NHL Thread

[Ninetales]

Well I guess its cool because the only bit of the finals I watched of the finals was the overtimes. Pretty cool for Williams (he's been a stats dream for years :0)

[Ninetales]

Holy hell. I can't not post this. Good lord

ESPN writer unironically comparing Shawn Thornton to Terry O'Reilly

Also features things like

He served a lengthy 15-game suspension for his teammates

Yep. For his teammates. Christ almighty. boston media continues to be just the worst

[The Ascension]

Originally Posted by Ninetales

Holy hell. I can't not post this. Good lord

ESPN writer unironically comparing Shawn Thornton to Terry O'Reilly

Also features things like



Yep. For his teammates. Christ almighty. boston media continues to be just the worst

Yah he also said he should be mentioned in the same breath as Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque

ESPN is a joke rofl

[Thom Yorke]

While starting a Shawn Thornton article by mentioning him with some of the Bruins greats (no matter what the connection he was going for was) is an odd choice, there wasn't anything there that wasn't true. Bruins fans respect talent above anything else, but they love the Thornton-type players more than almost any other fanbase. Saying he's a fan favourite in Boston (which I think McDonald was trying to get at anyways) isn't off-base.

The team is old school in every sense of the word. They still have that mentality of having the tough guys stand up for their players, and that's exactly what Thornton did with Orpik. He didn't like the hit on Eriksson so he did something about it. It was obviously wrong to do, but how is what he did not sticking up for a teammate? What other explanation is there? He did the same thing with Cooke after he hit Savard, and has done it a countless number of times before. Skill-wise he's actually one of the better enforcers out there, but he knows exactly what his role is on the team, and he's stuck to that his whole career in Boston. He was obviously the worst hockey player on the team, but still made himself a valuable member of the line-up, enough so that he stuck on one of the best teams in the league for 7 years and the same 4th line for 4 years (which is so incredibly rare in the salary cap NHL).

As for Thornton himself, I will miss him as a Bruins fan. He was by FAR the best player with the media, he was known for being very well liked in the locker room (and not in the cliche way that everyone says about everybody), he was a known face in the Boston community, and his charitable contributions are pretty staggering considering how much he gets paid relative to other athletes. The only Bruin I ever hear about doing more for charity is Bergeron, and he's made 5-10 times as much as Thornton has in any given year in Boston. Come to think of it, Thornton was a lot like Ference (although Ference doesn't have the negative connotation that goes along with Thornton). A lot of Bruins fans were devastated when Ference wasn't re-signed, and now most of the Edmonton fans I know hate him.

And Ninetales, I wouldn't expect you to pick up on any of that. This was for ESPN Boston (AKA fans of the team). You actually have to be a fan of the team to understand what a 4th liner brings to the table and why fans liked him. I couldn't tell you **** about Rob Klinkhammer's intangibles.

Also lol at Lundqvist going 0-3 in OTs. Quick just gets it done when it matters; same old story.

[The Ascension]

Thornton was an excellent fourth liner and one of the few "enforcers" capable of being an effective player.

Comparing him to Orr, Bourque, and O'Reilly is still silly.

Also, please stop being dumb re: Quick/Lundqvist. Lundqvist was not the reason the Rangers lost, nor was Quick the reason the Kings won. The Kings were the better and more opportunistic team. The Rangers' lack of finish is well known.

[Ninetales]

Originally Posted by Thom Yorke

And Ninetales, I wouldn't expect you to pick up on any of that. This was for ESPN Boston (AKA fans of the team). You actually have to be a fan of the team to understand what a 4th liner brings to the table and why fans liked him. I couldn't tell you **** about Rob Klinkhammer's intangibles.

No you dont. But i guess you do need to be a fan to shout tired narratives the loudest. I wonder how many teams will try and sign Thornton because he tells funny jokes in the locker room.

Originally Posted by Thom Yorke

Also lol at Lundqvist going 0-3 in OTs. Quick just gets it done when it matters; same old story.

good lord.

[Thom Yorke]

Originally Posted by The Ascension

Thornton was an excellent fourth liner and one of the few "enforcers" capable of being an effective player.

Comparing him to Orr, Bourque, and O'Reilly is still silly.

Also, please stop being dumb re: Quick/Lundqvist. Lundqvist was not the reason the Rangers lost, nor was Quick the reason the Kings won. The Kings were the better and more opportunistic team. The Rangers' lack of finish is well known.

Like I said, it was certainly an odd way to start off a piece on Thornton, but you guys are letting that warp your opinion of the entire article. All he's doing is paying credit to a guy who was a fan favourite for years. Do Bruins fans like him as much as Bobby Orr, or think he was even close to as important to the franchise? Of course not. He was just using hyperbole to illustrate a point that he was a fan favourite. Not a skilled fan favourite, but a fan favourite nonetheless.

As for Quick, I've exhausted that argument. The guy has proven himself over and over and over against the toughest competition (both teams and offenses) imaginable the last 3 playoffs. If that doesn't put him at the top, I don't know what does. I can't say anything else on the subject.

Originally Posted by Ninetales

No you dont. But i guess you do need to be a fan to shout tired narratives the loudest. I wonder how many teams will try and sign Thornton because he tells funny jokes in the locker room.

good lord.

Once again, you miss the point. This article has absolutely nothing to do with his attractiveness as a free agent, and I'm not trying to sell him as a free agent either (with the way the NHL is going with fighting, it's possible he could be out of a job). Instead, it has everything to do with what he meant to the fans. "Telling funny jokes in the locker room", how he dealt with the media, his presence in Boston, his charitable work, etc. are all things that endeared him to the fans, the media, his team, and even other athletes in Boston. Why do you think a fluff piece was being written on a 4th liner in the first place? Like I said before, these aren't things you'd know if you don't like the team. I'm not trying to sound like a snob with that statement, it's just the way fandom in sports works.

[Ninetales]

Originally Posted by Thom Yorke

Once again, you miss the point. This article has absolutely nothing to do with his attractiveness as a free agent, and I'm not trying to sell him as a free agent either (with the way the NHL is going with fighting, it's possible he could be out of a job). Instead, it has everything to do with what he meant to the fans. "Telling funny jokes in the locker room", how he dealt with the media, his presence in Boston, his charitable work, etc. are all things that endeared him to the fans, the media, his team, and even other athletes in Boston. Why do you think a fluff piece was being written on a 4th liner in the first place? Like I said before, these aren't things you'd know if you don't like the team. I'm not trying to sound like a snob with that statement, it's just the way fandom in sports works.

Fair enough. For the record, Ive never been in doubt that he does charity work or is great in media scrums. I mean Thornton is kind of like the Bruins' Laraque, so i understand the endearment behind him, but i guess i do get crusty at how guys like Thornton are romanticized to no end. Like saying he was a huge part of their cup runs. Come on. And surely people will be defending him for the orpik debacle until long after he retires.

And now ive heard the Oilers are looking at trading for Boychuk apparently. I think you like him(?) and i think hes a decent 2nd pair guy, but he would probably cost more than hes worth (i heard guys like Nurse or Petry straight across)

Also for the record, i like talking hockey with you Thom. We disagree a lot but i think we both make good points on either end of the spectrum and it makes for good debates. If i sound like a douche its out of love dude.

[Thom Yorke]

Originally Posted by Ninetales

Fair enough. For the record, Ive never been in doubt that he does charity work or is great in media scrums. I mean Thornton is kind of like the Bruins' Laraque, so i understand the endearment behind him, but i guess i do get crusty at how guys like Thornton are romanticized to no end. Like saying he was a huge part of their cup runs. Come on. And surely people will be defending him for the orpik debacle until long after he retires.

And now ive heard the Oilers are looking at trading for Boychuk apparently. I think you like him(?) and i think hes a decent 2nd pair guy, but he would probably cost more than hes worth (i heard guys like Nurse or Petry straight across)

Also for the record, i like talking hockey with you Thom. We disagree a lot but i think we both make good points on either end of the spectrum and it makes for good debates. If i sound like a douche its out of love dude.

For most Bruins fans and the Orpik incident, I think they would be in agreement about him wanting to stick up for Eriksson, but did not like or agree with the way he went about dong it.

Boychuk is the third best D-man on the Bruins. I think he's a great #3 guy, and is a capable #2 guy. He was usually Chara's right-hand man, but did very well anchoring his own pairings (both when Chara-Seidenberg teamed up in the playoffs, and when Seidenberg went down this year). Big shot, great physicality, and his defense has come along remarkably since he came into the league. He used to be one of those guys that was just about his big shot and throwing big hits, but he's toned his game down considerably and become very reliable defensively. He also has upped his game in the playoffs (I think he was the best Bruins defenseman in this year's playoffs).

He won't fetch a top prospect though. He's a UFA after this year. Also, it makes no sense for Boston to trade him (especially for prospects) as their window to win the Cup is right now, and Boychuk is too important a part of that. Playing Bartkowski in the top 4 turned out to be a disaster in the playoffs with no Seidenberg. It would be the same thing if Boychuk left to some degree.

It should also be noted that so many Bruins defensemen have success when they're in Boston. The only guys that looked out of place recently are those pure-offense, puck-moving types like Kaberle and Corvo. Ference was one of those guys that had a ton of success in Boston, and look how that's working out for Edmonton. Maybe Edmonton would be weary of another Bruins defenseman, who knows.

It seems like we disagree on everything lol. A good debate never hurt anyone though.

[Ninetales]

Well I mean it was an Oiler writer that I read this Boychuk stuff from, but he linked Haggerty saying something like Boychuk+ for Evander Kane and Boychuks saying he likes Edmonton. Basically if the player explicitly says he likes the place he grew up in, theres a trade rumor haha. Scary to think of Kane in Boston (i would love if we could get him here), but didnt you guys just ship out a guy for partying..

And i think theres a lot to be said of players on great teams going to poor ones. Ference was a bottom pairing guy over there and had success, but hes been thrust into a larger role than he should here and is playing with much worse players to boot. He really went to the completely opposite side of the spectrum in terms of surrounding personnel talent eh.

If im the oilers id be trying to swing a deal for Byfuglien hard right now. No idea what that kind of deal would warrant going the other way though. Maybe a swap of first round picks this year+