On The Eve of the New Season: North of the Border Editio

[vansmack]

The Ducks‬ acquire a 2016 first-round draft selection (30th overall) and a 2017 second-round pick from the Toronto Maple Leafs for goaltender Frederik Andersen.  Toronto promptly signs him to a 5 year deal.

[vansmack]

The Las Vegas Craps.  You can take that to the bank.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

The Las Vegas Craps.  You can take that to the bank.

Worst kept secret in the world.

[vansmack]

Worst kept secret in the world.

I meant the craps part.  I mean, how could they not?

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Worst kept secret in the world.

I meant the craps part.  I mean, how could they not?

Oh. I think they'll go with Knights, Aces, or Rat Pack.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

NHL just went nuts.

PK subban traded for Shea Weber.

Stamkos resigns for 75 cents on the dollar.

Taylor hall traded for adam Larsson.

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES, SHIT IS FLYING TODAY IN THE NHL. SOMEONE GET THE CAROLINA HURRICANES ON THE PHONE AND TELL THEM WE NEED THEM TO TURN ON THAT STORM SIREN THEY HAVE CAUSE SHIT IS GETTING LIT AF, FAM!!

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Patrick Roy went and did what Patrick Roy does best: he up and quit out of nowhere because he's a petulant child who didn't get his way.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

I'm not even mad Datsyuk bolted to the KHL after seeing this.

[sweetcell]

anyone watch the world cup of hockey?

i got really excited when they first announced it, way back when.  it was a fun tournament but it didn't quite live up to my personal hype.

last night's final was ridiculous.  europe led for, what, 50 minutes of the game?  they were the better team last night, but somehow canada pulled out 2 goals in the last 2 minutes of play.  recap.

canada's dominance on the world stage is getting a little... predictable.  it won't last, and i'll miss it when it's gone, but this tournament had the feeling of "let's invite everyone to a party where i can show them up in front of the home crowd."

[MAGA 2020]

I was initially excited for the WCOH as well but didn't really get sucked into it at all.  Seemed like it went by too fast.  After Russia (Caps heavy team) got bounced I quit watching.  From what I've read the TV ratings were not nearly what the NHL was hoping for (even in Canada).  I'm not sure we'll see another one in 4 years...or whenver they are planning the next one.  At least Trotz and Holtby finally won something...

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

I watched a fair bit of it and posted in another thread about it at some point. The young guns were the most fun part of the whole thing and I was bitterly angry when they didn't make the knockout round. Team USA was a poorly designed mess as I expected and they shit the bed. Once Russia went out I felt like it was a forgone conclusion Canada would steamroll and true to form Canada steamrolled. There's talk on hockeybuzz about changes to to teams going forward -- promotion and relegation!! -- that's cool.

My red wings are at a weird place where it's hard to be enthused about them. I know that is the epitome of a spoiled child statement but it's true. I'm much more excited for my beloved Michigan's first (exhibition) match against Windsor (OHL) on Sunday than I am the Wings first game. (I'm also chewing my nails waiting for BTN+ to make a call on airing it!) but I digress, discussing college hockey is probably too beyond the pale even for this thread.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

Oh, I have another hockey related thought to share. Last season I purchased HockeyStreams, the semi-legal Swedish substitute for NHL.tv, as you may have read about in this very thread.

I cannot anti-recommend this strongly enough. If I was still doing Julian's America, it'd get a 0.0 out of 10. I was sucked in by the allure of AHL and juniors footage but it was awful. The streaming quality, even with super fast internet and everything hardwired, was garbage. Multiple freezes for most games. Had to turn up manually changing servers every few minutes until I lucked into one that wasn't overloaded and within a period, that feed would go to shit. Watching a game from the night before went seamlessly but live games were a wreck.

tl; dr - DO NOT BUY HOCKEYSTREAMS!! I am hopeful that NHL.tv his season proves as well run as MLB.tv (which does all the technical backend for both).

[MAGA 2020]

I have NHLtv and after some pretty major issues when it kicked off it's definitely worth the $130 if you watch hockey on a nightly, or even regular, basis.

[Julian, Bespoke SEXPERT]

I have NHLtv and after some pretty major issues when it kicked off it's definitely worth the $130 if you watch hockey on a nightly, or even regular, basis.

Great to hear. Have bought the cable version of it for many years but games aren't in HD unless you have satellite. Smacking has also said the Internet version is great (and I've enjoyed MLB.tv the last two years) so I'm sure it'll be a good purchase.

[sweetcell]

let's discuss the true highlight of the WCOH: the ref cam. can we put these on nhl refs, puh-lease?!?

but I digress, discussing college hockey is probably too beyond the pale even for this thread.

why not?  this is the hockey thread.  college and minor league hockey belongs here!