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Post by madmarx on Dec 11, 2019 18:19:16 GMT -5
Listening to a lot of chatter on Twitter about the expansion draft consensus is if it were to happen now either Grz or Heinen would be lost Even if decided to move or let Krug walk? I believe there are a lot of variables Krug being one of them , but as of right now it would be Heinen or Grz ..
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Post by madmarx on Dec 11, 2019 18:22:05 GMT -5
Can I come over for a swim if you get it 🤷♂️ They turned me down. How rude 🤬
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Post by kjc2 on Dec 11, 2019 22:08:32 GMT -5
Even if decided to move or let Krug walk? I believe there are a lot of variables Krug being one of them , but as of right now it would be Heinen or Grz .. Maybe another loss to a big strong team like tonight may make Sweeney think twice about how his D is assembled.
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Post by SeaBass on Dec 12, 2019 9:29:16 GMT -5
Even if decided to move or let Krug walk? I believe there are a lot of variables Krug being one of them , but as of right now it would be Heinen or Grz .. Or Bjork
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Post by kjc2 on Dec 12, 2019 11:47:40 GMT -5
I think If I had no choice Heinen would be the sacrificial lamb. We’re going to lose someone and I like Heinen but he’s missing something. He skates well, he’s agile and has a good IQ but he’s soft and has very little finish. I keep hoping he’s going to progress but he is pretty much what we’ve seen for a couple of years now. Not a bad player mind you but I like GRz and Bjork more.
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Post by madmarx on Dec 12, 2019 17:45:21 GMT -5
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Post by SeaBass on Dec 13, 2019 12:15:52 GMT -5
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Post by madmarx on Dec 13, 2019 17:21:10 GMT -5
#Flyers say that LW Oskar Lindblom likely will not play again this season and has been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer.
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Post by SeaBass on Dec 13, 2019 21:36:18 GMT -5
#Flyers say that LW Oskar Lindblom likely will not play again this season and has been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer. Just saw that...horrible news.
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Post by DonnyBrook on Dec 14, 2019 7:30:58 GMT -5
#Flyers say that LW Oskar Lindblom likely will not play again this season and has been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer. Just saw that...horrible news. just saw as well..terrible.
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Post by offwego on Dec 14, 2019 8:46:00 GMT -5
#Flyers say that LW Oskar Lindblom likely will not play again this season and has been diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer. Really puts things in perspective. Feel horrible for him and his family.
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Post by madmarx on Dec 14, 2019 15:21:21 GMT -5
WASHINGTON D.C. – It’s 3:40 p.m. on Thursday afternoon and Tim Thomas is sitting on a chair, surrounded by his family for a quick photo shoot. His wife, Melissa, is behind him. Their three kids are next to her.
He makes a joke about how it feels like sitting on a throne, and laughs. The photographer starts snapping pictures while he holds a plaque listing all the accomplishments that led him to this honor. Winning the Conn Smythe at the age of 37 after his incredible performance in the 2011 playoffs, the oldest player in NHL history to earn that award. Leading Vermont to its first trip to the NCAA Frozen Four in 1996. A silver medal for Team USA in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
With the pictures finished, he’s asked to autograph a few jerseys on a nearby table. And soon, for a few minutes, he leaves his family behind, walks down a hallway at the Marriott Marquis, toward another room filled with media, waiting to talk to him in person for the first time since he retired. In that moment, there aren’t many people in the world who truly understand the depths of the pain he’s suffered through in the past five years. Some close friends. The family members a few feet away.
That would change. Thomas walked into a line of cameras, a group of reporters moving out of the way to clear space for him. One simple question began to unearth the story he wasn’t sure he was ready to tell. And maybe he wasn’t.
Had you been to a game since you retired? An NHL game?
“No,” Thomas answered.
And then he shared why.
It’s 6:47 p.m. on Wednesday and Tim Thomas is standing quietly by himself, his arms crossed in front of him. He’s wearing a gray suit, a blue dress shirt and black shoes. He’s at a reception in his honor, along with the rest of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2019 that includes Neal Henderson, Brian Gionta, Krissy Wendell and Gary Bettman. The Washington Wizards practice court at Capital One Arena has been converted into a reception area, filled with tables that each contain a single candle, hockey puck and bottle of wine.
Thomas is asked to wait for a photo with the group and patiently obliges. Quietly, by himself. Eventually, Gionta wanders over, shakes his hand and asks the question we’ve all been wondering: “What are you up to these days?”
On April 25, 2014, Thomas played in his last game in the NHL, a playoff loss with the Dallas Stars to the Anaheim Ducks. With 5:22 remaining in that game, he made the final save of his NHL career, stopping a slapshot from Ducks defenseman Mark Fistric. Knowing what we know now, it’s pretty amazing that he kept going after that. He agreed to play for Team USA at the World Championships in Belarus where he was the starting goalie for the Americans. It didn’t go particularly well, with Team USA finishing sixth and Thomas finishing with an .869 save percentage.
And then he disappeared.
Teammates didn’t hear from him. Phone numbers that he had during his playing career didn’t work. You’d hear rumors but people were mostly just guessing. Maybe he had some land in Colorado. Maybe he returned to rural Michigan. There always seemed to be a bunker joke that went along with it because of the well-publicized political views that famously led to him skipping a White House visit with the Bruins in 2012. But mostly, it was just people filling in the blanks with their imagination.
Nobody knew he had to leave Colorado because the altitude was too high for his symptoms. That he had to leave Idaho because it wasn’t a fit for his family. That he found his time in Florida positive because he could walk barefoot on the beach, quiet solitude that helped his recovery. That he was now in Arizona, still searching for answers.
When he was gathered outside the Capital One ice with his fellow Hall inductees on Wednesday night, it was the closest he’d come to NHL ice since he left. In this hallway, the bass of pregame music was felt. You could hear the crowd noise. When a couple trainers with the Bruins spotted him, they came over and gave a big hug.
There were smiles all around when the Capitals visiting dressing room attendants spotted Thomas. These are the guys who know everybody on opposing teams. They’re the ones who hustle to get the room cleared out, the bags packed and everything taken care of in those short windows before and after games.
Thomas greets them with a huge smile. One jokingly invites him to play on his beer league men’s team. It needs a goalie. Thomas smiles.
Eventually, Thomas and his fellow inductees are lined up against the wall and given the drill for the ceremonial puck drop. They’re each handed a puck to drop after they walk out onto the ice along the red carpet.
Thomas flips his around in his hand, kind of like you see a goalie do in his his glove after making a save. If it’s the first time he’s touched a puck in years, it wouldn’t be surprising. The group is asked if they’ve ever dropped a puck before a game like this. The others share a story or two but Thomas just shakes his head. He doesn’t think he has.
“Come on my lovely Hall of Famers,” the woman coordinating the puck drop announces, and they follow her to the ice.
The group is introduced to the Capitals fans eagerly waiting this showdown with the Bruins. There are cheers when Thomas is introduced, with at least one Bruins fans heard over the cheer shouting a loud, “Tiiimmmyy.”
The Bruins bench tap their sticks when Thomas is introduced. Brad Marchand skates over for a quick word.
“Just (to) tell him, happy for him and congrats,” Marchand said after the game. “It was good to see him again. It’s been a long time. He deserves it. He was a great player, had a great career. It’s always fun to see guys you’ve played with before. He looks like he’s lost a little weight. So he’s looking good. Good to see him again.”
Patrice Bergeron is asked about Thomas.
“I haven’t seen him in a long, long time,” Bergeron said. “It was great to see him. Obviously, congratulated him on a well-deserved honor. The impact that he’s had for us with the Bruins in that Cup run is something that’s going to be remembered for a long, long time.”
In the stands, a Bruins fan from Longmeadow, Massachusetts, in a Tim Thomas Winter Classic jersey was pleasantly surprised to see Thomas back in public. Alec Walt had no idea Thomas was going to be in the building.
His dad was at that 2010 Winter Classic game in Fenway Park and bought the jersey Walt is wearing now. In that outdoor game, the Bruins rallied to beat the Flyers with late goals from Mark Recchi and Marco Sturm. Thomas was nearly perfect, stopping 24 of 25 shots to get the win. After the game, Thomas was named to the U.S. Olympic team.
It seems like a lifetime ago.
Walt has nothing but positive memories about Thomas, even if it ended less than perfectly between the Bruins and their star goalie. Thomas won a ton of huge games for the Bruins but one of the first things Walt mentions is the time the 5-foot-11 Thomas challenged the 6-foot-3 Carey Price to a fight at center ice. Fans loved Thomas because he fought for everything he got. He was a competitor. He was scrappy. Maybe that moment with Price captured it more than any.
That Thomas disappeared from public view after playing didn’t diminish those memories for Walt.
“I don’t really care. He won us a Cup,” he said during a break in play of the game. “He’s funny. He fought a goalie at center ice. If he wanted a couple years to hide out, I don’t really care. I love seeing Tim Thomas.”
Thomas remembers vividly the moment it happened. When his life changed forever. It was 2013 during warmups of an early December game for the Florida Panthers when he got hit and, now knows, suffered a concussion. Until then, his comeback after a year off from hockey was going pretty well. Well enough that scouts for USA Hockey were in attendance that game to get a viewing for a potential roster spot in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, a roster Thomas really wanted to make.
But the morning after that game, everything was off.
“I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat, where I wanted to go,” he said. “I couldn’t plan a schedule. I survived following the team schedule the rest of the year and just made it through the season.”
One year after he stopped playing he got a CereScan on his brain, an analysis people receive when they’re dealing with symptoms of traumatic brain injury. When the results came back both Thomas’ wife and daughter wept. According to these test results, two-thirds of his brain was getting less than five percent blood flow. The other third was averaging 50 percent.
He had a hard time processing it. He had a hard time processing anything. Even now, the first couple hours of his mornings consist of him taking time to reorder everything in his head, making a list of what he has to do that day and try to work through it.
“You’re seeing your family suffer because you’re suffering but you can’t do anything about it and you can’t even communicate – I couldn’t communicate with anybody for a few years,” Thomas said. “I didn’t call my dad. I didn’t talk to anybody. There was a time period, yeah, where I hated the game.”
In those moments all the glory that comes with hockey – the name etched into the Stanley Cup, the Olympic medal, the cheering crowds – it didn’t seem worth it. Not if he couldn’t communicate with his family.
Too often for former hockey players, the thoughts get dark. The most tragic part of these brain injuries are the lives that end too soon. Some get addicted to pain killers or other drugs. Others look for any way out.
Those suicidal thoughts entered Thomas’ mind. But there was always a barrier there when things got too dark. Something stopping him. He didn’t have the hockey world by his side. He’d removed himself. But he had his family and he leaned on them.
“My wife, a lot,” Thomas said. “My brother stepped up. My mom. My kids. That’s what kept me going.”
Reading Ken Dryden’s book, “Game Change,” helped him and his family process what he was going through. The life and death of Steve Montador, who was diagnosed with CTE after he died, is told in those pages. It helped explain a lot for Thomas.
He continued to dive into research. That relentless competitive drive that carried him from Flint, Michigan, to hockey’s highest peaks, was now being funneled into finding a solution. He’d text with his former goalie coach in Dallas and friend Mike Valley, one of the few people in the hockey world who knew what was going on. When Thomas found an interesting article on brain injuries or a clue on how to deal with the symptoms, he’d text it over to Valley. Valley would do the same back.
“All I’ve done is try to support him as a friend and offer him any resources I could,” Valley said. “It’s nice that he’s sharing his story. Tim Thomas was a fantastic goalie and now a USA Hockey Hall of Famer. People deserve to hear his story.”
Valley adds one more thought.
“I tell you what, he is an incredible, intelligent human being,” Valley said. “This guy thinks at a level that is so far deeper than I know. It’s awesome to have conversations with him.”
During his conversation with the media on Thursday, you got a hint of that. You could almost see him working through the contradictions of his emotions that came with his return to the spotlight. Yes, hockey took a lot away from him during the darkest moments. But it gave him so much too. He saw the world. He formed lifetime friendships.
“I’ve struggled mightily with how do I process the experience that I’ve been through and rectify with the love of the game that I had my whole life until I crashed,” he said. “My rebound effect was like, this wasn’t worth it. That’s where I was then. Where I am today is past that. I ended up learning so many lessons out of the experience. It brought me tighter with my family. It taught me a value for life and a value for my brain that I’ve never had before. And I have appreciation for everything that I never had before. I don’t regret anything.”
It’s 9:50 p.m. on Thursday and Tim Thomas is on stage. Highlights of his career have been shown. The diving saves. The unorthodox style that no goalie coach would ever try to teach. A video of Martin St. Louis, Thomas’ teammate at Vermont and opponent in the NHL, is shown and it captures so much of Thomas’ personality from his playing days. A personality many of the people in this ballroom haven’t seen in years.
St. Louis explains there would be times in games where Thomas would make a save, an incredible save, and behind that mask you’d see a huge smile. He loved it out there. He loved that competition.
There’s a standing ovation for Thomas when his name is called and it’s clear fairly quickly his speech isn’t going to be as lengthy as the others. A night like this is a chance for the person being honored to take time and walk through the memories. To share stories of teammates, coaches and those special accomplishments that led them to this stage.
For Thomas, it’s all a little more complicated. If he hadn’t received this honor, chances are we wouldn’t be hearing from him. The spotlight was back on him and you get the sense he still needed time to work through all this.
“Um. I don’t have a lot to say in comparison to some of the other people that talked tonight. It was great listening to you guys and your stories,” Thomas says, turning to the others on stage with him. “I’ve had a hard time coming up with what I’m going to say for this, so I’m just going to get through it.”
He uses this time mostly to say thanks. He doesn’t share details of his struggles with the people in that room. He doesn’t relive the glory days either. He pauses for a second when addressing his family, the only hint in this speech of what he’s been dealing with.
“Special thanks for being there for me, over the last few years too,” he said.
Without naming names, he runs through all the people who helped him along the way. Teammates, coaches, trainers, support staff, everybody at the rink. Then he stops and it goes quiet. Ten seconds of silence tick away. He apologizes and explains this isn’t much fun for him but he’ll get through it because he wants this to be a celebration. For him, for everyone else being honored.
So he cuts right to the finish.
“I guess, I’m going to end with thank you,” Thomas said. “Because that’s all I got.”
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Post by madmarx on Dec 15, 2019 13:17:49 GMT -5
With 1-1-2 last night, Jack Studnicka continuing to thrive in his 1st pro season. Leads AHL with 5 SH goals. (Record is 11 by Rochester's Gary McAdam in '82-83.) Studnicka tied for 2nd in rookie scoring with 11-12-23 in 27 games
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Post by fforr on Dec 15, 2019 16:48:44 GMT -5
With 1-1-2 last night, Jack Studnicka continuing to thrive in his 1st pro season. Leads AHL with 5 SH goals. (Record is 11 by Rochester's Gary McAdam in '82-83.) Studnicka tied for 2nd in rookie scoring with 11-12-23 in 27 games Might be a better 3c than Coyle right now. Hope they keep Coyle with DK and Jake for a stretch, see if there’s any chemistry there.
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Post by madmarx on Dec 15, 2019 18:53:49 GMT -5
With 1-1-2 last night, Jack Studnicka continuing to thrive in his 1st pro season. Leads AHL with 5 SH goals. (Record is 11 by Rochester's Gary McAdam in '82-83.) Studnicka tied for 2nd in rookie scoring with 11-12-23 in 27 games Might be a better 3c than Coyle right now. Hope they keep Coyle with DK and Jake for a stretch, see if there’s any chemistry there. Totally agree give it some time instead of trying to find a solution that may cause cap issues down the road ..
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Post by KSJ08 on Dec 16, 2019 10:34:47 GMT -5
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Post by KSJ08 on Dec 16, 2019 14:37:23 GMT -5
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Post by KSJ08 on Dec 16, 2019 16:03:50 GMT -5
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Post by DonnyBrook on Dec 16, 2019 18:58:45 GMT -5
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Post by madmarx on Dec 16, 2019 20:00:19 GMT -5
The Los Angeles Kings have $11 million in cap space for next season tied up in Ilya Kovalchuk, Dion Phaneuf, and Mike Richards.
None of those people actually play for their team anymore.
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Post by madmarx on Dec 16, 2019 20:00:59 GMT -5
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Post by crafar01 on Dec 17, 2019 9:00:14 GMT -5
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Post by KSJ08 on Dec 17, 2019 9:55:43 GMT -5
Yeah I read it too & thought Miller's never coming back. Poor guy can't catch a break in a good way!
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Post by nfld77 on Dec 18, 2019 20:14:40 GMT -5
Trivia Question: When was last time Brad Marchand went 10 games without a goal? That's the streak he's recently on.. Past 10 games 0 goals 9 assists..Yet he's still 3rd in the league in points..Not bad Bradley!!
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Post by kjc2 on Dec 19, 2019 5:32:18 GMT -5
Trivia Question: When was last time Brad Marchand went 10 games without a goal? That's the streak he's recently on.. Past 10 games 0 goals 9 assists..Yet he's still 3rd in the league in points..Not bad Bradley!! Maybe Brad is falling into the habit of looking for Pasta when he should be shooting. I wonder if his SOG have dropped off at all. I feel the same way about Marchand though, he’s probably the last guy I’m worried about on our roster.
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Post by madmarx on Dec 19, 2019 5:33:27 GMT -5
Trivia Question: When was last time Brad Marchand went 10 games without a goal? That's the streak he's recently on.. Past 10 games 0 goals 9 assists..Yet he's still 3rd in the league in points..Not bad Bradley!! 2011 ??
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Post by SeaBass on Dec 19, 2019 8:03:01 GMT -5
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Post by DonnyBrook on Dec 19, 2019 10:02:56 GMT -5
is that a cake?
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Post by crafar01 on Dec 19, 2019 11:43:30 GMT -5
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Post by nfld77 on Dec 19, 2019 12:42:44 GMT -5
I cannot agree more ma brother!!! Laine to me is very overrated!! Last December, he had THREE GOALS, January he had ONE GOAL, Feb he had FOUR GOALS and March he had ONE goals..Oh yeah, really finished the season strong..he had one really good month and that was November 2018 when he netted 18 goals in 12 games..BUT besides November month, all other months including October his numbers went like this: 70 games 12 goals 19 assists for a grand total of 31 points.. His final stats: 82 games 30 goals 20 assists which is decent if you were a 2nd liner or maybe 3rd liner..50 points? Not a 1st line player.. Oh Yeah he's a little overrated Crafar but hey, you're underrated as a poster here!! Ok, that's my compliment for today!! www.espn.com/nhl/player/gamelog/_/id/4024820/year/2019/patrik-laine
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