that’s what i’m saying. maybe he would have been a lock for 100 goals, if not for playing for nj and edm, being deployed incorrectly. meanwhile seattle scores 9 per game
Meet Buli, new mascot of Helsinki IFK. Time will tell if it’s Gritty level cool or just a cheap knockoff.
Have you guys noticed the Rangers are on a 7 game winning streak? I noticed!
4 Likes
Ends on Tuesday. Sorry!
Pens going old timey for their beat down by the BBBBs at tomorrow’s winter classic at Fenway.
https://twitter.com/penguins/status/1609671252356259841?cxt=HHwWgoDTnbje2dYsAAAA
Pens’ uniforms inspired by the 1925 NHL Pittsburgh Pirates. I’m not sure, but I think the Pens were allowed to switch to Bruins colors in the 80s because a) they were originally Pittsburgh colors and b) the Bruins original colors were brown and gold.
So I am the most casual of hockey followers. New England guy so I’m a Bruins “fan” that pretty much follows them but really only watches then in the playoffs.
Money puck has them at less than 70% to advance to the second round, and much worse odds to win the cup than Carolina despite having a better goal differential by 48. Are they just the hottest running sports team of all time? Or is there a truth to their dominance that advanced stats aren’t picking up on?
I have a very basic understanding of Corsi and they’re giving up way fewer goals than expected but not sure if it’s all luck or Ullmark and Swayman are just the greatest goalies ever
Moneypuck thinks that Boston has been tremendously lucky this year, they have them at 42 goals better than expected (10 extra scored, 32 extra saved) vs. expected. Carolina has been the best team in the league by some margin in terms of expected goal differential, literally double the second place team (+52 vs. Toronto’s +26).
If their analysis is correct, Carolina is the best team in the league by some distance.
Edit: Should clarify, the above is at even strength.
Speaking of this year, is this the first time that 6 teams in one conference have more points than every team in the other conference at this point in the season?
Sure I get all that. My question is, how much faith do you put in advanced stats to say that Boston’s ability to not give up goals despite giving up a ton of shots is unsustainable
You don’t even really need advanced stats to predict a regression. Boston has a .930 team save percentage. That’s .008 better that Dominik Hasek’s career average and about in line with Hasek’s peak in a lower scoring era. Ullmark is cool but I don’t think he turned into Dominik Hasek in the offseason.
So many trades today 
the east is crazy good this year.
1 Like
Bruins outshot 57-20.
Still win. EZ game
And he scores a goddamn goalie goal (not sure if it was this game or not.)
Has anybody ever run hotter in a season with less expectations than him?
Nah it was the previous game. First Bruins goalie to score. Followed it up with most saves ever in a game by a Bruins goalie.
Dominik Hasek wishes he was Linus Ullmark
One of the lessons that you learn from playing fantasy hockey is how random goalies are. There is a super fine line between being a replacement level goalie and an all star.
Hasek is the obvious case. He was the best player in the NHL at age 29 after being virtually unknown in the league at age 28.
Jose Theodore had some expectations around him (he was a 44th overall pick, the 4th goalie taken in his draft) but his MVP season (MVP!) at age 25 kind of came out of nowhere. Up to that point he had 120ish games of NHL experience with a losing record and a .905 save % (right around the league average). I don’t think anyone was predicting a Vezina contending season in 01-02, let alone an historic MVP season.
Tim Thomas is another recent guy that comes to mind as an “out of nowhere” goalie. He was a 9th round pick who was age 32 before he got his first starting gig, in which he was about average. Then his age 33-37 seasons where among the greatest goalie stretches in league history.
Lundqvist doesn’t quite fit the profile because he was an excellent goalie basically from the first day he stepped on the ice in the NHL, although he was a 5th round pick so obviously a lot of GMs and scouts were surprised by his career.
One interesting thing is that all those guys were undersized. Small goalies are always the ones that exceed expectations because there’s always a chance that at the NHL (or AHL) level you will not be able to overcome being small. When your job is to cover the net being big is a big help. Most goalies that are seen as top prospects are guys that are 6’3+ and can move side to side really well. What makes Ullmark stand out is that he actually fits this profile. He’s a beast at 6’5 and is actually pretty athletic. His problem up to this year was injuries more than performance.
On the topic of undersized goalies not getting a fair shake, if I had to predict the next “surprise” star goalie I would say Dustin Wolf in Calgary’s system. He’s small and dropped to 214th overall in his draft but he is already dominating the AHL. In the NHL the Flames have two traditional massive goalies (Markstrom is 6’6 and Vladar is 6’5) and a hell of a lot of good it’s doing them, their combined save percentage is .890 and that’s the difference for them being in the playoffs vs. out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wolf force his way into the backup spot next year and even conceivably force a time share with Markstrom. If he ever gets a shot he could be Lundqvist 2.0.
Bruins vs. Rangers on national TV now. At least compared to last week against the Caps, it looks like the Rangers came to play.
Womp womp, the rangers do not look good sorry to say. Goalie still shaky, new players are meh, first round exit likely.
The Rangers are a talented but flawed team (just like last year). They could run to the final or lose in the first round. Last year they would have lost in the first round if they hadn’t knocked Crosby out with a dirty hit. But then against the Canes they were legit Stanley Cup level, then they were again for 2 games against Tampa and they they weren’t close. They run hot and cold.
1 Like