[transplant99]

Been years since i did one of these, but the more things change the more they stay the same.

Larry "Foster" Brooks off on an anti-NHL/pro NHLPA tangent like usual. Never change Foster.

Besmirching the sweater and cheapening the logo while enriching the bottom line by selling advertising patches on jerseys? The pandemic made the NHL do it.

I know, you don’t have to tell me because Deputy Bill Daly, in myriad interviews, has already told everyone that, “It is not the end of the world.”

Yes, I know, the ad money (Don’t you love how teams attempt to spin these sponsors as “patch partners,” or whatever other equally foolish euphemism they can find) will boost the salary cap, but there is that whole pesky means-to-an-end thing to consider.

It seems less than ideal that of the eight players on the Players’ Association search committee for Don Fehr’s replacement, Jacob Trouba is the youngest, and he is 28. Six are between 32-34.

I believe institutional knowledge is imperative, but in a league that is dominated by kids, was there no one among the 25-and-under crowd who had enough interest in this endeavor to volunteer? Or were the young’uns shunned?

Either way, not terribly impressive.

https://nypost.com/2022/10/15/nhl-sh...-cap-disaster/

KDP still doing his thing in Beantown

It’s not news that David Pastrnak likes to shoot as much as his arms and legs allow, so it’s equally unsurprising that his new coach wants the elite Czech winger to pick up right where he left off.

“If I can get 88 in the middle of the ice, 20 feet from the goalie,” mused Jim Montgomery, “I’m going to take that every time.”

Montgomery is wringing more goals out of his new team with changes he is orchestrating with the Bruins offense.

Hold on to your wayback machines: The last time the Bruins combined for 11 goals in their first two games of a season was 1990-91, when the scoring was easy in the then Original 21. They opened with four vs. the Flyers, then seven vs. the Nordiques — a quiet moment here for Allez Nords.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/10/...avid-pastrnak/

Duha also chimes in about game 1

In my experience, the one exception to that general rule of thumb is there is great value for any offseason addition to get off on the right foot.

You want to get that first point and first win, out of the way quickly, to ease some of the pressure of expectation that can build on expensive, highly visible newcomers. And so, for Kadri and his two fellow newcomers, Huberdeau and Weegar, it was mission accomplished. Kadri and Huberdeau had an assist apiece. Weegar contributed two. Flames’ defenseman Rasmus Andersson summed it neatly: You get on the scoresheet early and then you “don’t have to think about it anymore.”

It was reasonable to wonder what the Flames might look like in the opener. They’d had this bizarre stretch — of 12 consecutive losses in home-opening games — so history wasn’t on their side.

Moroever, they’d had an uneven exhibition season and looked decidedly unsettled. But once the puck dropped for real, coach Darryl Sutter had them playing the system pretty well. The structure was OK. They got a goal from the fourth line early and the best line overall was Kadri’s.

Sutter officially recorded his 700th career win as an NHL coach, which moved him into a tie for 10th place overall with Mike Babcock. Sutter tends to speak plainly about all manner of things, and it was clear the one thing he wanted to see happen in training camp — finding a winger to complement Kadri and Andrew Mangiapane on the second line — didn’t happen via the PTO route, with Sonny Milano failing to impress. They’ll be examining available options throughout the season, but the urgency will lessen if the first Plan B, Dillon Dube, plays as well on the line as he did in the opener.

https://theathletic.com/3693892/2022...chek-notebook/