The Official Jack's Place 2017 NHL Thread!

smorgdonkey

smorgdonkey

Kick Henry Jackassowski
Auston Mathews has shown to be an equal to Connor McDavid in my eyes. Different players but to me, the same level. One can only hope that no injuries get in the way of these two stellar athletes as they continue with their careers in hockey.

Mathews should get every vote for rookie of the year except a couple of protest votes for Patrik Laine who is a great player but quite one-dimensional. Mathews is the complete package and has taken a 5th pick from the previous draft & an 8th pick from the year before that, along with a couple of free agent acquisitions and the team that finished last in 2015-2016 to where they are now. That's a big achievement.

Lots of jockeying for positions in the final games of the season to establish playoff matchups. I hope Montreal loses and of course, the Pens have had enough success so I don't want them to win either.
 
I love the Caps. Ovechkin is enjoyable on so many levels...and 558 goals!! Unreal. It was a great surprise to me before last season that the Caps also acquired T.J. Oshie who is another of my fav players. I couldn't believe that St. Louis would let him go but I suppose with Tarasenko they felt that they didn't need him or maybe had salary cap issues.
 
Exciting time of year for hockey..

Three games I'm watching tonight...CBJ-Pit...TB-Bos....WSH-Tor...

A chance for Tor to prove they can play with the men..

I'm a Pens fan but Babcock is amazing..

I'm pissed that the NHL'rs won't be in the Olympics in 18..

I have Center Ice so I get every game played...It's a good evening for hockey..

Go Pens...
 
smorgdonkey said:
Auston Mathews has shown to be an equal to Connor McDavid in my eyes. Different players but to me, the same level. One can only hope that no injuries get in the way of these two stellar athletes as they continue with their careers in hockey.

Mathews should get every vote for rookie of the year except a couple of protest votes for Patrik Laine who is a great player but quite one-dimensional. Mathews is the complete package and has taken a 5th pick from the previous draft & an 8th pick from the year before that, along with a couple of free agent acquisitions and the team that finished last in 2015-2016 to where they are now. That's a big achievement.

Lots of jockeying for positions in the final games of the season to establish playoff matchups. I hope Montreal loses and of course, the Pens have had enough success so I don't want them to win either.
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Must be a Leafs fan

Mathews is all that he was advertised that's for sure. So in Laine who has played 8 games less due to injury and it right there with him. I could argue that Mathews is playing well because he has more talent around him or that Babcock is just better at getting things out of players. Mathews in not nearly as exciting to watch as McDavid (no not an Oilers fan). McDavid is a Gretzky/Crosby level talent IMO. Mathews is more a goal scorer (He and Laine both have similar assist numbers) than a guy that makes those aroudn him better.

Right now it looks like it should be Chicago and Caps but long playoff series you can't count out anyone. Dark horse this year the Wild and Blue Jackets due to their goalies potential. Looks like either BJ or Pens will be out in the first round though. I still would prefer a 1-8 seeding playoff. Doesn't seem right that a team with either (potentially depending on how they finish) the 2nd or 3rd best records will be eliminated.

I hope that the B's choke and miss the playoffs myself though I'm really not a big Lightning fan but hate Boston the most so...
 
Well, I watch as much highlights as I can and take every opportunity to see the elite talents...and what I have seen of Mathews is amazing and that he is an elite of which get mentioned in the Gretzky conversations. I have seen McDavid be credited with assists that even a hardcore Oilers fan said "he shouldn't have an assist for that" whereas Mathews is one of those guys who seems to see the game unfolding prior to it happening.

I certainly wouldn't say that Mathews has more talent around him than Laine...Laine has Little, Scheifele , Buff, Trouba...So, I would agree with the coaching part but there's no way that Mathews has the talent around him that Laine does except for that Mathews is making the guys around him better. I agree that Mathews isn't as exciting as McDavid because McDavid has that crazy speed but the numbers that Mathews has all seem very authentic as there aren't a bunch of those 3rd pass assists. Ten more goals than McDavid and McDavid is on the ice for 3 and a half more minutes per game. I think that there are a lot of things that make them very parallel talents despite being quite different. Just as an example, I have never seen McDavid do anything like this:
http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/12...st-a-faceoff-to-set-up-a-big-maple-leafs-goal
I watched it live and Mathews never even put his stick down. The Leafs were losing faceoffs all night so he came up with this plan. That's hockey genius with ability as well.

I spoke to a Habs fan last night and a Bruins fan as well...they both HATE the Leafs and they both are hardcore hockey guys. They completely agreed that Laine isn't even close to Mathews and that Mathews is younger than McDavid. A year is a huge difference at that age. As I said, I hope injury doesn't take away from these two careers because I don't think there has ever been two people in consecutive draft years that are this close to each other's talent level ...generational talents as they say.

If Mathews trains hard (because I know McDavid does) and no injuries take place that are significant, there are a number of years ahead that will have some very unreal highlight moments.
 
I don't have a horse in the race this year (Flyers fan) but am looking forward to next year.

This year? I really don't know too much about the west coast teams, to be honest. I hate most of the east coast teams. Caps seem deserving of a few breaks, but I guess we'll see how it unfolds.
 
If the Hawks make it to the final, the only team I really worry about is the Caps - this really should be their year, but they always find a way to fuck it up.

The Wild are a mirage again this year, and this last part of the season they have looked like utter dogshit. I think Columbus has a good team and a great goaltender, but I don't see them going past the second round.

Western Conference doesn't scare me much, but my dark horse this year is Edmonton. Frankly, thEy scare me the most out of that conference, then maybe followed by the resurgent Blues, although goaltending and overall defense will probably do them in...again.
 
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I'll put things in four words despite the spillage..

This place got quiet.................
 
Sharks clinched a while ago, but have been a train wreck in the last half of March. However, two goals in the first 30 seconds vs Canucks tonight makes me feel like April will be better.

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Go Blues! Long shot for a deep run. They've been killing it since Yeo took over and our goaltending has been very good through that period also. Neither goalie is proven in the playoffs.
With Hitchcock gone, young players are getting plenty of good ice time and are part of their resurgence but again the youth have no playoff experience.
Just get in and hope for some magic.
 
As an Avs fan - my season was over before it started. One of the worst seasons of any hockey team in the NHL for at least a decade. And yet the ownership seems reluctant to blow it up and start over. :shrug:
 
Danhedonia said:
Pens fan?
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nope Sharks :grin: even though the last few weeks have been hard to handle and losing both Couture and Thornton for any time in the playoffs will likely be fatal.

I haven't watched every minute of either Mathews, Laine or McDavid so I'm not going to state categorically which is best. One year don't mean much. Cheechoo won the Rocket Richard one year...mine you he played with Thornton who is a world class passer. I can't really tell from that article exactly what Mathews did but 28 assists to me doesn't mean he's the setup guy more that he is the trigger with more goals than assists. And I would say that if you are constantly involved in the play you should be getting a few secondary assists. I think all three are elite talents and hope that they can have good long careers and in 10 or so years we can talk legitimately about who is best. Right now it a bit early IMO.. Frankly as far as I am concerned (and TP will love this) that goes to Crosby.
 
Not happy about Letang being out for the remainder.............

And nuke_diver, in regards to Crosby, you're in the majority by a landslide.........
 
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