2023-2024 NHL season interests

Leafs Report™️ is back with a new episode and I listened to it on my drive home from work last night. I really do think their vibes are atrocious. Mirtle and Siegel have the whole ~we are media and don't actually care about Leafs success and therefore are less emotional and better than fans because we see things clearly~ thing going for them. It isn't like I think people have to be fans of the teams they're covering or whatever, but I think their tone is so smug half the time that it's like...listen. Maybe I am too sensitive, but I do not want to be listening to a podcast in the middle of a disastrous round two playoff series and listen to you talk about how if they lose it might be better for your life. I'm happy for you! But it is not the time! I think it's a completely different stance than Bob Mckenzie days because he really was like...yeah, I don't care but that doesn't make me better. And then I do like the Overdrive boys sometimes because it's fun to listen to people who are probably even more insane than you are. It really comes down to the fact that imo it is MUCH better to listen to people who are passionate and insane and are actually invested, than people who don't really give a shit. And I think a balance is good, I like guys like Mike Johnson/Ray Ferraro where it's obvious neither of them care who wins but they care so much about the details of the game. So maybe that's the difference because Mirtle/Siegel don't really cover the minutiae of games or style or how players play, but more the off-ice stuff which I honestly find so boring vs. Johnson/Ferraro who really can break down the game so well? I don't know. This is not what this post was meant to be about anyway!

I wanted to streamline an idea of what I actually care about this season/am looking forward to/will keep track of and then...it wasn't much? Tennis might have surpassed hockey as my favourite sport to watch, but that might be because the Leafs finally broke my spirit. The main goal was narrowing down my focus because I am going to be so busy with school and work (if I pass exams lol) but it ended up feeling more like a self-reflection of "fandom" that I hated having.

TEAM TIERS

2023-2024 nhl season break down

The Leafs are still my favourites for various factors, but I definitely feel way less excited this season. There's definitely a vibe of ~regular season is irrelevant~ that I think is stupid. If you're a hockey fan, do you not want to watch hockey? But I also get it, because this team is insane. I feel less invested in Marner this season, which is weird to me? I kind of hope once the season starts I'm back in, but I don't know. I like Nylander a lot. Matthews is fun to watch play. I think it will be cool to actually care about a professional goalie for once in my life and I hope Joe Woll has a good season. I like Timmy and Mo. I think Knies has the potential to be fun but the babygirlfication of him makes me cringe. My main issue this season is like...the separation of enjoying hockey vs. the hockey rpf fandom. There's just...so much less overlap in dynamcis I find interesting that are popular now. I am against the U of Mich take over and against calling Owen Power and Kent Johnson girls 24/7 I AM SORRY!!!!!!!! 1634 is basically dead in the water but it'd be fun if they had a comeback season. The post Kyle Dubas era is funny to me because I did find it a bit odd that the fucking GM got so much attention, fandom-wise, but I get it - he's a vaguely hot (?) white guy in glasses who showed emotion sometimes. That shit sells. I really do not feel excited but I hope that changes as the season goes on.

Canucks getting that high of a ranking is truly because Elias Pettersson is my favourite player right now. He is SO fun to watch and I like his interviews. That's basically enough for me. But being the best player on a shit team is an interesting situation to be in when you've already "proved" yourself but feel like you haven't + want team success. I like Quinn if I do not read ANY take about him online from someone I am not mutuals with. Sorry to gatekeep Quinn Hughes but I just cannot stand the lakehouse version of all of them. It'll be harder to watch their games because of the timezone but I will be seated in Scotiabank when they play Toronto.

Sabres is solely a hockey interest. I think they will be fun. I want them to make the playoffs. Maybe it is goalie season because I am fond of Devon Levi. Rasmus is fun to watch. Tage is so weird. Jeff Skinner renaissance. I want Tyson to have success but I have his name muted on every platform possible. I am not particularly fond of OP but he should be fun to watch. Sorry that my analysis right now is only "fun to watch". I used to like Krebs a lot. Jack, JJ, etc. I think they just have such a weird roster with such odd chemistry that I feel like they'll be interesting.

Ottawa feels like it could be a sneaky favourite because I really, really find Timmy so funny and Brady is by far the more interesting Tkachuk to me. It will be a bare minimum interest but they're there.

Dallas is like...I need to understand Jason Robertson. I really do, unfortunately, think that they are SO fun to watch. This is so difficult as someone who grew up hating the Stars and Redwings for no real reason but with a crazy intensity for a girl who grew up in Calgary with a dad who was a Nordiques then Avalanche fan and a mom who said "Flames, I guess?" It is hard to unlearn that! Then add on my deep, deep hatred of Jamie Benn + the annoyance of Seguin and it is crazy that here I am, impressed by their top line and charmed by THOMAS HARLEY of all people...

I always feel like I have to write 10000 disclaimers about interacting with any sort of Hawks content and then I feel weird about THAT because...I don't know. There's been too many shitty things within sports for a long time and I really don't know what the best way is to deal with it anymore. I felt like I was such an overreactor when I was younger, and now it is kind of like...well everything sucks. I don't know if that's an improvement. I think Chicago as a team is pretty vile, they need to change their logo, they've done horrible things in the past. Do I think they're net worse than all other teams? Maybe? I don't really know. All of this is to say that I really do want to follow Bedard this season and I don't feel as much guilt about that as I expected to. I don't really like the desire to be all morally sound and make it clear that You Are A Good Person. I don't really feel like one anyway! But idk. I get why people just want to ignore the Hawks entirely and not support any of their content. I really do! They didn't deserve Bedard at all, should've been punished a lot more. I really do believe that. I don't think me watching games on nhl66 is going to change anything though. So here I am.

I tried to think of other narratives or pairings or players that I care about, but it really feels like...a winging-it season. I really feel so torn about writing hockey rpf and not for any moral reasons or whatever, but I feel like 1. I am bad at it 2. I do not understand men 3. I'd rather it be ~realistic~ but I don't even know what that means anymore 4. I'd rather just write them as lesbians but now I feel weirder about it for too many reasons 5. All the pairings I like are deeply unpopular and then a flop in the hockey rpf tag stings more than it should 6. The effort. I really hope when hockey is back on and there's actual content to sift through, I feel a lot more excited about everything and can find some sort of balance of hockey content on ice vs. fandom shipabilities etc.

I need pdocast back SO badly. I find expected by whom so difficult to follow/understand which is probably a hashtag idiot moment, but whatever. the athletic hockey show doesn't work for me. the aforementioned leafs report just is SO negative and boring now I hate it so much. Overdrive coming back will be good for me. I am open to recs too!!!!!

Anyway, hopefully, it's a good season and we all have fun!!! I'd love to hear what you guys are looking forward to <3