NHL 2018-19: The Sharks Really Traded For Erik Karlsson?

I saw them tend to him and the aftermath. I didn't actually see the play, nor do I think I want to.

 

Looks like Karlsson has become the player that the Sharks really traded for. When he's on his game, there are few players better.

The Sabres look to have stepped into the light after nearly a decade of darkness.

 

They may be a heated rival, but I'm glad to see Buffalo back on their feet, especially for the entire state of New York, where sports have been a tire fire for years outside of the Yankees.

 

This Boston/Toronto game is pretty fun so far. Congrats to Marleau on his 1600th game.

 

So, months later, the Lightning are straight up dominating the season. 18 points clear of second place in their conference alone. Kucherov has 99 points in 61 games. Hedman and Vasilevskiy are serious contenders for the Norris and Vezina respectively. Of course, in the NHL that's far from a guarantee of Cup success.

The Oilers absolutely blow. They have the best player in the game, yet are second to bottom in the West. What's it going to take for this franchise to turn the corner? I think ownership needs to purge management completely, not just the GM (Chiarelli's already long gone). As if that'll happen.

 

I watch quite a few Lightning games and they are a really fun team to watch. I would love a Stanley Cup Final of Lightning vs. Sharks (Sharks split the season series, which is a good thing) because I think that could go 6 or 7 games. Kucherov should defintely be the Hart trophy winner. 99 points at this stage in the season is incredible.

As for the oilers, I think that whole culture might need to change, and firing the GM was a good start. It's a losing culture up there, and Connor McDavid is like the Mike Trout of Hockey. His good years are being wasted by ineptitude.

 

Tampa/San Jose happens to be my early Cup Finals prediction.

 

The only thing about the Lightning is that they always seem to trip over themselves in the playoffs. The West is such a logjam this year, I really think it's an open race there.

 

As a Sharks fan that first spot in the pacific is so important because the second place team will have to play Vegas. After last year and Flurey going into super goalie mode, that would not be a good match up. I’d much rather play someone in that logjam than deal with Vegas and that atmosphere again.

 

A cup final appearance and two ECF game 7s which they lost against the eventual cup winners in the last 4 years. I don't know if that's "tripping up" in the same way as those late 00s/early 10s Sharks teams. Winning a cup is hard.

 

They just get crowned yearly as the team to beat and they usually get beat.

 

The trade deadline has passed and I particularly like what Nashville and Columbus did. The Preds got Simmons and Granlund, while the Jackets landed Duchene and Dzingel to make a real push, all in. The Stars were extremely unlucky in trading for Zuccarello, only to immediately lose him for a month.

 

Rangers' goalie Alex Georgiv threw his stick at Ovechkin during a shootout, denying him a goal. The on-ice officials reviewed the play and called a no-goal. The NHL immediately called the refs telling them to change the call, giving the Capitals the win.

What's shocking to me is that the on-ice officials couldn't get the call right in the first place even after checking replays.

 

Refs haven't had a good season this year overall.

 

The Sharks have lost Erik Karlsson for the time being but he should be back for the playoffs. Calgary's form has dipped recently so San Jose still have a chance at winning the division.

 

Calgary finally has a bit of a rough patch. Based on how they played a month ago, I was wondering when that would happen. The race to the pacific is going to be fun down the stretch.

 

Tampa Bay clinched the President's Trophy - only one other team (Flames) has even clinched a playoff berth. Absolutely incredible season for the Lightning; in fact it's so impressive that anything less than a Finals appearance would be considered a disappointment.

 

I'm still not convinced Tampa is a shoo-in for Cup champion. They have never been able to go all the way in recent years, no matter how good their regular season is.

 

Playoffs are such a crapshoot. A goalie gets hot (like Fluery last year) and it makes the rest of the postseason unpredictable. I am rooting for Tampa in the east though so I hope they pull a Washington and finally get it done.