Men's Ice Hockey NHL 2021 - 2022

[Monzanator 5,079]

Yeah, I remember when Slovakia broke though in the 90s with Palffy, Petrovicky & Satan. Also Sekeras in defense and Svehla whom I remember still playing for Czechoslovakia (before the stereo era, TV antenna of my parents could reach CT1 & CT2 which had football & hockey all the time  ). I believe Dragan was the first choice goalie but that was over 25 years ago so my memory might be blurred

[phelps 8,651]

3 hours ago, Monzanator said:

So who is considered the best non-goalie player in Slovakian history? Bondra or Satan? I assume Slafkovsky will be compared to either of them soon

my 2 cents...

 

Peter Statsny...by far...

 

then, Marian Hossa and Zdeno Chara...

 

personally, I used to be also a big fan of Ziggy Palffy (I saw him play here in Milan in the European Champions Cup semifinal round in 1992, when he was still playing for Dukla Trencin -he was a kid but he was already the star of that team together with Branislav Janos)...

[hckošice 16,582]

24 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

Yeah, I remember when Slovakia broke though in the 90s with Palffy, Petrovicky & Satan. Also Sekeras in defense and Svehla whom I remember still playing for Czechoslovakia (before the stereo era, TV antenna of my parents could reach CT1 & CT2 which had football & hockey all the time  ). I believe Dragan was the first choice goalie but that was over 25 years ago so my memory might be blurred

Exact. Jaro Dragan from HC Košice. Man he was some leaky goalie, but we did not have a better one, all better were czechs haha He and Švehla and Veselovský were the only slovaks who won olympic bronze in Albertville 1992 in that last appearance of Czechoslovakia.

 

Šatan started like a wonder kid in Lillehammer, he was just 18 and became the top scorer of the Olympics.

 

Lillehammer btw was a special tournament for us, the Slovaks wanted to prove to the world the guilt that the IIHF committed on us after the division of Czechoslovakia and afer they sent Slovakia into the "C" category. it was a disgrace to us, and we had a hard time swallowing this guilt. And it was Peter Šťastný who succeed thanks his strong name to  persuade the iihf to let us play at least the olympic qualification in Sheffield 1993.

 

We won it and did qualify to the Olympics. And we were not far from a medal. This was a huge fuck off to whole IIHF from whole Slovakia

 

 

[hckošice 16,582]

Draft Lottery results

 

Montreal Candiens will pick first

 

1. Montreal Canadiens
2. New Jersey Devils
3. Arizona Coyotes
4. Seattle Kraken
5. Philadelphia Flyers
6. Columbus Blue Jackets
7. Ottawa Senators
8. Detroit Red Wings
9. Buffalo Sabres
10. Anaheim Ducks
11. San Jose Sharks
12. Columbus Blue Jackets
13. New York Islanders
14. Winnipeg Jets
15. Vancouver Canucks
16. Buffalo Sabres

[phelps 8,651]

nice lineup...and finally, New Jersey might be a better destination for Slaf...

 

playing either with Hischier and/or Hughes might give him a lot of scoring chances...

 

I hope he gets enough consideration from the training staff since the early days (wherever he ends up playing, but especially should he go to the Devils)...

 

Montreal would be an intriguing, dreamy place to play hockey, but I fear that team is not the ideal for him, because of the style of play they have (it might be something like the early NHL days of Majo Gaborik in Minnesota, where he had to play almost like a D-man rather than taking advantage of his skills) and because I think they're gonna have quite a few losing season ahead of them...

[hckošice 16,582]

15 minutes ago, phelps said:

nice lineup...and finally, New Jersey might be a better destination for Slaf...

 

playing either with Hischier and/or Hughes might give him a lot of scoring chances...

 

I hope he gets enough consideration from the training staff since the early days (wherever he ends up playing, but especially should he go to the Devils)...

 

Montreal would be an intriguing, dreamy place to play hockey, but I fear that team is not the ideal for him, because of the style of play they have (it might be something like the early NHL days of Majo Gaborik in Minnesota, where he had to play almost like a D-man rather than taking advantage of his skills) and because I think they're gonna have quite a few losing season ahead of them...

Yeah same feeling here, New Jersey would be fine for him, anyway Montreal will certainly pick Wright so if the Devils will choose anyone else (some rumors claims there are aiming for a D-men in the 1st round, so maybe even Nemec) Slaf will go to Arizona or Seattle I assume

[phelps 8,651]

well, I'm not sure Seattle is a great destination (the team, not the city nor the fanbase, which are wonderful), but maybe I'm wrong...

for sure, this year they have been really disappointing (but it was expected, after the kind of team they built in the expansion draft)...

 

Arizona, please, no...it would be like a good retirement even before the start of his NHL career...

I don't know if there's a place worse than Glendale for any player looking for a bright future in the NHL...

[hckošice 16,582]

7 minutes ago, phelps said:

well, I'm not sure Seattle is a great destination (the team, not the city nor the fanbase, which are wonderful), but maybe I'm wrong...

for sure, this year they have been really disappointing (but it was expected, after the kind of team they built in the expansion draft)...

 

Arizona, please, no...it would be like a good retirement even before the start of his NHL career...

I don't know if there's a place worse than Glendale for any player looking for a bright future in the NHL...

Yeah especially slovak talents

 

The guy was never any close to be like he was before after this season in that hole ... we can safely say it burried his career and talent  

 

 

 

[Monzanator 5,079]

Coyotes & Kraken are the graveyard. Are the former still up for relocation? Seattle has zero hockey presence I imagine, if only that city wants the SuperSonics back?

 

It would be better if Slafkovsky goes to Canadiens (did they have an international star since Saku Koivu?) or Devils.

[phelps 8,651]

5 hours ago, Monzanator said:

Coyotes & Kraken are the graveyard. Are the former still up for relocation? Seattle has zero hockey presence I imagine, if only that city wants the SuperSonics back?

 

It would be better if Slafkovsky goes to Canadiens (did they have an international star since Saku Koivu?) or Devils.

unfortunately, Arizona is not up for relocation anymore...they have signed a long time loan with the arena and have new investors in the ownership that have assured they won't move for many years...

however, it didn't change anything in the environment around the team...they're always a low budget bunch of losers...

 

Seattle instead, is a different story...

they have a big and passionate fanbase, a newly reconstructed wonderful arena (and training center), a good hockey background in the area (despite not having a pro team in the last 50 years) and a good develpment plan for the future...

they just built the new team with wrong players and a doubtful (to say the least) strategy, which led them to start their NHL campaign with a disappointing losing season and probably they are also set to be a losing team still for quite some time...

but I wouldn't name them a graveyard (like Arizona or Buffalo, for instance)...

 

Montreal, as we wrote earlier, really doesn't fit Slaf's game...

they just play another style of hockey than what he needs to excel and shine...and they also don't have money enough to rebuold the technical staff and most of their roster to change their (not successful) destiny...