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.
MINUS: McDavid getting injured. What a joke. Doesn't matter, when my competitors let me take Jake Muzzin and Nazem Kadri for free off the waiver wire, I am the champ with or without my first round pick.
PLUS: Don Cherry, Remembrance Day and McDavid analysis.
I applaud Don Cherry for his passionate and necessary devotion to Remembrance Day. Once you leave school, if you don't work in an institution of some kind, Remembrance Day might not be acknowledged as much as it should be, and so I think what Cherry does is vitally important.
I also applaud him for his analysis of the McDavid hit. It was hilarious how uncomfortable he was making McLean, and he was probably right anyways. It sucks McDavid went down, but Cherry is still the best thing about Hockey Night in Canada.
I don't always agree with Don, I doubt we'd ever vote for the same political party, and he'd most likely consider me a moron who's never played the game/ pinko-commie, but regardless, Don Cherry is one of my personal heroes and I make sure I see Coaches Corner every week, even if I don't watch the game that night.
Don Cherry is the best.
MINUS:I like George S, and I ain't no fashion aficionado, but a 50 year old man in skinny-jean style suit-pants just looks ridiculous. Or maybe it's just me, what do I know? I only believe in three materials: Plaid, Denim and Corduroy.
PLUS: My Dad invited me out last night, made me my favorite dinner and provided all the necessary materials needed for a night of hockey and listening to tunes in the garage.
No one in the world is better at pulling songs you haven't heard for fifteen years out of the archives. Check this bad boy out.
It's meaningless, the players risk injury and for what? Money. Screw the stupid gimmicks, screw the NHL and screw the organizers of this pathetic sham of a tournament. But I'll probably watch it and write about it, don't get me wrong.
PLUS: The Rangers supposedly awesome defense, which couldn't contain a Coyotes team that has Hanzal and Chipchura as its top two centres. (Though both players remain massively underrated). The Coyotes destroyed the NYR defense last night, directing 16 more shots at net than they allowed. But of course, with one of the best goalies in NHL history between the pipes, it was to no avail.
Wait! It wasn't Lundqvist, but Antti Raanta. Like Talbot before him he seems to have the power to channel Lundquvist when backing him up.
MINUS: Dave Tippett played Oliver Ekman-Larson 33.5 minutes last night and I consider that a fireable offense. What the hell is he thinking? Yes, Grossmann left the game and the Coyotes were short handed, but playing OEL for almost 35 minutes is inexcusable, irresponsible and stupid.
The Coyotes are not playing for a playoff spot, they are not a competitive team and they were down 3-0 before the game was half over. Playing OEL so much is destructive. It's putting the team's franchise player at risk for no possibility of reward. I mean, who cares if they even win this game? They are already out of the Playoff race.
Oh, I know, not technically, but their goalie is Mike Smith, they think Vermette is a #2 centre and they play Grossmann on the second pairing. They have as much chance at the Playoffs as I do of making the NHL.
The stupidest part of overplaying OEL? Four of the other Coyotes defensemen were under 20 minutes.
PLUS:
PLUS: Ovechkin becoming the 5th fastest to 500 goals. Considering the era he plays in he's probably only second to Wayne Gretzky as far as all-time great goal scorers go.
PLUS: 5-1 start for the Raptors.
PLUS: Last night's HNIC second intermission in which they showed how making the 1500 or so shots that hit the post into goals by making the net slightly bigger. This was mind blowing because adding this many goals still wouldn't put the NHL back to the scoring levels seen pre-1993.
The NHL has a serious problem in it's lack of goal scoring. So much so, that the new Coaches Challanges seem like they were implemented by people who don't know what they are doing. Why in the hell would the NHL take steps to decrease scoring? It's idiotic.
Making the nets slightly bigger isn't the revolutionary change it's made out to be, but there are several easy things they could also do: 1. Way smaller goalie equipment. Make it 80's sized. 2.Go back to post-lockout calling of obstruction. 3. Remove the trapazoid but make checking the goalie legal if he's playing the puck. 4. Make all high-sticking and boarding calls into major penalties.
That should put scoring up enough that you could leave the nets alone.
MINUS: The idea of putting Donald Trump on SNL. SNL should be about preventing a buffoon like Trump from gaining any power. They should skewer him and make him look like such a P.O.S that it is impossible for him to become President. (Which it is anyways).
By letting him in on the joke, by making him seem more relatable, it's probably the lowest point in Saturday Night Live history.
However, I still watched it and it was funny. There actually a couple parts that were hilarious. But on principle, it's the worst thing they've ever done.
PLUS: After shooting 7 shots on net last night, Kadri is behind only Tyler Seguin and Alexander Ovechkin in shots. After years of waiting, the Leafs have drafted and developed an elite #1 centre - but in the most Leafs-like way possible he's shooting under 1% and has one goal, despite putting up the peripheral stats of a 40 goal scorer.
Just wait for it though, Kadri is the real deal. Unbelievers!
I doubt Calgary would trade him, but it'd be worth a shot to see if they're satisfied with Hamilton and Giordano.
Thanks for reading.