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Armchair Commissioner: How I Change the NHL

Return The NHL is a horrible league. Really, truly, honestly, horrible. It's got a disaster of a leadership group, and they (as I've previously noted) care more about lining the owners pockets with desperate cash grabs, than creating a more fan friendly game that will grow on it's own. So, here's how I fix it for the players, for the fans (and maybe even for the owners). 1. A player's-choice re-draft So what is this? Well, it's likely the one idea on this list that you've never heard before. The basic idea is that players that are unhappy with their current situations can opt-out of their contracts and enter a league wide draft. Now, obviously the superstars are likely going to stay put, they're making good money and their on good teams, unless you're Mark Stone. But what about guys like Jacob Trouba. These are players that have been hamstrung by their RFA status (more on that coming up) and wanted out, only to see their lazy as fuck GM make

Extreme High Danger Scoring Explained

This blog is dedicated to making goalies look good! Mostly, my favorite ones. Also, I talk about the Leafs, but that's not what this is about... This is about, Extreme High Danger Scoring conversions. So, you've seen the list of goalies, and numbers. What do they mean, though? Let me tell you. Team, Goalie: What are you, stupid? GP: Games Played SV%: Save Percentage, this is the percentage of shots against a goalie stops. SA: Shots Against GA: Goals Against That was easy, now comes the fun part. DEF: This stands for Deflections . This counts as any time the puck is re-directed (not by a shot) by any player (or an official) on the ice. Deflections can be made by the opposing team, or a teammate. The second number is deflections per game. INT: This stands for Interference . This happens any time a player (or official) makes contact with a goalie during an attempt to make a save. This can be committed by ANY player, regardless of team. The second number is

Should the Leafs re-sign James van Riemsdyk?

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Amongst all the bullshit that Toronto Maple Leafs fans are rambling on about, one question has stuck out to me. Mostly in that, nobody is asking it.. No, it's not whether Jake Gardiner's dog should be kicked, or if Leo Komarov can be both uncle & lover, it's JVR . April 27th was locker clean out day for the Leafs and a few notable players were packing up their stuff for, presumably, the last time. At least the last time as Leafs. One of those players is James van Riemsdyk. This season, James van Riemsdyk was the team's leading goal scorer, had a 7.2 point share and a 55.6% corsi player - in admittedly sheltered starts (62.7% OZs). So, why does he HAVE to go? Well, one reason is his asking price. He will undoubtedly be a 6x6 free agent this summer, and the Leafs have other priorities. Auston Matthews early extension being the most obvious. Matthews will be a minimum $10 million player for the foreseeable future, and his prime , along with Marner and Nyland

Small Market Stars: Who's Left in the 2018 Playoffs

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you can follow me on twitter HERE Carey Price of Anahim Lake, BC (pop. 1,500) taunts Peter Budaj, of Banska Bystrica (pop. 76,641) over his big city roots There are a LOT of small market teams left in the NHL playoffs. It's not 100%, but there is no doubt that this year's second round is dominated by the little guy that could. Though in this league, that translates to fickle ownership groups that have used their brains in hiring competent hockey personnel. Anyways, I thought it would be interesting to go through and find out who the teams small market stars are! That is, a player on a small market team (though I'll do a player from each, so Pittsburgh fans don't chew my ass) that performs at a high level, and is from literal butt-fuck nowhere. Maybe somewhere in Saskatchewan. Let's go. 1. Tampa Bay Lightning - avg attendance: 19,092 Well, if anything is certain, it's that the NHL has a reaaaaal loose handle on what it allows to be recorded as att

Charting Fan Happiness: A Pointless Use of My Time

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I'm a Leafs fan, and as a Leafs fan, I have a duty to be completely miserable all of the time. Now, I thought that was kind of an interesting idea for fancy stats. How can we chart the happiness of a fanbase? What criteria go into deciding whether a fanbase is happy or sad? Well, I chose some, and charted the happiness, over the course of a season for two separate teams. First up is the sky-high 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins, not to be confused with the sky-high 2017-18 Penguins. Yes, the amazing 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins. Repeat Stanley Cup Champions led by Phil Kessel and some other guys. This is a team loaded with star players and high-octane offense. So, fans had plenty to be happy about. I was originally going to do the Edmonton Oilers, but then I remembered they blocked me from their subreddit, so fuck them! :) Anyways, let's look at the chart: There you have it, the literal ups-and-downs of an NHL season. Now, to understand what these numbers mean, we need to

What did Jim Rutherford ever do?

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"This blog can fuck itself, for all I care" - Jim Rutherford This time I'm flying blind. I admittedly don't know much about the Penguins. I don't think I do, I won't pretend I do. I know very little about Penguins' GM Jim Rutherford. So, I just assume he stinks - because all GM's stink, to some degree. So, I am going to take a year-by-year look back over Jim Rutherford's entire NHL General Manager career. Rutherford started his hockey career as a goalie in the Red Wings organization. After his retirement as a player, he joined the Whalers, from Hartford, as a General Manager. This guy has 3 Stanley Cups, and I'm about to be completely unfair about the little depth deals he has made over the course of his career. This is the 3rd in a multi-part series "What did _____ ever do?" where I rank the performance of NHL GM's. We take into consideration how the GM chose to handle the NHL Entry draft and any transactions made over t