John Carlson is currently tied for second best start ever in NHL history by a defenseman, alongside no-names Paul Coffey and Bobby Orr.

https://twitter.com/PR_NHL/status/1186849812097974273

That is all.

They are for real, I really liked the additions of Hutton (underappreciated guy that STL should have kept) and Skinner (good offensive player stuck in no-finish system) last year and now Miller (solid PP guy who can play #3/4 D role well) this season. Olofsson is coming through, turning out to be a steal. I think Mittelstadt is a good candidate for a breakout second half. Last year they had a good start and fizzled. But I don't think they will drop off as hard this year because they're getting deeper and more experienced.

It's still kind of hard to see them winning it all but making the playoffs? I think they have an excellent chance. There's a decent chance both wild cards come out of that division. They are giving themselves a cushion right now and I think they will keep rolling for a bit. Not only is their record excellent, their goal differential is the best in the league. We had them in here for a game recently but honestly I didn't get a great feel for their quality in person. They scored early and basically hung on despite absorbing a lot of the play in the later parts of the game. But their goaltending was excellent. I really like Hutton, he has taken a sinewy path to where he is but he has kept working hard. very technically sound goalie.

in shots on goal!

Hey its something. I dont even recognize this team much outside of its aging core. Especially the young defensive stable. But at least we are putting pucks on net and scoring some goals. Fat George Clooney has made some HUGE improvements. Kopi is back to form. Carter is looking like Carter again. Brown is playing well. Doughty is always soli and his minutes are down. Hopefully we can squeeze one more season out of Quickie before Campbell takes over. I dont expect the playoffs. But im glad we arent losing 2-0 every game anymore. Now its more like 5-4 and 4-3. Ill take it. Go Kings Go!

in the West.

McLellan is a very good coach and he's put in a system that's fun and sometimes effective.

Kopitar looks good, a lot of people forget he had a weak 16-17 before bouncing back strong. We'll see how many years of this deal he gets through but overall pretty encouraging.

Carter we'll see what happens. He lost a lot of time to lower body injuries which usually means you are playing catch up with conditioning. So far I think he looks better than last year but not great, doesn't have that killer first step any more and he's not getting open for those kind of intermediate range shots that make him so dangerous.

I was really concerned about their defense coming into the year. It's still kind of beat but not quite as bad as I figured. Hutton was a guy a lot of Vancouver fans didn't want to see let go and for so cheap. He's pretty solid, doesn't try to do too much and makes smart plays. Bjornfot will be like that eventually but I doubt we see him play any more as a King this year. Walker has some speed and can move the puck, he's still pretty lost defensively. Outside of Doughty, Martinez and Hutton, I don't think these guys would be playing for most teams, but Walker might improve over the season and he's already giving them some energy.

They are starting out like a house on fire but fizzling. That tells me they don't have much depth. The good thing is they aren't using that as an excuse to burn out their stars. They want to keep Doughty fresh and not over-use Kopitar either. I think overall there are a lot of positives but they were starting from a pretty low point, too.

Coming into the season I thought the Rangers had a decent chance to be good and maybe they will get better as the season rolls along. They still seem a little suspect in key areas but they have some potential in a weak division, albeit one where the top three spots are fairly firm so now the wild cards have to compete against some good teams from the Atlantic to make it.

The Devils I think people don't understand just how bad they were last season and I think nationally people over-sold them the year before. When we were talking about potential upsets during the LAK-VGK series several people named NJ as a possibility. I just laughed. Hall was a God that year, basically dragged their sorry asses into the postseason. Last year they were even worse. Nico isn't a Swiss miss but he isn't a franchise player either, pretty solid No. 2 center for Hughes whenever he comes around. Not surprisingly, he isn't quite ready for the big time but he will be a star in a couple years. Simmonds' abysmal production from most of last season has carried over into this year and you wonder if he's much more than just a good third-liner now. They keep adding guys I like on defense (Vatanen, Butcher, Subban) but as a unit they are still very weak. Goaltending still an issue. I just think this team is a mess.

especially the Devils by now.

The kind of moves teams with no better plan are in a position to make because they rolled a lot of cap space over from last summer and didn't really have any good young players in line for a pay day other than Hischier (and that was for next season). They don't have a ton of pop on offense, which they need being pretty suspect in their own end. Also Subban/Simmonds have combined for zero power-play points so far, I think. Last year I thought Simmer was the only guy that played with any purpose on the Nashville PP but if the pucks aren't getting in from the top, he isn't going to produce much, and they weren't. PK, I can't explain, he used to be a stud on the PP and now just looks pedestrian out there.

didn't see that one coming.

The crazy thing is that he'd probably still be on the air if he just apologized. What a prick.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/28059815/hockey-icon-don-cherry-fired-immigrant-comments

Greg Wyshynski
ESPN

Don Cherry, an iconic Canadian hockey commentator, has been fired by Sportsnet for his on-air remarks on Saturday alleging that the country's immigrants don't properly honor fallen soldiers.

Cherry, 85, used his "Coach's Corner" segment on "Hockey Night In Canada" to criticize individuals who didn't wear poppy pins leading up to the nation's Remembrance Day. The pins are sold by veterans groups and are worn to symbolically honor those who served.

"I live in Mississauga . Very few people wear the poppy. Downtown Toronto, forget it. Nobody wears the poppy. ... Now you go to the small cities. You people ... that come here, whatever it is -- you love our way of life. You love our milk and honey. At least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada. These guys paid the biggest price for that," Cherry said.

After immediate backlash on social media Sunday, the majority of media reaction Monday morning called for Cherry's removal. By the afternoon, word spread that he had been fired.

"Sports brings people together. It unites us, not divides us. Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night's broadcast, it has been decided it is the right thing for him to immediately step down. During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for," Sportsnet president Bart Yabsley said in a statement on Monday. "Don is synonymous with hockey and has played an integral role in growing the game over the past 40 years. We would like to thank Don for his contributions to hockey and sports broadcasting in Canada."

Cherry would not take back what he said.

"I know what I said and I meant it," Cherry told the Toronto Sun after he was fired. "Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honor our fallen soldiers."

He added to the newspaper that: "To keep my job, I cannot be turned into a tamed robot."

Yabsley had already apologized for Cherry's comments in a statement Sunday, writing that "Don's discriminatory comments are offensive and they do not represent our values and what we stand for as a network. We have spoken with Don about the severity of this issue and we sincerely apologize for these divisive remarks."

Both the National Hockey League and Hockey Canada distanced themselves from the comments in separate public statements. Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie called Cherry's remarks "despicable" on Twitter. "We're proud of diverse cultural heritage and we'll always stand up for it. New immigrants enrich our country for the better. We're all Canadians and wear our poppies proudly," she said.

Cherry's longtime co-host, Ron MacLean, who gave a "thumbs-up" to Cherry's comments during that segment, offered apologies on social media and on the air during Sunday's Sportsnet NHL coverage: "Don Cherry made remarks which were hurtful, discriminatory, which were flat out wrong. We at Sportsnet have apologized. We know diversity is the strength of the country. I owe you an apology, too. I sat there, I did not catch it, I did not respond."

Cherry refused to apologize Sunday as well. "I have had my say," he told the Sun.

It was one controversy too many for Cherry. The former coach of the Boston Bruins and Colorado Rockies was hired in 1981 as a commentator for CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada." His loud suits and louder takes made him the most famous member of the Canadian hockey media for decades, as "Coach's Corner" became appointment viewing on Saturday nights across the country. His appeal spilled over to the United States, where he appeared on everything from national hockey coverage to beer commercials.

He extolled the virtues of fighting in hockey for decades, and into the current era of concussion awareness. He frequently took heat for his derogatory views of European-born players. In 2013, Cherry drew ire from viewers for saying, "I don't believe women should be in the male dressing room," in reference to female reporters.

Increasingly, Cherry would use his celebrity for political purposes, such as speaking on behalf of Toronto mayor Rob Ford at his inauguration and calling those who believe in climate change "cuckaloos."

Speculation has been that Brian Burke, the former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks, may follow Cherry in "Hockey Night In Canada's" spotlight segment. Rogers is in the midst of a 12-year agreement with the NHL for $5.232 billion (Canadian), signed in 2013. It's the largest media rights deal in NHL history.

>Cherry's longtime co-host, Ron MacLean, who gave a "thumbs-up"
>to Cherry's comments during that segment, offered apologies on
>social media and on the air during Sunday's Sportsnet NHL
>coverage: "Don Cherry made remarks which were hurtful,
>discriminatory, which were flat out wrong. We at Sportsnet
>have apologized. We know diversity is the strength of the
>country. I owe you an apology, too. I sat there, I did not
>catch it, I did not respond."

He can sleep on his piles of money with many beautiful canadian women

I really thought he was going to kill it in Toronto.

and he's doing it in a dead puck era.

14 goals in his last 7 games.

Natural hat trick in one period last night ftw.

Age 34.