"PLUS/MINUS is the NHL's best stat, and the only one I use"
- Craig Button* PLUS: My son started his first year of hockey this season, and somehow, even though he's only five, he was the only kid on his team who'd never played before.
After the first game, when he was clearly the worst player on the ice, I thought he was going to be upset, but he was all smiles after the game, bragged about winning a face-off and said he was going to get drafted to the NHL.
He is doing something to do with hockey 24/7 (knee hockey, ball hockey, ice hockey, video game hockey etc) and it's way more fun to go to his games than to follow the NHL. Still, he remains a step or two behind the kids on his team, and his positive attitude somehow makes it worse when he says to me, about three weeks ago "Daddy, I really wanna score a goal." So I tell him if he wants to score, he's got to just go to the net. I said, you can't chase the puck five feet behind the play all night, so ignore it and go to the net. It will come to you.
It took two games, but this strategy paid off when he finally scored his first goal ever about a week ago. I am an enthusiastic guy. If the Leafs score in a playseason game, I can get a little ridiculously out of control. But to see my buddy score his first goal - it was probably the best thing I've ever seen in my life. I probably broke every code of minor hockey conduct with my celebration, and then I could barely stop myself from bawling.
I was pretty worried about the early mornings, the expense and the safety of the game, but when he scored his first goal, it was something that stands with my wedding day, the birth of my children and the time I defeated Mike Tyson in Punchout.
Sorry if that's a little sappy, but it really was awesome.
PLUS: The Coyotes' 5-0 win last night was very satisfying. Without Hjalmarsson and Raanta in the lineup - yet again - the Coyotes appeared to have no chance. But, ex-Devil Scott Wedgewood came up big against his former team in a game the Coyotes should have probably lost 5-0 instead of winning by that score.
MINUS: This
Cassie Campbell-Pascall is a very good, well-informed and intelligent color analyst. But it's unacceptable that @hockeynight has her working Calgary Flames' games. Her husband, Brad, is the Flames' assistant GM.
This is just a ridiculous thing to say when you consider that the broadcasters have absolutely no effect on the outcome of games, making this so called conflict of interest a complete non-issue.
PLUS: The ten best Albums of 2017:
2017 Best Albums 1. American Dream -LCD 2. Deeper Understanding - the War on Drugs 3. The System Only... the National 4. Hug of Thunder - BSS 5. Crack Up - Fleet Foxes 6. Hitchhiker - Neil Young 7. Pleasure - Feist 8. 50 Song Memoir - Magnetic Fields 9. RTJ 3 10. Jason Isbelle
MINUS: It's been a few weeks since this column came out, so I apologize for the out-of-date comment, but only given Radko Gudas ten games is why the NHL Player Safety Dept is a joke, has always been a joke and will probably always be a joke.
MINUS: People who complain when they don't get exactly what they want. People who go on Yelp or fill out any kind of negative report about anyone, unless that person is has committed an actual crime.
And people who try to tell writers what they should write about. Can't forget those wonderful guys.
MINUS: About a third of the way through the season, the Coyotes just won their first home game in regulation. They have had probably the most ridiculous schedule that I've ever seen, they have played over half their games without their two biggest offseason acquisitions (starting goalie Raanta, and #2 Dman Hjalmarsson) so there are some pretty legit excuses for their record.
But oh my god is Rick Tocchet a bad coach.
It'd be hard to fire him at this point due to all the reasonable excuses for their record, but as someone who was frustrated by Dave Tippett's lineup construction, Rick T is like something I've never could have imagined.
Anthony Duclair has recently scored a hattrick, so let's bench him for "not finishing checks." It's ridiculous.
This is a coach who lost a game by one goal earlier in the season when, with a minute left, he found himself with Zack Rinaldo and Brad Richardson on the ice.
This is a coach who, after Dylan Strome absolutely tore up the AHL, dresses him for ten minutes per night.
Last night, Strome started on a line with Anthony Duclair and Christian Fischer. At least they're finally giving him offensive players to play with, I said to myself. Only to realize later that this was the Coyotes fourth line and they hardly played.
In three games since returning to the NHL, Strome has played 11:43, 13:42, and 11:32. This despite him being arguably the Coyotes top prospect and most important player, and the season already featuring zero percent chance of the Playoffs.
To top it off, last night, the ridiculous coach played Luke Schenn for more total ice time than Oliver Ekman Larsson.
PLUS: The movie Jersey Boys. I've been biased against Clint Eastwood ever since he went insane and talked to a chair, but Jersey Boys is one of my favorite all-time movies.
Franki Valli has the voice of an angel.
PLUS: The recent comments by Doughty and Karlsson. The NHL has almost no players with personality, so it was a welcome site to hear both guys being so outspoken.
PLUS: The return of Carey Price at top form has to be one of the coolest things ever. The guy is amazing. What's even crazier though, is that the Canadiens - who couldn't have had a worse start to the season - are still comfortably in a playoff spot, thanks to a weak Atlantic division (after Toronto and Tampa) and will get a chance to rebound from the fact that they were one of the league's best but unluckiest teams for the first third of the year.
Edmonton might not be so lucky. Either way, last night's ten goal outburst was awesome. I might be a Leafs fan, but I cheer for the Habs too. I realize that's weird, but I just can't hate a team with such cool jerseys.
PLUS: The Devils acquisition of Sami Vatanen. Bad trade by the Ducks though. You don't give away right-handed defenseman.
The Devils traded Larson for Hall, then Henrique for Vatanen. That's crazy because - arguably - Vatanen is better than Larsson, while Hall is pretty much one of the best players in the NHL.
It is amazing to me that the team that set the price for acquiring a defenseman at "crazy" just acquired a better defenseman than the one they traded for a cost that could be called negligible. Slow clap for Ray Shero.
MINUS: As can embarrassingly be expected, the media's reaction to this trade was to say it was good for both teams who filled a need. Why pick a winner and give an opinion when you could just sit comfortably on the fence and never be wrong.
PLUS: My uncle Rick and I built this yesterday. Hoping it get's cold as $$$$ soon so we can get skating. Last year we went with snowbank boards and I only got about ten good skating days before Feburary in Ontario did it's Florida impression and everything melted. Here's hoping for at least eleven good skating days this year.
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