Hockey Thread 2021 Season

San Jose veteran Patrick Marleau earned the 1,016th win of his NHL career (regular season and playoffs) to pass Mark Messier (1,015) for sole possession of the third-highest combined total in League history. Former teammate Joe Thornton also kept pace with Marleau on Monday.

And MK had him on the bench last night............

The Detroit Red Wings have placed forward Valtteri Filppula on waivers.

Alex Stalock is going to play in Edmonton. The crazy Anton Forsberg-Troy Grosenick Canadian quarantine waiver carousel means the Oilers are preparing to put three goalies on their roster and not risk any further claims. Stalock confirmed to The Athletic’s Michael Russo what had been rumoured, that he’d developed a heart inflammation due to COVID complications. There were fears he’d never play again, so it’s terrific that he’s back. (Was also great to see Rasmus Ristolainen and Ilya Samsonov last weekend for similar reasons.)

I do think the Oilers would like to see Stalock push Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith; the challenge will be getting him up to speed following the quarantine. He has not played a game since Aug. 7, and it’s not like they can send him to AHL Bakersfield for a conditioning stint. Stalock is a competitive guy, so you know he’ll grind for the opportunity.

. Fun podcast interview with San Jose’s Mario Ferraro who is at the nexus of where the NHL is going: a talented young player and an active social media presence. His YouTube page is very good, and you can find him at Youngest of Plugs.

You won’t see much recent activity — he wisely cuts down during the season as he concentrates on building his career. Ferraro did give a smart answer about his dream video: something with the Stanley Cup. He spent a week last summer with Joe Thornton, and saw first-hand how a 41-year-old remains driven in the pursuit of greatness.

“Every morning we went to the gym to train, he called it a tweak session,” Ferraro said. “You gotta work. He says it every day, ‘You gotta work. You want to play in this league for 10-plus seasons, you gotta work.’ (One day) I said I’m going to do an extra rep here because I screwed up on the first set. Next thing you know I’ve got Jumbo Joe Thornton coming over and doing an extra set with me. He doesn’t like to be topped. He won’t let you get an extra rep in.”

Another day, he did some extra sprints on a treadmill, causing Thornton to get annoyed because the future Hall of Famer had to leave and didn’t want Ferraro staying in the gym longer than he did.

What was the funniest thing you saw Thornton do?

“I don’t know why, but he loves to cut grass. And the whole week I was there, he was talking about cutting his lawn.”

Ferraro’s growth spurt came later, so he wasn’t a high OHL pick (the Barrie Colts took him). In an important lesson for all young players, he said he “understood everybody has a different path. I tried not to let the size thing bother me — it was all about compete.”

He went to the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers and went to the 2017 NHL Draft, expecting to wait awhile before being selected. He was surprised to go 49th overall, and even more shocked that it was the Sharks.

“My meeting did not seem… I think it went the worst out of all the teams,” he laughs. “It was in my head, I was thinking, ‘Wow, that wasn’t a good meeting…. San Jose’s not taking me, I’m done, no chance.’”

He went to NCAA UMass with current teammate John Leonard and Colorado’s Cale Makar, where his game grew.

“The first year I came into San Jose, they said one of the most important things I needed to work on is having a good stick and defending the rush skating forward…. There’s a lot of talent out there, so stopping the rush before they get into the blue line is crucial. So I worked on defending skating forwards and trying to skate lateral to maintain gap, rather than just north/south all the time.”

He’s got a bright future.

Finally, we asked Ferraro about his most regular partner, Brent Burns. There’s a common request from the veteran: “‘You get that puck to me. You get it to me. You get that puck over….’ (Burns) just wants the puck on his stuck. I’m throwing passes, and whether they’re flat or three feet in the air, it’s ‘I love that — just get it to me.’”

LMAO

The in rink fans need to show up....oh wait.

Maybe I'm too old school for my own good but I'd rather the good ole days when hockey players wanted to be out of spotlight, hated guys on the other team on the ice, and diet consisted of pasta and beer.

If you like to compare players this tool is not bad:

www.naturalstattrick.com/playercompare.php?fromseason=20202021&thruseason=20202021&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&stdoi=oi&rate=n&p1=8470613&p2=8474578&loc=B&gpfilt=none&fd=&td=&tgp=410&lines=single

RIP Mark. A lotta great memories of that 1980 team

Tom Wilson makes the news

With 90 seconds left in the first period, Wilson delivered a high hit to Carlo in the corner behind the Boston net. Carlo's head slammed against the glass, and he fell to the ice and remained there for several minutes. The Bruins said he was taken from the arena to a Boston hospital in an ambulance.

"Clearly looked to me like he got him right in the head. A defenseless player, a predatory hit from a player that's done that before," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said of Wilson. "I don't understand why there wasn't a penalty called on the ice. They huddled up, but I did not get an explanation why."