Around the NHL offseason 2021

[TexasBolt]

My prediction that Shesterkin was going to regress this year is looking good so far:

[TexasBolt]

Ovechkin hits 800 goals with a hat trick. Only 94 left to catch Gretzky and I wouldn't bet against him.

[Bolthed]

Don’t forget the Great One had 46 goals in the WHA the year before the Oilers were absorbed by the NHL. That shit counts in my opinion

[TexasBolt]

Don’t forget the Great One had 46 goals in the WHA the year before the Oilers were absorbed by the NHL. That shit counts in my opinion

Gordie Howe had 975 combined. I think Bobby Hull was over 900 as well.

[dmaxf9]

Watching Sammy Walker playing for Minnesota Wild.

[dmaxf9]

Actually Howe had total of 1071 goals with 801 in NHL and 270 in WHA. Hull had total of 913 goals with 610 in NHL and 313 in WHA. Gretzky had total of 897 with 894 in NHL and 3 in WHA.
Really think Ovechkin could get 1000 goals in NHL. He is 37 and has 3 more contract years after this season. No question in my mind he will be the greatest goal scorer of all time.

[Puckhead]

Won’t disagree with that assessment, based on results. I’ll long remember a decade ago when the Caps came in, and at the end of warmups Backstrom would feed him hard passes from the right corner, to the blue line, and he’d rip ‘em at 90+ top of the net/crossbar. I’ve seen a lot of guys that could really do one timers but I never saw anything like that, routine, display of power. Hull was primo and Stammer is good top of the circle, but another 15’ out and his shots were cannons.

[jason_haas]

Won’t disagree with that assessment, based on results. I’ll long remember a decade ago when the Caps came in, and at the end of warmups Backstrom would feed him hard passes from the right corner, to the blue line, and he’d rip ‘em at 90+ top of the net/crossbar. I’ve seen a lot of guys that could really do one timers but I never saw anything like that, routine, display of power. Hull was primo and Stammer is good top of the circle, but another 15’ out and his shots were cannons.

The one that always sticks out to me is the first goal in game 7 against TB in 2018. He was barely inside the blue line and just blew it past Vasilevskiy still. Figured TB was done at that point and of course Caps go get the Cup that year.

EDIT: just watched the clip again. He was closer to the top of the circle but he was also drifting backwards. Dude is an animal.

[TexasBolt]

As far as pure goal scoring talent, it's either Ovechkin or Mike Bossy, who probably would have gone over 1000 if he could have played as long as Ovi has.

[Puckhead]

As far as pure goal scoring talent, it's either Ovechkin or Mike Bossy, who probably would have gone over 1000 if he could have played as long as Ovi has.

Gretzky talked about Bossy in an interview a while back and said it was the best wrist/snap shot he’d seen. Combine the quickness and strength of this shot, with his ability to pick spots, and he was almost unstoppable.

[dmaxf9]

NHL may increase regular season to 84 games.

[the_narrow_way]

Meh, I'd be more for reducing the regular season a little rather than adding to it. The back-to-backs are not fair. Also, it's obvious that some teams spend much of the regular season on auto-pilot in an effort to save some gas for the mental and physical tanks for the playoffs.

[Bolthed]

What even is the point of adding 3 games?

[Puckhead]

What even is the point of adding 3 games?

On NHL radio I was listening to some of the pros/cons of the value of "regional rivalries" (as in Battle of Alberta etc etc) versus each team coming into your rink once or twice a year. So to accomplish a little of both desires, they would have to increase the total number of games. Boomer and Hahn both were not a fan of increasing total games, and favored fewer "rivalry" games in order to accommodate each team visiting a particular city at least once a year.

[TexasBolt]

84 balances the schedule out.

Play everyone in your division 4 times = 28 games
Play everyone in the opposite division 3 times = 24 games
Play everyone in the other conference twice = 32 games

With 32 teams and 4 divisions of 8, that's the only feasible option. To reduce games you would probably need 8 divisions of 4 like the NFL has, or scrap divisions altogether.