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![]() Today the NHL saw one of the gentlemen of the sport retire. Mikko Koivu, a dedicated leader, and a prolific puck moving center. His career spent mainly with the Minnesota Wild has won over fans the past 16 years. Although his career isn’t capped off with a cup or individual trophies he did find himself as a selke trophy finalist in the 2016-17 season. Many of Koivu’s achievements include a gold medal in the U18 world junior tournament as a 17 year old for Finland and a 2011 World Ice Hockey Championship gold for Finland also. You will also find in his medal case 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in the World Championships, an Olympic silver in 2006 and bronze in 2010 and a silver in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey just to name a few. Koivu never put up the goal numbers but he was there with the helpers. In 1035 games played Koivu had 206 goals and 505 assists for 711 points, almost a point in 75 percent of his games. He was the first player in Wild history to play 1000 games entirely for their franchise and leads the franchise in games played with 1028. A record that will stand for a long time in Minnesota. He also leads the Wild in franchise points and Power Play points. Koivu has transcended the Wild fanbase and deserved more as a player. And although his time with the Jackets was short he did get 2 points in 7 games and did not look bad at all. And I have been seeing posts on social media saying Torts got to him but honestly I believe that he did not have any left in the tank. He was an aging player who was looking for a last chance for success and ultimately did not find it in Columbus. I wish Mikko the best in retirement and for a healthy life.
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When it came out on Monday about the Devils and their Covid protocols, i told someone “watch this is gonna fuck the Sabres”. Sure as shit the next day, the Sabres got it shoved right in their hoops. First it started with Ristolainen and Taylor Hall, Then Brandon Montour and Tobi Rieder, then Jake McCabe and now Dylan Cozens and Curtis Lazar, now Casey Mittlestadt and Rasmus Dahlin. That’s not to mention coach Ralph Kreuger. That’s 10 key parts of this team…..The fact of the matter is the league put the product in front of the health and safety of their players and in the times we’re living in is complete bullshit. Now in a 56 game season the Sabres have to miss crucial on ice time because of the poor decisions made by the NHL and the Devils. This is complete bullshit and the Sabres management should raise a shit storm to the league. The league has to be better about this and this can’t happen again.
![]() So, it happened. Zedno Chara scored an actual NHL goal against the Bruins. As a Bruins fan, that signing felt like my parents were getting divorced. I couldn’t imagine it, that pain of my family splitting up. But it did and I am feeling a bit better. Then, the first game against Washington hurt. It hurt a lot. He just does not look right in that jersey. But nothing special happened and the Bruins lost. But on February 1st, the year of our Lord 2021, my nightmare came true: my dad came home with his bitch of a new girlfriend to introduce to me. That bitch? The Washington fucking Capitals. Then that BITCH slapped me as hard as she could by letting Chara score. Why do the Hockey Gods hate me?!? First the Blackhawks, then the Blues, now the Capitals! This hurts. I am at least glad to see that the Bruins, in this strange but relevant metaphor… my mother, is doing well without him. But God damn I miss Dad. ![]() The Patrik Laine Trade is going to be devastating for the Jackets. Absolutely devastating. The third round pick can be thrown out the window. Those are just magic beans. Dubois’ father is a professional coach and yet he couldn’t handle the tough coaching style of John Tortorella. And Laine had a tough time dealing with internal bullying from the Jets locker room. Imagine how devastated he will be when Torts straight up calls him a “pussy” for not blocking a shot. I’m not saying Laine is a “pussy” by any means, since he has shown that he is a tough player on the puck at times. What I am saying is that Laine will not block shots because he just isn’t that type of player. Laine will give you goals, but he will not show up on the penalty kill or in key defensive situations. With the addition of Roslovic the Jackets have a “budding young star” (quotes very intentional) with .37 points per game. Now that isn’t horrendous, but with the fact that he refused to re-sign with Winnipeg, and the added distraction that causes in the locker room, players around the league feel like he won’t make a good teammate. On top of all this he is going to be playing with his hometown team in Columbus, Ohio: the city that God forgot. This is going to be a lot of pressure on him seeing that all of his friends growing up and his entire family is now going to be watching since there's nothing else to do in Ohio. The Jets get a good young player in Dubois who is actually a budding young star and has a lot to prove. His father works in the Jets system for the Manitoba Moose. The ease of moving to a city where your father lives (and the ease of moving away from John Torterella) is a tremendous weight off his shoulders. I am in no way knocking Torterella. I think he is a wonderful coach, but I do believe that his players need to buy into his system and his persona to succeed. Dubois was just not going to work with Torts. That last shift with the Jackets proved that. However, in Winnipeg I believe they found what is now considered a gem in the rough. Dubios is producing at a .67 ppg. In 239 games with 159 points, under Paul Maurice I believe that Dubois will find less pressure and an ease of playing with players like Blake Wheeler and Paul Stasny who can get him the puck. In the end I see Patrik Laine cracking under Torterella and requesting a trade out of Columbus sometime next season and Roslovic being sent down to the AHL. Dubois will find success in Winnipeg and we will see him moving to a first line role and seeing more PP time than what he got with the Jackets. In the end, I fully believe that with this trade Winnipeg absolutely fleeced Columbus. ![]() We need to talk about the NHL Reverse Retro jerseys. I know this is old news but seriously, did adidas even try? Sure some of these teams got it right like Colorado and Los Angeles, but others seriously missed the mark. Did Adidas even supervise these choices before sending it to production? Particularly I am talking about the Islanders, Red Wings and the Jets. They are pathetic excuses for a third or fourth jersey. The Red Wings not only are a sad team but now they have a sad third jersey thus completing the circle of sadness that is Detroit. And the islanders, they are seriously the most boring team in hockey, all of their jerseys are the same just a different shade of blue. As a hockey fan I wanted the gorton's fisherman jersey or at least the template. The wavy striping on the shouler and midriff would have been sick, its the only time the islanders tried to be different. Instead the same boring template with the same boring logo for the same boring team. The jets at least tried, maybe too hard. They failed but they tried. They completely missed the mark on the colors when they could have incorporated Atlanta Thrashers colors or even a red jersey with a blue and white logo like Columbus did. Laine looks better in that anyways. Last the Anaheim Ducks, they wore those for 3 games back in the 90s for a fucking reason. They are ugly as ugly can be. Out of every team, no team has been marketed like them. The Movies, the cartoons, the history, TEEMU FUCKING SELANE. And yet they chose these god awful jerseys to go with the gongshow of a team right now. If I was an Anaheim fan I would be pissed that they didn’t use the purple and teal 90s jerseys and make it make it purple with a teal midriff and the duck goalie mask as the logo. All in all most teams got this right, Vegas gets no complaints because they are just too new. And other sad teams like the Sabres got sick jerseys. Maybe if these teams tried they would have been on the top. Especially Detroit, but instead they focused on losing too much. |
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April 2024
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