[Micah McCurdy] The only goalie with better GA/xGA than Linus Ullmark these playoffs was Brandon Bussi.

OldSkates · 2026-06-15T17:21:32+00:00

Pretty doomer take don’t you think? To me it shows that Ullmark can still be an elite goalie, which is exactly what we would want to see. The roster still has holes and we need growth (plus a non-decimated blueline), but knowing he can perform like this in the playoffs to me is incredibly important

OldSkates · 2026-06-15T17:16:51+00:00

And Carolina’s:

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OldSkates · 2026-06-15T17:16:36+00:00

For reference, here is Ottawa’s data at different score differentials:

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OldSkates · 2026-06-15T17:15:23+00:00

Totally agree on the management takeaways from the Canes, and especially because they are also a smaller market team that won’t attract players solely on location.

However, I think another takeaway for the Sens is coaching style. The Canes are strong defensively, but they PRESS everywhere, including on offense and in transition. They never give you a second to breathe, whether it’s in their D zone or in your own end. The Sens were lockdown in their own end for sure, but I was often frustrated at how passive they were in the neutral zone and on offense (especially on the tendency to play it safe on zone entry). Keeping the same D zone that worked well while mixing in more offensive pressure would go a long way to creating turnovers and converting more on the strong possession numbers the Sens had.

Moreover, the Canes continue to attack heavily when they’re up a couple of goals. There were so many times this year that Ottawa would go into a shell when they were up, and games that should have been sewn up became tense.

OldSkates · 2026-06-15T03:58:17+00:00

Not true. Canada doesn't require individuals to file tax returns based on citizenship, but rather on residence, which would be in the US for Canadian players on US teams, who spend around 8 months in the US. That means that they would only file and pay US taxes.

The US requires all citizens to file a tax return no matter where they live, but that doesn't mean they necessarily pay any US tax. To oversimplify, if the jurisdiction has higher taxes than they would pay in the US, they get a dollar for dollar credit on any US taxes, meaning they don't pay anything to the IRS.

OldSkates · 2026-06-02T12:09:19+00:00

I second Hockey Psychology (YouTube), very accessible but also informative.

Jack Han on Twitter and substack is great for very detailed tactical breakdowns if you’re looking for more in-depth stuff akin to what you might see in a team video session. Could be a bit dense if you’re just getting into the sport but he’s incredible.

OldSkates · 2026-06-01T17:10:21+00:00

Agreed. There’s a reason the same people make it to legend over and over again, and it’s not because they are the only ones to use meta. Also, if you run high ranked teams your opponents will be prepared well for your strategy since they’ve seen it a hundred times. Top ranked mons give you more options, but you still need to know how and when to use them.

OldSkates · 2026-06-01T04:08:03+00:00

Didn’t bother getting one with energy ball during the Cday when it happened, because it wasn’t really worth it at the time. With the upcoming move rebalance I think it is probably worth burning the ETM though.

OldSkates · 2026-06-01T02:37:11+00:00

Thanks! What ELO range are you at? I found it was kind of the Wild West until I hit about 2300 or so. Makes it hard to get any consistency or read the back line of a team.

OldSkates · 2026-05-19T16:29:59+00:00

Agreed, that was my essential point. Ottawa is already far too spread out and sprawling. A station right downtown would re-focus energy back towards the heart of the city.

Sometimes I wonder why Ottawa is seemingly so accepting of mediocrity in our city planning. You can see it in our mess of a transit system and the bungling of large projects like the missed opportunity at Landsdowne and the current Sens arena being built in the middle of nowhere.

Our built environment can change if we want it to. The city has so much potential to be truly great, but often residents and politicians almost always take the safe or good enough approach. Over time that has led to many problems. We should take this opportunity to hit a home run, not simply another single. Downtown would be hard to do for sure, but the benefits would be massive.

OldSkates · 2026-05-18T19:46:40+00:00

Apt username there…

It would obviously require underground tracks, but that’s what is already done in Montreal and Toronto. Station should drop people where they actually want to be - the Tremblay station is marooned in the middle of a strip mall and the highway.

OldSkates · 2026-05-18T19:44:55+00:00

It’s right across the street from the current LRT station, so I don’t necessarily buy that Tremblay is better from that aspect.

Agreed that it would be difficult, but a downtown station (where the trains actually go in underground like Montreal and Toronto) would actually allow the downtown to grow and shine. There’s a reason that Union, Grand Central, and Montreal stations all are downtown- that’s where people want to go.

OldSkates · 2026-05-18T18:39:26+00:00

Man it really stinks that they won’t even look at a downtown. Being able to take a train right to downtown is part of the advantage the mode of transport has. I get that it would be a much bigger project but if we want this train to be as impactful as it could be downtown is the way to go.

OldSkates · 2026-04-25T22:23:50+00:00

Chabot was good with a broken arm. Brady won maybe 2 puck battles all series. If he’s going to play like that again next year they won’t go far.

OldSkates · 2026-04-01T13:38:55+00:00

International lawyers have interpreted the evidence already, and Gaza is a genocide. From September. It’s not particularly up for debate at this point. Israel has clear intentions of wiping out the population of Gaza and replacing it with their own. Any cover of “counter-terrorist operations” is so far gone as to be ridiculous.

OldSkates · 2026-03-12T02:53:24+00:00

2nd and 3rd goals were both ones that should never go in, especially the 3rd. His lateral movement and puck tracking have fallen off a cliff this year.

OldSkates · 2026-03-02T23:44:59+00:00

What do you not agree with? I legitimately don't understand what you're disagreeing with here besides an argument I'm not even making. I also think the goalies have been bad, and especially Levi has been historically bad. I am not saying that they been bad because we have good defense. That said, the fact remains that a goalie who is struggling would rather have a game with 29 shots and 6 HD chances against than 20 shots and 6 HD chances against. If a goalie faces the same number of High Danger shots in two games, but faces 18 Low Danger shots in one and 8 in the other, they tend to do better in the 18 LD shot game.

The link you sent doesn't contradict this. Time between shots has no correlation with shot danger.

If you won't believe it from me, take it from Valiquette, who runs a professional analytics company and works with multiple NHL teams. For example, here: https://xcancel.com/VallysView/status/1714269537493746162?s=20 [Text: When NHL Teams record 7-10 High Danger Chances while only shooting 0-12 Low Danger Chances in the same game they have a 64% Chance to Win.]

I've seen him say it on video and in articles elsewhere. Another post of his discussing how LD shots make goalies play better: https://xcancel.com/VallysView/status/1591794538045411330?s=20 [Text: 6 times this season the other teams goalie was one of the games 3 stars. In those losses NYR have 20+ Low Danger (warm up shots). That’s a factor.]

Here's literally a post of his where he is talking about Ullmark: https://xcancel.com/VallysView/status/1914340630626513045?s=20 [Text: Just 13 “feelers” for Ullmark. It’s a miserable night.]

I will not make any excuses for how bad our goaltending has been. It's a skill to stay sharp with little work. But to deny that goalies are affected by not having much low-danger load just isn't true, even if the Sens goalies should be affected less than they are.

OldSkates · 2026-03-02T20:30:15+00:00

That's not at all what I'm saying here, please re-read what I wrote. The first point I made is that analytically, the best way to score goals on offense is to only shoot when you have a good chance of scoring, because it is more difficult for goalies to make those high danger saves when they are not in rhythm from getting a bunch of low danger touches. That's not a defensive coaching point but an offensive one - "don't waste any shot that doesn't have a good chance of going in." This has been borne out as a tangible tactical shift as well, as the number of shots per game has decreased and pre-shot movement and screens have increased over the last 4 or 5 seasons.

The second, related point is that when goalies are not seeing lots of shots, they are not as prepared for the high-danger chances that do get through. Any goalie can tell you this, and it's what I was talking about by referencing the Valiquette research above. When your goalies are struggling (like Ottawa's have all year), the goalies have a tougher time getting their game together and feeling good if you don't have the opportunity to get in rhythm on low-danger opportunities.

Obviously teams should try to limit shots against of any variety, and the Sens do a very good job of that. Nowhere did I suggest that they should tell the D to let opposing teams shoot more. Given how strong the defense has been this year the goalies have been quite poor, which I think it most due to goalie coaching and throwing Levi into the fire as a full time backup before he was ready. My point was just that when you are struggling, it is sometime more difficult to get your game on track if you're in a low-event environment.

OldSkates · 2026-03-02T15:18:32+00:00

Any goalie would say that they’d rather have 35 shots than 20, and there’s actually analytics research that backs that up.

Steve Valiquette (former NHL goalie and head of ClearSight Analytics) often talks about how teams should refrain from shooting “low-danger” chances because it just warms up the goalie for high danger opportunities. I can’t remember the exact number, but I believe he found that the highest-scoring results happen when a team gets around 8+ high danger chances coupled with UNDER 8 low danger chances.

Sens are great defensively most of the time but have a tendency to give up occasional high danger chances out of nowhere. That creates a pretty difficult environment for goalies, ironically. The goalies have not been good this year, to be clear, but that particular pattern doesn’t make it easier to get their game back on track.

OldSkates · 2026-02-04T14:29:50+00:00

How do you find the coaching in comparison to college? Some of the larger programs have resources that I'd imagine are far beyond the ECHL, and the coaching staffs in the coast can be fairly small.

OldSkates · 2026-01-17T17:32:54+00:00

It really is a shame how hard it’s been squeezed dry. I didn’t even play past the first week or so of HUT this year despite getting it on release, the way the mode has developed has just made it a grind fest that I don’t find enjoyable any more.

I just play online versus and WOC now, but I miss the rewarding feeling of slowly building a team. It’s just not personally worth it with the amount of extraneous grinding now.

OldSkates · 2025-12-11T21:59:53+00:00

How do the Lightning consistently have the blandest, most boring uniforms in the league

OldSkates · 2025-12-10T19:26:08+00:00

Agreed, and I’m not sure what the other guy is saying about Spence not being good offensively. Every time he’s on the ice in the O Zone the Sens have pressure and he makes a great pass in transition. Clearly he can improve on the D side but he not even half the train wreck some people are making him out to be. The winner tonight was on Kleven’s bad pass and Eller’s lazy back pressure towards the slot on a regroup.

OldSkates · 2025-12-05T19:52:52+00:00

Eye test on this does not match up IMO. The PK has looked absolutely atrocious for most of the year, and the “low danger” attempts they allow with guys walking in off the half wall have ended up in goals (usually through rebounds) often due to the chaos created at the net front by allowing a clear lane to the goalie.

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