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In: Metropolitan Division, NHL
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The 2018-19 season was a season of misfortune in Newark. From Cory Schneider‘s nagging injury troubles and Keith Kinkaid‘s early inability to prove his worth as a starting goaltender, to Taylor Hall‘s mysterious injury which left Devils fans playing an impossible-to-win game of “Where’s Hall-though?” (which can only be described as a sick and twisted version of Where’s Waldo?), New Jersey had a number of excuses to turn to for such a poor season. The summer months, however, saw a number of reasons for optimism entering the 2019-20 campaign. Notable Players In:  P.K. Subban, Wayne Simmonds, John Hayden, Nikita Gusev, Jack Hughes Embed from GettyRead More →

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From the Quiet Ice . . . by Mike Filce In the spirit of welcoming in the NHL’s 32nd team in Seattle, I want to open the question of which current NHL-ers would be worthy of building an entire team around. There is endless debate over which NHL players are the most impactful, the best leaders, the best “team guys,” and the takes go on and on. It boils down to one question: how many guys are there that you would choose to build around? This short list isn’t what you would get from most pundits or “hockey insiders”; in fact, some on this list —Read More →

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In: Central Division, Playoffs
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The Nashville Predators came into the NHL playoffs expected to be a real contender for the Stanley Cup, and many believed that they were poised to make a return to the Stanley Cup Final.  They won the President’s Trophy; they had a historic season where they dominated on their home sheet of ice, and on the road. The Preds were the big tough schoolyard bully, and they came into the 2018 NHL Playoffs ready to shakedown some opponents and take their allowance. That is not what’s happened. Shakedown Street? The Preds rolled into the first round looking to annihilate the wounded Colorado Avalanche. A teamRead More →

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In: Atlantic Division, General, NHL, Review
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It almost seems that every move by Marc Bergevin sets the Montreal Canadiens back 10 years. Big trades have been executed by the fifth-year General Manager, one being historically bad, leaving his team to be the equivalent of the Kansas City Chiefs: good in the regular season but cannot get it done in the playoffs. And when it appeared they were going to be on the brink, it got worse. At this point, the direction of the team, as a result of decisions by Marc Bergevin, should have the Molson family (majority owners) focusing on the next guy as improvement. Embed from Getty Images HowRead More →

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In: Atlantic Division, Central Division
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A little over a year ago, Montreal Canadiens’ defenceman and alternate captain P.K. Subban was days away from his No Movement Clause kicking in, a clause that would have kept him Quebec until at least 2022. On June 29th, two days before the NMC took effect, he was traded to the Nashville Predators for defenseman Shea Weber. At the time debate raged about which team did better from what seemed like a fairly even trade. The Habs casually mentioned that Subban was a ‘headache in the locker room’, while questions were asked about Weber’s fitness and longevity. Comparisons to Chris Pronger were made. That wasRead More →

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Since the 2004-5 lockout the James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded to the league’s best defenseman, has been won 6 different players. These players are Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson, Duncan Keith, P.K. Subban, Nicklas Lidstrom and Zdeno Chara. Of these winners, every single player made the playoffs the year that they won. For all but three years the winner was in the top 2 in points for defenseman. The exceptions are Doughty was 10th in 2015-16, Chara was 13th in 2008-09 and Lidstrom was 5th in 2006-07. Looking ahead to 2016-17, as much as it’d be nice to put the best shut down D on thisRead More →