Where Goon meets Glitz, from the Ice to the Armchair, balanced and objective hockey analysis and reporting.
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Philadelphia Flyers: One Step At a Time
As is a well established practice, I will be taking the reins on Philly to provide objective coverage of Liam’s favorite team, as he does for Anaheim. The Philadelphia Flyers 2023-24 season was one of unexpected results, perhaps filled with more joys than initially anticipated by the fans and analysts alike, but the result… Read more
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New York Islanders: Two words – Radio static
After a head coaching change from Lane Lambert to Patrick Roy (yes, that one), the Islanders squeaked into the playoffs last year in a “tight but not really what you’d call competitive” Metropolitan Division race as the Met’s third placed team. For the second year in a row, the Carolina Hurricanes put an end to… Read more
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New Jersey Devils: At what cost?
The Devils didn’t have the 2023–24 campaign they wanted to due largely to injuries and inadequate goaltending and ultimately missed the postseason. Head coach Lindy Ruff would be terminated before all was said and done, with Travis Green replacing him on an interim basis before departing for the Senators in the offseason. General manager Tom… Read more
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Grading the Yaroslav Askarov trade
As luck would have it, Christian’s article about the Preds’ offseason went out mere hours before the big trade was announced today. The most sensible thing was to conduct a followup/standalone piece, with Liam and Christian putting their heads together. Let’s break down the precise terms: SJS receive: G Yaroslav Askarov C Nolan Burke 2025… Read more
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Nashville Predators: Ascending the Division of Doom
The 2023-24 season was supposed to be a transitional year at the start of the Barry Trotz rebuild in Nashville. New coach Andrew Brunette and the roster misunderstood the assignment to the joy and delight of the Smashville faithful. The new-look Preds, led by 2023 free agent acquisition Ryan O’Reilly, finished the regular season… Read more
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Montreal Canadiens: The Mark Bellhorn of NHL rebuilds
Remember Mark Bellhorn’s short stint with the Boston Red Sox? He would drive the Fenway Faithful mad with his tendency to take an exorbitant number of pitches due to embodying, to an almost monk-like extent, patience at the plate. Sometimes, it would come back to bite him. Quite often, in fact. He led the AL… Read more