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2018 NHL Playoff Thread


dlbalr

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20 minutes ago, illWill said:

 

 

 

During this expansion, teams were not allowed to protect as many players as they were in previous drafts, and there was only Vegas picking this time. Vegas made 10 deals where they acquired additional picks or players simply in exchange for not selecting certain players. And don't worry about teams being happy to unload certain contracts, they had to pay a premium to do so. 

 

There has never been a more successful expansion team in history. Nor has an expansion team had this much power. You can't tell me the two aren't related

 

We can all agree that Vegas played its cards (see what I did there?) wisely - but come on. There is no WAY even the most capably-run expansion team should finish 6th overall, let alone be a serious Cup contender. The combination of very tight-limited 'protected player' lists and the salary cap (which makes teams more likely to cut certain quality guys lose), along with zero other expansion clubs dipping into the talent pool, created what we can now recognize as a ridiculous structural privilege for Vegas. In short, the NHL miscalculated from a 'hockey' (if not from a $$$$) point of view.

 

Of course, the earlier model erred in the other direction, creating hapless teams that needed years to build towards competitiveness. The sweet spot is that expansion teams should be bubble teams, within reach of the playoffs if they manage things properly, but not artificially manufactured overnight contenders.

 

 

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14 minutes ago, illWill said:

 

One of these days we will agree on something. 

 

During this expansion, teams were not allowed to protect as many players as they were in previous drafts, and there was only Vegas picking this time. Vegas made 10 deals where they acquired additional picks or players simply in exchange for not selecting certain players. And don't worry about teams being happy to unload certain contracts, they had to pay a premium to do so. 

 

There has never been a more successful expansion team in history. Nor has an expansion team had this much power. You can't tell me the two aren't related

 

Successful in regular season? Sure. Playoffs? Still gotta see if they can match the first year Blues and third year Panthers. 

 

There's a lot that went right here and a lot that could have gone wrong. It wasn't a perfect draft and I still have a lot of questions on whether McPhee built a team for the long term or the short term. If you recall there was one point where it was like they had four injured goaltenders and were still winning games with the back up to the back ups back up. 

 

Nobody predicted Karlsson to be a near point per game player, or Eric Haula to beat his best goal totals in the history of his career since Shattuck St. Maries. Colin Miller had 13 points last season in Boston and is now a 41 point defenceman. Again, these are crazy jumps from their player expectations. Minnesota didn't think they were losing a guy who almost scored 30 goals. And they got former Habs pro scout Karpan to thank.

 

I don't believe there's any guarantee Seattle is going to be as good out the gate.

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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

We can all agree that Vegas played its cards (see what I did there?) wisely - but come on. There is no WAY even the most capably-run expansion team should finish 6th overall, let alone be a serious Cup contender. The combination of very tight-limited 'protected player' lists and the salary cap (which makes teams more likely to cut certain quality guys lose), along with zero other expansion clubs dipping into the talent pool, created what we can now recognize as a ridiculous structural privilege for Vegas. In short, the NHL miscalculated from a 'hockey' (if not from a $$$$) point of view.

 

Of course, the earlier model erred in the other direction, creating hapless teams that needed years to build towards competitiveness. The sweet spot is that expansion teams should be bubble teams, within reach of the playoffs if they manage things properly, but not artificially manufactured overnight contenders.

 

 

Bubble teams can still make round 2 of the playoffs. They won game 1 of round 2 by a blowout but I’m still far from convinced that they’re actually a contender. In my personal opinion, the only reason they might be is Marc Andre Fleury, and we all know how he used to be ridiculed during the playoffs. 

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18 minutes ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

Bubble teams can still make round 2 of the playoffs. They won game 1 of round 2 by a blowout but I’m still far from convinced that they’re actually a contender. In my personal opinion, the only reason they might be is Marc Andre Fleury, and we all know how he used to be ridiculed during the playoffs. 

 

They had what, 109 points? That's not a bubble team.

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6 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

They had what, 109 points? That's not a bubble team.

In that sense you’re right but I definitely agree that for whatever reason teams really were affected by the Vegas Flu this year. It’s a unique city, unlike any of the other previous expansion teams listed. I do think they are a good team who overachieved this year. Vegas also had that terrible tragedy prior to the season and while people don’t believe in intangibles, it gave them a strong sense of community, purpose and motivation for their inaugural season.

 

I have San Jose going deep these playoffs so I can’t really change my perspective after game 1. In my view, Vegas continues to surprise.

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2 hours ago, xXx..CK..xXx said:

In that sense you’re right but I definitely agree that for whatever reason teams really were affected by the Vegas Flu this year. It’s a unique city, unlike any of the other previous expansion teams listed. I do think they are a good team who overachieved this year. Vegas also had that terrible tragedy prior to the season and while people don’t believe in intangibles, it gave them a strong sense of community, purpose and motivation for their inaugural season.

 

I have San Jose going deep these playoffs so I can’t really change my perspective after game 1. In my view, Vegas continues to surprise.

 

same here.

 

They don't have a real first line.

They don't have  ANY  first pair dman. (MAAAAYBE Shea Theodore...)

 

What the hell happenend ?

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52 minutes ago, JoeLassister said:

 

same here.

 

They don't have a real first line.

They don't have  ANY  first pair dman. (MAAAAYBE Shea Theodore...)

 

What the hell happenend ?

 

Points by position this season

LW: Perron (8th), Haula (20th). Neal (31st)

C: Karlsson (11th), Marchessault (17th)

RW: Smith (17th), Tuch (39th)

D: Miller (28th), Schmidt (37th)

 

Gallant was very socialist with his D minutes, five defencemen averaged 19-22 minutes and played more than half of the season with only Hunt and Merrill treated like third pairing guys.

 

I disagree not having a real first line though. Scoring stats they were pretty much in the 1A/1B range for their lines. Five forwards with 50 points or more? Habs haven't done that since 07-08.

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16 hours ago, Machine of Loving Grace said:

 

Points by position this season

LW: Perron (8th), Haula (20th). Neal (31st)

C: Karlsson (11th), Marchessault (17th)

RW: Smith (17th), Tuch (39th)

D: Miller (28th), Schmidt (37th)

 

Gallant was very socialist with his D minutes, five defencemen averaged 19-22 minutes and played more than half of the season with only Hunt and Merrill treated like third pairing guys.

 

I disagree not having a real first line though. Scoring stats they were pretty much in the 1A/1B range for their lines. Five forwards with 50 points or more? Habs haven't done that since 07-08.

What I meant is that  on pretty much any team in the league (excluding Phoenix...)  none of these guy is a clear cut  1st liner or top pair guy.

 

What Gallant achieved is amazing and if he doesn't win the Jack Adams, it will be daylight robbery.

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20 hours ago, JoeLassister said:

 

same here.

 

They don't have a real first line.

They don't have  ANY  first pair dman. (MAAAAYBE Shea Theodore...)

 

What the hell happenend ?

 

They have 4 second lines and 6 # three Dmen

 

They don't have that power line but the depth is crazy

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I remember when Gallant was in Montreal, the players talked a lot about keeping the puck behind the other teams goal line. Cycling and creating from there.  I see a lot of that in this Vegas team. Chip and chase with speed. It seems to work with this group of muckers.  Lots of fun. I'm cheering for them.

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5-2 Bruins 9minutes left, its basically done deal. Very quiet crowd, like Nashville's was.

 

 

Now...Go Raptors & Golden Knights Go!!!:clap:

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50 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

It makes me vomit to think that Boston was able win a Cup in 2011, retool, and become a contender again by 2018. Meanwhile, there's the Habs :1vomit:

 

Yeah the Habs have been rotten, were never a contender in that time period. Division wins and playoff round wins only matter if it's any other team. Just an overall garbage franchise, let's shut this site down. No better yet, let's keep it going and take a big steaming dump on them every day, that'll show them. 

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1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

It makes me vomit to think that Boston was able win a Cup in 2011, retool, and become a contender again by 2018. Meanwhile, there's the Habs :1vomit:

 

They've had one of the best drafting records for over a decade now.  So many elite talents taken outside the lottery.  Unfortunately Tampa also seems to be one of the best at drafting and scouting.  I've always seen Timmins and co. as above average, but we're pretty far behind those two division rivals.

 

I hope I'm not punished again for briefly rooting for the Bruins with another run to the final.  I still like Tampa this round but game one didn't go as planned.

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2 hours ago, illWill said:

 

Yeah the Habs have been rotten, were never a contender in that time period. Division wins and playoff round wins only matter if it's any other team. Just an overall garbage franchise, let's shut this site down. No better yet, let's keep it going and take a big steaming dump on them every day, that'll show them. 

 

Couldn't wait for the down vote on this one, seen it coming a mile away. I'm sorry you feel that I was out of line and that it is justified to dump on anyone defending what this team has done in the last 8 years. I've had a good time with this team, perhaps it is not up to standards for others, I don't know. Can I say " Ole" without a down vote?

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1 hour ago, illWill said:

 

Couldn't wait for the down vote on this one, seen it coming a mile away. I'm sorry you feel that I was out of line and that it is justified to dump on anyone defending what this team has done in the last 8 years. I've had a good time with this team, perhaps it is not up to standards for others, I don't know. Can I say " Ole" without a down vote?

 

For the record, I wasn't the source of the downvote. I can't be bothered with that crap and only ever 'upvote.' And if you enjoy mediocrity and incompetence, God bless.

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2 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

For the record, I wasn't the source of the downvote. And if you enjoy mediocrity and incompetence, God bless.

 

You're a man of many words, surely you understand the definition of mediocrity 

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3 minutes ago, illWill said:

 

You're a man of many words, surely you understand the definition of mediocrity 

 

Jeebus, what is your problem? I didn't downvote you, my friend. Get over it FFS

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8 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Jeebus, what is your problem? I didn't downvote you, my friend. Get over it FFS

 

Never said that you down voted, I was pointing out that I had a post that was down vote worthy around here. My response to you had nothing to do with that. You think Montreal has been mediocre for the last 8 years and I challenged you on that. 

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17 minutes ago, illWill said:

 

Never said that you down voted, I was pointing out that I had a post that was down vote worthy around here. My response to you had nothing to do with that. You think Montreal has been mediocre for the last 8 years and I challenged you on that. 

 

To be more precise, then, I would say the Habs have grown progressively more mediocre the longer Bergevin's tenure has gone on. But it's true, we had a fine team back in 2014 before he'd had time to cock it all up. Anyway, let's not go over all that again...my original point was to mourn that Boston has mostly eaten our lunch, organizationally speaking, over the past decade. (Actually, it goes back even further - the symbolic moment when they passed us being Lucic's shattering of the Komisarek myth; the Gainey rebuild was all downhill from there). They've built two contenders in the time it took us to reach one semi-final and otherwise plateau out as 'long shot contenders' at best and garbage at worst. Surely a glum thought for any Habs fan, or so I'd have imagined.

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7 hours ago, BCHabnut said:

I've been annoyed this playoff year with the putting away the whistle and letting them play. It seems worse than normal.  

 

This has driven me crazy for years. I don't know if this playoff is especially bad, but one thing I've been noticing is that it does seem especially *arbitrary.* They let a punch of crap go and then suddenly call hooking or interference because a guy brushes another guy. It's as though they occasionally forget, 'oh yeah, this is the playoffs, I'm not supposed to call stuff.' :huh: 

 

Call the game in a way that encourages offence and skill, and do so from October to June. It ain't rocket science, for God's sake.

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