NHL Playoffs Thread

[Sasquach991]

^^^^^^

You don't get to criticize me when you're 1 outta 8

[Alexos]

bit late but I'll be honest and pick what i would have 3 days ago:

LA
NSH
NY
PHI

[BankItDrew]

^^^^^^

You don't get to criticize me when you're 1 outta 8

It turns out that I picked 3/8 teams correctly. Only 1 was with the correct games.

But who's counting...

[bigred]

This is a stupid, Boston-less sport. Please close thread.

[Sasquach991]

<---------

[Sasquach991]

^^^^^^^^

[BankItDrew]

ruh roh no mo preds

u must love mike smith

[BankItDrew]

looks like i'm going to be 1/4 in the second round...

fml

[baudib]

Flyers sux

[a500lbgorilla]

Watching the Flyers this series is like watching the Pens last series. I've got the cursed touch. Lemme know who you don't want to see in the cup.

[a500lbgorilla]

lol bryzgo

[a500lbgorilla]

baudib, take comfort in knowing that you guys thoroughly crushed the Pens this year. Soul crushed. We had GOATs and MVPs all over the place and the Flyers made them look like bitches.

[baudib]

That was pretty crushing and demoralizing.

I'll look at the positives of this being a pretty good rebuilding year. The team got hella younger and faster in a year in which they traded off their two stars and lost their captain for the season.

Giroux is 24 and gaining ground on the Malkins and Crosbys of the world. He should be on the short list of Hart Trophy contenders for the next several years.

Sean Couturier is 19 and looks to be the next...IDK...Ron Sutter, Dave Poulin or Rod Brind'Amour: A gritty two-way center who shuts down the other team's top line.

They have a shitload of other rookies who played their balls off: Brayden Schenn, Erik Gustafsson, Matt Read, Eric Wellwood. These guys are young and fast and should be getting better as a group for the next 2-3 years.

James Van Riemsdyk basically had a lost year, but is still only 22. Wayne Simmonds is 23. Jakub Voracek is 22.

Not all of these guys are going to pan out, but the Flyers should be really good with this core for several seasons.

[Sasquach991]

Mike Smith is a beast

Round 2

[ ] STL>LAK 4-3
[ ] NSH>PHX 4-3
[ ] NYR>WSH 4-2- hoping this goes to 7
[x] NJD>PHI 4-2 upset game prediction (4-1)

[Penneywize]

I just gotta say it's pretty fucking funny to hear baudib refer to Philly's season as a 'rebuilding year'.

HABS GOT 3RD OVERALL PICK BRO. That's rebuilding. Your team is actually good, shrewd GM has made tons of really astute moves with the obvious exception of signing bryz to a ridiculous 9 year contract.

I hate the flyers though, so, seriously, FU dude.

[baudib]

We traded away Richards and Carter for 3 guys age 20, 22, 23 and a pick; lost Pronger, after he played 13 games, probably for his career. Those are the three guys who have been the core of the team for years.

Getting the No. 3 pick doesn't mean you're rebuilding, it just means you suck.

[Penneywize]

Richards are Carter are not that long in the tooth either. A "rebuild" is what took place in the years after you bottomed out in 2006; the core was jettisoned and built anew.

What happened last summer were simply hockey trades; at most, you could refer to it as a 'retool'. For whatever reason -- and I imagine ridiculous contract length had something to do with it -- Holmgren thought it best to get rid of these two players while their values were relatively high, and obviously obtained some useful assets that are both "good now" and "have potential".

You could hardly argue that a "rebuilding year" was implicit in trading away Richards and Carter, though. The team was/is still good and still able to compete, and perhaps even contend. The Flyers' "window" is still wide open.

If you want an example of a rebuild, take a look at the Penguins or the Capitals through the early-mid part of the last decade. Look at Columbus now (some would argue that they are in a perpetual rebuilding state though).

QED not a rebuild bra. Not even close.

EDIT: just took a quick look at the 2009-2010 playoffs roster and it seem that there still are 8 of the top 14 scorers from that years' cup run team, counting Pronger. Aside from Richards and Carter, the other guys missing are largely the role-playing type, or guys who left via free agency -- Aaron Asham, Ville Leino, Simon Gagne etc.

[baudib]

Dude, if you take any team's top 2 forwards and franchise defenseman away from them and replace them with a bunch of kids and you go on to lead the league in rookie games, no one is going to expect you to make the playoffs, let alone contend.

I mean, w/e, I don't really care wtf anyone else thinks because I considered anything done in the playoffs to be a big cherry on the year. Getting stomped on by the Devils sucked bawls, especially with the top teams in the West being eliminated, but overall it's a pretty great year (as opposed to last year's second-round elimination, which was a huge disappointment).

Going forward, this year will be remembered as the beginning of the Claude Giroux era in Philadelphia, plus the year they got Couturier, Schenn, Voracek, Simmonds, Read, Bryzgalov (for better or worse). Going forward the core is going to be Giroux and 4-5 of those guys, plus guys like JVR, Wellwood, Gustafsson, Grossmann. In other words, most of the team's best players were guys who weren't key players or weren't even around in 2010.

[baudib]

FYI, here was the report on Broad Street Hockey the day of the trades:

Step away from the knife. Step away from your loved ones. Go to a secluded place. Cry, yell, scream, break things, whatever.

The Flyers traded Mike Richards to the Kings for Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds not 45 minutes after they traded Jeff Carter to the Blue Jackets for Jakub Voracek, a 1st and a 3rd.

Personally? I'm going to go grab a drink. Ed Snider ordered a rebuild, Paul Holmgren executed. It could be worse (Schenn is a stud), but...

[Sasquach991]

Chance of lockout? I say 98%

[Shotglass]

Chance of lockout? I say 98%

?????

[Sasquach991]

CBA talks stalled after Friday's session - NHL.com - News

[Penneywize]

yeah seems pretty likely we'll miss some games this year, I'd say they'll be playing by december at the latest. At least, I hope as much.

[Shotglass]

CBA talks stalled after Friday's session - NHL.com - News

well, don't that just fuckin suck

[surviva316]

I like how articles I read on this (and articles I read during the NFL lockout) are completely minimizing what is obviously the biggest sticking point. "The league's latest offer, which included SO MANY AWESOME CONCESSIONS, was rejected today . . . . . . blah blah blah . . . . . one of their concessions was that they offered 46% in player revenue sharing, which is up from the 43% of their first deal (oh btw, it was 56% last year which means that they're asking for players to essentially take a 15%+ pay cut)."

That sentence sucked, but basically, I'm pretty sure this lockout is because the players don't want their revenue sharing to be drastically reduced. Everything else is overcomplicating things.

[bigred]

If a hockey game doesn't occur, but no one watched it anyway, did hockey ever exist in the first place?

JUST KEEEEDIN

[Penneywize]

Alright gents, it's that time of year again!

Here are my fail predictions for the first round of the 2013 playoffs:

East:
PIT vs NYI: PIT in 5
MTL vs OTT: MTL in 6
WAS vs NYR: NYR in 7
BOS vs TOR: BOS in 7

West:
CHI vs MIN: CHI in 5
ANA vs DET: ANA in 6
VAN vs SJ: VAN in 7
STL vs LA: STL in 6

There you have it. Let's hear your predictions, hopefully before the puck drops on tonight's games.

[Willishere]

I don't follow the NHL but love to make bets of it... so as I made lots of money on the penguins team so I'll cheers for them to win this championship...

[surviva316]

I will be joining the "Hockey Sucks" bandwagon this year.

[Penneywize]

I will be joining the "Hockey Sucks" bandwagon this year.

Meh, can't believe what the Flyers went through this year man. Too much talent on that team to have fared so poorly. I'd fire both the GM and the coach (Holmgren + Laviolette) in a heartbeat.

If ownership doesn't replace Holmgren, Laviolette definitely has to go. Problem is, the last time Holmgren was asked about the prospect of relieving Laviolette of his duties, he went on an expletive-infested tirade. So it doesn't seem all that likely.

[BankItDrew]

East:
PIT vs NYI: PIT in 5
MTL vs OTT: MTL in 7
WAS vs NYR: NYR in 7
BOS vs TOR: TOR in 7

West:
CHI vs MIN: CHI in 5
ANA vs DET: ANA in 5
VAN vs SJ: VAN in 7
STL vs LA: STL in 7

I made these picks after the first games had begun but before I saw results. Wow.. .I picked a lot of game 7's...

GO LEAFS GO!

[JL]

LOL Leafs. Boston in 3

[eugmac]

after moving to europe and shit the leafs hadn't made the postseason like ya forever but now they made it so time to jump back on the bandwagon!?!? blue and white forever!?!

[BankItDrew]

after moving to europe and shit the leafs hadn't made the postseason like ya forever but now they made it so time to jump back on the bandwagon!?!? blue and white forever!?!

yes and yes

LOL Leafs. Boston in 3

lol

If we win a game in the next two weeks, Front Street will have to be shut down for a couple of days.

[surviva316]

Meh, can't believe what the Flyers went through this year man. Too much talent on that team to have fared so poorly. I'd fire both the GM and the coach (Holmgren + Laviolette) in a heartbeat.

When you lose 4 of your top 5 players at your thinnest position, you're gonna have a bad time. It was to the point to where 2 Flyers defenders getting it out of their own zone with zero pressure was a hold-your-breath situation as a Flyers fan. More ugly turnovers and less clears and less solid play development from red line to red line just had a massive trickle down effect (more ugly scoring chances against you, less attack time, more tired players on the ice, tougher to generate scoring chances, everything).

They shouldn't have been as short stocked as they were at defense (Holmgren's fault), but the bad luck at the position turned a risky venture into something that was beyond worst-case scenario (God's fault), and then Laviolette just reacted by making bad/desperate roster and bench decisions that weren't giving a battered team the best chance to win games (coach's fault).

Agree that Lavi should go. By the end of the season, so many forwards who were bad at everything but fighting got so much more ice time than players who were good at, like, playing hockey and stuff. WE DON'T NEED A DAMNED CULTURE CHANGE; WE NEED PEOPLE WHO ARE AT LEAST MILDLY CAPABLE OF GETTING THE PUCK OUT OF OUR ZONE!!!!

Not as upset with Holmgren. I agree with the overall direction of the team. To be honest, what probably screwed us the most was trading Bobrovsky with no plan for what to behind Bryz. It took until April 16th for them to get their first POINT from a goalie not named Bryzgalov. I know that second goalie is a luxury, but when your only recourse is Michael Friggin Leighton, then you're just conceding a large handful of games over the course of the season.

[Galapogos]

Ugh, Luongo played great last night and today my Facebook feed is filled with the bandwagoners bitching that we need Schneider back. No chance the Canucks make it to 7 games like everyone's predicting if they keep playing the way they did last night, that was not playoff hockey. The life was sucked out of the stands within less than 10 minutes of the first period and the score was still 0 - 0, everyone could see where this game was going.

[Penneywize]

Like a baus:



Game 3 tonight in Ottawa (well, Kanata, actually, but however...)
Go Habs!

@ Surviva so we're agreed on Ravioliette having to go. I still think Holmgren has to bite it due to his inability to address a lack of depth on defence, as you pointed out. Trading JVR for Schenn was probably a bad idea as well. Personally, I think he gets canned solely for that Bryzgalov deal; any other ammunition you can come up with is just gravy. He's had his 5 years, let another man run the show.

[a500lbgorilla]

How's things?

[Penneywize]

FU RILLA

I'd hope the Bruins get eliminated tonight if it weren't for the fact that they're playing the goddamn Leafs

so go bruins go

[Galapogos]

wtf Leafs?

[Penneywize]

That was un-fucking-believable. God damn. If I were a Leafs fan, I'd have felt like I'd been shot in the gut. What a heart breaker. But what a comeback by the B's. Just... inconceivable. Well done.

By the way guys, I went 5 of 8, guessing the correct number of games in THREE series! pretty fucking good yeah? Rangers win in 7, Boston wins in 7, Chicago wins in 5.

[BankItDrew]

3/8, 2 perfect.

pens in 7
rangers in 6
chicago in 6
LA in 7

[BankItDrew]

also, the leafs loss was my most heartbreaking loss in my life for pro sports.

[Penneywize]

Yeah BID that would def be a tough one to swallow. I've never felt any pity for Leafs fans. After that one, I almost did!

Sens/Pens game already happened but I'll leave it to you to decide whether it has influenced my picks.

East:
PIT vs OTT: PIT in 5
BOS vs NYR: BOS in 7
West:
CHI vs DET: CHI in 6
LA vs SJ: SJ in 6

Toughest pick is Bos vs NYR, a lot of possibilities here. Much depends on the continued excellent play of Lundqvist and whether Boston's Seguin or NYR's Nash decide to wake up and play some fucking hockey any time soon.

[STILL_mkd]

I think that Pittsburgh Penguins will be champion this year, but New York Rangers also has good team and of course I can not forget Los Angeles Kings, the team that destroy St. Louis and leads against San Jose Sharks.

[BankItDrew]

If you pick three teams, you did not predict a champion. Especially in the 2nd round.

My money has been on the Pens since January.

[Penneywize]

Please hockey gods allow us a Chi / Pitts final. PLEASE. That would be so fucking epic. The two best teams in hockey, period.

[Pascal]

Penguins ftw

[a500lbgorilla]

Sens in 5. Lol at you fools.

[surviva316]

A fortune cookie once said: "Don't reverse jinx your own team. It's tacky."

'Twas bullshit. Doesn't even make any sense with "in bed" at the end.