

    In 2018, O’Ree was finally inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto as a Builder.

    Also in 2018, the NHL first presented the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award, which is presented annually “to an individual who– through the game of hockey– has positively impacted his or her community, culture or society,” as voted on by a fan vote in combination with weighted votes from O’Ree himself, the NHL and the award’s presenting sponsor, MassMutual.

    Fans can submit candidates every year before the field is narrowed to three finalists that are then voted on to select a winner.

    O’Ree is also a member of the Order of Canada, has a statue in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. and is awaiting the result of the Willie O’Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act in the United States Congress on Wednesday.

    Oh, and, one more thing, O’Ree played his entire professional career spanning from the 1950s through the 1970s legally blind in his right eye after sustaining an injury in Junior hockey.

    On Tuesday night, 64 years to the day that he made his NHL debut with Boston, the Bruins retired O’Ree’s No. 22 in front of 17,850 fans in attendance at TD Garden prior to a, 7-1, loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

    O’Ree became just the 12th player in franchise history to have his number retired, joining the likes of Eddie Shore (No. 2), Lionel Hitchman (No. 3), Bobby Orr (No. 4), “Dit” Clapper (No. 5), Phil Esposito (No. 7), Cam Neely (No. 8), John Bucyk (No. 9), Milt Schmidt (No. 15), Rick Middleton (No. 16), Terry O’Reilly (No. 24) and Ray Bourque (No. 77) in the rafters of TD Garden.

    He read a speech from his home in San Diego, California via Zoom before former Bruin and current NHL on TNT analyst, Anson Carter, as well as members of the S.C.O.R.E. Boston Youth Hockey program raised O’Ree’s No. 22 banner to thunderous applause.

    Now all that’s needed is another statue outside the building next to Orr’s “The Goal” in The Hub on Causeway.

    Or maybe the City of Boston can put it next to City Hall near Bill Russell’s statue.

    Tuesday night in Carolina’s, 7-1, victory, Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored a pair of goals while Jaccob Slavin and Tony DeAngelo each had four-point nights from the Hurricanes’ defense.

    Frederik Andersen (20-6-0, 2.03 goals-against average, .930 save percentage in 26 games played) made 31 saves on 32 shots faced in the win for the Canes.

    Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (1-1-0, 5.25 goals-against average, .821 save percentage in two games played) made seven saves on 12 shots against before being replaced after one period with his team trailing, 5-1– though in large part through no fault of his own for the lack of effort team-wide in the loss.

    Linus Ullmark (13-5-0, 2.52 goals-against average, .917 save percentage in 19 games played) made 20 saves on 22 shots in relief of Rask for no decision.

    As a result of Tuesday night’s loss, the Bruins are 0-2-0 against the Hurricanes this season.

    Boston fell to 22-12-2 (46 points) overall, but the B’s remain in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division.

    Meanwhile, Carolina now sits atop the Metropolitan Division with a 26-8-2 record (54 points) thus far in 2021-22.

    Connor Clifton and Matt Grzelcyk were back from the league’s COVID-19 protocol for Boston, while Mike Reilly was placed in the aforementioned protocol ahead of the game on Tuesday.

    In addition to Reilly, the Bruins were also without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Nick Foligno (lower body), Trent Frederic (upper body) and John Moore (upper body) against Carolina.

    With Clifton and Grzelcyk back, head coach Bruce Cassidy, adjusted his defensive pairing accordingly– partnering Grzelcyk with his usual suspect on the first defensive pairing alongside Charlie McAvoy, while Clifton went back to his third pairing role with Derek Forbort.

    Urho Vaakanainen covered Reilly’s role on the second pair with Brandon Carlo.

    On Monday, Karson Kuhlman, was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Kraken– signaling an end to his Bruins career as a result.

    The 26-year-old undrafted forward made his NHL debut with Boston in the 2018-19 season and spent parts of four seasons with the B’s in 75 games, amassing 7-8–15 totals in that span.

    On Tuesday, goaltender, Kyle Keyser, and forward, Steven Fogarty, were recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) and assigned to Boston’s taxi squad.

    Reilly, Frederic, Foligno, Moore, Fogarty, Tyler Lewington (the only healthy scratch), Zboril and Keyser were all out of the lineup against Carolina for one reason or another.

    Less than four minutes into the action, Slavin sent a pass across the slot to Teuvo Teräväinen (11) for a one-timer goal on Rask’s glove side as the Bruins netminder was forced to sprawl across the crease.

    Slavin (18) and DeAngelo (20) tallied the assists on Teräväinen’s goal and the Hurricanes jumped out to a, 1-0, lead at 3:44 of the first period.

    A little more than a couple of minutes later, Kotkaniemi (8) wrapped a rebound around Rask’s right leg pad from the doorstep to give Carolina a two-goal lead at 6:03 of the first period.

    Andrei Svechnikov (17) and Nino Niederreiter (8) notched the assists as the Canes pulled ahead to a, 2-0, lead with a pair of goals in a span of 2:19.

    Midway through the opening frame, Svechnikov was assessed an interference minor at 9:48, yielding the night’s first power play to the Bruins.

    Boston took advantage of the ensuing skater advantage on a deflection goal from Patrice Bergeron (12) to cut Carolina’s lead in half, 2-1, at 11:13 of the first period.

    David Pastrnak (16) recorded the primary assist with the no-look shot pass off of Bergeron’s skate and into the twine, while McAvoy (19) picked up the secondary assist.

    Just 13 seconds later, Kotkaniemi (9) got a stick on a shot from the point by Slavin and deflected the rubber biscuit over Rask’s shoulder to give Carolina another two-goal lead, 3-1.

    Slavin (19) and Derek Stepan (5) had the assists on Kotkaniemi’s second goal of the game at 11:26 of the first period.

    Less than a minute later, Clifton cut a rut to the sin bin for cross checking at 12:11, but the Hurricanes were not successful on the resulting power play– at least not yet on the night’s list of skater advantage opportunities.

    Late in the opening frame, Seth Jarvis (7) waltzed around Clifton and crashed the net on an individual effort for an unassisted goal to give the Canes a, 4-1, lead at 16:01.

    56 seconds after that, Stepan (5) scored a goal while crashing the slot as Jordan Martinook took a hit and freed the puck to his teammate in a high danger scoring area.

    Martinook (6) had the only assist on Stepan’s goal as Carolina took a, 5-1, lead at 16:57 of the first period.

    Entering the first intermission, the Hurricanes had a, 5-1, lead on the scoreboard and a, 12-10, advantage in shots on goal as Boston had allowed five or more goals for the first time in any first period since March 3, 2008, when they gave up six goals to the Washington Capitals in a, 10-2, loss at the then known as Verizon Center.

    Alex Ovechkin had a first period hat trick, Matt Bradley and Brooks Laich each had a pair of goals in that game, while all four dressed netminders made an appearance.

    Tim Thomas got the start for Boston and was pulled twice after a brief relief appearance by Alex Auld, while Cristobal Huet started the game for the Capitals, but was yanked from the crease with back spasms and replaced by Olaf Kölzig.

    Truly, it was the definition of insanity.

    The Bruins had goals from Dennis Wideman and Marco Sturm that night, if you’re wondering, while notorious enemy of the Commonwealth, Matt Cooke, opened the night’s scoring.

    Meanwhile, Nicklas Bäckström and Donald Brashear also pocketed goals for the Capitals in that wild game from almost 14 years ago.

    Back at TD Garden on Tuesday night, while losing, 5-1, after one period, the Bruins led in blocked shots (4-3) and giveaways (4-2) as the Hurricanes also maintained the advantage in takeaways (3-1), hits (13-12) and faceoff win percentage (52-48).

    Carolina was 0/1 on the power play, while Boston was 1/1 on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

    The second period was relatively tame as no goals were scored by either team and a string of penalties opened the ice for lots of skating.

    Ullmark replaced Rask before the period began and Brendan Smith caught Craig Smith (no relation) with a high stick at 6:55.

    Boston’s power play came up short, however, and would do so again at 10:38 when Sebastian Aho cut a rut for high sticking at 10:38 of the second period.

    The Bruins also couldn’t score on an abbreviated 5-on-3 advantage at 11:30 when Ian Cole tripped up McAvoy.

    Through 40 minutes of action, the Hurricanes still led, 5-1, on the scoreboard, despite trailing Boston, 23-20, in shots on goal as the Bruins rallied to outshoot Carolina, 13-8, in the second period alone.

    The Canes led in blocked shots (13-5) and takeaways (12-2), while the B’s led in giveaways (7-3) and faceoff win% (60-40).

    Both teams had 21 hits aside, while the Hurricanes were still 0/1 and the Bruins were now 1/4 on the power play heading into the second intermission.

    Vincent Trocheck cross checked Erik Haula 33 seconds into the third period, but Boston’s ensuing power play was cut short when McAvoy and Aho collided near the blue line by the Bruins’ attacking zone– resulting in an interference minor for No. 73 in black and gold at 1:13 of the final frame.

    After 80 seconds of 4-on-4 action, the Hurricanes went on an abbreviated power play, but it didn’t take them long for Slavin (2) to riffle a shot from inside the faceoff circle over Ullmark’s blocker on the short side to give Carolina a, 6-1, lead.

    DeAngelo (21) and Teräväinen (19) tallied the assists on Slavin’s power-play goal at 3:05 of the third period and the Hurricanes had a five-goal lead as a result.

    Haula later caught Slavin with a high stick at 6:04 and presented Carolina with another power play for good measure.

    The Hurricanes got their money’s worth as Svechnikov (13) stayed aggressive on a loose puck in the slot and elevated the rubber biscuit over Ullmark as the Bruins goaltender was down.

    Aho (23) and DeAngelo (22) notched the assists on Svechnikov’s power-play goal and Carolina continued to blow Boston out of their own building, 7-1, at 7:48 of the third period.

    After that nothing else happened.

    There were no more goals, nor penalties, as fans left TD Garden early either to make the trains out of North Station due to the later than usual start as a result of the night’s opening ceremonies or simply to avoid watching the seconds tick down while lackluster entertainment continued on the ice.

    At the final horn, Carolina had won, 7-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 34-23, including a, 14-9, advantage in the third period– tied for the second-most shots allowed in any third period by Boston this season.

    The Bruins had previously given up 14 shots against in the third period on Opening Night against the Dallas Stars in a, 3-1, win on Oct. 16th at TD Garden and gave up a season-worst 16 shots against in the third period alone twice within a span of a week apart– once on Dec. 2nd in a, 2-0, shutout win in Nashville and again on Dec. 9th in a, 3-2, win in Edmonton.

    Tuesday night didn’t have the same end result for Boston, despite being badly outshot in the third period.

    The Hurricanes exited the building with the all-important victory and led the night in blocked shots (16-9), while the Bruins left their own ice leading in giveaways (8-5) and faceoff win% (55-45).

    Both teams had 26 hits aside.

    Carolina went 2/3 on the power play, while the B’s finished the night’s action 1/5 on the skater advantage.

    Boston fell to 7-7-2 (4-4-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 3-7-1 (3-4-1 at home) when trailing after the first period and 3-9-2 (3-5-1 at home) when trailing after the second period this season.

    Carolina, meanwhile, improved to an impressive 17-2-1 (10-1-1 on the road) when scoring first, 15-1-0 (7-1-0 on the road) when leading after one and 17-1-1 (7-0-1 on the road) when leading after two in 2021-22.

    The Bruins continue their seven-game homestand (3-1-0) against the Washington Capitals on Thursday before the Winnipeg Jets visit Boston on Saturday.

    The B’s are currently scheduled to wrap things up at on this current homestand next Monday against the Anaheim Ducks before hitting the road for three games with stops in Colorado, Arizona and Dallas to close out the month of January– at least until the remaining condensed schedule is announced on Wednesday, that is.

  • DTFR Podcast #204- Late For Everything!

    DTFR Podcast #204- Late For Everything!

    Nick and Colby talk about what went wrong for the Toronto Maple Leafs and other teams eliminated in the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifier, as well as preview the already in progress 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and/or on Spotify.

  • DTFR Podcast #174- Coaching Conundrums

    DTFR Podcast #174- Coaching Conundrums

    Some firsts, 100s, broken fingers and pointing fingers– who should be concerned about their job security behind the bench? Plus Cap’n and Pete are back.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.

  • DTFR Podcast #168- 2019-20 Season Preview: Pacific Division

    DTFR Podcast #168- 2019-20 Season Preview: Pacific Division

    The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2019 was announced, a major shakeup in the Board of Governors may be ahead, extensions were signed, Jake Gardiner joined the Carolina Hurricanes and it’s time for our DTFR Podcast season previews (starting with the Pacific Division).

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.

  • 2019-20 Pacific Division Outlook

    As the entire hockey world awaits training camp action next month, let’s make some (un)educated guesses about the upcoming season that will totally pan out because everything always goes as expected. (It doesn’t.)

    The projected standings below are only a forecast.

    They are based on recent indications– as well as the last few seasons of stats– and cannot account for variations in roster construction (a.k.a. trades and free agency moves).

    There’s a lot of variables that will turn the tables upside down, including transactions, injuries and otherwise. Anything can happen.

    As always, it’s more important to remember 1) the spread and 2) the positioning.

    Just how many points separate the projected division winner from the last wild card spot (the spread) and where a team is supposed to finish in the division standings (the position) can imply that things aren’t always what they seem.

    A team that’s projected to win it all still has to play an 82-game regular season, qualify for the playoffs and go on to amass 16 wins in the postseason.

    Projected Standings After ZERO Months

    Pacific Division

    1. y-Vegas Golden Knights, 101 points
    2. x-San Jose Sharks, 100 points
    3. x-Anaheim Ducks, 96 points
    4. wc1- Calgary Flames, 93 points
    5. Los Angeles Kings, 89 points
    6. Vancouver Canucks, 83 points
    7. Arizona Coyotes, 78 points
    8. Edmonton Oilers, 77 points

    Vegas Golden Knights: Pros and Cons

    Despite a colossal collapse in Game 7 of their First Round matchup with the San Jose Sharks this spring, the Golden Knights are ready for what could be another deep playoff run in 2020.

    A full season of Mark Stone– plus the rest of the original and supporting cast (Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, Paul Stastny, Max Pacioretty, Marc-Andre Fleury, etc.)– should provide Vegas with enough scoring power, while Nate Schmidt anchors the defense with Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, Jon Merrill and adopted Vegas son, Deryk Engelland.

    Aside from working on the penalty kill and the peaceful transition of power from George McPhee to Kelly McCrimmon as General Manager of the organization (effective Sept. 1st), the Golden Knights have had a quiet offseason.

    Sure, they traded Colin Miller to the Buffalo Sabres which hurts their blue line depth in the event of injuries, but Vegas has a few notable prospects with the Chicago Wolves (AHL) in Jake Bischoff, Nic Hague and Jimmy Schudlt that should be ready for a taste of NHL action if necessary.

    Owner, Bill Foley, has his sights set on his original vision for the franchise– winning a Cup within the first three seasons of its existence.

    The only downside for the Golden Knights heading into the 2019-20 season? Goaltending.

    No, Fleury isn’t in decline from his status as one of the better goaltenders in the league, but his time in the crease has to be managed.

    Though he was limited to 46 games in 2017-18 due to injury, Fleury amassed a 29-13-4 record with a 2.24 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. Vegas’ backup goaltender, Malcolm Subban, managed a 13-4-2 record in 22 games played that season with a 2.68 GAA and a .910 SV% in his rookie season.

    Last season, Subban’s numbers took a turn for the worse.

    He had an 8-10-2 record in 21 games played with a 2.93 GAA and a .902 SV%– all while Fleury was forced to carry a heavier schedule load, seeing his stat line slip to a 2.51 GAA and a .913 SV% in the process, but improving his overall record to 35-21-5 in 61 games.

    Vegas added Garret Sparks, who carries a career GAA (3.09) and SV% (.898) that’s worst than Subban in six fewer games played over two full-time seasons as a backup (Sparks appeared in 37 games with Toronto, while Subban’s played in 43 with Vegas since 2017-18).

    Gerard Gallant can’t rely on a fallback plan if one of them doesn’t yield a significant turnaround at this point in their careers (because there isn’t one) and he also can’t overexert Fleury in the buildup to the postseason.

    This is why you can never have too many goaltenders in the system.

    How would the Golden Knights fail?

    If an Uber driver records their players complaining about their special teams play and/or said Uber driver can’t do a better job at not allowing four power play goals against on a five-minute major penalty kill.

    San Jose Sharks: Pros and Cons

    San Jose has about $4.683 million in cap space and Joe Thornton is still unsigned. Are we really ready to live in a world where Thornton isn’t on the Sharks and it’s not 1997-2005 again?

    Also, Patrick Marleau is still unsigned too, but that’s besides the point– plus he spent the last two years with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

    Anyway, the Sharks went all in on Erik Karlsson’s extension, shelling out $11.500 million per season for the next eight years through the 2026-27 season.

    As long as Karlsson can remain healthy (and the rest of the roster for that matter, unlike in this spring’s Western Conference Final run), then San Jose’s blue line remains one of the most dynamic forces of offensive capabilities from an otherwise non-traditional source of scoring production.

    Kevin Labanc is an emerging star in a Sharks uniform and will carry a bigger role this season with the departure of Joe Pavelski to the Dallas Stars via free agency.

    Meanwhile, it’s officially the Logan Couture Era in Silicon Valley– if General Manager Doug Wilson is truly moving on from the days of Thornton and Marleau– with supporting roles from Tomas Hertl and Evander Kane.

    While Karlsson’s cap hit tops the league on an otherwise unnerving contract if something goes wrong, Wilson managed to keep Timo Meier in teal for the next four seasons at an affordable $6.000 million cap hit.

    Other than injuries, the only thing that could scare the Sharks out of the waters of contention is the inconsistency of Martin Jones and Aaron Dell in the crease.

    Despite compiling 36 wins on the season in 62 games played, Jones had a career-worst GAA (2.94) and SV% (.896), while Dell also managed to have a career-worst performance as a backup with a 3.17 GAA and a .886 SV% in 25 games played (of which he won 10).

    Yikes.

    How would the Sharks fail?

    San Jose has had everything imaginable happen to them in the postseason, so what seems irrational, inexplicable and/or unimaginable, because that’s probably how they’d lose (again).

    Anaheim Ducks: Pros and Cons

    The Ducks have about $8.500 million in cap space with a good mix of pending-unrestricted free agents and pending-restricted free agents next summer, which means they’ll only have more money to spend and reallocate to their better, younger players like Troy Terry and Daniel Sprong.

    What’s the bad news?

    It’s Anaheim. They’re suffering from buying out Corey Perry’s contract for the next four seasons ($2.625 million in 2019-20, $6.625 million in 2020-21 and $2.000 million from 2021-23), Ryan Getzlaf is signed through 2020-21 and has a no-movement clause, Ryan Kesler may never play again and is also signed through 2021-22 with a no-movement clause and finally, Adam Henrique has a modified no-trade clause and is signed through 2023-24.

    Yes, Kesler can be place on long-term injured reserve and shelved for the remainder of his contract and/or traded elsewhere (after waiving his NMC) to free up cap space if he truly cannot return, but the fact of the matter is the Ducks are still too tied up to takeoff and fly.

    The depth of prospects is sketchy with the Ducks, considering not much is known about their overall plan.

    Are they overcooking some prospects for a better immediate impact in the NHL or should they just play the kids, wait around near the basement of the standings and rebuild?

    Though this forecast has Anaheim tabbed for a divisional spot, they’re likely to be looking from outside the division with perhaps only the saving grace of a wild card spot thanks to John Gibson’s existence as one of the best goaltenders in the game (until the skaters in front of him let him down).

    At the very least, Dallas Eakins is back as a head coach in the NHL, so all is right with the world (and he did a decent job resurrecting his career with a strong performance in San Diego (AHL) after his dismal days in Edmonton).

    How would the Ducks fail?

    General Manager Bob Murray holds onto his cards for too long, talent development stalls and/or Eakins turns out to not be one of those classic examples of a coach that just came into the league a little too early, then got a second chance and succeeded.

    Calgary Flames: Pros and Cons

    The Flames couldn’t win the Cup with two-time All Star goaltender, Mike Smith, on their roster, so they rolling with David Rittich and Cam Talbot– who joins Calgary from their intra-province rival Edmonton Oilers.

    Speaking of the Oilers, that’s where Smith ended up. Goalie swap! But without any actual trading involved, since Talbot was most recently serving as a “Plan C” for the Philadelphia Flyers if Carter Hart, Brian Elliott and Co. weren’t ready to go down the stretch.

    Anyway, back to the “C of Red”.

    Calgary sent James Neal to Edmonton in exchange for Milan Lucic and ended up saving $500,000 per season for the remainder of Lucic’s contract (signed through 2022-23) in the process. The Oilers retained salary in the trade. You heard that right.

    Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane are still unsigned RFAs and General Manager Brad Treliving has about $7.757 million to work with in cap space.

    Get a deal done with Tkachuk and the Flames will go on without any interruption as a team that pleasantly turned a lot of heads in the regular season last year, then sputtered out in the First Round in five games to the Colorado Avalanche.

    Bill Peters is ready for his second season behind the bench in Calgary and the roster looks set to remain in contention for a divisional berth, if not leading the Western Conference once again.

    How would the Flames fail?

    Simply put, if they flame out at the end of the regular season like they did last season– March was a bad month, which led to their demise in five games against Colorado in the First Round.

    Los Angeles Kings: Pros and Cons

    The good news for the Kings? Tyler Toffoli, Trevor Lewis, Kyle Clifford, Mario Kempe, Derek Forbort, Paul LaDue, Joakim Ryan and Jack Campbell are all pending-UFAs after next season and Carl Grundstrom, Austin Wagner, Sean Walker and Kurtis MacDermid are all pending-RFAs.

    The bad news? Drew Doughty is signed through 2026-27 at $11.000 million per season, Anze Kopitar is making $10.000 million per season through 2023-24 and Adrian Kempe is currently an unsigned RFA.

    General Manager Rob Blake has a lot to sort through this season, but he’s already made some corrections to his blunders in his first two seasons as an NHL GM.

    For starters, he replaced Dion Phaneuf with Ryan in free agency, brought back his stable backup goaltender in Campbell on a one-year deal and didn’t give up on Ilya Kovalchuk, but rather hired an actual NHL head coach fit for the contemporary game in Todd McLellan.

    Though Marco Sturm remains one of the best looking assistant coaches in the league, we’ll let this one slide, Los Angeles.

    Are the Kings actually that much better than they were last season? Time will surely tell, but one thing’s for sure– they can’t possibly be much worse, right? Right!?!

    If anything, the Kings are a wild card team at best or situated behind either Vancouver or Arizona at worst in the standings, but they should be lightyears from the basement in the division this season with some solid additions through the draft over the years in Alex Turcotte, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Gabriel Vilardi.

    Los Angeles should be able to (somewhat) bounce back from their regression last season, but at the same time, the year isn’t 2012 or 2014 anymore. It’s time to start cutting the chord with former “glue guys” turned placeholders on a roster that needs an influx of youth sooner rather than later.

    How would the Kings fail?

    If Jonathan Quick gets hurt in any fashion and Blake can’t get rid of at least one of the eight players on the 23-player roster over aged 30 or older.

    Vancouver Canucks: Pros and Cons

    The Canucks are looking to make it back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2015, but did General Manager, Jim Benning do enough this offseason to set Vancouver back on the right track for 2020?

    Benning went out and acquired J.T. Miller from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Marek Mazanec, a 2019 3rd round pick and a conditional 2020 1st round pick in June, then signed 29-year-old defender, Tyler Myers to a five-year, $30.000 million contract.

    Miller and Myers are two quality assets compared to previous transactions made in the offseason by the Canucks. For once, Benning didn’t overpay an aging veteran player, but he also hasn’t cleaned up what might be a costly (both in price and on ice) fourth line in a league that runs four lines deep.

    There’s a very real chance that none of the players on Vancouver’s fourth line any given night are making less than $3.000 million per season.

    That’s unfathomable in a salary cap driven sport and only speaks to the number of misguided happenings in asset management by the Canucks.

    Come to think of it, Vancouver only has five players out of a possible 23-player roster making less than $1.000 million per season. Sure, nobody’s making $10.000 million, but all those $2.000 million-plus, $3.000 million-plus, $4.000 million-plus and $5.000 million-plus contracts add up.

    At least Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser are worth watching night-in and night-out. Plus, Thatcher Demko should pan out to be one of the league’s better goaltenders.

    There’s just one concern for Benning as the offseason continues– Boeser and Nikolay Goldobin are still unsigned RFAs.

    And Boeser is certainly worth the four-year, $7.000 million cap hit he’s looking for. Too bad the Canucks only have $5.058 million in cap space though.

    How would the Canucks fail?

    By being close, but not close enough in yet another race for the playoffs. Things are heading in the right direction, however.

    Arizona Coyotes: Pros and Cons

    Mastermind GM John Chayka has landed this offseason’s biggest prize in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins– two-time Stanley Cup champion, Team USA representative and hot dog enthusiast, Phil “The Thrill” Kessel.

    Kessel brings his goalscoring prowess to the Western Conference for the first time in his career, having been drafted by the Boston Bruins 5th overall in the 2006 NHL draft, then playing with Boston until being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2009 and then again the Pittsburgh in 2015.

    No. 81 had 82 points in 82 games played last season, which was down from career-high 34-58–92 totals in 2017-18. Additionally, he hasn’t missed a game since 2010.

    Along with Carl Soderberg– another offseason acquisition in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche– Kessel and the Coyotes are revamped and poised to make a run for the postseason.

    Arizona’s only ranked low in this forecast because of nearly a decade of middle of the road rosters and missed opportunities since losing in the 2012 Western Conference Final in five games to Los Angeles.

    The Coyotes haven’t been back to the playoffs since, but they’re trending upward.

    With Nick Schmaltz, Jakob Chychrun and Oliver Ekman-Larsson locked up on long-term contracts, the core has really come into fruition while Chayka remains active in the draft and trade market.

    Now they just need a little luck on their side to avoid losing Antti Raanta to the injury bug again.

    How would the Coyotes fail?

    If this forecast actually turns out to be true and Arizona finished 7th in the division, because otherwise who would actually want to see them fail?

    Edmonton Oilers: Pros and Cons

    Pro: New GM (Ken Holland) and a new head coach (Dave Tippett).

    Con: Another new GM and a new head coach.

    Pro: Connor McDavid!

    Con: Plays for the Oilers.

    Pro: They were able to trade Milan Lucic.

    Con: While acquiring James Neal and retaining part of Lucic’s salary in the process, thereby spending more money than in the first place.

    Pro: They should actually be better this year.

    Con: We keep saying every year, even about a team that has the second-greatest player in the game behind Sidney Crosby on the roster.

    Pro: There’s a lot of pending UFAs and RFAs on the roster.

    Con: That means at least half of them are now going to have a career-year in a contract year and be overpaid either by Edmonton or other teams in the next offseason.

    Pro: Two-time All Star Mike Smith signed a one-year deal to backup Mikko Koskinen.

    Con: The average age of Edmonton’s goaltending duo is 34.

    How would the Oilers fail?

    How there’s any such thing as optimism besides having McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton is incredible. If they make it to a wild card berth, it’d take McDavid playing every position, probably.

  • DTFR Podcast #158- Upon Further Review…

    DTFR Podcast #158- Upon Further Review…

    Nick and Pete take a stand on video review, predict the rest of the Conference Finals and discuss the Buffalo Sabres new head coach.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.