NHL Vibe Check: Conference Finals, Emo Bands, Offer Sheets and Goalie Pulls
Folks, it's been a while since we checked our collective vibe. How are you doing?
We've reached the Conference Finals, and the Stars, Rangers, Oilers, and Panthers are left standing. Will the consistent Stars, high-octane Oilers, clutch Rangers, or spunky Panthers finish it off?
Let's catch up on the playoffs so far, the offseason to come for some teams who fell short, and of course, the best-dressed players of the season.
Conference Finalists as Emo Bands
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Dallas Stars: Dashboard Confessional.
The Dallas Stars are not in-your-face. There's no one superstar to obsessively track or storyline getting shoved in your face. No one is screaming at you or causing any sort of drama. They are chill, they are consistent, and they are a quintessentially good hockey team throughout their body of work.
And much like Dashboard Confessional, who embody the calmer side of emo music, they might be Vindicated when all is said and done.
"I am seeing in me now, the things you swore you saw, yourself"
Edmonton Oilers: New Found Glory.
"You (the Stanley Cup) were everything I wanted
But I (Ken Holland) just can't finish what I started There's no room left here on my back (Connor McDavid), it was damaged long ago
Though you swear that you are true
I'd still pick my friends (Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman) over you"
New York Rangers: My Chemical Romance.
The Original Six Rangers are a classic hockey franchise. When they're doing well the league as a whole benefits, and this was the case with MCR and "emo music" as it entered the mainstream. Much like MCR, though, the Rangers don't necessarily love certain labels we give them. MCR frontman Gerard Way always used to shake off the "emo" label, just as the Rangers are shaking off the "underdog" label. It's worked out well for both.
"Do or die, you'll never make me
Because the world will never take my heart go and try, you'll never break me,
We want it all, we wanna play this part (We'll carry on)"
Florida Panthers: Taking Back Sunday. The Florida Panthers want revenge after last year's trip to the Cup Finals, and they aren't afraid to say (or scream) it. Paul Maurice and Matthew Tkachuk aren't afraid to say anything, really. Taking Back Sunday loves three things: Revenge, dramatics, and screaming. Frontman Adam Lazzara is known for intense and frankly often off-putting live performances, and he's not afraid to go against the grain in the process. Reminds me a bit of the two aforementioned Panthers personalities.
"If I'm just bad news, then you're a liar, if I'm just bad news, then you're a liar…"
What the NHL Got Right This Season
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Love this question almost as much as I love mango snapple.
It's tricky, sometimes "improvement" only comes after something that is an objective step back receives pushback from powerful people. I appreciated the pushback from active NHL players after the league tried to ban the use of "Pride" tape, a symbol of solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community.
You had a lot of influential players expressing their disappointment, including Connor McDavid. You also had players pointing out that the rule felt baseless and hypocritical – a departure from the previous culture of solidarity with the league in public, even if you disagree in private.
I keep thinking about the statement Matt Dumba made about the league as a whole when asked about the jersey ban:
"Why is that even a thing?" he told The Athletic's Eric Stephens. "Why did they have to do that in the first place? You'll never get the answers from them. You'll never get the answers for that. That's just something I've come to understand. They don't have answers for a lot of things that they do. They follow and try to save face."
I also keep thinking about players like Travis Dermott and Marc-Andre Fleury, who actively defied the NHL's baseless threats of "punishment" when wearing specialty jerseys and masks. The fact that they weren't "punished" after all shows a shift in power from the league to the players that has been a long time coming in the NHL.
It shows the league that can't lazily expect bluffs to not be called anymore; it can't count on players being silent or apathetic about things.
Will the Canes Admit Offer-Sheet Defeat?
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First of all, it appears Don Waddell might not be making that call in the coming days.
Regarding Kotkaniemi, we've officially reached the sunk-cost fallacy portion of his offer sheet signed in 2021.
In 11 games this postseason, he had zero goals, one assist, a minus-2 rating, and four penalty minutes. By the end, he'd been demoted from center to wing, and the fourth line. He wasn't on either power-play unit. It isn't what it was supposed to be.
He's not the most expensive center-winger in the world with a $4.82 AAV, but the Canes are running out of money and window, here, and he's got another six years on this contract while contributing, frankly, nothing the team requires.
The Canes barely have enough space right now to re-sign the majority of their free agents, let alone add more pieces. Kotkaniemi's $4.82 million gives the Canes more crucial room to re-sign one of their many free agents at the very least.
This feels harsh, and I like Kotkaniemi so I feel bad for being so blunt. But the Canes have enough mediocre centers that aren't necessarily actively hurting them but aren't exactly moving things along. They certainly can't have a ~$5 million winger.
I'm not sure what they'll actually do, but if they don't somehow get rid of this contract they are anchoring this team.
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Checking in with the Fashion World...
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It's Nikita Zadorov every time. He keeps showing his hilarious and bold personality almost nightly with quotes coming out of the Vancouver media, he's electric in the playoffs, and he has an interesting sense of style – even if I don't always love it.
This is the organic personality in a passionate market that pushes the NHL forward. Let him cook!
Alright, I'm giving you a full roster. While constructing this roster, I prioritized fashion above all, but you still had to be pretty good at hockey. This is basically, who are the most fashionable among the best players in the NHL? I am prioritizing skill to make the roster, but fashion sense to move up in the lineup.
Filip Forsberg-Auston Matthews-David Pastrnak
Evander Kane -Vincent Trocheck-William Nylander Anthony Duclair-Elias Pettersson-Patrik Laine
Kevin Fiala-Jack Eichel-Tom Wilson
Roman Josi-Erik Karlsson
Mikhail Sergachev-Nikita Zadorov
Victor Hedman-Rasmus Dahlin
Linus Ullmark
Freddie Andersen
Pulling the Goalie
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Great question! First off, each team will have a slightly different philosophy on this due to internal analytics, and due to the fact that this is something that has been increasingly studied recently. We don't have any of these internal findings at our disposal, but we do know that teams are pulling their goalies earlier and earlier based on certain circumstances. Perhaps some of these circumstances are just teams listening to their analytics departments who have been encouraging this for ages.
The general logic is you want to pull the goalie as soon as possible if you still have a chance. The "as possible" is where things get tricky because it's much harder to prevent an empty netter than it is easy to score an equalizer in that amount of time. But who really cares if you lose by an extra goal (that doesn't impact a goaltender's stats) if you were already going to lose?
More teams are pulling their goalies earlier because of the risk-benefit analysis, and I'm all for it.
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