Follow @james_tanner123 Since +/- is the NHL's worst stat, I thought it would make sense to appropriate it and make it useful as we review the best and worst of the past week in the NHL.
PLUS: Training camp opening.
MINUS: I know we’re all jonesing for real hockey, but honestly, who gives a flying…. Lets just say the less said about Rookie Camps the better and leave it at that.
PLUS: The Coyotes have Strome, Domi, OEL, Perlini and Duclair. I think that’s about as exciting a lineup as the team’s ever had in its history. I just wish I had more confidence in man who assembled it when it comes to trades.
PLUS: By a total coincidence, I happened to finish a book about codebreaking, the Cryptonomicon (which I recommend in the highest possible way) and then see a movie about the same thing just two days after finishing it, that also included Allen Turing as a character. The Imitation Game has way less gun fights and far more Oscar nominations than movies I tend to like, but it was also fantastic. High praise all around.
PLUS: A love song for my wife on this, our 408th anniversary.
PLUS: The Blue Jays. Going to my first game of the season Tuesday night and it will also be the first time in my life I’ll be attending a professional sports game that matters – i.e has Playoff implications. This is exciting.
MINUS: To anyone who calls it the Rogers Centre. It’s the SkyDome, no matter what your corporate overlords tell you.
MINUS: I love predictions as much as the next guy, but I don’t need anyone’s guess on who will win the Jack Adams. I tried unsuccessfully to think of something I care less about than the NHL’s coach of the year award and besides entertainment news, I couldn’t come up with anything.
PLUS: David Price. Troy Tulowitzki. It’s like the Jays added Carey Price and Drew Doughty to their lineup at the deadline, so thank the deity of your choice that at least one league doesn’t have a salary cap. I predict here that Price re-signs with the Jays in the off season.
MINUS: I sometimes wonder if I live in an alternative universe. It was pretty clear to me, and the statistics confirm it, that Jake Gardiner was the Leafs' best defensemen last year. Yet, I keep reading all these season previews that talk about how much he needs to improve. Let us be clear: If Jake Gardiner manages to get better, he’s going to be one of the best in the league. PLUS: The Oilers signing of Klefbom (see Hotstove). The Leafs need to follow suit with Rielly and the Coyotes should also ink Stone and Murphy to long term extensions before they price them selves out of the team’s self imposed budget. Don’t forget, the Coyotes pioneered this kind of move with OELs contract which still has four years to run at a ridiculously team-friendly $5.5 cap-hit.
MINUS: The Panthers and Leafs not locking up Kadri and Huberdau to similar long term deals.
PLUS: My Stanley Cup Final Prediction: New York Islanders vs. L.A Kings.
PLUS: My good friend and confidante (kidding I’ve never met him) Max Domi is FINALLY gonna make the Coyotes (he should have last year) and it’s exciting as hell. I believe he was an absolute steal at #12th overall and that if not for a certain Oiler he’d be a lock for the Calder.
Any excuse to show this:
With Gostisbehere, Provorov, Sanheim and Morin, they may have the best overall group of non-NHL defenseman going. They need to get creative and alleviate some of their cap problems. It’s only a matter of time before the Flyers are a great team, but their former GM handed out terrible contracts like he was Dave Nonis or something, and it remains to be seen if that is going to prevent them from being competitive or not.
PLUS: I once declared to my wife that this was "our song." Here response was that "only losers have songs." Best girl ever. Still, I consider this our song, even if she insisted on walking down the aisle to Sigor Ros. (Which, how cool is that?)
The Kings have two of the best all-round centres in the NHL in Kopitar and Carter. They follow that with Tyler Toffoli, who is 23 and only getting better.
On defense, the Kings give you, at worst, two-top ten defensemen, and honestly, it’s more like two top-five defensemen. Their goalie is good, they're deep on the wings and them missing the Playoffs was a total fluke. They’ll challenge for the Conference title and maybe even win their third Cup (they’ve been alternating with the Hawks and it is their turn).
I mean, ultimately, if you're lineup has Doughty, Muzzin, Carter and Kopitar, you should be a Cup Favorite and that's all there is to it. Let's just face it: the Kings probably have the best team in the NHL and as a Coyotes fan, it really sucks to say that.
MINUS:Finally kids, remember when picking your hockey pool team names: No Puns. Also, just avoid puns whenever you can. That means you coyotes fans: No referring to the team as a pack.
Hey, thanks for reading.