lordstanley

4.4 million viewers in U.S. last night. Bettman praying for a Canadian win tomorrow, as I think Thursday would double that number. https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2025/02/usa-canada-ratings-viewership-four-nations-face-off-abc/

Hey!

So I'm really sold on this format. Now the NHL needs to make sure not to blow it by over-exposing, like they did with the Winter Classic. I'd scrap the 8-team World Cup and let the Olympics every 4 years serve that purpose. I'd do a 4 Nations every 2 years, in the midpoint between Olympics: - 4 nations makes every game be against top teams. Canada-US-Sweden constant, the Russians if they're available, a 4th team like Finland or Czech if not - February timing is good. Better than September. - Like the 3-2-1 points for regulation win, overtime win, loss. - Love the fact that the games are mostly Eastern Time Zone prime time with the weekend or holiday flexibility getting a couple into the European prime time - Always keep it in North America. Europeans get the Winter Olympics now and then, that's enough. - NHL rules better than IIHF rules. If IIHF rules, last night's fights wouldn't have happened or else the fighters would have all received game misconducts and possible suspensions. - Thursday night is a great night for the final for highest viewership

Some Blaha PBP from 40 years ago, calling a Knicks-Pistons playoff game from the Joe.

Larkin assist on the ENG.

11th Province takes 2-1 lead over Canada into 2nd intermission

Geesh, Larkin, back off.

I like the dark on dark jerseys

Little brother tied it up on a softie given up by Binningotn.

I do think tonight is a U.S-Canada teaser for the U.S.-Canada main event on Thursday.

Damn, I forgot all about it! Would have watched.

Game day. “the 2nd largest landmass, the 1st nation in hockey”

Get better, Makar, or else tomorrow night could be rough. Lost Pietrangelo before the tourney started and lost Theodore on Wednesday. Running out of elite defensemen

Two goals by the Americans within the first 30 seconds of the 3rd period puts this one away, 4-1. Should be a good one Saturday night, and quite likely next Thursday as well. 5-1 now.

8-team World Cup confirmed for February 2028. Countries only, no “Europe” team like there was in 2016. Canada, U.S., Sweden, Finland, and Czechia are 5 locks. Russia of course if they’re allowed. Leaving 2 spots which I expect either will go to Slovakia and Switzerland automatically, or perhaps be based on results of ‘26 Olympics and ‘27 world championships? https://www.nhl.com/news/world-cup-of-hockey-to-return-in-february-2028

Is Finland where Chelios got his famous workout idea of riding a stationary bike in the sauna?

U.S. takes the lead 2-1 on a shot from the point. Doesn’t matter, I’m booing the Americans until I see a tangible offer in writing. 2 weeks now of 51st state promises/threats but talk is cheap. Trying my patience. Let’s see some action.

Larkin getting 4th line minutes. Under 5 minutes of ice time, 35 minutes into the game.

I'm hoping AI will do away with 50% of lawyers. Goalies, we're stuck with.

Highlights - To do away with the goalies first, of the 9 goalies there was one 1st rounder picked 26th overall, two 2nd rounders and six picked 3rd round or later - Of the 60 skaters, there were 6 #1 overall picks, 19 top 5 picks (#1-#5 overall), 30 picked in the top half of the 1st round (#1-#16 overall), and 41 1st round picks (#1-#32 overall). So more top 5 picks than I expected but almost exactly the number of 1st rounders I expected. - Of the 6 skaters on the three teams who were #1 picks overall, 3 are Canadian, 2 are American, 1 is a Swede. - Of the 19 skaters on the three teams who were top 5 picks, 8 are Canadian, 5 are American, 6 are Swedes. - 13 of Canada's 20 skaters were 1st round picks, 15 of the States' 20 skaters were 1st round picks, and 13 of Sweden's 20 skaters were 1st round picks - Overall, 28 of the three teams' 39 forwards were 1st round picks. 13 of the three teams' 21 defensemen were 1st round picks.

For fun, I looked at the rosters of the teams and checked the draft positions of each player. I didn't update/correct for injury replacements. The Canada-U.S. rosters and to a lesser extent the Swedish roster are the definition of elite, so to what extent do top 5 picks, for example, fill the roster? It would be impossible to fill 60 skater spots all with top 5 picks unless every pick for 12 years was a big hit plus every one was from one of those 3 countries. But going in, I'd expect maybe 10 of the 60 skaters to be top 5 picks and 40 of the 60 to be 1st round picks. Highlights/summaries will be in the next post. Let's see the results. Canada Forwards (13) Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers - 1st round, 4th overall Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay Lightning - 3rd round, 72nd overall Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins - 1st round, 1st overall Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning - 6th round, 159th overall Seth Jarvis, Carolina Hurricanes - 1st round, 13th overall Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers - 1st round, 24th overall Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche - 1st round, 1st overall Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins - 3rd round, 71st overall Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs - 1st round, 4th overall Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oiler - 1st round, 1st overall Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning - 3rd round, 79th overall Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers - 1st round, 2nd overall Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights - 6th round, 178th overall Defensemen (7) Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche - 1st round, 4th overall Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets - 1st round, 13th overall Colton Parayko, St. Louis Blues - 3rd round, 86th overall Alex Pietrangelo, Vegas Golden Knights -1st round, 4th overall Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers -1st round, 17th overall Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights -1st round, 26th overall Devon Toews, Colorado Avalanche -4th round, 108th overall Goalies (3) Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues -3rd round, 88th overall Adin Hill, Vegas Golden Knights - 3rd round, 76th overall Sam Montembeault, Montreal Canadiens - 3rd round, 77th overall United States Forwards (13) Matt Boldy, Minnesota Wild - 1st round, 12th overall Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets -1st round, 17th overall Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights -1st round, 2nd overall Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning - 3rd round, 77th overall Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils -1st round, 1st overall Chris Kreider, New York Rangers - 1st round, 19th overall Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings - 1st round, 15th overall Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs -1st round, 1st overall J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks -1st round, 15th overall Brock Nelson, New York Islanders -1st round, 30th overall Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators -1st round, 4th overall Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers -1st round, 6th overall Vincent Trocheck, New York Ranger - 3rd round, 64th overall Defensemen (7) Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild -2nd round, 45th overall Adam Fox, New York Rangers -3rd round, 66th overall Noah Hanifin, Vegas Golden Knights - 1st round, 5th overall Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks -1st round, 7th overall Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins -1st round, 14th overall Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes -4th round, 120th overall Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets -1st round, 8th overall Goalies (3) Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets -5th round, 130th overall Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars -1st round, 26th overall Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins -4th round, 111th overall Sweden Forwards (13) Viktor Arvidsson, Edmonton Oilers -4th round, 112th overall Jesper Bratt, New Jersey Devils -6th round, 162nd overall Leo Carlsson, Anaheim Ducks -1st round, 2nd overall Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota Wild -1st round, 20th overall Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators - 1st round, 11th overall William Karlsson, Vegas Golden Knights -2nd round, 53rd overall Adrian Kempe, Los Angeles Kings - 1st round, 29th overall Elias Lindholm, Boston Bruins -1st round, 5th overall William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs -1st round, 8th overall Gustav Nyquist, Nashville Predators -4th round, 121st overall Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks -1st round, 5th overall Lucas Raymond, Detroit Red Wings -1st round, 4th overall Mika Zibanejad, New York Rangers - 1st round, 6th overall Defensemen (7) Rasmus Andersson, Calgary Flames -2nd round, 53rd overall Jonas Brodin, Minnesota Wild -1st round, 10th overall Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres -1st round, 1st overall Mattias Ekholm, Edmonton Oilers - 4th round, 102nd overall Gustav Forsling, Florida Panthers -5th round, 126th overall Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning -1st round, 2nd overall Erik Karlsson, Pittsburgh Penguins -1st round, 15th overall Goalies (3) Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota Wild - 2nd round, 55th overall Jacob Markstrom, New Jersey Devils - 2nd round, 31st overall Linus Ullmark, Ottawa Senators -6th round, 163rd overall