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Prepare yourself: There will be no mention of Erik Karlsson beyond this point. There are concerns in Teal Town and with good reason — some higher on the national radar and some that have escaped notice. First, the high-profile issues. Martin Jones Jones’ best season with the Sharks thus far was his first. His playoff performance this past season was unremarkable and his preseason was sieve-like, although the team as a whole was out of sync. I have to imagine he set a record by giving up 4 short-handed goals to the same team during a preseason, in two separate games against the Knights — threeRead More →

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NHL free agency is upon us and that means that we finally found out that JOHN TAVARES WENT TO JOEL’S TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS! Resident New York Islanders fan ,Matt from Reasons Are Several, joins us to get both sides of the story, looking at Tavares coming and going. Other news of the week includes, but is not limited to: James van Riemsdyk signing with the Philadelphia Flyers The St. Louis Blues bringing in Tyler Bozak, David Perron and Ryan O’Reilly Carl’s Colorado Avalanche adding Ian Cole and Matt Calvert The Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings making the most confusing deals of the day RyanRead More →

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While other NHL teams are still thrashing it out, the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks have already seen off their first round opposition and will meet in the second round of the playoffs. Vegas thumped the LA Kings, while the Sharks circled and devoured the Anaheim Ducks. How did we get here? Both teams swept the first series but by virtue of scheduling, Vegas were the first to progress. Despite winning all four games, the series wasn’t exactly a classic with just a total of 10 goals scored by both teams. The Golden Knights arrived at the playoffs on the heels of theRead More →

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With all the hype that swallows up the NHL’s Entry Draft, it’s easy to forget the player who wasn’t quite good enough, in the scouts’ eyes at least, to be chosen first overall. This short series will be looking that the other guy; the fella who went second. We’ve already looked at Eric Staal, Tom Lysiak, Jason Spezza, Dave Babych, Trevor Linden, Kirk Muller, Brad Park, Daniel Sedin, Brian Bellows and Marcel Dionne, and as there’re just 2 days to go until Christmas, here’s #2 in the 4th Line Podcast’s top 12 2nd Overall Picks. All stats as of the end of 2016/17. #2 Patrick Marleau, C Embed from Getty Images Drafted 1997,Read More →

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As the playoffs rumble on, Joe and Mike are here to take a look at which players teams should protect from the upcoming Las Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft. Today we’re looking at the Western Conference teams eliminated in round one of the playoffs. Click here and here to read about the teams that couldn’t even make it that far. The Western conference gave us some of the biggest surprises seen in recent playoffs, with the Chicago Blackhawks being swept in just four games and being held to just three bracket busting goals. Rules and regulations for the expansion draft can be found on NHL.com Calgary Flames (Joe) ExcitementRead More →

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Hockey is practically here. The World Cup of Hockey is a distant memory and preseason games don’t count. Shortly the talking stops and the games begin. That also means it’s time for the last in our series of schedule previews. Today we’ll be looking at the the road trips that the teams in the Pacific division will be facing. As always we’ll start alphabetically: Anaheim Ducks The Ducks’ performances on the road have dipped over the last few seasons, and that might not improve with the season opener that this team has to contend with. The Ducks start the season with a five game roadRead 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 →