Board 8 > NHL Discussion Topic Part 2 - We Didn't Purge Edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

SmartMuffin posted...

MartinFF7 posted...

They had zero business being in Game 7 Double OT considering how they were getting outplayed, but just imagine if they got a damn goal there.... they could have taken the Predators!!

...is what I'll tell myself until they commit to 3 solid years of tanking, including a lottery win, to rebuild that team.

gonna need a new owner

Unless something unfortunate befalls him, he's more likely to move than sell the team.

awww yea Houston Senators here we come
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the league is much more likely to force a sale than to let melnyk move the team
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Yeah Bettman is pro-Ottawa

249USDollars posted...

Yeah Bettman is pro-Ottawa

Is... is he really? I can see his pro-Ottawa sentiments during their playoff run, or when hosting the game on Parliament Hill, or during the push for them to get the Lebreton Flats land for the new arena, but other than that...?

Small market Canadian team with soft attendance and a weak Canadian dollar?

I'd also be interested in the history of big 4 professional franchises, owners forced to sell a team without a legit underlying cause (crime, divorce, Don Sterling...)

Somebody trick Melnyk into saying the n-word, that's all we need!!

Two goals and two assists for Taylor Hall in a 5-2 win over the Rangers. Playoff spot very nearly secured.
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The godawful location of that arena should be sufficient cause to remove the Sens owner tbqh
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averaging 18,000+ fans for the 11 years following the lockout is pretty good attendance. i don't think bettman would move a team for a two-year down spell caused by owner penny pinching and shitty roster decisions.
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Hawks do Avs, Ducks, and Kings a solid and beat the Blues in regulation. Kings clinch playoff spot.

You're welcome.
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Yeah, that's quite the solid result!
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The Avs squeaking into the playoffs only to be obliterated by the Predators would be nice for them (I'd like to see them get WC1 so Vegas has an easier first round but to do that they'd need to win out & have LA literally get 0 points in 2 games, or the Ducks get 2 points in 3 games - Colorado has the tiebreaker on them at least)

Also just remembered St Louis @ Colorado is the final game of the season for both teams, so, Saturday night could be pretty good!

Not Dave posted...

averaging 18,000+ fans for the 11 years following the lockout is pretty good attendance. i don't think bettman would move a team for a two-year down spell caused by owner penny pinching and shitty roster decisions.

Oh I was assuming an owner could decide to move a team by themself, not have Bettman force a move unilaterally. I mean, I imagine the desire to move would go to a vote in the board of governors but who knows what kind of majority they need. Or if Bettman does have a veto over any move desire? Yeah he probably does, otherwise the GTA would have like 4 teams by now, hahaha...

You're right though, it is a recent phenomenon, it just feels like it's one negative news story after another for this franchise. Attendance is good when they were an elite team, and in playoff hunts for most of the past few years, but if they really are losing Karlsson the future might not be pretty. What happens if the two-year down spell becomes four, five? well, we'll see what happens.

Also, what are Ottawa's goalie plans, Craig Anderson is getting into real senior goalie years now...

I feel like regardless of the matchups, both Pacific series should be really competitive - but also I have no desire to watch them because they're on so late and none of the teams involved are legit cup contenders.
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Grubauer scares me more than either of the previous Caps teams did.
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Crossfiyah posted...

Grubauer scares me more than either of the previous Caps teams did.

pfft, as if some random no-name backup goalie could get hot and lead you to the cup over an established successful veteran

that could NEVER happen...
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The Devils are back in the playoffs! Absolutely did not expect this when the season started.
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DpObliVion posted...

The Devils are back in the playoffs! Absolutely did not expect this when the season started.

Super weird that they sustained it. Still feel like they're "most likely to get swept" tho
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And I sure as hell did not expect it to come behind Keith Kinkaid rather than Cory Schneider.
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I crunched the numbers on Blues/Avs who are now guaranteed Wild Card #2 with Colorado's loss earlier. One of the rare instances where the one playoff spot between two teams comes down to game 82, where both those teams face each other.

Keeping in mind: Avs are at 93 points, Blues 92 points, both at ROW 40 (tiebreaker 1) and Blues have already won the season series regardless of this last game (tiebreaker 2); and Blues Game 81 is @ Hawks Friday, and then Game 82 is @ Colorado Saturday:
-If Blues lose to Hawks in any fashion (Reg/OT/SO), Avs need to win by any fashion
-If Blues beat Hawks in regulation or OT, Avs need to win in regulation only
-If Blues beat Hawks in shootout, Avs need to win in regulation or OT

Just imagine that last scenario, and the game goes to OT. Colorado would have to do everything they could to get the win before the shootout since it'd give them the ROW tiebreaker, 41-40. Have we seen a goalie be pulled in 3-on-3 OT yet? Probably too risky a move... hell, under scenario 2 we can see the same thing, the goalie being pulled in a tied game as regulation is winding down since heading to OT is as disqualifying as a loss.

Blues facing the road back-to-back makes me think Colorado can make it, but will be interesting to see what St Louis does Friday night. Of course, whoever does make it gets fed to the Predators woodchipper, but at least they'll get 2 home playoff games out of it!

Florida technically still alive too, if they win out against Buffalo and Boston (at least one win must be in regulation or overtime), and the Flyers fail to earn a point against the Rangers.

Fairly likely that the Bruins WILL have something to play for in that makeup game, as they're currently tied with the Lightning for 1st in the East.
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Although Tampa currently has one more ROW than Boston. So if Tampa beats Buffalo and Carolina both in regulation/overtime, the Bruins will be unable to catch them, and will have nothing to play for on Sunday against the Panthers. Oddly enough, they'd then be in position to basically pick Tampa's opponent. Beat the Panthers and the Lightning get the Flyers. Lose to them and they get the Panthers.
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How much better are Tampa/Boston than Washington/Pittsburgh and how much is their fairly higher point total due to the fact that the shittiest teams in the metro (NYR/NYI) are better than half the Atlantic?
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The top 3 in the Atlantic don't actually have a much higher point total against their own division than the Metropolitan. Tampa/Boston/Toronto have 36/36/35 points from the division, while Washington/Pittsburgh/Columbus have 35/38/32 points from the division.

They're just actually good!
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I think they're definitely better, although Tampa has been kinda cold lately. That said, neither Pittsburgh nor Washington are like, bad teams. I'd think should be expected to take the Atlantic team to at least 6 games, and it's certainly not impossible they could win the series.
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Apparently I botched my St Louis - Colorado playoff qualification analysis, when the season series has an odd number of games, the first home game of the team which got the majority isn't included in tiebreaker consideration, which was a St. Louis win.

Won't make a difference anyways: if Colorado wins in overtime then the season series for tiebreaker purposes is St Louis 2-1-1, Colorado 2-2-0, so St Louis outpoints them 5-4 and advances.

So, Colorado has to win in regulation. If St. Louis scores first, wonder how much of a wall they'll put up...

Patrick Sharp likely calling it a career. Key component of all those Hawks run, hell of a run.

I'll always love this goal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXCAvF8JsmY" data-time="
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Odds that the BJs and Devils both try and tank today in order to avoid Pittsburgh?
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I think the Devils would prefer to face the Penguins. Either way, after clinching, they will be resting players today. Taylor Hall, on 39 goals, won't play, along with Zajac, Palmieri, and Vatanen. Nico Hischier will play to complete a full 82-games-played season.
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Does the work tank really apply when you're just trying to lose 1 game?
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DpObliVion posted...

I think the Devils would prefer to face the Penguins. Either way, after clinching, they will be resting players today. Taylor Hall, on 39 goals, won't play, along with Zajac, Palmieri, and Vatanen. Nico Hischier will play to complete a full 82-games-played season.

Actually now that I look at it, that's a bad idea for them. If the BJs and Flyers both win, they'd fall to WC2 and get shipped out to the Atlantic zone of death.
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Yeah, I don't really like it either. I mean, no matter who we end up facing, we've got a tough match, so I can see the reasoning behind resting players.

For what it's worth (not much, probably), the Devils went 3-0 this season against the Lightning. 0-3 against Boston. 3-1 against Pittsburgh. 1-2 against Washington (playing them today, but with players resting, you can throw that out).
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lolTampa
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With tonight's win the Leafs have broken a franchise record for points in a season.

More importantly, though, is that Andersen now holds the franchise record for wins in the regular season with 38, breaking the record held by literally Andrew Raycroft.

Also, Boston won and Tampa lost, which means a Boston win tomorrow gives us Tampa/Toronto in the first round!
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Tampa really is trending in the wrong direction. I still like them long-term but I am not at all confident that they won't blow it to the Leafs.
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oh and somehow I just noticed that both Anaheim and LA can actually catch San Jose tonight if they lose.
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SmartMuffin posted...

I am not at all confident that they won't blow it to the Leafs.

I'll take it!
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really, Kings?
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SmartMuffin posted...

really, Kings?

While winning this game would maybe help, at the end of the day their backs are about as far from the wall as you can get.

Did you expect anything different from this game?
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Not to mention Vegas is a better opponent to draw than San Jose or Anaheim, arguably. But yeah, not the best look for the last game of the season...

Meanwhile I feel bad for the Capitals, I mean the Devils and Flyers are both teams that should get smoked in the first round, but Columbus... yikes. Went from surefire Pens/Caps rematch to a tossup imo.

Meanwhile COLORADO UP 3-1 AWWWW YEAHHHH gotta hang in there.

Rangers fire Alain Vigneault.

The Avs just might hold on. What a turnaround that would be from last season. Arguably more impressive than the Devils just because of how bad they managed to be last year.
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Jake Allen is so clearly obviously injured right now... and Yeo just leaves him right in there.
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And that's the end for the Blues

Colorado gets to be fed to the Predators now
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Nathan MacKinnon for Hart???

Also, re: Vigneault firing: wonder which sucker team is going to hire him, or are we finally through with that. Please tell me Montreal's coach isn't getting fired...

I see very good arguments for MacKinnon, Hall, and Kopitar, and would not be upset if any of them got it.

Now watch it go to Malkin or someone dumb.
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This season is the first time an NHL season ended without the Monreal Canadiens or the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs since 1926 (Montreal missed that year, & Detroit was not even a team then).
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Duchene mentioned wanting to play playoff hockey as one of the reasons why he requested to be traded.

lol
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If the Kings somehow win this game(unlikely), tempted to buy out a whole bunch of cheap Ducks playoff tickets that currently no one wants and then sell them for double the price.
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TheKnightOfNee posted...

And that's the end for the Blues

Colorado gets to be fed to the Predators now

Remember the last time the 8 seed matched up against the 1 seed in the West?
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RIP my moneymaking scheme.
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Hey Muffin, turns out that a no name backup can steal fantasy championships just as well as real life championships! Fucking Keith Kincaid. And add Raanta for good measure for remembering that he had a contract to play for.

I mean, I came up just short in a couple of other categories so it's not like that was the only factor but I was banking on those goalie categories and I only won GAA. Fuck, I'm really bummed about this.

davidponte posted...

Remember the last time the 8 seed matched up against the 1 seed in the West?

The 8 seed made the Cup finals & became the 1 seed the very next year?

Props to Colorado for making it but let's not get carried away here...

in the prediction challenge, I'm seeing Nashville as...+6, only Pittsburgh & whoever wins the Atlantic would be higher.