It's a good day for the hockey thread

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Season gets started this week.

Devils have already swept Buffalo in a doubleheader in Prague
Rangers opened last night killing Pittsburgh 6-0
Islanders open tonight hosting the Utah Hockey Club (formerly the Arizona Coyotes, formerly the Winnipeg Jets, soon to be the Utah Yeti)

New F1-style documentary series on Amazon, saw a few eps

[metirish]

I did not know the Coyotes moved ,I fell out of love with the NHL , that doc looks good though

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Rangers went to the conference finals last year but can't afford to pay their goalie without wrecking their team.

Devils had many injuries and missed the playoffs but they're young, healthy and have a new coach and new goalie-- they are a trendy pick to go all the way.

Islanders broke up their famous (but slow and counterproductive) "identity line" and intend to be a high scoring team with a dynamic 1st line. Nobody expects much of them this year but I'm hopeful.

[Fman99]

We will attend a few AHL games here in town which are fun. Cheer for the home team, it's not too complicated. My daughter likes to attend in the hopes of seeing good fights and for the snacks. My wife, who is perpetually cold, less so.

[metirish]

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

wow

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Oh i forgot hockey sucks. Cancel this thread

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Islanders: 9 games, 1 win in regulation (3-4-2 overall). They really made only 1 move in the offseason to improve and he pulled a groin & is out for 4-6 weeks.

They're hard to watch. The rest of the league is all about youth speed and explosiveness. The Isles have a wonderful skater in Barzal but that's about it.

I'm about ready to pull the plug on this generation of Islanders and start over

[Frayed Knot]

In '22 - '23 the Boston Bruins had a (sort-of*) record setting regular season earning 135 'points' on a 65-12-5 record (Wins x 2 + Overtime/Shootout Losses x 1)
before being bounced from the playoffs in the very first round after jumping out to a 3-1 lead. Last year they had a good season [47-20-15] before losing in round 2.
This season, after a 1/4 season (20 games) and a 8-9-3 record, they fired coach Jim Montgomery who led them the past two years.

No other sport seems to churn through coaches like the NHL. It's as if coaching success is considered an alchemy thing as much as it is X's and O's and strategy
coupled with a heavy dose of 'what have you done for me lately' attitude.





* I say 'sort of' because the addition of OT/SO in regular season hockey means more standings points are awarded as compared to the era where no OT existed.
I'd certainly consider Montreal's 1976-77 record of 60-8-12 to be superior to what the Bruins did two years ago [8 losses vs 17] even if it produced fewer points.
I'm not even sure it was the Bruins best season ever: the 1970-71 57-14-7 season, also a 1st round playoff exit, was superior even if sandwiched between their
two Stanley Cup winning years. The '22-'23 Bruins season under no/OT rules produces a 54-12-16 record

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Calgary Flames rookie winger Matt Coronato grew up in Greenlawn on Long Island. I was in junior high with his dad.

[Frayed Knot]

Wow!
Hockey-ref lists him as born there and drafted at age 18 in 2021 but doesn't mention HS, only that he subsequently went to Harvard and played for an amateur team in Chicago.
Couldn't have been at Harvard for long because he played his first NHL game at age 20 in April of '23
Not a big guy by today's NHL standards [5' 10" / 183]

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

He went to a Catholic school, the same as his dad for high school. If I'm being honest Dad was a very smart guy but a little smug too.

Played last night vs. the Islanders, the team he grew up rooting for. Has a wicked quick shot but did not figure in the scoring in a boring 2-1 shootout loss