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![Ivan Provorov, John Tortorella once again show that hockey can’t move forward [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/e5c7510945e9755bf115def070b35df0.jpg)
Ivan Provorov, John Tortorella once again show that hockey can’t move forward [Updated]
This is becoming, sadly and infuriatingly, a familiar story in sports. The NHL wants you to believe that “hockey is for everyone,” except that it never seems to filter down to anyone in the game below the tagline....
The New York Rangers have gone back to what worked, but kind of didn’t work, but they’re winning so screw you, New York numbah 1 baby
As the New York Rangers lurched and stumbled their way to the conference finals last year (two seven-game series to get there, and needing the Penguins to dress up the beer guy as a goalie to get by them. And a farting beer guy!), it was harder and harder to convince anyone that they were all smoke ...
This is not your beautiful house, these are not your New Jersey Devils
Must’ve been a slow night, sports-wise, if I feel the need to talk about the New Jersey Devils. There has been no more scenery team, and dreary at that, than the Devils the past 10 years. You didn’t think about them until they came up on the schedule against your favorite team. And even when that ha...
It isn’t Barry Trotz, it’s Lou Lamoriello
There’s no question that Barry Trotz has a shelf life with any team he coaches. His high-intensity defensive style is never going to be something players are going to want to do year-after-year, especially now when more and more teams are crashing in goals left and right. He was in Nashville forever...
Alex Ovechkin is the best, no matter what he might stand for
On Wednesday night, Alex Ovechkin recorded his 50th goal of the season. It is his eighth 50-goal season, which ties the record for most in NHL history, along with Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky. But Ovechkin’s accomplishment is far more impressive than those two’s, and eight 50-goal seasons in any era...
Claude Giroux trade signifies the Flyers are a total failure
Knowing that the dagger is coming doesn’t make it hurt any less....
Who are the Columbus Blue Jackets?
It was a slow night as far as news goes. So as I was kicking around various sites and headlines, I noticed the Calgary Flames put up a touchdown on the Columbus Blue Jackets, a 6-0 blanking. And then looking under the hood, I saw that the Jackets surrendered 62 shots. 62....
Give some shine to the NHL’s new Iron Man
Keith Yandle isn’t a household name because he’s spent most of his 16-year NHL career with putrid teams, including this season with the woebegone Flyers, who have somehow gotten even worse since their coaching change....
Here are the Penguins again, hanging around, hanging around, can’t get rid of them…
In a world where the Patriots didn’t exist (and what a world that would be), perhaps the gold (and black) standard for bucking against the tides, refusing to be victims of a salary cap and system specifically designed to prevent sustained success, and just general obstinance would be the Pittsburgh ...
The Rangers are a mystery that analytics can't figure out
The best way to determine the best teams in any sport is to look at the standings, right? If they’ve been playing well, they’ll be near the top of the league. As Bill Parcells said, “You are what your record says you are.”...
Fed-up Flyers fans ready to bag the season
If you’re not a part of Flyers Twitter, well, consider yourself lucky. But you did miss fans of the Orange and Black having a totally normal one on Thursday as a movement to change PFPs to an unhappy fan wearing a bag over his/her head (much like the infamous days of New Orleans fans during the ’Ain...
The Flyers needed to fire Alain Vigneault last year
The Philadelphia Flyers fired coach Alain Vigneault on Monday, and the truth is it should have come sooner, and it’s probably not enough....
Home wasn’t the cure for the cursed Islanders
Things were stacked against the New York Islanders before a puck was even dropped this season. The new UBS Arena, which would end this weird New York area odyssey they’ve been on since that ill-fated decision to play at Barclays Arena, which didn’t ever plan for hockey, wasn’t ready until this past ...
2021 NHL Previews: Flyers haven’t made a good move since acquiring Gritty
The Metro Division is jam-packed with teams who could disappoint. Sid and Geno are back for their 16th season in Pittsburgh, and the bottom has to fall out eventually. Similarly, Alex Ovechkin is 36 and coming off a career-worst 24-goal season. Carolina was one of the darlings of hockey last year, b...
The Dumbening begins (aka NHL free agency is here)
There’s an old saying among NHL general managers that today’s free agent signing is tomorrow’s salary cap dump. Unfortunately, no general managers live by this saying, because there’s another old saying among NHL general managers: Today’s mistake is the next guy’s problem....
The flat cap has caused NHL GMs to get even dumber
While the lead story of the NHL’s weekend is — and should be — Montreal GM Marc Bergevin ignoring all decency, logic, and the player’s own wishes to draft alleged sex criminal Logan Mailloux, that doesn’t mean it was the only story. The NHL is in a strange place these days, with the salary cap stayi...
Preds' Ryan Ellis heads to Philly as teams get in last moves before NHL expansion draft
Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher got his man. The mild-mannered exec, rarely known for making big splashy moves, acquired Ryan Ellis from the Nashville Predators for former No. 2 overall pick Nolan Patrick and young defenseman Philippe Myers....
I just want to keep hearing the raucous din of Islanders games
I don’t have a real affinity for the New York Islanders. Great jerseys, ones they should have never abandoned, but other than that, whatever. Barry Trotz is maybe the best at getting his players to buy into his system, which is why it works so well, but that doesn’t mean it’s all that entertaining t...
If it’s not the Leafs this season, which teams have the best (worst?) shot at passing the Rangers 54-year Cup futility?
The New York Rangers are the historic gold standard for futility in the NHL, having gone 54 years without winning the Stanley Cup until finally getting the job done in 1994 (see Mark Messier with the Cup above) — after decades of being taunted with “1940” chants in enemy arenas....
Please enjoy Dan Feeney’s glorious mullet as Jets O-line guzzles beer at Islanders playoff game
Shortly after 3 p.m., the puck dropped for game four of the Islanders-Penguins series. But it was 5 o’clock somewhere at the ol’ barn in Nassau County....