I'd add Eichel and hopefully Marner to the list and go one more year back and add Mackinnon. The greatest sporting event I ever attended was the Winter Classic at the Big House. The respect in the crowd for each other and the game was amazing. The weather was brutal but part of the fun.

Yeah, those outdoor games might be fun if you're there in person.
At home, the TV isn't as good and sometimes the ice seems slower.
Also on the TV you don't hear as much crowd roar that you do in Arenas.
They 1. make money for the teams and 2. seem to sell hockey to non-fans.
But for me, they are a cup of tea that I don't want.

A lot of royalty is in town tonight to catch the showdown between the two #1 draft picks. Gretzky, Orr, Coffey etc flew in to watch McDavid and Mathews in their only meeting of the season.

From what i have seen from the Leaf rookies so far this season, i would have to say that McDavid will school the Leafs tonight, the Leafs are a great skating team but not at the level of McDavid' speed. Oddly enough, Mathew's has better possession numbers than McDavid, but i still think McD is on another level than everyone else.

The one Leaf that has flown under the radar is Mitch Marner, he has been snake bitten so far in the goal department, but i think he has been the better player between Mathews, Nylander, and Marner. Every time he touches the puck it's magic, it's just a matter of time before the goals start coming. He leads the team in blocked shots unlike Willie "Double Flamingo" Nylander, and plays the wing like a centreman, his 200 foot game has been impressive for a rookie. His edgework is outstanding, we saw that in junior but it has evolved even more over the summer, he's an elusive skater with the ability to side step a hit, and seems to be one step ahead of the forechecker, his weight is a non issue in my opinion. I believe he will finish the season with more points than Mathews or Nylander.

The Leafs goaltending and defense has been brutal this season, i have to go with the Oilers tonight.

Edmonton -1.5

Yikes 16 games in 29 day for the Jets in November beginning with Ovechkin
and his Capitals. A couple great looking games. Go Oilers/Jets.

Both teams up for this one.
Currently Leafs 1 Oilers 0.

The Rangers are looking scary good early with their new kids.

Yeah, I know, its November.

Loved Pat Quinn. Respect Eric Lindros but this is the weakest HOF class in a long time.

Hockey Stats
 

If you are into Hockey statistics for player or team comparisons, there's some awfully good stuff at:

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/teamstats.php

Hoofed, I owe you an apology. When the Leafs drafted Marner I was okay with his talent having watched him in London a couple times. The year before the Leafs drafted Nylander who is on the smaller side much like Marner. I thought we needed more size. We still need size but Marner is a STUD. MY favorite Leaf to watch. He knows where every player is at all times. Wise beyond his young years. He's going to be a very special player. It's a lot of fun watching this team play.

He puts a smile on my face every time he touches the puck, i expected something special from Marner this season but he has exceeded my expectations. I can just imagine how good he will be a year or two from now after he mature's, i foresee him being our franchise player.

The other two rooks should be paying attention to what Marner is doing, they have been playing on the peripheral and not engaging in the dirty areas. I will cut Mathew's some slack seeing that he is adjusting to centre at the NHL level, (and he has made great strides) but Nylander plays like a bitch...... Kessel 2.0

Babcock: I’ve never coached a kid that good that young just because I’ve never been in that situation before. [Stanislav] Chistov, when I was in Anaheim, had an unbelievable first year playing with [Samuel] Pahlsson and Stumpy Thomas. He was an unbelievable player for us there in the playoffs, but he still wasn’t at this level.

I see that Dylan Strome has been sent back to junior after registering 1 assist in 7 games. Having said that, in a re-draft, does Arizona still take Strome over Marner?

I'm amazed that Strome only got into 7 games with the struggling Coyotes, you would think that the Yotes would want to inject some offence into a lousy lineup, or at least give Strome some time to develop in the NHL. It looks like the game plan for the Yotes is to tank this season, or the Yotes simply don't want to burn a year of his ELC in a "tank year". The Islanders might have something to say about that, mind you the Yotes and Islanders have games in hand over Vancouver and Buffalo and Calgary....... sorry to hear that Al.

I hear that the players on the Islanders are not to pleased with the new facility in Brooklyn, worst ice in the NHL. I hope that doesn't affect the Islanders ability in resigning Tavares, that would be unfortunate if he went elsewhere. :cool:

Panthers are officially on the hot seat after firing Gerard Gallant! :ThmbDown:
What are they smoking down there? After being runner up for coach of the year in 2016 he gets axed :eek: 103 points.
22 games in. GM Vinnie Viola cant sing his way out of this inane move.
RIP Panthers.

Vinnie Viola owns the team. Tom Rowe is the General Manager.
Either Viola or Rowe or both read an analytics baseball book "The Only Rule..." and for whatever reason wanted to go in a different direction.
This started last season when Dale Tallon was booted upstairs.
Dumb and dumber.
Now they intend to take a high analytics approach to the game. :rolleyes:
Gallant didn't want to do that. He just wanted more heft on some of his positions.
The book they read is
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca...5647-item.html

Another evening of potentially exciting hockey with Toronto visiting Edmonton.
McDavid vs Matthews
The last time these teams played Nazem Kadri did a number on McDavid- hounded him all night.
We'll see if McDavid lets that happen again or if he learned something the first time.

Not to mention they gave Gallant a 2 year extension last summer. I’ve never understood why organizations do this when they intend on axing the coach.

Greyfox sums it up perfectly, it was a difference in philosophy’ between the coaching staff and management.

What bothers me is the way they went about it, they axed him with all the media present after the game, no class. Then the POS organization doesn’t provide any transportation after the game, they handed him his bags and told him to beat it. He had to hail a cab with all of the vulture’s looking on, then he had to pay for his own flight home. Any organization with an ounce of class would have called a town car and arranged a flight for the 2 coach’s. The cherry on the cake came the very next morning, when the GM got up in front of the media and said they would be reimbursing Gallant the $17 for the cab ride, are you f’n kidding me?