...cause a Russian Cup Party don't stop...

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2018/07/09/alex-ovechkin-fills-stanley-cup-with-caviar-during-private-party-in-moscow/

Also, flamethrowers:

https://www.nhl.com/news/dmitry-orlov-day-with-stanley-cup-in-siberia/c-299791686

Also, the Caps partied too hard:

https://www.si.com/nhl/2018/09/04/capitals-stanley-cup-keg-stands-may-be-banned

Also:

Karlsson to the Sharks for:

Sens get F prospects Josh Norris & Rudolfs Balcers, D Dylan DeMelo, C Chris Tierney,
'19 or '20 1st ('19 only if Sharks miss playoffs)
'19 2nd (higher b/t Sharks or Panthers)
'21 2nd if Karlsson re-signs/becomes 1st if Sharks reach final
1st if EK plays for East team in '18-19

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2018/09/21/the-capitals-will-have-a-third-jersey-for-the-2018-19-season/

https://twitter.com/ArizonaCoyotes/status/1010304885324042240?

OF course, Devils going Mickey Mouse is expected.

I enjoy all drama that befalls the NYRs.

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2018/10/11/evgeny-kuznetsovs-three-dazzling-primary-assists-against-the-vegas-golden-knights/

And if you don't think I'm going to hold a season-long conversation with myself in this thread, you're sorely misguided.

Goal, fight, bullshit minor penalty call.

Caps been playing pretty mediocre but

1. they looked a lot better with Tommy back in there

2. I'm legitimately not stressed about anything that happens ever again in hockey, all my needs have been satisfied

Shame that NBC is showing Blues/Hawks tonight. They should be showing Jets/Caps at 8pm.

Oh, and both Chicago and LA have fired their coaches already.

maybe we can grab another franchise player. Usually Kings hockey distracts me from the normal Dodgers October choke. Its gonna be a rough season.

Some say yes.

6G and 6A in 8 games played.

Keep riding that 30% sh%, Tommy Boy.

I don't understand 2018.

Please complete the cycle this year, Sabres

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2019/01/07/the-la-kings-brought-back-the-glow-puck-during-90s-night/

Also Tom Wilson is still scoring goals and is about to set a career high despite missing 20 games due to being an idiot:

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2019/01/06/career-point-number-300-evgeny-kuznetsov-hits-tom-wilson-with-no-look-pass-for-beautiful-goal/

https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/a-letter-for-sasha/c-304536586

Respect to an all time great, who mentored Ovi his first few years.

You were instantly in all-time DC lore and a lifelong fan favorite after last season and the playoff run of his life, including one of the most important goals in franchise history.

Hope to see him back some day, or that he lands somewhere.

He did a lot of work in the city, going into schools and being a role model as a black hockey.

Also he minced no words:

“The things that (Trump) spews are straight-up racist and sexist,” Smith-Pelly told the National Post. “Some of the things he’s said are pretty gross. I’m not too into politics, so I don’t know all his other views, but his rhetoric I definitely don’t agree with. It hasn’t come up here, but I think I already have my mind made up (to not visit the White House).”

3rd round pick to the Kings.

Strong move by CBJ knowing both Panarin & Bob might both be gone after this year.

Caps have made two good if minor moves. Still hoping they somehow get Johansson back from NJ.

they pretty much know both guys are gone and instead of trading them for something now they mortgaged their future on replacements/rentals. if they re-sign duchene, they won't have any picks in the first three rounds of the next two drafts. That'll mean they have more UFAs on their roster right now that they have picks in the next two years (and two of the five they have are 7th rounders). at the time they made these trades i think they were out of the playoffs, albeit by just a couple points.

if they win the cup or go to the final, great, but short of that this was this was a huge gamble on one season that they'll be paying for well into the future.

they draft pretty well (dubois, atkinson, etc) and have made some shrewd trades (jones, bob, panarin). they just can't really seem to keep their players because they play in a boring city where the fans spend the first two periods counting the number of buckeye stickers on a football helmet. if they weren't about to lose panarin and bobrovsky, it would seem like they were in a pretty good spot. i also am not a huge believer in torts.

I thought their fans were pretty good but you'd know better than me.

Teams in other less-than-cosmopolitan areas manage to keep their players.

Like Tampa, Raleigh or Calgary.

the NHL thought it could be a San Jose-type situation where they could corner the market and draw from near-ish markets. but they didn't count on the fact that huge ass athletic programs like OSU are basically professional outfits

the Islander fans were epic from the opening whistle. I don't think I've ever heard a hockey crowd that loud, that consistently until the final whistle. Helped that they blew the Leafs out of the building.

"We. Don't. Need. You." four times a period, every period.

Plus the sign that said 'John Tavares eats tide pods".

Anyway.

Huge showdown with the Caps tonight.

1) oh the ennui of being a rangers fan

2) but on that point, 25 years since the class of messier, leetch, and richter. *salute*

Torts gonna Tort.

It's hard for me to look past the fact that he's never done 50 in 50 but then again neither has anyone else for the past 20+ years. How do you evaluate him against guys that played 50 years ago like Richard and Hull, or pass-first guys who also scored shitloads of goals like Gretzky and Lemieux? I would say he has passed up the Espositos and Selannes of the world, maybe even Mike Bossy though that is a very tough one. Definitely of this era he is the best and it's not even close. This will be his eighth Richard Trophy (!) and he does it from all over the offensive zone.