Mailbag: Turns out I was pretty good at stopping virtual pucks
Mailbag: Turns out I was pretty good at stopping virtual pucks
Also, more importantly, your questions.
I’m gonna start this mailbag by bragging about my slight athletic prowess.
A couple weeks back, on Aug. 16, I was in New York City for meetings and attended Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center.
As part of the fest, NHL Sense Arena had a booth setup where you could test their virtual reality platform, popping a VR headset on and trying to either stop shots as a goalie looking through a screen or make passes and shoot as a player.
(That’s me in the brown shirt in the photo at the top of this post.)
I tried it, turns out, I still have decent reaction time for an old beer league goalie.
In fact, I had the second best score of anyone during the three-day festival.
So that’s pretty cool.
You know what’s also cool? Mailbag questions. We’ve got about half a dozen from paid subscribers here at Shap Shots, let’s get into it.
The Ducks are joining Victory+. Is that a win for the Stars? Does it help with the burden of production for the platform as a whole? How does this help/hinder the platform in its first season?
It is a win for the Stars. One of the Stars hopes when they signed on with A Parent Media Company for Victory+ was that other teams would eventually use the platform.
The long-term goal, and vision the Stars have bought into, is that Victory+ will become a hockey hub that multiple teams use and a place you, as a user, can find content from several teams.
For example, even though you won’t be able to view Ducks games live in Texas, you will have access to the additional programing.
The Ducks deal is only for two seasons, while the Stars deal is for seven. So while the Ducks are testing it out, the Stars are in for the long haul and seeing other teams invest in the model is only going to help the Stars long-term bet.
Saw the Stars national broadcast schedule came out today, 8/29. Games vs Florida in Finland weren’t on the list. Will those be broadcast on Victory+?
It’s really silly that those games aren’t on national TV, it’s one of my pet peeves with the NHL, actually.
Should a day-time game like that be broadcast on ESPN2 or something?
Anyway, the games in Finland will be available on Victory+ from my understanding.
On paper, do you think the defense for next season is better or worse than last season's?
It’s worse than it was in the playoffs after the Chris Tanev trade, but better than it was at the start of last season.
Any insight into what determines leash length given to younger players? We’ve seen Pete give essentially zero leash to players like Johnston and Stank yet the tightest of leashes to Nils…does position play a factor? Can we expect a long leash for Bourque?
Position on the ice and draft position determine a ton.
For a young defenseman, there is usually little room for error and you have to prove to coaches you can play. Forwards get more time and opportunity because they can be hidden easier from matchups, and their mistakes aren’t so easily turned into goals against.
Draft position also plays a part. While the Stars did trade a first-round pick for Nils Lundkvist, he wasn’t necessarily home-grown or a first-rounder the Stars developed themselves. Players with first-round pedigree, within the organization they were drafted, often get the longest leash to figure things out.
I expect Mavrik Bourque to be a full-time NHLer this season and he should be treated more like Stankoven was when he was called up last season.
Does L. Bischel make the roster or will they have him wait due to the FA signings? Excited to see him play. We need size on the back end.
Lian Bichsel will start the season in the AHL, there just isn’t room right now for him with the way contracts are setup on the NHL roster.
What more can Kyle Capobianco prove in the AHL?
For a quick refresher, the question is about Kyle Capobianco who signed a two-year deal with Dallas this summer after a 54-point AHL season with the Manitoba Moose as a 26-year-old.
He’s a fine AHL player, but I don’t see much of an opportunity for him at the NHL level.
As a quick note/trick of the trade: when Capobianco signed, there was no quote from Jim Nill in the press release. If Jim Nill has put a quote in the press release, he plans on that player as an NHL option. If there is no quote, it’s an AHL signing.
Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. We are rolling along with the daily content here this week, so anything in the hockey world you want to discuss, let me know in the comments or responding to this email.