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Roughly halfway through the NHL's 2023-2024 season: what are your thoughts on the season so far? How is your team doing? Any surprises?
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- Title
- NHL Standings - 2023-24 season - ESPN
My team remains… the Ottawa Senators (15-23-0)…
Well, DJ Smith is finally gone. As I said in my post at the 10 game mark:
The fact that the team has continued its dreadful run post-Smith has many Sens fans despairing, but I don't know that we should be blowing up the team just yet. We're still early in the post-DJ era. Learning to play within a real defensive structure for the first time in years was never going to be easy. You could liken it to learning a new language: the early days aren't going to be pretty. There are going to be a lot of mistakes and it's going to get uglier before it gets better.
But some of these guys (Tkachuk, Stutzle, Chabot, etc.) need to snap out of playing "DJ Smith hockey" and realize they're expected to play defence now. Tkachuk and Stutzle are the most worrisome given how much they've struggled under Martin.
That being said, this team does need a major retool. We need a #1 goalie, another defenceman like Sanderson, and we either need Stutzle to mature physically/mentally into an all-around 1C or we need a Ryan O'Reilly type 2C. (Or a new top centre, altogether...)
So basically I'm saying we need a #1D, a 1G, and possibly a #1C. NBD.
The Good:
The Bad:
At this point, when/if I watch, it's to see how the players are responding to Martin's adjustments and how much of this team can be salvaged. The 2024 draft is going to be critical for this iteration of the Sens.
League-wide, the biggest surprises for me are the teams leading the Atlantic, Central, and Pacific. I had Boston, Vancouver, and Winnipeg as bubble teams; instead, Vancouver is #1 in the league, WPG is setting defensive records in a high-scoring era, and the Bruins have somehow shrugged off losing their top two centres. Philadelphia's play under Torts is also impressive.
The competition for the Jack Adams this year is going to be fierce.
Conversely, I'm very surprised by the Sabres' struggles. I like that roster a lot. I know they've had injuries, but they've been consistently bad all season. Would be curious to hear a Sabres' fan's perspective on their year.
As a Red Wings fan, I am on the edge of my seat every game. The highs are HIGH and the lows are LOW and I love that.
Currently have a wildcard spot and you're gonna have to pry it from our cold dead octopus tentacles if you want it. LGRW!
How do you feel about Tampa/NJ creeping up behind the Wings?
My lukewarm take: if the Wings make it, the Flyers are the ones to draw out. NJ hops them to take 3rd in the Metro and TBL/DET take the wildcard spots.
The entire wildcard race is just a massive scrum. I think the best bet for the Wings isn't to scrap over a wildcard spot, but actually get third. Avoid the top 2 teams in the first round is good incentive IMO.
I think the Wings can end up anywhere from 3 in division to missing the playoffs again. Last year, the Wings were trending for a playoff spot about this time too, and around February, the wheels came off. Player injuries, scoring slumps. If we can avoid that fate this year, I think a first round playoff exit is in our future, and I say that positively.
I think my feelings can basically be summed up as "are there any more once-in-a-generation talents we can draft this year?"
Up and down. The Penguins currently sit one point outside a wild card spot but it feels like yet again the only player playing with any consistency is Crosby. Dude is ageless and it feels like the team is going to waste another great season from him just like last year.
I wish they would just fire Sullivan already. I know new GMs like Dubas love keeping the old coach around so they can play that card and say "he wasn't my hire."
I don't know if I would call Karlsson a bust but definitely not hitting 100 points again
Drew O'Connor at least looks promising.
I love watching hockey with my dad and brother, but I don't have cable or the motivation to track down pirated stream to watch during the regular season. But I usually check in on the Caps during playoffs if they make them.
That being said, I'm going to tomorrow night's game with my dad and brother and I'm very excited for that because we don't get to hang out very often and I haven't been to a game in years.
This season I've been keeping up and watching most of the Avs games! I honestly only got into hockey the season they won the Stanley cup, and just sorta kept up with how they've been doing overall. But my partner has a good stream setup so we haven't really missed any games, and it's been really fun to watch! Even when the Avs lose, there's just been a lot of good games overall.
My fav was when they lost to the Panthers and they got scored on twice in an empty net. It was just extra funny because the home announcers were like "they've come back from lead like this before!" right before the panthers scored lol. My other fav was the Avs vs the Bruins. That one was awesome, I hadn't seen a game go to shoot out. The Avs are doing good this year, and it's been neat to see the lineup changes.
I was a huge fan of Sakic as a kid so the Avs have always been my second team.
It sucks how much injuries and "personal circumstances" will likely decide Colorado's fate this year.
Have all missed time, and those are huge losses. If the team is at full strength come playoffs, I think they have as good a chance as anyone in the West to win the cup. It's good to see Lehkonen and Byram slated for return next week, though it comes right on the heels of Nichushkin departing for the Player Assistance Program. And who knows if/when Landeskog will be back (nice to see him skating again though).
They're a fun team to watch though! One of the most exciting teams in the league, imo.
Yeah, definitely a downer to have so many players in and out from injuries and whatever personal stuff they're going through. Landeskog has been tough since he's been out for so long, but like you said it's nice to see him back on the ice in some capacity! But they're doing good despite the big holes in team makeup.
Leafs, not fan, but from Toronto:
haven't watched much yet, seems on-track to reach playoffs. I look forward to our playoffs exit this year, last year's wasn't embarrassing.
I've run out of walls to bang my head into and am praying for a decent draft next year.
In Minnesota we've been more excited for the PWHL team than the Wild XD
Tbh with how obsessed I've been with basketball this year, I've not had much time to watch regular season games, but I'm sure as shit gonna watch some playoff games when that comes (though likely no playoff games for the wild lmao)
Islanders fan: seeing some improvements but mostly just... consistently terrible away games performances,taking bad penalties, and frequent collapses in the 3rd period, to the point it's a trend. When they play well, it's great but the lows are really low. I'm hesitant to say it's a coaching problem. I don't know what needs to change, but clearly something does. It's frustrating to watch games this season.
I enjoy watching the Caps play too since I live nearby, but because of my location, all home games are blacked out. I'm not about to pay for cable just for this.