Random Thoughts: Jersey talk, the Cup Finals, Fights in the Stands, and more

Saturday morning means another chance for your ol’ pal Baggedmilk to dump out the hockey thoughts that have been rolling around in my head over the past week.

One of the bigger debates on social media that we’ve seen lately came after Tom Gazzola dropped a tweet about the Oilers wearing their navy blue jerseys full time for the 2021-22 season. Personally, I don’t mind those jerseys as much as some folks do, but what I will say is that I don’t understand why the team is choosing these over the royal blues that we all love or even the orange ones from 2017. Unless the Oilers have some kind of overstocked inventory problem that they’re hoping to handle when people get back in the building, I don’t really get the new obsession with what was supposed to be their third set. Regardless of what the reasoning is, I can’t be the only one that’s confused about why this team’s best uniform is sitting on the shelf.

If you’re looking for a way to kill 11 minutes of your day then I would highly recommend this Connor McDavid highlight package put together by Puckin Around. As much as it was annoying for the Oilers to get bounced out of the playoffs by a team that was immediately swept in the following series, I very much enjoyed looking back on the mind-blowing season that McDavid put in to get his team into the postseason. To have him put up 105 points in 56 games was ridiculous, and I think we should all take a moment to appreciate that we were able to watch him do it. Besides, there’s plenty of time left in the offseason to argue about the expansion draft, free agency, and any other Devin Shore-sized bomb that gets thrown our way.

I don’t know how many of you watched game six of the Tampa/New York series but the atmosphere in that building was incredible to watch, and there was no greater example than this classic fan chant directed towards Steven Stamkos. If you haven’t heard this, it’s pretty funny to think that thousands of people are in on the shenanigans, but be warned this one does not exactly carry a PG rating. I hope all of the kids in the building were wearing earmuffs because this chant must be at least a handful of quarters for the swear jar.

What’s with Americans fighting each other in the stands as often as they have been lately? Whether it’s the ‘Suns in Four’ guy popping that dude in the mush, the plethora of scraps we’ve seen at MLB ballparks, or this fight between Lightning and Islanders fans in the lower bowl, people seem to have forgotten how we’re supposed to act when we’re all together in a big group. It’s like pandemic life made it so that we’re all only a few beers away from going full Lord of the Flies mode.

I can’t be the only one that is completely floored by the way the Canadiens found a way to win their series against the Golden Knights, can I? After the way Vegas handled Montreal in game one, I was sure that we were going to see a short series and that Canada’s Cup drought was going to be extended, but that’s not at all what happened as the series progressed. Instead, the Habs got rock-solid goaltending, timely goals, special teams success, and limited Vegas’ top players from making a difference on the scoreboard. All-in-all, Montreal played about as well as anyone could have expected them to do and they deserve plenty of credit for finding a way to get the job done. Sure, you could say that their win had as much to do with Vegas’ lack of execution as it did them playing well, but that’s a story for another day. What wasn’t shocking, however, was seeing Habs fans flipping cars over after the final buzzer sounded, which can only mean that nature is truly healing.

I don’t know how many people would have ever expected a Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup Final, but that’s what we’re going to get starting on Monday night and I’m looking forward to seeing how it’ll go. While the logical pick would probably be the Lightning to repeat as champions, I’m having a hard time betting against Montreal the longer this playoff run goes along. Not to mention, I just checked the series odds and the Lightning are so heavily favoured in this series that the only fun to be had seems to be betting on the Habs. That said, the last thing I’m going to do is bet my own money on another North Division squad because the only Canadian team I want to see win the Stanley Cup is the Edmonton Oilers, so I guess I’ll go Tampa in six.

Now that Tampa is off to the finals again, Pat Maroon has the chance to win his third straight Stanley Cup and I, for one, will be cheering for him to get it. Maroon was one of my favourites when he was here and I often wished that the organization would have kept him around, but since that obviously didn’t happen, the best I can do is cheer for him to win with other teams.

On Wednesday, Frank Seravalli announced that he had signed a deal with DailyFaceoff.com to join the Network as the head of hockey content, and it was a big day for our Network to land such a big fish in the insider game. On Thursday, we were able to talk to Frank about why he felt like making a move into the digital space was the right play for him, and I think the answer he gave is well worth the time. Check that out here.