2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[bluesfan18]

How is anyone against the Sharks in the playoffs an underdog, I mean really? Blues are far from an underdog and SHOULD be able to beat L.A. quite easily. Team that struggles to score goals vs a team that is so stout defensively. I also disagree, I don't think the Preds were underdogs and I don't think the Flyers were underdogs. Expectations were just set way too high for the majority of teams this year (Canucks, Red Wings, Blackhawks, Penguins) because of past recent success.

I agree, but they were labeled as underdogs because the other teams(Penguins, Wings, Sharks) were favored to win because of what you said, "past recent success." Now as for LA, I don't doubt that we should beat LA, but it sure isn't going to come easy. It's a mirror matchup, defensive teams with great goaltending. It honestly scares me.

[Irony]

How is anyone against the Sharks in the playoffs an underdog, I mean really? Blues are far from an underdog and SHOULD be able to beat L.A. quite easily. Team that struggles to score goals vs a team that is so stout defensively. I also disagree, I don't think the Preds were underdogs and I don't think the Flyers were underdogs. Expectations were just set way too high for the majority of teams this year (Canucks, Red Wings, Blackhawks, Penguins) because of past recent success.

I think the term underdog is thrown around too much, calling Nashville/Philly/Phoenix an underdog, is insulting to those clubs. Is anyone really that surprised those 3 teams won?

A real underdog was EDM from 2006, no one expected them to go that far.

[bluesfan18]

If you're just solely gonna go off of points, then Petro won't be nominated either. When Lidstrom went out with injury Detroit turned into a terrible defensive team. Lidstrom has as good of a season as he's had all his career, in seasons where he won the award. If Lidstrom hadn't been injured, I think his nomination would be a no brainer, and even with the injury, I still think he deserves the spot.

We are victims of home team bias.

[Aeriedk]

All Vinny-Luongo-Tampa Comments

As a person that lives near Tampa and is a diehard fan I've been watching a lot of this stuff develop for awhile now. I wouldn't expect a Vinny-Luongo trade. A lot of people believe that Vinny is a big asset, until he had a broken hand this past season he along with Stamkos were the highest scoring tandem in the national hockey league. The big thing about Vinny is he is a well rounded player that can play all spots needed and he provides a good core of leadership with St. Louis and he is teaching Stamkos the ropes of being the captain of the team (Stamkos will be the captain, they will pay through the roof for him no matter what). Steve Y doesn't want to trade one big contract for another, if anything Malone is probably the biggest one of the chopping block. Besides that from what I know the Steve Y wants a cheap young goaltender that has room to improve, Luongo is the opposite of that. He is I believe 33 years old and has 10 years left on his contract, he is past his prime, chokes is key situations, and is overpaid. The is the last thing they want, there is no point in going to the playoffs if you don't stand a chance because your goalie pulls a McNabb. Personally there are a lot of teams that may be looking at him but one that I have begun to write off is Tampa, It may be a scenario that we look at if nothing else presents, however with 2 first round picks and 4 second round picks I see Steve Y getting a lot of young blood into the organization an adding some depth to the blue line because bad goal-tending wasn't our only issue because our defense collapsed with the slightest presence of a forecheck.

In the end Yzerman is created a team and organization that will be a contender for years to come not just be one and done, and if any person can do it, it is Steve Yzerman. I'm looking forward to the thick of this off-season because I strongly believe the lightning will be busy and I expect the lightning to become the detroit of the east because that is the vision that Steve Y has for this organization.

[Irony]

We are victims of home team bias.

Well obviously. Honestly if you forced me to pick 3, I'd Pick Weber, Chara and Karl.

---------- Post added 2012-04-25 at 09:42 PM ----------

As a person that lives near Tampa and is a diehard fan I've been

TRADE FOR STEVE MASON. He's cheap, young and has so much talent. I don't want him to become the next Raycroft.

[Deleted]

As for the Norris: Lidstrom, Weber, Karlsson, in that order.

[Rennadrel]

How is anyone against the Sharks in the playoffs an underdog, I mean really? Blues are far from an underdog and SHOULD be able to beat L.A. quite easily. Team that struggles to score goals vs a team that is so stout defensively. I also disagree, I don't think the Preds were underdogs and I don't think the Flyers were underdogs. Expectations were just set way too high for the majority of teams this year (Canucks, Red Wings, Blackhawks, Penguins) because of past recent success.

Thornton, Couture, Clowe, Handzus, Havlat, Marleau, Boyle, Burns and Niemi, that is a quality roster that should be playing deep into the playoffs if you ask me.

[Fuzzzie]

Tonight. Boston and Washington in Game 7'

Join us in IRC chat at gametime if you like.

http://webchat.quakenet.org/?channels=#mmoc-hockey

We'll be exchanging cornbread recipes and watching Boston go down!!

[kilj]

1-1 after 2...

[Fuzzzie]

1-1 after 2...

yeah. Go Caps!

Chat is still up. having some fun there

http://webchat.quakenet.org/?channels=#mmoc-hockey

Gogo 3rd period

[Masqerader]

goodbye boston.. nice the bs and nucks gone

[Fuzzzie]

CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS!

What Whaaat?

[Zoma]

Statistically the closest series ever. 7 games determined by one goal.

[Darthvendor]

Yay caps, now the last two game 7s and the east is finally done the first round...

[Asera]

I don't believe it! I am so happy right now!

If you told me before the post season that Washington was going to take the defending champions to 7 close games and WIN. I would have laughed, spat in your face and called you a total moron.

Round 2 will be tough(er) maybe... but at least... they... are gone. Muahahaha...

[Irony]

At the beginning of the series I stated Boston would sweep due to Holtby being an inexperienced Goaltender who never looked impressive.

Fuck you Holtby, and fuck you Capitals. :l

[BicycleMafioso]

NYR vs Ottawa in 6
Boston vs Washington in 6
NJD vs Florida Panthers in 6
Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia in 7

LAK vs Canucks in 7
St Louis vs San Jose in 4
Phoenix vs Chicago in 5
Detroit vs Nashville in 5

First team to advance I had not predicted! I based it more on WSH shoddy play off record in recent years than BOS latest cup run.
But hey. I preferred the Caps to advance, so all's well that ends well.

[Tuukkatime]

I said it the other day, WTB A HEALTHY NATHAN HORTON!

Great series though. Great game. Hard fought on both sides. Unfortunately the only two teams I give a shit about will most likely face each other next round (given that the Rangers can win tomorrow night.) Oh well, I just hope Holtby doesn't get cold now.

I'm gonna go cry now.

[Zeoni]

I'm seeing a common theme among many series. The teams that were supposed to move on and didn't, have big name players that just didn't show up. Whether or not they were shut down by hot goalies is besides the fact, these players get paid to perform. The Sharks know this feeling all too well. At least this year Big Joe somewhat showed up. Marleau was invisible. Pavelski, surprisingly the same. Havlat's production was basically limited to one game and if Clowe isn't scoring goals along with everyone else, they drown in deep water. That's just not good enough, someone is going to have to do SOMETHING there to ignite those guys. It's sad seeing a team with such high caliber talent fall short every single year. Niemi didn't have a solid performance either which really was the nail in the coffin. At least for these other teams (L.A., Phoenix) when their best players don't show up (or even their entire offense) they have that goalie in net. The Sharks really haven't had that. Niemi is decent but he seems shaky. Nabokov always seemed to let in untimely goals when he was there.

Vancouver was very similar except the only people who showed up were the defense, Henrik Sedin, and Cory Schneider. It's pathetic that professional athletes get paid huge amounts of money to just not show up. If I had a similar performance in my area of work, I woulden't be allowed out on the field. I strongly believe if you're getting paid over 3 million dollars, you should be producing. Effort is great and all but if when push comes to shove and you don't shove back you shoulden't make THAT much money. Chicago Blackhawks ousted in the first round too. Maybe Mike Smith is superhuman but that's no excuse for your best players to just not score goals. Michael Frolik shoulden't be in the top 3 points of your team. It's a shame too because Toews is such a hard guy to hate. He works his ass off and is a great player. Coming off an injury 4 points in 6 games is expected. But where was Patrick Kane? Where was Patrick Sharp? Was Stalberg sleeping this entire series, I barely saw him involved at all.

Despite heavily outplaying Nashville, Detroit was out too. It doesn't matter how badly you beat your opponent all that matters is the scoreboard at the end of the game / series. If you can't put the puck in the back of the net with your 5 million dollar contract, that's really unfortunate for the people paying you. Nobody on Detroit was really outstanding in this series. While Pekka Rinne was a huge story, he wasn't unbeatable. If Filppula, Franzen, or Bertuzzi actually scored 2 goals between the 3 of them, the Wings would probably still be in the playoffs. Boston was very unimpressive coming off their cup win. Maybe they just need some rest but with Krecji, Lucic, Marchand not doing a whole lot, it's not too big of a surprise the Bruins are out. I thought Seguin closed the series out very strong and was the best player on both sides the last 2 games. They ran into trouble when they didn't rattle Holtby early in the series. If they had dominated Washington in game 1-3 and put up 3-5 goals each game it would have been over early. But the kid got confidence as the series went on. The big bad Bruins were nothing but baby cubs at the end of the day.

Of the 2 series left, only one has superstars lacking in firepower. Gaborik just seems like such a huge disappointment. If he doesn't pick it up and the Rangers lose, I think a great deal can be looked back on his performance along with Dubinski and to an extent Richards. He had a great game 6 which is his only saving grace right now. In the final series, the big guns of NJ are firing. Zajac, Kovalchuk, and Parise are all at the top of scoring for the Devils. Fleishmann hasn't been as big as I thought he'd be for the Panthers but that might be because he's just not meant to be a top 6 forward. Versteeg and Weiss both showed up. While goal tending has been shaky for both sides, it hasn't gotten out of hand yet. I'm not even going to mention the Pennsylvania series because that was a defensive abomination.

Had the teams who are eliminated gotten even 3 more goals from the guys who are EXPECTED to score, the face of round 1 would look a lot different. To win in the playoffs, certain guys have to perform well. When those guys don't score, breakout players are born. If none show they have it in them, it usually means your team is going home. Looking forward to round 2 and the 2 game 7's tomorrow, go Sens and please do something Michalek, your team needs it badly.

[Garbles]

Caps are winning the cup, the trend must continue!