World Cup of Hockey 2016 - All Purpose Thread

wprager wrote:Apparently you can pick up tickets on StubHub for Sweden vs. Russia for $16.  Why am I not in Toronto right now???!

Because it's an overpopulated Dung hole?

SeawaySensFan wrote:

wprager wrote:Apparently you can pick up tickets on StubHub for Sweden vs. Russia for $16.  Why am I not in Toronto right now???!

Because it's an overpopulated Dung hole?

I meant, other than the obvious reasons.

Lundqvist ill, Markstrom will start.

wprager wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:I'm looking back on the fact that people are saying gallager or galchenyuk being part of the World Cup and not stone, I think it's great. Had stone been part of the teams we'd have an uphill battle with teams keeping him on a lookout but this way he fois a little under the radar for another little while. By th olympics he'll be under everyone's radar. For now he can demolish a few teams this year!

I don't think he's flying under the radar anymore.  From all indications Hoffman-Turris-Stone will be the Sens' top line this season.  Sens were in the top-third of the league in scoring last year, even with Turris playing more than a third of the season on one leg.  I am expecting an improved powerplay (with the addition of a left-handed center and a new coaching staff which should keep them in the top-10 teams in goals for (and perhaps move higher).  Another 60 point season should be a given, and 65-70 is very likely.  If the team improves its defensive play Stone should have a much better +/- than last year which, combined with his takeaways will finally put him into the Selke conversation.

I'd agree. I don't think he's off-radar anymore. That said, I don't think it matters too much. He'll see top defenders, but IMO that line is good enough that it won't make much difference. I expect about 190-200 points from those three combined.

Crosby/Kunitz/Kessel (Pittsburgh's TOI/game leaders at the three forward positions) combined for 184. And I'm not sure if Letang collects one-third of the team's assists like Karlsson does. I'll be very happy with 160-170 points. 190-200 is very unlikely.

wprager wrote:Crosby/Kunitz/Kessel (Pittsburgh's TOI/game leaders at the three forward positions) combined for 184.  And I'm not sure if Letang collects one-third of the team's assists like Karlsson does.  I'll be very happy with 160-170 points.  190-200 is very unlikely.

You don't think they could hit 65 points each?

spader wrote:

wprager wrote:Crosby/Kunitz/Kessel (Pittsburgh's TOI/game leaders at the three forward positions) combined for 184.  And I'm not sure if Letang collects one-third of the team's assists like Karlsson does.  I'll be very happy with 160-170 points.  190-200 is very unlikely.

You don't think they could hit 65 points each?

Seems like a reasonable number to me.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

spader wrote:

wprager wrote:Crosby/Kunitz/Kessel (Pittsburgh's TOI/game leaders at the three forward positions) combined for 184.  And I'm not sure if Letang collects one-third of the team's assists like Karlsson does.  I'll be very happy with 160-170 points.  190-200 is very unlikely.

You don't think they could hit 65 points each?

Seems like a reasonable number to me.

Ya, me too. I personally don't give a rat's Donkey how many points Kunitz got last year. I think this trio could definitely hit 195 points.

I gotta say this. Media folks are tweeting out pics of empty seats at the ACC for some of the non-Canada/NA round robin games.

What kind of 'world cup' is held locally in one single city and arena? What did they expect was going to happen? The host should be a country, not a single city. It's shit like this compounded with gimmicky crap of the NA team that doesn't allow hockey world cup to even register on any type of global sports radar.

spader wrote:

wprager wrote:Crosby/Kunitz/Kessel (Pittsburgh's TOI/game leaders at the three forward positions) combined for 184.  And I'm not sure if Letang collects one-third of the team's assists like Karlsson does.  I'll be very happy with 160-170 points.  190-200 is very unlikely.

You don't think they could hit 65 points each?

Of course they each could, individually, hit 65 points (even though none of them have ever hit 65). All of them hitting that total in the same year is a different story. All of them playing on the same line makes it a little more rare as well. A top line like the old CASH line here is very rare and it would have to be something close to that (and recall that scoring totals are down quite a bit since those years).

Hoff-Machine wrote:I gotta say this.  Media folks are tweeting out pics of empty seats at the ACC for some of the non-Canada/NA round robin games.

What kind of 'world cup' is held locally in one single city and arena?  What did they expect was going to happen?  The host should be a country, not a single city.  It's Dung like this compounded with gimmicky crap of the NA team that doesn't allow hockey world cup to even register on any type of global sports radar.

The tickets were likely sold, just not used in the end. The game could be anywhere in Canada and there would probably be empty seats.

Ekblad is done. He missed the game against Russia with a suspected concussion and the Panthers are pulling him out.

wprager wrote:Ekblad is done. He missed the game against Russia with a suspected concussion and the Panthers are pulling him out.

Some team's season is going to get ruined here, it's only a matter of time.

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Ekblad is done. He missed the game against Russia with a suspected concussion and the Panthers are pulling him out.

Some team's season is going to get ruined here, it's only a matter of time.

Even better if they are in our division..

This World Cup of Hockey format is lame. I haven't watched a single minute of it. Team North America? Plays both anthems? Team Europe? Doesn't even have an anthem? What the hell? Seriously? Why have this tournament? I guess because it's making them money. We have the Olympics to see which country is the dominant power in the sport. This thing is a joke and as was stated, it'll ruin a team's season potentially due to injuries.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:This World Cup of Hockey format is lame.  I haven't watched a single minute of it.  Team North America?  Plays both anthems?  Team Europe?  Doesn't even have an anthem?  What the hell?  Seriously?  Why have this tournament?  I guess because it's making them money.  We have the Olympics to see which country is the dominant power in the sport.  This thing is a joke and as was stated, it'll ruin a team's season potentially due to injuries.

The format is fine: round robin plus a playoff at the end. That's pretty normal and it makes sense. People have been pooping on Team North America and Team Europe, but I like the idea for both. Both are very competitive and very entertaining to watch. The Olympics is every four years and NHLers may not even go to the next one. This takes place prior to the season which makes a lot of sense. The hockey has been great...people just aren't in the "mood" for it because it's happening before the NHL season is in full swing so nobody's gone back to "hockey mode" yet.

The one issue is going to be injuries, but as long as it's not Karlsson, it's all good.

tim1_2 wrote:

Hoff-Machine wrote:I gotta say this.  Media folks are tweeting out pics of empty seats at the ACC for some of the non-Canada/NA round robin games.

What kind of 'world cup' is held locally in one single city and arena?  What did they expect was going to happen?  The host should be a country, not a single city.  It's Dung like this compounded with gimmicky crap of the NA team that doesn't allow hockey world cup to even register on any type of global sports radar.

The tickets were likely sold, just not used in the end.  The game could be anywhere in Canada and there would probably be empty seats.

yeah probably sold but optics don't look good.  And I don't buy that for a second, it definitely would have sold out anywhere else in Canada with butts in the seats if handled right (i.e. not on a monday afternoon at Cussing 3 pm).  We're not talking belarus or latvia type of countries, there is certainly some appeal.  you think if sweden/finland was played at CTC it wouldn't be sold out?  Yes they have to be smart about locations, but doing everything entirely in Toronto is asinine and foolish.  Again, find me another 'World cup' that does every game within one city.

BTW, there were empty seats on Saturday for Europe vs USA.  Doing it in toronto was quite simple a money making decision.  You think if that game was in buffalo/hamilton it wouldn't be sold out in a second?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:This World Cup of Hockey format is lame.  I haven't watched a single minute of it.  Team North America?  Plays both anthems?  Team Europe?  Doesn't even have an anthem?  What the hell?  Seriously?  Why have this tournament?  I guess because it's making them money.  We have the Olympics to see which country is the dominant power in the sport.  This thing is a joke and as was stated, it'll ruin a team's season potentially due to injuries.

I'm not a fan of the world cup final being decided by best 2 out of 3. Alot of good teams will get knocked out because of the format. Personally think they should have kept with top 3 teams advancing in each division and top team getting a bye to the semis.