#i liked the mrazeks

[a-birdhouse-in-your-soul]

ok so like…no medals at this event because no one skated like they should get one???

[incorrectfigureskatingopinions]

Noooooooo Katerina 😱

[triplelutzmoreliketriplecry]

i can’t believe it took until jgpf for me to get on the mrazeks train but holy shit they are so good. might be the first ice dance team since shibsibs that truly felt to me like both were equally matched performers

[stereax]

HOW TO FANTASY: THE PRIMER

Hey there! Are you looking to join your first fantasy hockey league this year? Or maybe you need tips on how to dominate your league. In both situations, you've come to the right place. Sit down and let's talk fantasy hockey!

The Scoring

Before you begin even thinking about your draft, make sure to check the scoring system in place in your fantasy league. Are you in a points or categories league?

Points are more standard, where different actions like goals, assists, and blocked shots are worth a different number of points and weighted accordingly. Categories instead count per action, with a focus on winning a majority of the categories. To explain, take this example: in a standard points league, a goal is 2 points and an assist is 1. In such a league, one goal and two assists is the same as four assists, points-wise. However, in categories, the 1G/2A combo wins the "goals" category, while the 0G/4A combo wins the "assists" category.

Additionally, check whether you're in a "roto" league. Most leagues play week-by-week, where each week you're given a new opponent to beat in either points or categories; roto leagues don't do this, instead having you play the entire season before tabulating up all the points and seeing who wins. This isn't to be confused with a "dynasty" or "keeper" league, where you get to keep some of your players from one year to another.

Generally, I recommend a points league for beginners. It's simpler to grasp and offers a robust array of players that are good. Categories can get needlessly complex; roto is a more advanced way to play; keeper leagues are maybe not the best idea for a new player, either.

This is the "standard" ESPN scoring for a points league, but many variations exist. Some leagues give positive points to penalty minutes, while others subtract points for bad behavior; drafting a high-PIM player like either Tkachuk can be a slam dunk or asking for trouble, depending on which you're in. Some leagues add points for takeaways and subtract for giveaways. Personally, I like to add an extra point for game-winning goals and hat tricks, and up the points from 0.5 to 1.5 for short-handed points. These changes don't make major differences in scoring but are still fun to play with - plus, hatties should get rewarded!

Skaters

Some leagues split forwards into LW, C, and RW, and require you to have a certain number of each on your roster; make sure to take note of this and draft accordingly. Others just split into F, D, and UTIL - the utility slot where you can play either a forward or defenseman. From my experience, centers tend to bring in slightly more points than wingers, but it's not a marked difference. Defenseman score less in the goals/assists/SOG categories, but are helped with block and hit stats. Some defensemen like Jeremy Lauzon, Jacob Trouba, and Chris Tanev are mostly fantasy-relevant due to those blocks and hits. Other defensemen, like Quinn Hughes and Evan Bouchard, rely on their scoring generation to be fantasy-relevant.

A normal ESPN league has a 9-5-1-2-5 set-up, where there are 9 forward slots, 5 defensemen, 1 util, 2 goalies, and 5 bench slots to draft. (Bench slots are for players who aren't playing on a specific day and can be F, D, or G.) Save one bench slot for a third goalie - more on that in a second - and use the other four bench slots on skaters so you can cycle them in based on who's playing.

Goalies

Goalies are... special, both in hockey and in fantasy. This is because, unlike skaters, goalies can end up in the negatives for points. In a standard ESPN league, a goalie gains 0.2 points per save, but loses 2 points per goal against. This means, to break even, a goalie needs to save 10/11 shots against, around a .909 SV%. Obviously, not all goalies will do this every game. Some get buried to the tune of 10 goals against in some games. No matter how good MacKenzie Blackwood or Petr Mrazek are, they will get buried sometimes because their defenses are not great. However, all one has to do is remember the crazy 10-7 Canucks-Wild game last season to know this isn't uniquely a Bad Teams phenomenon. Thus, the goalie position is extra risky in fantasy.

Sheltering a goalie is a more advanced strategy that is incredibly important if you're trying to lock down a matchup. Simply put, "sheltering" the goalie means benching him for the night, even though he's playing a game. Got a matchup that's Lukas Dostal versus the Florida Panthers? Might want to shelter Dosty. How about Dan Vladar against the New Jersey Devils? I'm sheltering Vladar. While you will not gain any points if the goalie does pull out the win, you are protected from the goalie bleeding points. If you think it's significantly more likely that the goalie loses than he wins, consider sheltering him.

I recommend drafting 3 goalies for this reason. Having only 2 makes it difficult to shelter a goalie. Additionally, switching in goalies as needed makes it easier to gain more goalie game points. You can usually have up to 4 goalies, and having more definitely can help, but I think 3 is a sweet spot.

On backups - drafting a near-guaranteed backup (think Jonathan Quick, Semyon Varlamov, Joonas Korpisalo) generally won't have its benefits. Those guys are better off as streaming options on nights when they get easy matchups (more on streaming later). However, picking up a 1B who can take over the net if things go south injury- or luck-wise (think Arturs Silovs, Philipp Grubauer, Joel Hofer) may be quite helpful. Again, this is play-by-ear territory.

The Draft

Before you draft for real, do a mock draft. Or several. I'm an advocate of mocking multiple drafts before the real thing. It's similar to a practice test - the more times you do it, the better you get at it. At least one is almost necessary if only to understand the drafting interface, which can be complex all on its own. Doing more mocks allows you to pick different players at different picks, giving you more of an idea of players you want, players you don't, and players you're willing to draft over or under their ADP (average draft position).

The day of the draft can make or break a team. Do not autodraft if at all possible. If you cannot make it to your draft date/time, set an extensive auto queue to try to secure as many players you like as possible. Trust me. I didn't do this in one league and I ended up with Ivan Provorov and Tony DeAngelo. Ew.

If you draft first overall, you should probably pick Connor McDavid. Don't go for a "spice" pick like Sidney Crosby, who is incredibly unlikely to hit McDavid's point totals. While McDavid was almost always the consensus 1OA in previous years, this is no longer the case - you can make solid arguments for Nathan MacKinnon or Auston Matthews as the 1OA pick in your league. Checking the ADP of players in the Research stats view is helpful here to see where people are valuing certain players outside of projected stats. This will also help you figure out your strategy of who you'll draft where - if Mikko Rantanen and Jack Hughes are both available at pick 10 of a draft, you should take Rantanen, as his 7.9 ADP means he's likely not going to make it back to you, whereas Hughes's 26.2 ADP means he's much more likely to come back.

A side note, though - know thy enemy. Is your league full of Devils fans? Load up on Western Conference players and Rangers, who will likely be undervalued by them. Got a league full of Avs fans? Break out the Red Wings livery and snap up players like Moritz Seider and Dylan Larkin. I took advantage of this in a Pens fans league, grabbing Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Matthew Tkachuk, and Jack Hughes in my first few picks when the rest of the league was drafting all their favorite Penguins and ex-Pens. Also, Sam Reinhart with a 20th round pick didn't hurt, either. Use your fellow drafters' blind spots to your advantage.

The first few rounds should be your star players - the types of players you rely on night-in and night-out to pick up solid points. Depending on the size of your league, the stars may dry up sooner or later. A six-team league may have rosters with most, if not all, stars; a sixteen-team league will likely be leaning on bottom-sixers.

Generally, players on better teams do better. However, better players also do better. Don't draft a bottom-sixer from the Oilers just because of the team they're on; Tyler Toffoli of the Sharks will outscore Brett Kulak seven days a week and twice on Sunday. However, if you're debating whether to pick up a middle-sixer from the Kings or from the Predators, I'd lean towards the latter.

"Should I draft my blorbos?" I can't stop you. What I'd recommend is trying to draft said blorbos in later rounds, if possible. Ultimately, fantasy is personal - maybe you only want to win if it involves dragging your favorite scrappy fourth-liner along for the ride. However, I don't think you'd have gotten this far into this primer if you plan on drafting solely based off sentimentality...

Now, about goalies. Goalie strategies are weird - you can either try to lock top goalies in/around rounds 3-7, or you can try to pick up goalies later in the draft - even at the end. Goalies are voodoo. Whichever floats your boat. While there are a handful of genuinely "elite" goalies (Connor Hellebuyck, Sergei Bobrovsky, Igor Shesterkin) that are worthwhile in early rounds due to their consistency, all three of them struggled at points last year. Other "elite" goalies (Juuse Saros, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ilya Sorokin) struggled even more. Meanwhile, goalies that were not considered "elite" at all (Cam Talbot, Charlie Lindgren, Connor Ingram) had incredibly solid seasons. Play goalies by ear - if you see an early run on G, you may want to pick up a good one before they're all gone, or try to goalie by committee with several less "elite" picks. If people wait, you may want to get the best goalie first, or wait it out with them to pick up more skaters first. There are also teams that do a "zero G" strategy, where they pick up, you guessed it, exactly zero goalies. This lowers the goalie risk, but also lowers the goalie reward. Personally, I think they're mildly cowardly (accept goalies into your heart!) but it's a strategy you can definitely consider, especially if you're risk-averse.

Also, don't forget newcomers! Players who are entering the league this season, such as top draft picks Macklin Celebrini and Matvei Michkov, are often overlooked, yet can be massive boosts to a team. Drafting one or more of these newer players can be a wild card in your fantasy team, giving high potential points if things work out right.

Watch for breakout players as well, who may have a great season with a bit of luck - players like Alexander Holtz and Matt Poitras can do serious damage if the stars align. Did I write this just to mention Holtz? Possibly. You can't prove it though.

In many of these cases, you need to keep an eye on preseason lines and watch who's playing with who on which lines and which powerplays. If a player isn't on the powerplay and is in the bottom half of the lineup, he's likely not going to get great opportunities. If he's skating next to a franchise centerman, on the other hand, the points are likely to roll in.

This is also where your tolerance of Listening To Other People Talk About Hockey comes into play - over the next few weeks, many of these Other People will be putting up articles and a lot of podcasts and videos about fantasy sleepers. Reading or listening to a few is a good way to get an idea of some late-round picks you might want to consider. They are kind of grating, though.

One last thing to consider is "stacks". Stacks are essentially drafting several players who play on the same line/powerplay and letting the points roll in. For instance, if you draft Nathan MacKinnon with your second overall pick, you should strongly consider picking up Mikko Rantanen or Cale Makar with the next pick you have, then adding to them with Jonathan Drouin in a later round. The thinking is, when MacKinnon scores, those other players are likely to pick up assists off it. However, you need to be careful with stacking, as you can't simply draft the entire Dallas Stars roster and press play; there's got to be a balance between careful stacks and spreading out your talent between teams so you're not stuck with very few players playing on any given day.

Injured Reserve

Similarly to the real NHL, fantasy usually has one Injured Reserve slot, sometimes two or more. You can only stash a player here when he's nursing an injury. This allows you to add an extra player in that guy's place, which is useful because some points is better than none points.

Do not use an IR slot on a player with a season-ending injury. Drop him and move on. If the player is out long-term as in months, but not the season, it's a play-by-ear situation. You will likely be able to drop said player and pick them up when they're healthy again. IR is best used for shorter-term injuries (think 1-3 weeks) or on players who you cannot or are unwilling to drop (think Mitch Marner last season).

Playing the Waiver Wire

The main mistake many make is that they draft, then "set and forget", walking away in October and coming back in March or April. This won't win you championships. I generally try to check my rosters daily and move players on and off the bench and IR as necessary - remember, benched players don't score, and not everyone is playing every night. You can set lineups for weeks in advance if you like, which is convenient if you don't want to check every day. Personally, I think of it as a little break-time ritual to go through my leagues and set myself up for success. Unless you're in a crazy amount of leagues, it shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes or so to bench and unbench players and then figure out your IR and streaming situations.

That reminds me, streaming. What's streaming? "Streaming" is a tactic used to pick up extra points from a single roster spot. Remember how I mentioned the IR earlier? Well, when you put a player on IR, you open up a free spot in your lineup for a free agent. But free agents don't play every day. You can cycle free agents daily - if the Sabres are playing today and tomorrow, I'll grab Jason Zucker for the back-to-back, then drop him when he's not playing for Garnet Hathaway of the Flyers, for example. Watch the schedule for back-to-backs, but also watch for opponents. I'd rather have Jonathan Huberdeau against a Sharks-Ducks back-to-back versus Tomas Hertl against a Stars-Leafs one. Make sure, however, that you keep an eye on matchup acquisitions as well. Most leagues only let you pick up a certain number of players a week, and nothing ruins your day more than missing out on a great streaming option because you used all those acquisitions by Thursday.

Also note that you can no longer add/drop players for the day, including IR movements, after the FIRST game of the day starts. Sometimes, with the Global Series or weekend games, this will be early in the day, so make sure to get your streaming done as early as you can (or even the night before) so you don't miss out.

Keep an eye on the standings and how teams are doing. If the Predators are in the middle of an 18-game point streak because Barry Trotz cancelled U2 at the Sphere again, you might want to pick some of them up. If the Sharks are in the middle of a miserable stretch of hockey, you might want to pick up their opposing goaltenders (remember when I mentioned streaming earlier when talking about backups, this is what I mean).

Keep an eye on lines and how they're utilized. Your Connor Brown late-draft flyer is great, as long as he's playing with McDavid and scoring consistently. He's on the fourth line and not scoring? Might want to move off him. Similarly, if there's a player who's getting increased time and a better role, keep an eye on him too, and be ready to pounce.

Keep track of who's getting powerplay time as well - if Timo Meier isn't on PP1, he's not scoring at such a high clip. Unless you're the Penguins, powerplays mean points, and whoever's on the first powerplay has a good chance of bringing those points in.

Keep track of who's getting goalie starts too. Did Charlie Lindgren lose the net to Logan Thompson? I'm dropping the former and picking up the latter. There are usually a few of these cases a year; jumping on them early will benefit you greatly.

Be flexible. Is there a player massively breaking out this season who's still a free agent? Pick him up and drop one of your struggling players to do so. There's no use in sentimentality if you're going for a win. Be a Vegas Golden Knights GM and kick players to the curb when they're underperforming. Don't worry, they still have a place in your heart! Just not in your lineup.

Trades

Want a player from a friend? You're going to have to trade for it. Trades work similarly to in the real NHL, just without picks (as long as you're not in a keeper league). You'll need to reach out to the friend in question and engineer a trade you both agree to. No swapping Leon Draisaitl for Pat Maroon - if you see a trade that's clearly cheating like that, you should be able to bring it up to your league manager and fellow teammates to veto it.

But to trades more generally - I personally don't trade very much, preferring instead to stream for extra points. However, if there are certain players I want, or certain players I want to move off of and get a return, that's when I trade. Again, both parties must agree, so you need to convince your friend that you're giving them a sweet deal, which is part of the fun! Can you sell Jeff Skinner for Tom Wilson? You sure can try! This is another reason why "setting and forgetting" doesn't work too well - you can miss out on valuable trades that can boost your team in the short or long-term.

Playoffs

The playoffs in fantasy don't actually occur during the Stanley Cup playoffs. They're in the last few weeks of the regular season. This is for hopefully obvious reasons (half the teams being gone in the playoffs). Check your league for how many teams get to make the playoffs and how many don't - if you intend to have a playoff team, you need to know how many people you need to beat. Additionally, check to see how the scoring works during the playoffs. Some leagues do two-week matchups during the playoffs; others only do one. Knowing that is important to planning how you want to line up your players.

If you don't make the playoffs, no worries! You should be able to take part in the consolation ladder. Ditto if you're knocked out early, so don't give up hope if your first-round matchup isn't going as planned.

During the last few days of the playoffs, players will be playing their final games. Obvious, right? But this opens up another streaming avenue (at least, if you're not in a keeper league). Let me explain: the Avs this season have their final game on April 13. All other teams end between the 15th and 17th. There's no point in keeping Artturi Lehkonen or Alexandar Georgiev past April 13, as they won't be playing in games anyway. Drop them on the 14th and bring in fresh blood for the final push. Some points is better than none points!

Well, class is dismissed! If you have any other questions, see me during office hours with an ask or drop me a DM, either on Tumblr or Discord (same username).

If my schedule allows, I will try to actually stream a mock draft or few onto a Youtube channel and comment while I do said drafting, probably next weekend (August 30 - September 1). This may help you understand the thought process behind a successful draft! But that's to be determined. If that's something you'd like to see, let me know so I'll make sure to do it. If I do it, I'll give y'all a heads-up as to when the stream is so you can catch it live, as well as a link to the VOD.

[sergeifyodorov]

hmm i was scrolling through Twitter earlier and as the designated leafs blog in my mind, what are your thoughts on fraser minten? like he’s so interesting to me because in the narrative i’ve created of him he was tavares’ fifth child but then was our balanced by knies being better, but then wjc happened and he still couldn’t crack it. now he’s on the blades (one of the best whl teams i think??) very interesting

NARRATIVELY he's definitely The Tavares Child -- okayyyy so. Sew. this New Generation of leafs (imho starting at Knies and including Easton Cowan as well as minten) kind of... each parallel a member of the Core: Knies is Auston's child (Arizona boy, big strong forward), Cowan is Mitch's child (London Knight, small winger with endless energy) and Minten is JT's child (Captain anywhere he goes, known for maturity and intelligence)... william child + morgan child ->

anyHWAY the real life scouting report under the cut (not too long i don't think)

Minten's a high second-rounder, which is the type of player that's generally designated as an "upper maybe" NHLer -- by which I mean odds-on he'll get NHL games (as Mints has) but it's less likely he'll become a serious full-time player (although many a second-rounder can and does do so!) The most interesting thing about his draft position was that the Leafs, under Kyle Dubas, traded DOWN to get him -- we had a low first-rounder, then traded it to Chicago to get rid of the Mrazek contract and got the pick that would become Mints in return. Many a source says that Kyle wanted Mints anyway and would have taken him with the first-round pick.

The general consensus is that Mints tops out as a middle-six centre, a 3C on a good team or a 2C on a worse one (or a 1C on the Boston Bruins.) His ceiling is probably about 40 or 50 points, maybe more depending on how much power-play usage he gets.

However, it's also noted (and was pretty obvious to me, even watching him at the WJC -- which I'll get to in a second!) that his real value is not and will likely never be in point production. He's a natural centre, good-to-great at faceoffs (a skill that he learned in part from JT!!) and very good defensively. Because he's still a kid, plays a bit physically and tends to be involved in the play at both ends, he probably takes a few too many undisciplined stick infractions, but these things of course can be straightened out with time and wisdom. Also, he's a touch of a personality hire: he was the youngest A on the all-timer Kamloops Blazers last year and was pretty much immediately named C after the Leafs sent him home this year; he was named captain of the CANADIAN WORLD JUNIORS team with zero other experience playing for Canada on the national level. He plays the piano! He's smart, polite, doesn't cause a fuss, wise beyond his years. Takes a guy far.

Anyway, the WJC: just an absolute hackjob by the coach and one of those years that really demonstrates that Hockey Canada still thinks it can get ahead by being Canada (the ol' throw bodies at the wall shtick) and not, like, because of its actual quality of development. I think bowing out when they did was a bit unlucky, but they absolutely were NOT primed to win it all -- especially because the coach basically seemed to have no concept of... line construction? or anything of the sort? Like he just tossed players together from a hat once (1) and decided they were just going to play out the tourney like that -- no real concept of "x is the playmaker, y is the shooter, z is the forechecker" or "these three are the transition line that take d-zone draws and use their speed to create rush chances/o-zone draws" or even something so simple as "this defensively-minded, slower centre is perhaps not the best match for the winger notorious for being opportunistic and shooty." Also, not to put too fine a point on it but a player can have a bad WJC and it doesn't mean anything, or a good WJC and it also doesn't mean anything -- Jesse Puljujarvi rose his draft stock by a good chunk in 2016 by having a FANTASTIC WJC, and he's currently on an AHL tryout. It's a small sample size, mostly played with teammates they barely know and against competition about a half-step up from what they're used to. Weird statlines happen.

Back to MINTS because we're still talking about him. Yess currently he's on the Blades -- traded from the Blazers because the Blazers are garbage and they want to Do Right By The Player and put him on a competitive team (done for two reasons: one, because it can be demoralizing to be the best player on a bad team, and two, because being on a good team in juniors often means you get actually good-for-your-development linemates and usage). He was generally not expected to make the Leafs at ALL this season (I mean, 20-year-old second-rounder, right?) and cracking the roster out of camp, even though he only got three games and has a rather blank statline is SUPER impressive. I'm pretty sure this is his last year of CHL eligibility, after which he'll probably either get put on the Marlies for a year to keep cooking or he'll make the Leafs again and stick around. Either way, he's slid twice I think so we burn a year of his ELC.

and my opinion of the boy? I love him. Let's go baby leafs baby leafs forevar

[asunsetgrace16]

Karaoke ⎥ Chicago Blackhawks

As per usual, I went with the players that I know. I have no idea what their music preferences are, this is purely based off vibes. This what I think the Chicago Blackhawk's go-to karaoke songs are.

masterlist

Connor Bedard - he knows every word to 'We Didn't Start the Fire' by Billy Joel for some reason that he never tells anybody. He is dared to sing it one day because it's an older song, so he does it perfectly and surprises every person in the room

Colin Blackwell - 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift. 100%

Jason Dickinson - a stunning rendition of 'Vienna' by Billy Joel

Ryan Donato - keeps it classic with 'Don't Stop Believin'' by Journey. It's very mid, but not bad

MacKenzie Entwistle - a horribly off-key version of 'Livin' on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi

Nick Foligno - claims he is too old for karaoke but sticks with the classics too and goes with either 'Hotel California' by Eagles or 'Under Pressure' by Queen

Taylor Hall - there's about a 55% chance he sings something Nickleback and the other 45% is 'Love Like This' by BlackHawk for some sentimental reason

Seth Jones - something Katy Perry, I feel like. No reason, just a feeling. More than likely it's 'Firework'

Kevin Korchinski - either something by Zach Bryan or a 'The Last Saskatchewan Pirate' by Captain Tractor duet with Reese Johnson (please tell me somebody will get it)

Philipp Kurashev - adorably accented version of 'Call Me Maybe' by Carly Rae Jepsen. Everybody loves it

Petr Mrazek - first an enthusiastic attempt at 'Dream On' by Aerosmith, then plays it safe with 'Sweet Caroline' by Neil Diamond, met with applause and sing-along

Connor Murphy - also claims he's too old for karaoke, then proceeds to whip the most excellent cover of 'It's My Life' by Bon Jovi out of his back pocket and absolutely floors everybody

Alex Vlasic - 'Shut Up and Dance' by Walk the Moon or 'Stacy's Mom' by Fountains of Wayne. Or some other 2000's hit

[sunskate]

Skate America 2024 Results

C/B fell just short of closing the gap from yesterday, but i think i love this FD. it feels organic and musical, and they look like they're dancing through a lot of it. the lifts are lovely - it's an elegant program. they got all their levels except a level 3 on that striking StaLi at the end of the program - that cost them .75 in BV - the extra level would have put them over the top

Olivia and Tim!!!! Grand Prix medal! this program is beautiful - the opening combo lift feels special. they stayed in sync

it's interesting to have watched the practices and then see how it looks the same or different with the added pressure and skating the full program. D/S's free seems very difficult, and theirs was lower energy than in practice, while Olivia and Tim's came together in the moment

Ben Agosto making some pointed comments - there was this, about Lilah and Lewis:

B: taking a different approach this year with their free dance not starting with the high energy sassy character we're used to seeing from them J: there's a purpose to that - they told me earlier this week that they've been criticized for not having the skating skills of many of the top teams. they wanted to put them on full display and say look what we've been working on, look how much stronger we are B: i don't know if it's working yet 💀💀💀

between this and Jean-Luc's comments about them in practice, they're not done hearing those criticisms yet

at the top of the broadcast, Terry Gannon spoke about the two teams who were forced to withdraw and why and who replaced them - it's good they addressed it

Ben about M/C's twizzles: "Annabelle hanging on to that first twizzle, crawling across the ice 😬 but making it smoothly through the rotations" more comments about how the program now doesn't look like Star Wars in any way

N/M's FD definitely the stronger of their 2 programs - they do the CPom spin, and Ben mentioned it -- "really difficult position in the spin. we've seen Carreira/Ponomarenko do that (N/M's is a variation where Artem is lower). it's very hard, and they (N/M) do it really well"

Mrazeks: Ben talks about how difficult the balance in their first lift is, though idg the analogy - "if anyone's ever put their forehead on a baseball bat and spun around at a picnic, it's really challenging to keep your balance" huh? lol i like M/M. but i don't like or dislike this program - it feels more like 🤔 i'm confused why i don't feel anything yet i like some of what i'm seeing

L/LeG: ohh the mistimed entry to the combo lift cost them 8 or 9 points? they would have been more like 5th or 6th. that and Alicia and Paul's fall - heartbreak - hope they come back strong in their next outing ❤️

[anewbeginningagain]

GP France 🇫🇷 RD thoughts:

Overall much more conservative scoring than in skate Canada

The amount of teams scoring 70-73 in the past 3 GP events is staggering, those teams are not close to being equals or even similar and it really goes to show how broken the current scoring system is

L/LG are being dropped hard, it’s like skate Canada completely stopped politicking for them which is slightly weird considering other than L/L the Canadians dance future ain’t that bright. Granted L/LG material also sucks, but a season ago it looked like they will also get the push

Mrazeks were under scored here IMO, they are way way better than P/B and also better than N/M

Speaking of N/M, even if I ignore the child marriage and overall concerning coaching situation, it’s yet another case where I don’t get the hype. They are good but consistently over scored since moving to seniors

B/S looked better today but not getting that much love from the judges, it’s kind of insulting for them to be at the same range as a new senior team and P/B

R/A felt tentative and it reflected in the scores, their FD is better so we’ll see how that goes, but they were never taking silver when competing against the French in France

L/B won me over, they are really committed to their weirdness and most of the credits goes to her for making it work. If they’ll take silver here the 6th GPF spot is almost certainly theirs

Sigh at the Italians. They are the oldest team competing and I feel like they could have chosen themes that really emphasized their maturity and gracefulness but instead they are out there pretending to be teenagers in the RD and robots in the FD. Huge face palm 🤦‍♀️

[ellsey]

Skam practice thoughts from Thursday:

Isabeau had a lot of really cute, fun energy in her footwork. I liked this program more than the first time I saw it.

Elyce has very good spring to her jumps, so idk what the ur issues she usually has are about.

Benoit was staring down bradie the whole time lol. It's unnerving!

Smart/Dieck are so much improved from last year. I thought they look strong.

Fear/ Gibson are very slow and her skating skills in particular at pretty weak. Lots of wobbly edges. I don't understand their scoring at all. Like I was thinking she does turns at my speed and that's pretty bad lol.

Davis/Smolkin are maybe slightly better skaters, but that choreography also made me laugh out loud in a bad way so

Mrazeks were the best in that group but it's a very twee program.

Chock/Bates's program is so bad. It's extremely frantic and never settles into one thing. Tbh they aren't the strongest skaters and rely a lot on personality, but you never get to see that in this program because they are just constantly changing songs.

Neset/Markelov are extremely talented but still look pretty junior. Their program is way better than Bock though. If scores were fair and us nats were today I'd say bock should be buried behind at least 3-4 teams.

Shimada is extremely charming and I loved watching him.

Chiu's program was a little confusing to me and he didn't seem super committed to the choreography, but it is practice.

Aymoz's program is amazing and I hope he just does like doubles and let's us party with him. He hardly did any jumps, although I did see a couple decent quad attempts.

Broussard is STUNNING in person omg I am a huge huge fan now. Just everything is gorgeous.

Carillo was very hot and cold with jumps but he laughs a lot and always seems to be having a good time.

Malinin is himself lol. He seems to be really into that program. Also he did the raspberry twist right in front of me and I literally gasped out loud even though I've seen it before.

I don't remember a lot from pairs except Kihara looks way taller in person and he's really hot? Like so so attractive.

That's all I got right off the top of my head but if I think of anything else I'll post.

[barkovsasha]

gibby/wyatt AND GIBBY/CONNOR MY LOVES!! tell us why you chose gibby to write about when he’s not a very common rpf character!

ahhhh thank you because you KNOW i love them so much, gibby has a special place in my heart !

okay, so gibby has just really interested me since... i wanna say the little collision he had with connor really put him on the map but i didn't start writing him until his fight with mrazek. i had the desire to start a thing based on him catching connor because... we all know i have a Thing for forwards and goalies from other teams i guess ! so it was a background thought for a long time and then he had that fight and all of a sudden, in one night i had written 2k of him being a nasty mean dom to mrazek AND THEN ! i got insane muse to write him with connor (of which i will pop a snippet below) and then you 🫵 decided to make me endeared to the stars (which i already slightly was because of wyatt/roope fics and that one mush/benny fic) and put gibby and wyatt in my mind and they.... make me sort of insane.

so, below the cut, i have two snippets !

gibby x connor

He does feel a little out of his depth as he forces himself to walk over to McDavid, effectively closing the space between them. He knows how some of the other guys might react to this, initially spellbound just by being in the presence of one of Canada’s golden boys. John feels it a little, he can’t deny that. Stronger men than him have fallen prey to this. It’s like McDavid’s got a gravitational pull and John is swept up in it so easily, orbiting him like he was made for it. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be a starstruck little fanboy, though. 

“Are you lost?”

McDavid blinks and John just watches him. 

“No,” he says after what feels like an eternity, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. 

John stays silent, waiting for McDavid to offer up anything else. When he doesn’t, John shrugs and turns away to head down the corridor. It’s not that he isn’t intrigued by all of this, the unknown of it all, it’s just that he doesn’t really know what to do with it. And if McDavid won’t talk to him, he’s not going to stand there and beg for his attention. 

~~

“Kneel.”

There’s a brief moment where John doesn’t think he’ll do it. That he’ll back out and they’ll pretend this didn’t happen. John will watch his retreating frame and wonder what exactly made him want to stop. It’s fleeting, because as soon as John has thought it, McDavid is dropping down to one knee and then the other, gazing up at John like he holds the answers to the entire world. 

John watches with interest, reaching down to cup McDavid’s cheek. His fingers stroke out over his skin slowly, guiding his head back so he can look at him properly. There’s clear arousal in McDavid’s gaze and he looks like he’s itching to reach out and touch him but John hasn’t given him permission yet. It’s a heady realisation that McDavid is waiting for something, waiting for John to tell him he can do something. 

“You’re such a good boy, aren’t you, sweetheart? You’d do anything for me.”

McDavid’s eyelashes are long and black against his cheeks when his eyes close and John wonders if they always look like that or if it’s the lighting, the angle. An angle most people will never see him in, meaning John is one of the luckiest men alive to get to indulge in this. 

gibby x wyatt

“What makes you think I’d let you push me around?”

John grins despite himself, reaching up to brush his thumb over the side of Wyatt’s neck softly. He has at least thirty pounds on Wyatt, he can do whatever he wants to him. They both know that. But Wyatt is trusting him not to, not without Wyatt wanting it. John isn’t a bad guy, he doesn’t do things without making sure the other guy wants it just as much, but the thought that he could has always intrigued him a little bit. 

“You said you wanted me to teach you, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

The lack of hesitation in Wyatt’s response gives John reason to pause. He shouldn’t do this. He’s been toying with the idea of it this entire time but there’s no way he can do it. It would be awful of him to take Wyatt up on this. He’d do terrible, awful things to him. God, John wants to.

His hand fits easily over the column of Wyatt’s throat, like it was made for this. His palm is soft and warm against Wyatt’s throat, fingertips pressing into the side of his neck. Wyatt swallows and John feels it. 

“You like this?”

Wyatt’s eyes are wide and John is half expecting him to say no, back out and finally leave like he should have done instead of coming to find John. But instead, Wyatt nods. It’s not much, John’s hand is large against his delicate throat, but it’s enough. John can feel the telltale stirring of arousal in the pit of his stomach. It’s different to see Wyatt like this, rendered speechless by something that takes barely any effort from John. When only minutes ago, Wyatt had been yapping away about every little thought in his brain. 

~~

“Please, Gibby. Let me suck your cock.”

Wyatt stares up at him, eyes big and wide and wet. John has no fucking idea how he’s supposed to say no to that. He has no idea how Wyatt manages to look so sweet and innocent even though he’s begging to suck his cock right now. 

“Just — Jesus, kid.”

Colour licks at Wyatt’s cheeks, hand stroking along the length of his cock through his sweats, forearm pressing into his thigh. John reaches down to hold onto his wrist so he can’t do anything. 

“Come on, I can feel how much you want it.”

And — yeah, okay, he does.

[macaroni-rascal]

Montreal Worlds 2024 Day 4!

My voice is completely shot, my hands are legitimately sore from clapping, ears still slightly ringing, and I had the best damn time!

FREE DANCE

Mrazek's easily won the Swan Lake Battle, team nepotism were fucking awful, and it was even more apparent when a superior team skated to the same music directly after them. Diana Davis walked on the ice for 4 minutes, and did one lift that was supposed to be impressive, but was just shaky. Woof.

Olivia Smart deserves so much better, judges were not kind.

Lim and Quan got a standing ovation and they more than deserved it, they were stunning. I adored every single second of that free dance.

I didn't watch that team, so don't know, don't care, and fuck 'em.

I still don't love Turkkila and Versluis that much, in person they skate quite small and it felt like the program dragged on forever.

OKAY SO. A documentary is being made about the Reeds it seems like, a dude came and set up a camera next to us because Cathy Reed was sitting two rows behind, and he made the people right behind us come sit in our row and us scooch down so that they could get a good shot of her watching her sister. So that was both cute and a little annoying. We were stuck there also for Cpom, since Cpom had already started by the time the camera guy left and we didn't want to disturb others watching. A nice program from R/A though!

Cpom were SO very good. They were captivating and lovely, definitely had more speed at the start of the program, but wow have they ever improved. A joy to watch.

Back in my seat, in time for the small most boring most rip of P/C program of them all. 2/10.

Lajoie and Lagha had me right from the start. Just. I adore them so much. I'm so proud of them for coming back so strong after injury, I cried, I clapped, I cheered. I was fully moved.

Fear and Gibson were just fucking awful. I hated it. She's throw around in lifts and never needs to hold a position, they are doing push ups on the ice, they are standing still for 45 seconds in their choreo step, they are the second slowest team, and god just can they go away already?

Chock and Bates ARE SO FUCKING SLOW. I don't know if I didn't notice it in the RD, but jesus christ so glaringly obvious they were trudging through molasses the entire program. I didn't like the program. It was two cool lifts, and then a slow slog through Madison Chock being off the ice as much as possible. 1/10.

The first time ever the Italians made me happy. A nice program, a nice moment. The dress mishap at then was a little funny, still annoyed they will likely stay in until Milan.

Gilles and Poirier, the third slowest team. After the emotional moment with L/L, I just wasn't as moved or interested in this program. It felt melodramatic more often than not. Glad for them winning the free, now retire already.

MEN'S FREE

Adam coming from 19th to 3rd, what a moment. The crowd loved the back flip, and in the moment, I did too. Why not? He had nothing to lose. Redemption skates always give me warm fuzzies.

Donovan was a lovely time, she's got such razzle dazzle, he needs to work on his speed though.

Goodbye two spots of Canadian Men, that's all I have to say about that.

Love Selevko, he's my favourite.

Kao, it was not your day, or your competition. He kept drilling and fucking up his quad in front of me all warm up, I wanted to shake him.

Jun, it was also not your day or your competition, but you have a nice ina, so it's all cool.

Deniss was a lovely moment, I enjoyed his skate a lot. When he got standing ovation, a rude American behind me loudly said 'why are people standing up, he didn't do that well?' Which was wild.

Jason Brown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So beautiful. The single axel honestly made me laugh. What a treat it was to see him skate.

Lukas was also a very fun moment, he's a skater I enjoy waching.

Shoma, I love you. <3

Yuma! What a moment, a shame about the triple axel, but that step sequence is so gorgeous. Can't wait to see him grow and evolve as a skater.

Ilia was there. LISTEN. Okay. Objectively the things he is doing are impressive, I just personally do not find it interesting. You know what I mean? My and my friend were at a sensory overload high and we just booked it out of the venue during his standing ovation before the scores cause we had to get out there. That rude American I mentioned would not stop fucking yelling at the top of his lungs during the skate, I had to plug my ears several times. Good for him, but he's not my thing at all.

GENERAL THOUGHTS AND HAPPENINGS!

Okay, so that rude American I mentioned a couple times, he was honestly hilarious. Another guy was sitting next to him, and the rude American kept giving him all wrong information about skating. Just confidently, with his whole chest, attempting to educate someone with nothing but false info. He kept calling jumps wrong (called flips toe, calls loops sals, and sals lopps), he said that V/M skated to Umbrellas at their first worlds (it was their second) he pronounced salchow like sal-CH-OW, no card C, but chow like chow down, he called several elements wrong all ice dance events, got coaches wrong for several skaters, etc. So hilarious.

I saw Corey Circelli and almost asked him he's like Italy but then didn't.

On our way out, we walked next to Lia, Trennt, and Hannah Lim all talking about Ilia's skate, that was fun.

Thinking of drafting an official complaint with the Bell Center to make their seats 4 inches bigger on all sides. I'm so serious my right hip, and lower back still hurt. Those seats were made for babies.

My wonderful amazing friend who I hadn't seen works at the Bell Center on the weekends, and I got to catch up with him, and then during the men he brought me a hot chocolate. Shoutout to him, he's the bees fucking knees.

I shan't be going to the gala. Thought I could do it, but I am so sensory overload from four straight days of bright, loud, and crowded. I am a person that like dim, quiet, and 3-4 people at most, and I am at my limit. Also, fuck those seats, I can't sit in them for one more minute.

ALL IN ALL! I had SO much fun, it was truly amazing seeing all these skaters I've loved for so long, and being able to really watching and analyze so many different things. I've gained new appreciation, new perspectives, and some new favourites. I am, however, very ready to get home to my bed, my cat, and my space. I'm flying out dumb early tomorrow, and I can't wait!

[puckpocketed]

Tagged a millennia ago by @dijkstraspath and @cataroo sorry this was obliterated from my mind at the time </3

✨ noº1 team?

No number 1 team. I am a fickle creature whose heart is easily swayed by narratives!! My beloved teams, plural, are the Sharks, Kraken, Ducks, Wild, and recently the VGK! We have a soft spot a mile wide for losers and girlfailures. I am easily bamboozled by Antics and Shenanigans. Assume no teams are safe from my love. I always say: I have NO enemies in ice hockey except the refs/situation room <3

🥅 your favourite goalie?

My whole heart belongs to the oppressed goalie tandems on basement tier teams (Gibson/Dostal, Kahkonen/Blackwood, Soderblom/Mrazek)

Fav goalie to watch, who will always have a place in my heart? Joey Daccord! He has anime-protagonist levels of skill and he is a joy to watch in net. Truly creative, proactive, and unique. I see him going very far.

🔟 what would be your jersey number?

17! For the first two serial numbers of the Enterprise NCC-1701

🏒 what team would you love to play for?

PWHL New York, because women+teal <3

❤️‍🔥 who is your favourite player currently?

Thinking endlessly about Brock Faber. Girlies (gn) know I’ve been writing an essay about him for like a month, which has blossomed into something well beyond the scope of what I originally wanted to write.

👀 a trade that hurt you emotionally?

I haven’t been around ice hockey long enough for a trade to hurt me yet, but I’m not unfamiliar with trade heartbreak!

I have been in esports for years, and the first trade that fucked me up was support player ArK getting traded from the New York Excelsior to the Washington Justice. It was 5 years ago, the meta had shifted away from ArK’s best heroes, and the bombshell dropped on twitter. I was devastated. The NYXL core had been together through so much, I thought. They existed pre-Overwatch League, as LW Blue and LW Red. They were a family.

They reunited, briefly, during OWL All-Stars, and every moment of it hurt. ArK retired in 2020 after leading the Washington Justice to the North American Division Playoffs, where they came 3rd.

Many such trades and team implosions happened after ArK, but you never forget your first! 

🌈 what is your experience on hockeyblr so far?

Pretty amazing! I wrote a whole love letter to the kraken, sharks tag has some very funny characters who are very unserious about everything but very lovingly devoted to our losers, I’m too shy to talk in the wild tag too often but I hope this changes, the ducks tag is a wasteland populated by me and maybe 2 other people and we never seem to be blogging at the same time, and the one (1) person currently active in the vegas tag is quite possibly the sweetest person alive (!!!) they’ve been so excited to tell me about them, to welcome me and share their love!!!

The PWHL holds a very very dear place in my heart, I feel very tender and protective about it so I’m pretty quiet — but when I do venture into the tag it’s been a fun time!!!

I am putting out tentative feelers for the AIHL and the handful of people who’ve chimed in to show their support has been incredibly heartening and I look forward to writing propaganda for them when the time comes!!! <3

tag people you'd like to know these about ☺️🏒🖤

its. way way way way too late to be doing this but i guess im reviving the meme! absolutely feel no pressure to participate: @wehaveagathering @puckinggoalies @skybluerin @ppepohappy @belowthedepths if you'd like to participate consider yourself tagged by me!

[thenhlteaissuperhot]

Honestly this all star roster is the reason I think fan voting shouldn’t exist or should at least have a limited number of players per team that could join. There’s no way 9 players being from only two diff teams is fair. And who tf voted for georgiev!!!!

I am all in for the fan voting because the results usually reflect, who the fans want to see there outside of those, who had already been chosen by the league, but for heaven's sake, make limitations on how many players from each team can come.

As hot as Vancouver is this year, no one (outside of the Canucks fans) wants to see five of them there. Why are we filling five damn spots with players from a team that is nowhere near the most popular in the league? Why are we filling five spots with one team, to begin with?

I can, to a certain point, understand why there are four Maple Leafs since it is going to be held in Toronto (as much as I love him, I don't understand why Morgan was the 4th one "voted in"), but there should be maximum of three players representing a single team, no more than that.

If it was up to me - choosing those 44 players out of 32 teams, those eight allowed goalies are in italics:

Anaheim Ducks - Vatrano and Dostal

Vatrano leads the Ducks in points, it's understandable, and Dostal deserves it for the insane performances he has been putting out lately.

Honorable mention to McTavish.

Arizona Coyotes - Ingram and Keller

Another goalie, whose success the league and fans ignore.

Boston Bruins - Pastrnak, Marchand, and Swayman

This trio has everything - character, skill, popularity. Like Marchand or not, you have to admit that the content he creates for the camera is elite. Exactly what an All-Star Game needs.

And also, let's have the Toronto crowd go nuts because of three lone Bruins.

Buffalo Sabres - Dahlin

Calgary Flames - Lindholm

Carolina Hurricanes - Aho

Chicago Blackhawks - Mrazek (because Bedard is out with the operated jaw)

The only other player on the Blackhawks roster, who is worth watching. A legend.

Colorado Avalanche - McKinnon and Makar

Columbus Blue Jackets - Fantilli

Who on earth picked Boone Jenner over Fantilli?

Dallas Stars - Robertson and Oettinger

Detroit Red Wings - DeBrincat

Edmonton - McDavid and Draisaitl

Honorable mention to Hyman. I put Draisaitl there because I am biased as hell and because he is the most underrated jokester in the league.

Florida Panthers - Reinhart

Los Angeles Kings - Doughty

We need those defensemen and everyone knows Doughty. He is a funny guy and he is doing decent this season.

Minnesota Wild - Kaprizov

Montreal Canadians - Slafkovsky

He is always a hot topic, he is a comedian, great personality, shove him in there.

Nashville Predators - Forsberg and Josi

New Jersey Devils - Jack and Luke Hughes

New York Islanders - Barzal

I frankly know the bare minimum about the current state of the Islanders, so Barzal it is.

New York Rangers - Fox and Shesterkin

Ottawa Senators - Stützle

Why is it always Tkachuk? Why not switch it up a bit? Tim is leading the stats in Ottawa, has ridiculous 30+ assists, he is a funny likable guy... Let's boost the Germans in the league and have him and Draisaitl interact properly.

Philadelphia Flyers - Konecny

Pittsburgh Penguins - Crosby

Seattle Kraken - Dunn

The guy is leading the points in that team as a defenseman, he is a total social media catch lately, why isn't he on there? Why haven't the Seattle fans and his girlies voted for him?

St. Louis Blues - Thomas

Tampa Bay Lightning - Kucherov

Toronto Maple Leafs - Matthews, Marner, and Nylander

Gotta make the home audience happy.

Vancouver Canucks - Hughes and Demko

Pettersson was on here for a while too, he definitely deserves the spot, but we don't have enough space on here.

Vegas Golden Knights - Eichel

Washington Capitals - Wilson

Winnipeg Jets - Hellebyuck

Me, reading this list.

[eyes-above--the-waves]

This goalie situation is starting to remind me of the season that Mrazek was garbage (and then broken) and then Soupy was garbage (and then broken) and we ended up having to rely heavily on Kallgren as our EBUG-turned-starter and he was the only thing keeping us together for months, and like...as much as I loved Kallgren (and I am growing fond of Jones) we can't keep resorting to a 3rd string goalie as our starter.

[stereax]

Do you think it's a good idea for the Devils to trade for Markstrom?

And which player(s) do you think could go to Calgary?

Anons!!! I love anons sob sob!!!

everyone else hates me but anons got me <3

Okay, let's get into this one under the cut eh? :D

So. Do I want Markstrom?

Eh. Not really. I feel like Markstrom is far on the wrong side of thirty. We would have him for two years at that $6m cap hit, and then he'd probably be gone with the rise of Daws, Schmid, and/or Poulter, or another goalie we find or trade for. Markstrom is a very temporary solution to this problem.

That being said, we are in a spot where we can theoretically make a run for third in the Metro and then the postseason. Under this lens, getting Markstrom as soon as possible would be wildly beneficial to this. Additionally, Markstrom could mentor Daws, Schmid, and/or Poulter. So there are benefits to getting him.

I think Fitz sees that the goaltending NEEDS to be addressed and that Vanecek can't reliably be an NHL quality starter. So something should happen, either now, or at the draft, or before the next season. I seriously doubt he goes into the next season with Vitek and Daws.

So is it a good idea? Depends. Depends what happens, depends what we think the team is going to look like next year. (Remember, Mercer and Toffoli need new contracts, as well as others.) I think the Devils should have tried to land Mrazek before he extended with Chicago, honestly. Saros feels too expensive, but he would probably solve the goaltending issue longterm. Markstrom is a shorter term solution that could have a very limited shelf life and a Raanta-esque fall off a cliff.

What would a Markstrom trade look like? Vanecek has to go the other way, for starters, both capwise and just in general. Next, they're gonna want either Holtz or a first. I'd rather give them the first, even if I don't think Markstrom is worth it, especially not without retention. Then probably a later round pick like Fitzy's favorite third and a mid-tier prospect like a Clarke or a Vilen. See if you can get a late round pick too.

So to NJD - Markstrom, CGY 2024 5th (from CHI).

To CGY - Vanecek, Clarke, NJD 2025 1st, NJD 2024 3rd.

I don't want to sell the 2024 1st, given the current state of the team, plus its conditionality already attached to San Jose with the Meier trade. I think a first is a bit of an overpay too, but I don't think Calgary sells for less.

[sergeifyodorov]

ok so this is a bit of a rookie question maybe but in 2022 leafs traded for a second round pick, why would they trade their first round pick and a player for a second round pick? dont they have a second round pick?

sorry if thats worded badly maybe this quote will explain my question better (Petr Mrazek was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks along with the No. 25 pick in the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday for a second-round pick (No. 38).) its a rookie question but i really dont understand sorry :/

(also idk if this was sent twice. tumblr is an absolute joke of a site)

thank y for the quote i was confused for a bit!

As someone who was There (tm) when that trade happened, i can actually explain this particular case really well: Petr Mrazek was godawful as a Leaf. For a position so important as goaltending, having a fairly expensive (iirc ~3.5 mil?) goalie who loses you every game he starts is. How do i put this. Bad For Your Team.

This trade was designed to get rid of Petr Mrazek. You could call it a cap dump, whatever, but having a player like that on a team that's trying to go for it is a bad move. However, in order to accept an obviously bad player, sometimes a GM will throw in sweeteners, like a pick. Because a first-rounder (a low first-rounder, but one nonetheless) is pretty valuable, it was determined that the return would be a second round pick. Kind of like addition by subtraction:

10 (your first-rounder) - 6 (really bad goalie) = 4 (second rounder).

ALSO: you can pick multiple times in a round! Teams are Given one pick per round, but they can trade to acquire a bunch more if they want!!! Having more picks means more prospects means more trade chips or young valuable players