Let’s get it out of the way: we don’t like Phil Kessel. When you pen an article about how a current NHLer can be traded for basically nothing, this is going to happen. What happened next was some weird shit that I’m sure left your head spinning in confusion and made us all go “what?”
The “crosby nhl” is a term that has been used in the NHL for a while. It refers to when a player scores an empty-net goal and receives credit for it. The term was originally used to describe Sidney Crosby’s game-winning goal against the Washington Capitals on March 17, 2016.
Hockey fans are a passionate bunch, eager to offer our thoughts on anything from individual performances to huge deals to club playoff prospects.
But we all have those viewpoints that we’re scared to communicate, even if we believe they’re valuable or true. We mutter them at a game or text them to a close friend, afraid of the wrath we’d face if they were said in front of the crowds.
These are the Hot Takes on Hockey.
We recently requested a few of yours in order to evaluate their genuine temperature levels in this week’s column. Thank you to the dozens of people who sent in their spicier suggestions. We’re putting eight of the greatest to the Hot Take Temperature Test in this edition:
I’ve got the hottest take of all time, and it should definitely be translated into all other sports leagues: Any Stanley Cups won before to 1968 are meaningless. There were six teams in the league. Winning a weekend Beer League tournament in Sault Ste. Marie is more tough than winning the Stanley Cup before 1968. We should instantly tune you out if you’re leveraging those victories to boost your team’s self-assessed worth — ahem, Toronto and Montreal. Matthew Bergen’s quote
Hot take temperature check: Nothing compares to Yvan Cournoyer’s death glare when you inform him his first two Stanley Cup victories don’t count.
I’d like to point out that Mr. Bergen put Winnipeg as his hometown, which might explain why he did this. Every sport will always have era vs. era debates because there are so many lines of demarcation between eras, owing to anything from rule changes to the disintegration of the player population’s homogeneity.
2 Related
The 1967-68 expansion has always been the key dividing line between the periods in the NHL, to the extent that the league refers to anything that occurs after it as The Expansion Era.
What’s fascinating about this projected break with the past is what would change and what would remain unchanged.
I hate to tell our Winnipeg buddy that, despite winning 10 of their 23 Stanley Cups following the 1967 expansion, the Montreal Canadiens would retain bragging rights. The Toronto Maple Leafs, on the other hand, would go from having the second-most Stanley Cups (13) to having the same amount as the Columbus Blue Jackets and, well, the Winnipeg Jets before 1967-68.
The Edmonton Oilers and the Pittsburgh Penguins are tied for second most Stanley Cup victories during the Expansion Era, with five apiece. Years are recounted via the exploits of its winners, and what better way to describe the previous 40 years of the NHL than with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux, and Sidney Crosby after the Habs’ 1970s dynasty than with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux, and Sidney Crosby?
If a team commits more than four infractions (non-fighting and misconduct) in a session, they are awarded a free shot, similar to a free throw in the NBA. The game will be similar to soccer, with players shooting from the slot area. Kofi Appiah (Kofi Appiah)
Checking the temperature of my hot take: It’s colder than my % of field goals in gym class shootarounds.
This concept is similar to the shootout in “Blades of Steel” for the NES, when you just stood in front of the goaltender rather than skating in to take a shot:
#BladesOfSteel #Nintendo pic.twitter.com/aam8AVDZp0 #BladesOfSteel #Nintendo
Samantha (@NESGamerGirl) (@NESGamerGirl) January 11, 2022
Maybe it’s beneficial if your goal is to minimize penalties? But I believe it’s a case of “Shark Tank’s” typical blunder: It deals with a situation that may not be as urgent as it seems. If you commit four penalties in a session, you’ve created a hole that’s likely deeper than a free spot shot. Plus, I’d prefer to explore other ways to reduce penalties first, such as giving teams “two-minute majors” on every power play.
Or it may simply be me attempting to figure out a method to bring the Oilers into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2022.
Offside should not be a reason for the game to be stopped. Instead, you should be permitted to go offside five times in a row without being penalized. The sixth offense is a minor infraction (delayed call). You may go offsides five more times once the penalty is killed. This would increase the number of odd-man rushes while reducing the number of stoppages. They might go crazy with offside rushes, especially at the close of games if the pursuing club has already taken its offsides minor for that time. Richard’s comment
Temperature check with a hot take: the gradual burn of a well-hidden ghost pepper in an otherwise bland dish.
This one got away from me. The idea of doing rid of offside calls has grown on me, but its use has waned as goal-scoring has risen in recent years. Would you line up four guys on defense and one down the ice? What kind of impact would all this open ice have on our most inventive attacking players? I’m interested by this.
However, until I got to the conclusion of this view, when teams would situationally weaponize their offside permits for late-game circumstances, the notion of permitting a limited amount of offside plays in a period looked a little perplexing.
This is arguably something that adds unnecessary complexity to the game, but the NHL excels at it. Have you seen the standings format, for example?
In relation to that…
Almost every analyst will mention how much they despise the losing point. (Many would portray it as courageous truth-telling, despite the fact that practically everyone feels the same way.) However, most of us believe that 3-on-3 and a shootout are nothing more than (very entertaining) gimmicks. Teams should not be punished so heavily for losing a game that is simply a coin toss. I’d allow for three-point regulation victories, but then my wager wouldn’t be as interesting. Bryan Knox is an author.
A slice of pizza that has been reheated in the microwave, forgotten about, and then warmed up a dozen times is a hot take temperature check. The important thing to remember is that it’s still pizza.
To remove ties, three-point regular victories should have occurred as soon as the shootout was implemented. The shootout has no link to the prior team sport that was played in that game, and it determines a winner without the need of a pass or a defensive skater. In my opinion, rewarding teams for winning before the overtime gimmickry is a moral obligation.
When it comes to three-point victories, the final issue is whether they would make a significant difference in the standings. We ran that experiment in January 2020 (a.k.a. “the before times”) and found that a 3-2-1 format — three points for a regulation win, two points for an OT/SO win, and one point for the OT/SO loser — didn’t add much to the traditional standings, aside from widening the gaps between teams in some cases.
A model that awarded two points for a regulation victory, one point for a win in overtime or the shootout, and nothing for an overtime defeat was the true game-changer. That’s interesting, but given the NHL’s concern with parity, it’s a no-go.
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Hot reactions like these are frequently motivated by absolute frustration at having goals wiped off the scoreboard for “a definite kicking motion.” I like the thorough examination of what constitutes a legal or illegal hockey play since it emphasizes an important point in favor of kicked goals: When one is scored, it is a display of talent because to the quick reflexes required to accomplish such a play. It would also result in more goals being scored, which is something that the general audience likes to see more of in hockey.
That’s how the scorer sees things. Goalies, on the other hand, have a somewhat different perspective, such as when they envisage their crease becoming a medieval torture dungeon with players “randomly kicking steak knives about,” as my buddy and former NHL goalkeeper Mike McKenna described it.
The NHL could probably avert this razor-sharp disaster by prohibiting booted pucks in the crease. However, substituting crease violation issues for the existential dread of the “distinct kicking action” discussion isn’t exactly optimal.
My latest NHL theory is that GMs should agree to transfer players who are still under contract at the trade deadline — with or without salary retention — only for the playoffs, with an under-the-table agreement to deal them back in the summer. We have super teams in the playoffs, rebuilding clubs acquire additional assets other than moving players on expiring contracts or with one year remaining on their contracts, and players don’t have to relocate all of their belongings; they just pack a bag and go to a new place for a few months. Chris Pirraglia’s remark
Brian Burke undoes his already-undone tie in this steamy take temperature check.
To begin with, there would have to be no income kept for this hot take to potentially operate. Because the league views this as cap circumvention, the collective bargaining agreement prohibits clubs from reacquiring players they traded in salary retention transactions for at least one calendar year.
Players with expiring contracts have returned to the places where they were traded: Consider Keith Tkachuk, who was traded from St. Louis to Atlanta around the 2007 trade deadline and then re-signed with the Blues as a free agency in the summer.
But moving a player with a long-term contract but no salary cap and then repurchasing that player in the offseason? Is it a rental with a term? (Is it a lease, then?) This approach, if the CBA permits it, raises a number of questions:
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What is the benefit to the club that trades the player back to the original team? What are your thoughts for the future?
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What if the player’s knee fails during the playoffs?
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What if a player has trade protection and refuses to return?
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What if one or both of the general managers are sacked before the second trade? Are they going all Darth Vader on us? “I’m going to change the terms of the agreement. Please don’t make any further changes.”
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I mean, there’s no way the NHL would approve this, right?
Foul of the Week in Jersey
From a Carolina Hurricanes fan’s perspective:
pic.twitter.com/4ZlGvWMWwZ I’m dying pic.twitter.com/4ZlGvWMWwZ
January 15, 2022 — ArcherforCanes (@ArcherforCanes)
The two plausible explanations for the occurrence of a particularly heinous Jersey Foul are a blatant desire for publicity or a lost bet with a friend or foe. Because, apart from the fact that it mentions a previous Hurricanes coach who left the league in disgrace, this knock-off jersey is great.
There are three things to remember about the Leon Draisaitl affair.
1. Beyond the titillation of watching a star player and a member of the media attend a tension convention, the incident between Postmedia writer Jim Matheson and Oilers center Leon Draisaitl this week was interesting. Matheson called Draisaitl “pissy” for not providing enough answers to his questions about the team’s failings.
Throughout the conversation, the term “self-fulfilling prophesy” kept going through my mind. For over a month, the Edmonton media has been questioning Oilers players about their season’s downward spiral. Draisaitl was questioned three times about it by Matheson before the “pissy” remark on Tuesday. Here’s how it went down:
The first question indicates that Draisaitl is “frustrated,” followed by a question on whether he is “angry as well as frustrated.” Later, when he expresses that now-established dissatisfaction, he is referred to be “pissy.”
The prophesy has now been fulfilled.
2. The conversation reminded me of a 2017 comment from former Oiler Jordan Eberle: “It’s difficult when you read things every day about how bad you stink. The Edmonton media can be cruel, which may knock your confidence, and this is a game you can’t play if you don’t have it.”
In response, an Edmonton-based columnist labeled him “mentally weak,” claiming that clubs should move players who feel this way because “you can’t win with” them.
The more things change, the more they change…
3. All right, enough with the press box. In 35 games, the Oilers have 38 points. They also have a higher points percentage (.543) than the Pacific Division’s third-place squad, the Anaheim Ducks (.536). They have a 35.3 percent probability of reaching the playoffs, which is greater than four of the teams ahead of them in the standings: the San Jose Sharks (33.6 percent), the Ducks (31.1 percent), and the Vancouver Canucks (31.1 percent) (17.6 percent ).
With two victories in 14 games and goalie that can’t stop the hemorrhage, I understand why optimism is in limited supply for the Oilers. But I’d rather be a member of the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference than a member of the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference. Connor McDavid isn’t going to continue shooting 6.52 percent as he has for the previous 12 games. Draisaitl, I believe, will be a lot less “pissy” by the end of February. Maybe I’m simply channeling Brendan Perlini’s unbridled optimism:
I really like the picture of Brendan Perlini. twitter.com/OCaVsXZRfd
January 17, 2022 — s (@oilygifs)
Clouds and rainbows are a part of life.
The week’s winners and losses
Willie O’Ree is the winner.
Willie O’Ree’s No. 22 was officially elevated to the rafters by the Bruins this week, which was long overdue. In the process, the hockey world paused to reflect on one of the most pivotal events in the sport’s history, as well as one of its most influential individuals. “My heart and thoughts were bent on making it to the NHL from a young age. I’m delighted and proud to have had the opportunity to work with the Bruins “he said Congratulations to a forerunner.
Stepping up to Brad Marchand as a loser
Lamborghini pic.twitter.com/3fsxDv3KUz Lamborghini pic.twitter.com/3fsxDv3KUz Lamborghini pic.twitter.com/3f
January 19, 2022 — Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes)
To summarize: When a reporter likened him to Boston’s Brad Marchand, Carolina’s Vincent Trocheck wondered if he was being dubbed “a rat.” Marchand responded to the statement on Instagram, stating it was like “comparing a Lambo to a Prius.” The Hurricanes beat the Bruins 7-1 on Tuesday, prompting their social media crew to tweet, “L stands for Lamborghini.” “You’re still the reason we pay 20% in escrow,” Marchand then tweeted, stunnng the franchise. In the presence of grandeur, you must bow.
Premier Hockey Federation was declared the winner.
The PHF stated that each team’s payroll ceiling would be increased to $750,000 and that two expansion clubs will be added next season, with Montreal and either Pittsburgh, Chicago, or D.C. being the most likely candidates. The timing of this can’t be overlooked, since the players the league is hoping to re-integrate are now training for the Beijing Olympic competition. Alex Azzi, The Ice Garden, and Sportsnet had a lot more to say.
Finland is the loser.
Noora Räty was allegedly dropped off Finland’s Olympic squad for the Beijing Games due to a disagreement with the national team coach. Leaving the greatest goaltender in the world at home for the Olympics is perhaps not the smartest decision.
Victor Hedman was the winner.
Only four defenseman were on the ice for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. Victor Hedman, who played 32:37 and scored two goals and an assist in the 6-4 win against Los Angeles, was one of them. Cale Makar still has a chance to win the Norris Trophy this season. With all due respect, Hedman remains the finest defender in the world, as he demonstrated against the Kings.
Defeatist: The old methods
A standing ovation for the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs went outside the box to hire Jeff Gorton as head of hockey operations and then continued the trend by luring agent Kent Hughes to be their general manager. A franchise that was limited by its language mandate for executives and its penchant for recycling familiar names for jobs, the Habs went outside the box to hire Jeff Gorton as head of hockey operations and then continued the trend by luring agent Kent Hughes to be their general manager. After all, they spent years after Vincent Lecavalier and ended up with his agent instead. It’s strange how it works.
Steve Hatze Petros was the winner.
The NHL’s scheduling wizard worked his magic to reschedule 98 games that had been postponed from November 18 to January 18, as well as reschedule 23 additional games to meet the new dates. The NHL is expected to conclude its season on schedule, which is impressive given the condition of play around Christmas.
Jack Eichel’s schedule is a loser.
Coach Peter DeBoer of the Vegas Golden Knights indicated that Jack Eichel would be out for “at least a month or two months” while he recovers from neck surgery. Not for nothing, the Knights will face the Sabres on March 10 in Buffalo. That’ll be “at least a month” from now. I’m crossing my fingers.
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From your ESPN buddies
Abby Roque, a member of the Wahnapitae First Nation and a member of Team USA, is interviewed by Emily Kaplan.
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