Monday Morning Musing: April 18th

Elliotte Friedman’s been following the Calgary Flames as they attempt to put together a contract for Daniel Pribyl. The Czech-born forward has been plying his trade in their men’s league since his draft season, 2010-11. Originally selected in the sixth round, by the Montreal Canadiens, Pribyl was a bit of a slow burner and is just now, at the ripe age of 23, starting to find his A-game. 

This finding by the Flames and their scouts is intriguing, to be sure. Pribyl has the second most points in Extraliiga action, trailing just Roman Cervenka – ironically enough. His production is such that one might wonder if percentages are at play here. His last four seasons he’s posted 22, 25 and 15 points. Similarly given that trajectory, one might wonder if last season was the outlier for a player that looked to be trending upwards.

Game three between the New York Islanders and Florida Panthers was heavily influenced by a coaches challenge in the second period on Sunday night. The play in question involved an offside call where Aleksander Barkov failed to corral the puck with full control as he crossed the Islanders blue line. And boy was it close.

I’ve been souring on the coaches challenge more and more as the season wears on. That moment didn’t necessarily help. It’s the fastest game on the planet and we’ve got reviews for what amounts to millimeters. Could you imagine if they reviewed or had coaches challenges for offside plays that don’t lead to goals?

That a goal can be overturned on goaltender interference is laughable, in my humble opinion. Offsides calls don’t leave a lot of room for interpretation. Goaltender interference definitely does. Try explaining that one to the disgruntled fan base on the wrong side of that challenge in the Stanley Cup Final.

Then again, perhaps I’ve drawn my line in the “get off my lawn” sand. I’m open to this.

There was a bit of an uproar this week when @myregularface and @peteblackburn’s Twitter accounts were just… gone. For those not up to speed, these fine people are leading the charge in providing .gifs on a daily basis for the NHL.

Rumour was that the NHL shut them down. Nothing’s been confirmed one way or the other, but I would certainly hope that wasn’t the case. While the NHL is on the wrong side of history more often than not, that would be silly on an entirely new and counter-intuitive level.

Providing instant, easily digestible and relevant snapshots of in-game events can do nothing but help to grow the game. It makes it more accessible for fans sitting on the fringe, or more enjoyable for those more immersed in the game. Nobody wins with these accounts offline. I’m glad they’re back.