Dustin Byfuglien Dab, Ehlers Hat Trick And A Wild Night In Winnipeg
It’s been a disappointing season in Winnipeg so far to say the least. After all the hype the team brought to the city last year in the playoffs they’re currently in last place in the Central Division, goaltending has been a struggle and there’s a good chance that captain Andrew Ladd’s days in a Winnipeg jersey are numbered. They have a bunch of young talent in place with guys like Burmistrov and Ehlers and Scheifele and Trouba and Tyler Myers. But they’re just not there this season. However, last night they got to beat up on the Coyotes a little bit and that should give the people of Winnipeg enough to be happy about for now. Buff Daddy started his night with a blast from the red line and then closed it off with a 3-on-5 shorty. Now look at my dab.
Dusty Buff wasn’t the only one feeling himself last night on the Jets. 19-year-old rookie Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first career NHL hat trick and that 3rd goal is the type of shit that dreams are made of.
The year of the rookie continues. That makes for goals 10,11, and 12 on the season for Ehlers. And speaking of the year of the rookie, Ehlers wasn’t the only teenager in the NHL going to town last night. Here’s Jack Eichel. You may have heard of him before?
Eichel’s stick is crazy long. That’s not intended to be a dick joke but you can take it as a dick joke if you’d like. But he uses a long stick, he’s so powerful on his edges and he’s explosive enough to stuff that wraparound in before Craig Anderson even has a chance to push off that near post. Eichel’s game has been steadily improving it seems like and as far as rookies who are doing incredible things in the NHL all on their own this year, Jack is right at the top. Panarin has the benefit of playing with Kane. Larkin has the benefit of playing with Zetterberg. Eichel is pretty much on his own in that regards. Not taking away from Panarin or Larkin at all, just making the observation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Alex Petrovic Era has Officially Begun
First career goal in 82 career games for Alex Petrovic as the Florida Panthers handed Toronto a 5-1 loss. It’s been a while since we started any new eras so shoutout to Petrovic. And shoutout to Aleksander Barkov for scoring this beauty the day after signing a fancy new 6-year deal with Florida.
6 years at $5.9 million AAV. You’ll see that in just a couple short years, this deal is going to look like a STEAL for the Florida Panthers. Barkov is a young Anze Kopitar. He does everything right on all 200 feet of the ice and it’s nice to see the Panthers say fuck a bridge deal and ink their guy up long term despite only being 20-years-old. The Florida Panthers are doing pretty much everything right.
Last but not least, today is #BellLetsTalk day. Every tweet or RT with that hashtag is worth a 5 cent donation from Bell toward mental health initiatives in Canada. So if you’re on Twitter today, #BellLetsTalk.