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Roundtable: Moments we’ll miss; hockey movies in quarantine

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If the NHL season is canceled, what’s something you’ll be disappointed not to be able to see?

SEAN: Missing out on Alex Ovechkin hitting 50 goals for the ninth time in his career and maybe adding a ninth Richard Trophy would be a bummer. Only two players in NHL history have scored 50 nine times — Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy — and for Ovi to hit that during a season where he reached 700 goals would have been a nice cherry on top.

Ovechkin would also be missing 13 games in his pursuit of Gretzky’s goals record of 894. He sits at 706 as we wait, only 188 goals away from The Great One.

JAMES: I’m assuming that “seeing the 2020 Stanley Cup awarded” would be a catch-all cheat answer. After all, that would cover things like “Will the Lightning avenge their first-round sweep?” and so on.

So, assuming that’s too wide a net to throw, I’ll toss my hat in the “Who wins the Maurice Richard Trophy?” ring. The season halted with David Pastrnak and Alex Ovechkin tied for first at 48, while Auston Matthews sat at 47. Leon Draisaitl was really gathering steam (43) while Mika Zibanejad somehow scored 41 goals in just 57 games.

It’s honestly a bummer just thinking about how fun that final push could have been.

ADAM: Probably just the unresolved storylines.

Whether or not David Pastrnak or Auston Matthews can unseat Alex Ovechkin on the goal scoring leaderboard. How many players can score 50 goals? We are on track to see more than we have seen in almost 15 years!

Would Pastrnak, Ovechkin, or Matthews score 60 goals? How many points will Leon Draisaitl end up with? How will the MVP and rookie of the year race play out? The playoff races and whether or not Columbus could hold on to a spot (I picked them to make the playoffs before the season and want to see this through!) and how or if the Rangers could hang around.

JOEY: It’s not often you get a repeat of the previous year’s Stanley Cup Final, but I really believed that the Blues and Bruins could make it all the way again. Both teams added pieces to their squads since last season, so it would’ve been interesting to see if they could go the distance again.

The Bruins came so close last year and they added some size with Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie at the deadline. As for St. Louis, they added a depth defender in Marco Scandella and they also traded for Justin Faulk at the beginning of the year.

There’s still a chance the season could happen, but you’d have to wonder if this extended pause would throw everything out of whack even if they did return.

SCOTT: On a personal level, I thought the Philadelphia Flyers would reach the Eastern Conference Finals this season and I’ll be disappointed not to see that savvy prediction come true.

But the part I’ll be most disappointed about is not seeing a player or group of players elevate their game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Every year, there are a few players that carry their team throughout the postseason and the opportunity to witness that greatness is always special. The NHL postseason comes around once a year and players only get so many opportunities throughout their career to take their shot. To see young players on the cusp of greatness and seasoned veterans robbed of their chance due to a global pandemic is truly disappointing.

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You have one hockey movie to watch while quarantined, what are you choosing?

SEAN: “Mystery, Alaska” is one of those movies that whenever I come across it on TV I have to watch it through the end. There’s a solid cast with Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria, Burt Reynolds, Mary McCormack, and Mike Myers as the Don Cherry-type commentator. This is hockey, OK? It’s not rocket surgery.

There’s drama, the New York Rangers, and the movie doesn’t give you that typical feel-good ending.

JAMES: The common answer, I’d guess, would be “Slap Shot.” The cooler answer would probably be “Red Army.”

The honest one, though? I’d probably always lean toward “Miracle.” The hockey sequences are exhilarating, Kurt Russell rules, and they’ve got the friend from “The Truman Show” playing Craig Patrick.

“Pass, shoot, score” and “The legs feed the wolf” .... “We can beat these guys.” There were a lot of cheesy Herb Brooks quotes my friends and I would bat around back in the day, so that would also soothe some of that quarantine loneliness.

ADAM: Probably going to go with the original Mighty Ducks just because it seems more and more absurd every time I watch it, which then results in me laughing more and enjoying it more. Basically, I have a lot of questions about the set-up and management of that hockey league (how did nobody know Adam Banks was playing for the wrong team?!), and if Jack Riley was such a good and successful coach, why did he never advance beyond the Hawks? So many questions.

JOEY: I’ll go with the Mighty Ducks series of movies. It’s hard to argue with Emilio Estevez and the gang. Also, I’d get to roll with three different movies during the quarantine period. Gordon Bombay all the way.

SCOTT: Mystery Alaska.

The components that make up the Mystery roster are on every team throughout the hockey world; The slow-footed shrewd skater, the hot-shot superstar, the prolific passers and the “strange” goalie. ‘

Also, the national anthem prank is something I always find quite comical.