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Phil Kessel

Saint Nik said:
I don't think anyone really minded. These are all superstar professional athletes getting together for a meaningless exhibition game and I don't think any of them are going to be too deeply wounded by being picked last. Kessel certainly seemed to take it in good humour.

I think the hockey stick idea is a lot closer to the ethos of hockey than picking teams. Its the way teams are selected in every shinny game, so why not do the same?
 
Bender said:
I think the hockey stick idea is a lot closer to the ethos of hockey than picking teams. Its the way teams are selected in every shinny game, so why not do the same?

I'm not sure hockey has a singular ethos anyway but there are a couple reasons not to do it like that. For starters, I think that with dividing sticks you run the risk of there being a real serious talent imbalance between the two teams while that probably won't happen with the draft.

But also, and probably more importantly from the league's perspective, is that by doing it the way they do it they get to squeeze an extra couple hours of televisable content out of the event. Likewise you avoid logistical problems like figuring out a way to get the jerseys made up.
 
Bender said:
Saint Nik said:
I don't think anyone really minded. These are all superstar professional athletes getting together for a meaningless exhibition game and I don't think any of them are going to be too deeply wounded by being picked last. Kessel certainly seemed to take it in good humour.

I think the hockey stick idea is a lot closer to the ethos of hockey than picking teams. Its the way teams are selected in every shinny game, so why not do the same?

It would funny to see a pile of sticks with a giant Chara canoe paddle lodged between.
 
Saint Nik said:
I don't think anyone really minded. These are all superstar professional athletes getting together for a meaningless exhibition game and I don't think any of them are going to be too deeply wounded by being picked last. Kessel certainly seemed to take it in good humour.

I thought he looked incredibly uncomfortable and awkward being picked last, like he was really ticked off about the whole ordeal but wanted everyone to think he was totally cool about it.
 
Jalili said:
Saint Nik said:
I don't think anyone really minded. These are all superstar professional athletes getting together for a meaningless exhibition game and I don't think any of them are going to be too deeply wounded by being picked last. Kessel certainly seemed to take it in good humour.

I thought he looked incredibly uncomfortable and awkward being picked last, like he was really ticked off about the whole ordeal but wanted everyone to think he was totally cool about it.

Everytime I see Phil in lights he looks like that. I think he's just a unique athlete in that he does NOT want the media stage in any way. He would have looked the same if he had been picked first overall.
 
Saint Nik said:
Bender said:
I think the hockey stick idea is a lot closer to the ethos of hockey than picking teams. Its the way teams are selected in every shinny game, so why not do the same?

I'm not sure hockey has a singular ethos anyway but there are a couple reasons not to do it like that. For starters, I think that with dividing sticks you run the risk of there being a real serious talent imbalance between the two teams while that probably won't happen with the draft.

But also, and probably more importantly from the league's perspective, is that by doing it the way they do it they get to squeeze an extra couple hours of televisable content out of the event. Likewise you avoid logistical problems like figuring out a way to get the jerseys made up.

I thought about that, but TBH, they're all stars. If they're picking the best players from each team it should all balance out. And it's not like the East/West or N. America vs. World weren't unbalanced at times. And I don't really think the balance is solved by picking teams: imo the captain will pick players he likes the most first and foremost. Toews and Kane were a good example of that last year.

Logistically: I don't see it as much different than a fake draft in terms of getting the jersey's made up. The main thing is the league wants controversy and there will always be one when players pick sides.
 
Jalili said:
I thought he looked incredibly uncomfortable and awkward being picked last, like he was really ticked off about the whole ordeal but wanted everyone to think he was totally cool about it.

I think he handled it well on the outside, but on the inside I'm sure he was just pissed. It was on national TV for God's sake and he had already spent the last ... ever.. hearing the criticisms from fans and media and always tied to "the trade".. to be picked last had to be a big time shot to the ego. 

How you could not be everything from angry to embarrassed... most human beings would be saying "fffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"""" on the inside.

Did that moment cause the real change in his game? I don't think that moment alone did but it would have at least added a little bit of a chip on his shoulder for sure.
 
Bender said:
I thought about that, but TBH, they're all stars. If they're picking the best players from each team it should all balance out. And it's not like the East/West or N. America vs. World weren't unbalanced at times. And I don't really think the balance is solved by picking teams: imo the captain will pick players he likes the most first and foremost. Toews and Kane were a good example of that last year.

Like I said, it's a chance and one that the NHL probably wants to avoid. It's not the biggest thing in the world but it could stack up embarrassingly one year which would not be what the league wants.

Bender said:
Logistically: I don't see it as much different than a fake draft in terms of getting the jersey's made up. The main thing is the league wants controversy and there will always be one when players pick sides.

Like I said, I think the main thing from the league's perspective is that the draft gives them an extra event to televise and, like you say, gets people talking. It's an entire weekend built on hype and this is more of it.

And I think any sort of stick dividing would cut down on the time the league had to get jerseys made up from two days to one.
 
I love the Kessel start, but part of me is dreading the 10 game pointless streak I fear he's gonna hit at some point.  I hope he proves me wrong.
 
Corn Flake said:
How you could not be everything from angry to embarrassed... most human beings would be saying "fffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"""" on the inside.

I think the problem there is that you're kind of forgetting that we're not dealing with "most human beings" who probably would look at what happened to Kessel and equate it to the kid getting picked last in gym class. But Kessel, I'm assuming, is smart enough to realize that he wasn't watching a draft where things were being done strictly on merit and that in a collection of great athletes someone had to be picked last.

Add in that there's not a ton of evidence that athletes give the slightest crap about all-star games anyway and I think this may be more a case of projection than anything else.
 
Corn Flake said:
Jalili said:
I thought he looked incredibly uncomfortable and awkward being picked last, like he was really ticked off about the whole ordeal but wanted everyone to think he was totally cool about it.

I think he handled it well on the outside, but on the inside I'm sure he was just pissed. It was on national TV for God's sake and he had already spent the last ... ever.. hearing the criticisms from fans and media and always tied to "the trade".. to be picked last had to be a big time shot to the ego. 

How you could not be everything from angry to embarrassed... most human beings would be saying "fffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"""" on the inside.

Did that moment cause the real change in his game? I don't think that moment alone did but it would have at least added a little bit of a chip on his shoulder for sure.

No arguments there. I hated watching it, and I haven't always been his biggest fan... but after seeing that I gained a sense of respect for Kessel meanwhile losing some for Ovechkin.

I don't think it was a major event by any means, but it may have contributed to the semi-feud Kessel had going on with Wilson shortly afterwards.
 
Zee said:
I love the Kessel start, but part of me is dreading the 10 game pointless streak I fear he's gonna hit at some point.  I hope he proves me wrong.

People have crunched the numbers and most elite scorers go through 6-8 game droughts pretty regularly (as in most seasons they'll have at least one).

While it would obviously be great to see Kessel consistently deliver points, I don't think we should be relying on it.  What we should be able to rely on is that our scoring depth pitching in such that a Kessel cold-streak doesn't automatically turn into a team losing streak. 

We're not there yet if you look back all but 2 of our 6 wins relied on Kessel's production. Actually those two were the first and most recent games, without his hot hands we come up short in all of games 2 through 8 and that is potentially a 7-game losing streak instead of a 4-2-1 stretch. 

The good news is that 2nd line seems to be gradually heating up and depth players like Lombardi, Frattin and Steckel have looked pretty good.  Bozak also notched quite a few assists on the top line and can hopefully bring some playmaking to the 3rd line while he's there.
 
pnjunction said:
Zee said:
I love the Kessel start, but part of me is dreading the 10 game pointless streak I fear he's gonna hit at some point.  I hope he proves me wrong.

People have crunched the numbers and most elite scorers go through 6-8 game droughts pretty regularly (as in most seasons they'll have at least one).

While it would obviously be great to see Kessel consistently deliver points, I don't think we should be relying on it.  What we should be able to rely on is that our scoring depth pitching in such that a Kessel cold-streak doesn't automatically turn into a team losing streak. 

We're not there yet if you look back all but 2 of our 6 wins relied on Kessel's production. Actually those two were the first and most recent games, without his hot hands we come up short in all of games 2 through 8 and that is potentially a 7-game losing streak instead of a 4-2-1 stretch. 

The good news is that 2nd line seems to be gradually heating up and depth players like Lombardi, Frattin and Steckel have looked pretty good.  Bozak also notched quite a few assists on the top line and can hopefully bring some playmaking to the 3rd line while he's there.

This has also been going on kind of quietly:
Leafs D last year 139 points (including Kaberle & Beuachemin)

This year, they're on pace for 246 points. I would suggest that certainly has been assisted by Kessel's hot line and quick start but I think they deserve some credit themselves.

Last year the forwards scored 445 points. This year, they're on pace for 482.

Now the stats for 9 games is pitifully small to be relied upon very much. But on that basis and the obvious, we see three significant differences so far:

Kessel's line is carrying the brunt of the load in terms of scoring so far by the forwards.

Grabbo's line is well behind last year's pace (but starting to come on).

The biggest difference in scoring is in the points the team's D is racking up (when examining it that generally on such a tiny set of stats - which I would quickly concede is  too flawed by inaccuracy from small data sample size to reliably project much). It's kind of just a loose idea at this point.
 
Didn't know where to post this but I found it interesting, and Kessel will be forever linked to Seguin...

http://espn.go.com/boston/nhl/story/_/id/7161154/sources-boston-bruins-tyler-seguin-predisposed-hip-injury
 
cw said:
This has also been going on kind of quietly:
Leafs D last year 139 points (including Kaberle & Beuachemin)

This year, they're on pace for 246 points. I would suggest that certainly has been assisted by Kessel's hot line and quick start but I think they deserve some credit themselves.

Further to the above, I haven't check the numbers myself, but I think Leafs TV said the Leafs D was the second highest in points in the league so far in this young season.
 
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=598396

Toronto forward Phil Kessel's sizzling start has earned him October's highest honor.

Kessel on Tuesday was named October's Player of the Month in the NHL with Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen coming in second and Edmonton goalie Nikolai Khabibulin landing in third place.
 
I just hope he isn't hurt.  I think when he got slammed in to the boards against the Rangers that it did something to his knee.
 

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