NHL 2021-22 season Fantasy & Chat thread

[Checkerboard]

Tkachuk 5 assists in Flames win over Blues.

[yisman]

New Jersey Devils star P.K. Subban had a message on Sunday for hockey fans and Jacksonville Icemen defenseman Jacob Panetta, who on Saturday was accused of directing monkey chants at Subban’s brother.

[mr. leisure]

Kraken (4th lowest team in league by points) scores 5 by committee to beat Panthers (top overall by points.)

That was a shocker .

[Checkerboard]

Kraken (4th lowest team in league by points) scores 5 by committee to beat Panthers (top overall by points.)

[yisman]

entire NHL winter break gone, wow. and very little off days for teams

[Checkerboard]

Draisaitl!! 4 points in thriller over Flames. Thank you Oilers!!

[BarkingToad]

Kreider's now a goal away from top spot goals list.

Tied it after last night.

[yisman]

Two weeks after the Arizona Coyotes had increased their efforts to trade defenceman Jakob Chychrun, their hard work has seemingly paid off in the form of a legitimate offer.
"What the Coyotes are looking for here is a package that includes a young player, a prospect and a first-round pick," Sportsnet's Jeff Marek said during the 32 Thoughts segment on Hockey Night in Canada. "They do have that package from one team in the NHL as we speak now, essentially two former first-round players and a first-round draft pick."
However, despite the offer, the auction for the coveted blue-liner is apparently ongoing, with six teams involved in the sweepstakes.

[BarkingToad]

How is Mike Yeo an NHL head coach again.

[Checkerboard]

Kreider's now a goal away from top spot goals list.

[Otters27]

How can you ever back the Cyotes. Unreal

[yisman]

New York Islanders legend Clark Gillies has died at age 67, the team announced on Friday. A cornerstone of the Islanders' early 1980s dynasty, Gillies name is all over the top-10 lists on the Islanders career lists and remains one of the most beloved figures in franchise history.

[Checkerboard]

Rangers Hurricanes game tonight is going to be good. Trying to determine who NYR will have in net.

[mr. leisure]

Colorado is rolling right now .

[Checkerboard]

Francouz, a solid backup now 5-1, gets a shutout in Wednesday night's 2-0 Avalanche win over the Ducks.

[mr. leisure]

NHL announces extensive updates to 2021-22 regular-season schedule

95 games to be played from Feb. 7-22, which had been break; end date remains April 29

NHL.com @NHLdotcom

The NHL will play 95 games from Feb. 7-22 as part of a comprehensive update to the 2021-22 regular-season schedule announced Wednesday. The update would allow all 32 teams to complete their 82-game schedule by the season's original end date of April 29.

The three-week window in February was previously designated as a pause in the season to accommodate NHL player participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but the NHL announced Dec 21 it would not be participating because its season had been disrupted as a result of increasing COVID-19 cases and a rising number of postponed games. As of Wednesday, 104 games had been postponed because of COVID-19 concerns. Six had previously been rescheduled.
The updated schedule includes new dates for 98 games postponed over the two-month period from Nov. 18-Jan. 18, and date changes to 23 other games to accommodate the new dates for postponed games.
"We are profoundly grateful to our fans for their support and understanding during a challenging time, and to our clubs, the NHL Players' Association and the players for their cooperation in a rescheduling of unprecedented logistical complexity," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.
Following the break for the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game, which will be held in Las Vegas on Feb. 4-5, the NHL will resume with two games on Feb. 7: the Carolina Hurricanes at the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the New Jersey Devils at the Ottawa Senators.
Ottawa will play 10 games from Feb. 7-22, the most of any team. The Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets each will play eight.
The busiest day of the revised schedule will be Feb. 17, with 10 games.
Changes to broadcasting schedules of national rightsholders (ESPN, Turner Sports, Sportsnet, TVA Sports) and local club rightsholders will be announced when available.
The complete regular-season schedule can be accessed at nhl.com/schedule. An updated list of all rescheduled games this season is available here.

[mr. leisure]

Last Men In for 2022 NHL All-Star Game announced

Kadri, Stamkos, Terry, Guentzel added to rosters for Feb. 5 game in Las Vegas

Nazem Kadri, Steven Stamkos, Troy Terry and Jake Guentzel have been named the Last Men In for the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game.

Kadri of the Colorado Avalanche (Central Division), Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning (Atlantic) and Terry of the Anaheim Ducks (Pacific) won the fan vote for their respective divisions and will be added to the rosters for the All-Star Game to be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Feb. 5 (3 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS).
New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad won the fan vote in the Metropolitan Division but cannot attend because of personal reasons. Guentzel of the Pittsburgh Penguins finished second in the voting and will take his place.
Kadri was the top vote-getter in the fan vote that ended Monday at 11:59 p.m. The forward received more than double the number of votes of the second-place finisher in the Central. The 31-year-old has never played in the All-Star Game in 13 NHL seasons. Terry and Guentzel also will play in the NHL All-Star Game for the first time.

[Otters27]

Lightning starting to roll. Sabres no longer the push over team

[Checkerboard]

Flames shut down league's highest scoring team last night in 5-1 win over visiting Panthers.

[BarkingToad]

I hope Sabres can make that Eichel draft pick count.

That’s asking a lot from that sorry franchise.

[Checkerboard]

I hope Sabres can make that Eichel draft pick count.

[mr. leisure]

Eichel will play in a few weeks, Golden Knights owner says

Center recovering from neck surgery

Jack Eichel's debut with the Vegas Golden Knights could be in "a few weeks," owner Bill Foley told "Vegas Hockey Hotline" on Friday.

"You saw him today. He's not that far off," Foley told the podcast. "... He's going to be ready to play."
The center skated with the Golden Knights on Jan. 11 for the first time since having artificial disk replacement surgery Nov. 12, eight days after Vegas acquired him in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres. He told NHL Network on Nov. 5 he thought he'd be able to return to play three months after surgery, which would be the second week of February.
Eichel was projected to be the center on a line with Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone, but Pacioretty, who scored 12 goals in 16 games, is out indefinitely after having wrist surgery Dec. 30. He, Eichel, and defensemen Nicolas Hague (wrist) and Alec Martinez (face) are on long-term injured reserve.
"We're going to have to make some adjustments, but we do have a lot of guys that are kind of hurt," Foley said, referring to the NHL salary cap. "And we're kind of looking at that and making sure we don't do something prematurely with whoever's hurt and when they come back. We've had bad luck this year in terms of people getting injured. So, we do have a plan, some alternatives, but we're trying to hold off until we just really see how the injuries sort out over the next 25-30 days."
Eichel was traded to Vegas for forwards Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, a top 10 protected first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, and a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, with the Golden Knights also receiving a third-round pick in the 2023 draft.
"We got really serious about it during preseason (in mid-September) because [the Sabres] kind of shopped him all around and there was so much cap pressure from a lot of the teams that were interested," Foley said. "And Buffalo wanted a lot, but then they started getting more realistic. ... Buffalo was smart. They held out, and they got a lot from us. ... They got a couple really good players, an up-and-coming guy and a guy who's proven he can already do it. And they got our first-round pick."
Eichel has not played since March 7, 2021. He scored 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) in 21 games last season and 355 points (139 goals, 216 assists) in 375 games in six seasons with Buffalo, including NHL career-highs in goals (36), assists (42) and points (78) in 68 games before the 2019-20 season was paused due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
Golden Knights president of hockey operations George McPhee said Jan. 11 that Eichel's timeline to play is unknown.
"We're two months today post-surgery, and we know that he's going to be able to come back between three and five months," McPhee told Sportsnet 590. "I think he feels fantastic. It couldn't have gone any better than it has so far. But the next part will be probably the hardest in terms of when is he ready for contact and that sort of thing. So we don't have a specific date in mind, and that's probably a good thing so as to not put any pressure on him. ... Whenever he's ready, he's ready, and we'll get him in there."

[BarkingToad]

2 goals and 2 assists for Ivan Barbashev who has 15 goals so far. Always a close shave with Barbashev.

[yisman]

had to work today so missed all the afternoon action

[BarkingToad]

4 goals for Timo Meier halfway through the game.

[Checkerboard]

Of course Leafs game gets postponed

[mr. leisure]

Lots of day games today!!!!

Beautiful card , with some daytime games too .

[Otters27]

Lots of day games today!!!!

[yisman]

The NHL trade market is picking up and the Dallas Stars are ramping up their efforts to trade defenseman John Klingberg who requested a trade back in late November.

[Checkerboard]

Big 4 point night for Panthers point man Weegar in their in their 9-2 romp over Blue Jackets.

[BarkingToad]

We're now over 100 NHL games that have been postponed this season because of coronavirus concerns.

A lot of the players in protocol feel fine. There’s been many told they couldn’t play during warmups and just before game time.

[Otters27]

Kraken lose again.

Avs with an easy high juice cover

[yisman]

5-0 whooping in Arizona.

Wow.

[mr. leisure]

Colorado 0/5 on the PP

Arizona 0/4 on the PP (including a full 2 minutes of 5 on 3)

Kadri wins the shootout

That OT was great

[Checkerboard]

We're now over 100 NHL games that have been postponed this season because of coronavirus concerns.