I'm looking for your submissions to Nickname Court

I'm thinking of trying a new mailbag-type feature over the summer that I would call Nickname Court. As we know, modern NHL nicknames are terrible, with most of them either just being a player's name with an -er or -y ending tacked on, or something based on player initials that features zero creativity. Let's fix that.

Basically, readers would send in nicknames for players (or lines or pairings or whatever), and a small group of us would rule on whether they were good or not.

I think we'd be looking for either of two kinds of submissions: - Brand new nicknames that you came up with, or that are percolating in a fan base but haven't fully caught on yet - Actually nicknames that are in use but need a ruling on whether they work or not

I'd love to get some entries to mull over. Please be clear on where the nickname came from, if anywhere, and who it would apply to. Send your submissions to dgbmailbag@gmail.com and let's see where this goes.

Which team makes the best lineup with no repeated initials? Slow news summer returns

It’s summer and nothing is happening. Let’s play some weird roster games.

This one comes from reader Darryl F., who tweeted it at me five years ago. Yes, the “weird ideas” list goes back that far. Much further, actually. Look, you probably don’t want to know some of the stuff that’s been sitting there for going on a decade, but I can’t guarantee you won’t find out by mid-August.

For now, the game is simple: Make the best six-man starting lineup possible for your favorite team, without repeating any initials. So if you want to use Joe Smith, that’s your J and your S spoken for, meaning you can’t also use John Williams, or Tommy Simpson.

Easy enough, right? But first, a few ground rules™:

- We want three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie. No other positional requirements.

- You get credit for whatever that player did on that team. If the Blues want to use Martin Brodeur, they get seven games, not four Vezinas.

- In cases where there’s confusion over what a player’s actual name was, we’ll go by whatever hockey-reference uses. So it’s Maurice Richard (not Rocket), but Gump Worsley (not Lorne).

As always, we’ll do about a dozen teams and then hand it over to you in the comments to fill out any others. We’ll start with the team that’s become our unofficial leadoff hitter for these sorts of things…

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Let's get old: Five things I miss about how the NHL offseason used to work

It’s mid-July. It’s too hot, my neighbor isn’t keeping his lawn in shape, they don’t make smart summer movies anymore, and all these kids who are off school should be out doing something productive instead of staring at screens all day.

In related news, I am old.

How old? Old enough to have a bunch of opinions about how things I miss from the ancient days. And you’re going to hear a few of them right now, because it’s time for the return of Let’s Get Old, the column where I (blows out entire lumbar region by sneezing wrong) ah you’ll figure it out.

To be clear, this isn’t even the typical “old man yells at cloud” thing where I think things were better back then. I’ll fully acknowledge that the NHL and the sport of hockey have improved over the decades. But that doesn’t mean I can’t miss stuff like faceoffs in random locations and officials climbing the glass, or baggy nets and big moments punctuated by flash photography. Was it better back then? Not really, but also sort of, which is the type of confusion you should expect from an old man like me.

Today, we’re going to focus on the offseason. Here are five things that my old and deteriorating sports fan brain misses about who things used to work.

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NHL 2024-25 prediction contest results, where playing it safe (finally) paid off

July 1 has come and gone, marking one of the most important dates on the entire NHL calendar.

Free agency? Extension? The start of the new league year? Yeah, I guess that stuff matters a bit. But I’m talking about the truly big stuff: The end of the annual prediction contest.

Yes, with the first day of free agency over with, we can officially close the book on the 2024-25 contest. It was the fourth time we’ve run this thing, and scores have been increasing every year. In theory, you guys are getting better at this. In reality… well, we’ll get to that.

As usual, the gimmick here is that the questions are easy, but you take a zero if you offer even one wrong answer, so the risk-reward can get tricky. If you missed out on the contest, or could use a refresher on how it all works, you can find the original post here. An initial summary came a week later, in which we learned that nobody believed in Sam Reinhart. Correctly, as it turns out. I’m sure he’ll be crushed once he and the rest of his teammates sober up. If they ever do.

The good news is that unlike last year, there was no tie at the top this time. There was one winner. Was it you? Maybe! (No.) Let’s go through the questions and see how this played out.

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Should Leaf fans view Mitch Marner as a hero or villain? A debate with myself

It’s official. The Mitch Marner era is over in Toronto, with the Leafs executing a sign-and-trade deal that sends him to Vegas Golden Knights hours before Monday's midnight deadline. (add link)

Leaf fans, how are we feeling about all of this? More specifically, how are we feeling about Marner himself?

Let’s put the question even more simply: When he makes his first trip back to Toronto, are you booing him? Does he get an ovation? Something in between? No reaction at all?

I think I can guess where the majority might be leaning today. I’m also pretty sure that it’s far from unanimous. So today, let’s debate the subject with arguments, from two different types of fans, both of whom are me.

In one corner, my sports fan brain – logical, rational, and not especially susceptible to easy narratives. In the other, my sports fan heart, which is not quite as rational, but is also the main reason I’m here.

It’s worth pointing out that the last time we broke out this gimmick for a Leafs debate, it was 2022 and we were still doing the “run it back” dance with this team. Back then, my head said to stay the course, while my heart said to blow it all up. If you look back at that post today, well, I think it’s fair to say that the heart won, or at least it should have. We’ll see if that holds true today.

Mitch Marner is an ex-Leaf. Are we mad at him? Should we be? I’m not sure, so let’s drop the gloves and square off.

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