PK Subban is one of the best defense men in the NHL, that's what most people know him as, a hockey player. For anyone who doesn't watch hockey a lot or at all you may see him as an arrogant guy and a “distraction from the game” because of the way he acts and celebrates when he's really not that bad. PK said “ for many years I've taken the root of letting people speak for me, and not really taking the time to define who i am and what i want people to see me as, these days people are becoming more and more comfortable with different, people actually enjoy seeing different”. Which is definitely true some people hate when players have character and have fun. Most players sound bland and emotionless when being interviewed so when someone comes around with a personality people mistake it for being arrogant and cocky. One of the things PK wants to be known as is a philanthropist, in September of 2015 PK Subban announced that he was going to donate ten million dollars to Montreal's Children's Hospital, the biggest donation from an athlete in Canadian history. PK said “This has nothing to do with hockey, i think that's the special thing about it, this is about other people and not myself” PK said he wanted to be known for more than just hockey and said how Montreal talks about him as a player but now they can talk about what he does off the ice. He went on to say that one day his hockey career will be over and then who will he be then? How will he be remembered? Even after PK was traded he wrote letters and made a video to the children of the hospital saying that this trade will not stop him from donating the money to the hospital which started making people realize that he isn't as bad as critics make him. Donating to Montreal's Children's Hospital isn't the only thing he does of the ice though, he has his own line of suits. It only makes sense to have a clothing line that perfectly represents his personality: sharp, sophisticated and fresh at the same time. When talking about his brand this is what he said “Personality, how you conduct yourself on and off the ice, how you treat people, what you do for others, that's what makes my brand, being a black hockey player is a very very very small part of that”. “The first things i'm focusing on is PK the hockey player, PK the businessman, PK the family man and PK the philanthropist, everyone needs to understand that you do have a brand as an athlete whether you chose to define it or talk about it or not”, from what you have heard here its clear that PK Subban is more than just a Hockey player and he might act larger than life but underneath those pads and that jersey he's just like everyone else, not every hockey player is a mean, tough and rough looking guy and not many of them are these days, times are changing more players are doing more things off the ice like how Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars and Joffrey Lupul of the Maple Leafs are modeling for companies and as the years go on i'm sure more players are going to be making names for themselves outside of hockey, PK Subban was just the icebreaker.
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Auston Matthews, the first overall pick of this years draft made his debut last Wednesday and it was one that will not be forgotten. Auston became the first person in NHL history to score four goals in his first game with his first goal coming off his first shot which not many people have done. But now that teams have seen what he can do they are going to have a body on him at all times and it's going to make the game a lot more difficult for him. During halftime interviewers asked his parents about how defense was going to tighten up on him and how they think their son will respond which they then responded to by saying “ he never liked not having the puck, whenever he lost it he would get it right back again”. Which makes sense, you can definitely see that he wants the puck all the time by the way he plays. Before scoring his second goal he took it up the ice, lost it, took it back almost instantly, went through four players (one of them being the best defender in the league) and scored. He clearly isn't afraid of keeping the puck and that's great for someone young like him to have that much confidence in his puck control, but it might not be, scoring 4 goals in your first game along with a highlight play may cause some problems for Auston, problems that other greats like Sidney Crosby know all too well.
Auston Matthews can play well under pressure and in tight situations but that pressure and those situations are only going to get more difficult. Just like what they did with Sidney Crosby, teams will put the biggest and toughest player on Auston Matthews. This could potentially be bad for the Maple Leafs and Auston because if the defense is anything like they were with Crosby there could be an injury, leaving the Leafs with a key player out and risking a young player's career. With Crosby it was the head injuries and ankle injuries. March 16th 2007 - broken bone in his left foot after blocking a shot January 18th 2008 - sprained ankle after sliding feet first into the boards January 1st 2011 - gets crushed into the boards by defender Victor Hedman and misses rest of season with concussion December 5th 2011 - neck injury after colliding with another player but wasn't out for long March 30th 2013 - received a slapshot to the face resulting in a fractured jaw and broken teeth And now he is out for the beginning of this season with concussion like symptoms after being hit hard during the World Cup Of Hockey. Crosby said he doesn't want to take any chances which i agree with because when you have a history of head injuries like him you want to make sure that it won't happen again, a couple more concussions and he will have to retire early. I'm sure any Maple Leafs fan doesn't want that to happen and so does the team itself which make this a very important issue. Auston is four inches taller than Crosby and weighs fifteen pounds more which can be good or bad depending on the team and the payers he is facing. It could either help him play and protect him or it could make the defense more vicious towards him. I personally think Auston will do great this year, assuming he doesn't get hurt. Auston already has a lot of experience with playing against the best players in the world when he was chosen to be part of team North America in the World Cup Of Hockey. Team North America is a group of players 24 years old or younger who lives in North America, Auston was chosen for the team and did well with highlight goals multiple times. Playing against all the best players definitely helps when playing in the NHL especially when the teams are a lot easier to face and it will only get easier. With team chemistry and experience growing in the team along with the veterans and the best coach in the league to guide the rookies it can only get better from here and excel Auston’s game. This NHL season is going to be very exciting with everything that happened over the off season and with Auston Matthews carrying the leafs it should make it one of the most memorable seasons for Toronto fans and the NHL as a whole. If you watch hockey you should know the name Gary Bettman, he is the commissioner of the National Hockey League. I personally dislike him for a bunch a reasons first one being the fact that their has been four lockouts in the time that he's been commissioner. There was the 1992 strike, which postponed 30 games of the 1991-1992 season. Then the 1994 1995 season, which cancelled many of the games of the 1994-1995 season and shortened the regular season to 48 games per team with no inter-conference games which basically means no teams play against teams in the opposite conferences.The 2004-2005 season, which cancelled all of the games of the in that season,The 2012-2013 lockout, which cancelled many of the games of the 2012-2013 season and shortened the regular season to 48 games per team with no inter-conference games again.
Everybody hates Bettman, generally Canadians but Americans do too. Whenever he presents the stanley cup everyone boo’s him, and every single season this happens. The only decent thing he has done is made it easy on the next guy that gets his job because there's almost nothing the next guy can do to top what he has already done. Gary Bettman moved the Quebec Nordiques to Denver making them the Colorado Avalanche, and also stopped a team from relocating to Hamilton which made people outraged because Canada is where the majority of hockey fans are and instead of Bettman adding another team in Canada he adds one in Las Vegas. Now I know there are a lot of perks to adding a team in Las Vegas but some people aren't happy with that decision. Along with Gary Bettman wanting to add glowing hockey pucks and ads on team jerseys to the NHL also is debating on whether NHL players can play at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, there's almost a year left and he hasn't made a decision yet. Neither Commissioner Bettman or NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly would give us a deadline for when a decision on future Olympic participation must be made, but they say it could come around the same time as the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Which ended last Thursday so there is a good chance we will be told soon. Although he does have some pretty good reasons for not letting players go, for example: it's a 9 hour difference so they would practically be playing at four in the morning to around twelve o'clock, and it's in the middle of the hockey season but all the players love playing and representing their country so it should be up to them and i don't think it would impact the team's very much considering maybe only three players maximum from each team would be going and maybe no players depending on the team and if they want to or not. I personally think it should be the player's decision and if not enough players are going then the NHL won't enter and it's as simple as that. To wrap this up I personally do not like Gary Bettman, he runs the hockey league terribly and doesn't really care about the fans or the game he is just their to make money. I don't understand how he gets ideas like making glowing pucks or taking the names off of referees. Little things like that annoy a lot of people, being able to scream at the referee and know his name made it much better as stupid as it sounds and glowing pucks, they were just useless from the beginning do you agree? I'd like to know what you think. Big trades in the off season got me thinking about how teams will do this 2016-2017 NHL season and what team will win the Stanley cup. I am a Pittsburgh penguins fan and if you don't watch hockey you wouldn't know they won the championship last year. I will admit we won because of a series of bad events in the western conference. I'm not saying the penguins should have never made it to the finals because they deserved to be there but we probably wouldn't have beaten teams from the west like Chicago or Dallas. We would have never made it to the playoffs if it weren’t for some key trades like Perron for Hagelin, call ups from the american hockey league like Rust and Murray, veterans picking up the pace like Crosby and most importantly changes in the line ups.
There are many teams this year that are going to stand out more. For the penguins, it will only get better from here with the return of one of our key defensemen, Trevor Daley and with Murray having more experience in the net. The Toronto Maple Leafs will also stand out more after the first year of rebuilding. They should be better equipped for the upcoming season with first overall pick Austin Matthews and Anaheim's goalie Frederick Andersen who will definitely have an impact on the way Toronto will play. Another team that's looking a bit promising is the Winnipeg jets, with second overall pick, Patrik Laine and Blake Wheeler as the new captain who was part of USA’s world cup of hockey team. Plus Dustin Byfuglien who was also part of team USA. Although those teams are looking good there is a 90% chance they won't win the Stanley cup. They might make the playoffs but they won't win it all since Toronto has chemistry issues and the Jets don’t have enough fire power or defense. So let's talk about teams that will actually have a chance to win. I have already talked about the penguins so let's talk about my second favorite team; the Canadians. The trade of P.K Subban for Shea Weber had people talking about who got the better deal but it really depends on the way the teams play. Subban didn't fit with the Canadians style of play and maybe Shea Weber will match up. Here's some quotes from each team about the players; Montreal Canadians Jeff Petry on Shea Weber: “ I've seen him play, i know what he's capable of. I will be looking up to him this year”. Nashville Predators Roman josi: “ P.K Subban and his risk taking game is a good fit for Nashville. Montreal Canadians Carey Price: “Shea Weber fits the Canadians way better than PK Subban”. I agree with Carey Price- PK didn't really fit with them. I watched PK Subban make some really dumb choices on the ice that the coach didn't like either. The Canadians have also signed KHL star Alexander Radulov, to add to the fire power of Brendan Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and Andrew Shaw. The reason why this team is going to go far this season is Carey Price. He is a key player in the world cup of hockey right now, he hasn't played for almost 300 days and all of a sudden he was chosen to be the goalie for Canada and to go up against the best players in the world. He's doing great, not losing a game in regulation and beating Russia in the semi finals. I have no doubt that the Canadians will go far this year and maybe win the Stanley cup if they can work together well. Another team that will go far after a disappointing 6-1 loss in game 7 is the Dallas Stars. The Stars finished first in the western conference last year but were unable to get the job done in the second round of the playoffs because of their lead scorer Tyler Seguin having to miss 6 weeks with a knee injury. I think they can go all the way to the Stanley cup finals if Tyler Seguin stays healthy through the season and playoff and if their goalie Kari Lehtonen can play well for once. Finally, i want to talk about the Chicago Black Hawks. Last year Chicago didn't make it past the first round of the playoffs which is weird because they lost to the St. Louis Blues, a team Chicago has beaten every year. I don't think they are going to win the Stanley cup this year either. Chicago lost one of there best players Andrew Shaw and one of their best players Marian Hossa is getting old and won't be able to perform the way he use to. I'm not saying there's no way they will win because they have a lot of amazing players but other teams are young and getting really good. Their are a lot of teams that also look good but I can’t write about them all without this being a novel. Last year proved that anything is possible so maybe I’ll be wrong- none of these teams I talked about will do well and go far. Time will tell come April 2017. That was your daily dose of Carter, thanks for reading. So, Kevin Durant made a dumb career move leaving Oklahoma City Thunder for Golden State that may ruin the next couple years of the NBA. Now I know Durant spent 9 years with OKC and that he did his time there so he can do what he wants. People also say “Lebron basically did the same thing a few years ago” but comparing Lebron leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for Miami Heat with Durant leaving OKC for Golden State just isn't accurate. If you look at Miami's record the year before Lebron signed with them, the Miami heat only went 43-39 while Durant is going to a team who just came off a NBA record high of 73-9, broke a ton of other NBA records and also beat Durant in the western conference finals. That's what's annoying about Durant leaving OKC for Golden State he just lost to them, he is living out the phrase “if you can't beat them join them” which makes him the biggest hypocrite in the league. This is an exact tweet from Durant a few years back, “ now everybody want to play for the heat and Lakers? Let's go back to being competitive and going at these peoples!” and now just a few years later he is doing the exact opposite of that tweet and joining a team that he can't beat. People want to see superstars going against each other not joining one team to dominate the rest of the league. It's unfair and extremely cheap. Now the quotes i'm about to show you come from some of the all time greats and they are going to give their opinion on the signing. Michael Jordan: “ I would have never called up Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and said hey let's get together and play on one team”. Michael also went on to say that he never joined them because he always wanted to beat them because of how competitive he is. Charles Barkley: “Kevin’s a terrific player i just wish he had of stayed in Oklahoma city, piggybacking on those guys in Golden State, they might win it next year and if they don't they have a good four or five years after to win it.” Charles also went on to say that he isn't mad at Kevin Durant but he is disappointed. Larry Bird : “It's hard because when these players get together and go play, it just makes them a lot stronger but that's why we have free agency- if they stay within the rules i have no problem with it and i'm happy for him. But you like to be on team where you could be competitive with [the greats]. I know back in the day I couldn't imagine going to the Lakers and playing with Magic Johnson, i'd rather try and beat him.”. Now that Golden State is a super team, any other team that wants a shot at beating Golden State or winning the NBA championship will probably need to make their own super team. Once that happens and the more it happens, the NBA will get less and less competitive because all the best players will only be on a few teams. Sure it might be fun to watch the super teams go at each other but there will only be a handful of them so there will only be a few intense games and the rest will be blow outs. I have no doubt that Durant will be the most hated player next year and I personally think he deserves to get booed everywhere he goes because if this team works out, this signing will be the signing that ruined the NBA. Thanks for reading my blog and there is your daily dose of carter. citations: www.landofbasketball.com/teams/records_miami_heat.htm www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYt_R2Dtb4U http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/2000208-sports-and-racing-nba/73572431 all the records Golden State broke last year are below. |
Carter mccraeI'm Carter McCrae and this is your daily dose of carter i will mainly blog about sports but there will be times that i don't. sports are all i really care about so that's all ill really blog about |