2019-2020 NHL season thread

I'm not going to go into much detail for privacy purposes. Boudreau and I were employed by the same team in the minors, so it wasn't a typical reporter-coach relationship though my job very much involved the media.

I suppose he's OK with you due to your prominent status in hockey media. I called him a prick, but he's not stupid.

 

Point taken. People do change and it was a long time ago. However, our relationship was awful. He wasn't professional at all.

This was back when he was climbing through the minor-league coaching ranks.

 

I was a toddler when Boudreau broke in with the Leafs so I don’t remember him at all as a player, but his playing career interests me. He played in seven consecutive NHL seasons, but never a full season. Spent time in the minors in all of them. Seven straight up and down seasons has to be close to a record. Normally a guy would have established himself as a full time NHLer by like season three or four.

Maybe it’s because the shape he chose to be in was pear, but then again that era wasn’t exactly full of Jack LaLanne types.

 

At the time I dealt with him, he was bitter about not sticking in the NHL. There is no doubt in my mind that was a driving force in his goal to become an NHL coach.

Look, he's been a good NHL coach and I'm glad he wasn't on the plane with Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis. Still, he used to be perfectly capable of shitting on people he thought were subordinates.

 

Time for Rierdan to go.

Capitals are too talented to play like shit like this for weeks on end.

Gallant? Laviolette? Don't care. I'm done with this fucker. Maybe Leonsis shouldn't have been a shitty cheapskate and punted on Trotz.

 

Didn't know where else to put this.

I had poutine tonight for the first time.
They have it in the restaurant at Great Park Ice, the Ducks new training facility. I live about 5 minutes away but went to the restaurant for the first time. Ain't bad, ain't really good. Not going to be a regular food choice for me.

I have been to Canada a bunch but never tried it. Afraid, I guess. Figured it was like scrapple in Philadelphia. It wasn't.

 

I had it in Montreal. It was excellent, certainly better than any that I had gotten in the States. Then again, Montreal is kind of known for it so that's not surprising.

 

We all knew the start to the season wasn't sustainable.

I just didn't think this regression to the mean would be so drastic.

 

I mean, it's a good thing they banked all those early points. Key cushion right now. I have seen nothing out of Rierden that suggests he is capable of making the necessary adjustments to win a playoff series. Brind'amour owned him last year. McLellan is not happy with the way things are going right now, and I think this weekend could be key in nudging him toward making a change. Lost twice at home to a Montreal team out of the playoff hunt. If they can't beat the Devils on Saturday, he may be in trouble. Cut your losses. There are only so many good Ovechkin seasons left. Can't waste them out of loyalty to a guy who has yet to show he can get it done.

 

Sorry to thread-jack, but are you pro-scrapple or anti-scrapple?

My in-laws are from Baltimore, and they will never truly accept me because I am truthful in saying scrapple is like eating out-of-date dog food.

 

Grew up in Wilmington, Del., smack between Baltimore and Philly. Scrapple is garbage. Now, Taylor's Pork Roll, THAT's good eatin'.