Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
This week’s column is much more upbeat than week’s past. I’ll highlight one of hockey’s best stories unfolding in Toronto, as well as our first big trade before the deadline.
My other takes involve two top prospects and my favorite goalie mask I’ve ever seen.
Happy Monday!
This was a fun week to write about. We had a strange scenario where a referee was caught with a hot mic and was banned from officiating games forever. But this week was full of positives. The hockey community saw huge progress in regard to race in the sport. That was my favorite thing to write about this week.
I’ll also highlight one of my favorite goals of the season as well as one of the coolest uniform designs I’ve seen.
Happy Monday and happy spring!
Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: Ref Caught on Hot Mic Gets Fired”
Last week was an eventful one in the NHL. The only hard thing for me to do was to chose which five topics I wanted to cover. I tried my best to touch on a variety of things. Perhaps the two most important stories were Patrick Kane scoring his 400th career goal and the drama surrounding Artemi Panarin.
Happy Monday!
Outdoor games will be played this season. It won’t be the Winter Classic or Stadium Series, but the NHL will travel to Lake Tahoe to provide us with some outdoor entertainment. That was the biggest news of the week but not the only news. A new captain was named and a few legends of the game switched teams. I’ll fire off takes about all of those topics and more.
Happy 2021 everyone!
Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: NHL to Play Outdoor Games in 2021”
Last week and Monday were exciting days off the ice. The hyped reverse retro jerseys were finally released and they shook Twitter. In this week’s column, I’ll share my takes on my favorite and least favorite Reverse Retro jerseys!
I’ll also touch on a few smaller storylines across in the NHL and even one in college hockey.
Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: The Reverse Retro Jerseys Have Arrived”
Sadly, there were no sexy storylines in the NHL last week. But, as I mentioned before, so much happened over the last two weeks with the opening of the free-agency window and the draft, there is plenty for me to write about.
This week, I’ll touch on some storylines that weren’t pressing enough to make into my columns over the last few weeks. Happy Monday!
Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: Additional Free Agency and League Notes”
After everything that’s happened since the league paused for COVID-19 back in March, the Stanley Cup will be lifted this week. Tampa Bay won three straight games, but couldn’t close it out against Dallas in Game 5. They’ll face off again in Game 6 tonight with Tampa up 3-2 in the series.
The Stanley Cup Finals has provided its share of storylines, from the return of Steven Stamkos, the dominance of Joe Pavelski, and bad luck of Tyler Seguin.
Outside of the Stanley Cup, the other 30 teams have been busy handing out extensions and making trades.
You can find five of my favorite storylines below.
Also, here’s the best song I heard last week!
Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: Lightning One Win Away”
After everything the NHL has been through since March, we’re a maximum of six games away from the Stanley Cup Finals. Both series are going into Game 5 with one team up 3-1. I’ll highlight each series as well as a few other notable storylines around the NHL.
P.S. I need the Stanley Cup Finals to start ASAP to take my mind off another soul-crushing Detroit Lions loss.
There seems to be a plan in the works for the NHL to return! It’s going to be weird and a lot of people aren’t going to like it, but hockey could be back soon. I’ll give my thoughts on the proposed plan as well as a few other notable hockey announcements from the past week. I’ll also deliver some takes that are strictly derived from being bored on Twitter. Let me know what you think!
Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: My Thoughts on the NHL’s Proposed Plan of Return”
For what was another slow week in hockey, I have a solid variety of takes. We can thank St. Louis Blues’ GM Doug Armstrong for staying busy. I’ll share my thoughts on his variety of moves and an update from the NHL regarding the Coronavirus pandemic. I’ll also take a look into a surprise retirement and a contract termination.
Stay safe everyone!
