Board 8 > NHL Discussion Topic - Playoff Edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

I for one am rooting for Tampa / Winnipeg just to see the NBC ratings apocalypse.
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Shadow Dino posted...

I for one am rooting for Tampa / Winnipeg just to see the NBC ratings apocalypse.

a nice throwback to the mid-2000s when every SCF was a southern team with no fans vs a non-Toronto Canadian team
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I rarely agree with Ryan Lambert, but at least he has this right:

Honestly, this is one of those things where Hockey People are gonna try to say, Ah well the Caps have learned from so-and-so and theyre better now. Hockey People will be wrong. Its very funny that this is the Caps team to break through the second round, because its easily the worst of the Trotz era at the very least, and also on the low end of the entire Ovechkin area. And yet here we are, with them hoping they dont get absolutely creamed by a Tampa team that flattened the much-better-than-the-Capitals Bruins.

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Are non-Toronto Canadian teams not popular?
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In the US? Not sure.

In Canada, the hockey TV ratings are great regardless of whether a Canadian team is playing or not.
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If the Caps do get creamed by the also-much-better-than-the-Penguins Lightning, do you still feel like the season was a complete failure?
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ExThaNemesis posted...

If the Caps do get creamed by the also-much-better-than-the-Penguins Lightning, do you still feel like the season was a complete failure?

No. For the first time since the Dale Hunter year, the Caps achieved their expected level of performance. They won the series they were supposed to win, based on seeding.

So long as they don't get embarrassed (i.e. swept or lose a clinching/elimination game by giving up a big lead late) by Tampa, I think they're fine.
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LOLIAmAnAlt posted...

Are non-Toronto Canadian teams not popular?

For NBC they're the worst possible teams to have. Winnipeg is a nightmare from a ratings perspective. I think Oilers/Hurricanes was like the worst rated SCF of all time or something wasn't it?
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SmartMuffin posted...

For NBC they're the worst possible teams to have. Winnipeg is a nightmare from a ratings perspective. I think Oilers/Hurricanes was like the worst rated SCF of all time or something wasn't it?

that sucks coz it was one of the most entertaining. I can't stand the Canes though, they only got that far because of teams getting decimated with injuries against them.
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pretty sure Ducks/Sens had fewer viewers than Oil/Canes
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I imagine something like Winnipeg/Ottawa would be the worst match-up rating-wise

I wonder what would be the worst for Canadians would be; Dallas/Carolina? Arizona/Florida?
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If any of those teams were good enough to get to the finals, I'm sure the viewership would still be there in Canada.

Current Arizona and Florida would be bad, but that hypothetical never happens with current Arizona and Florida.
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Obviously viewer rates would still be good in Canada, but relatively speaking what teams do Canadians care the least?
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lol Rinne already pulled
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https://twitter.com/itwasthreezero/status/994737556158844928
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charmander6000 posted...

Obviously viewer rates would still be good in Canada, but relatively speaking what teams do Canadians care the least?

It probably WOULDN'T be Arizona or any Florida based teams due to the snowbird effect.

I'd guess like Carolina or maybe even Columbus or somewhere like that. Dallas probably too.
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SmartMuffin posted...

charmander6000 posted...

Obviously viewer rates would still be good in Canada, but relatively speaking what teams do Canadians care the least?

It probably WOULDN'T be Arizona or any Florida based teams due to the snowbird effect.

I'd guess like Carolina or maybe even Columbus or somewhere like that. Dallas probably too.

I'd be interested in seeing the ratings difference between Calgary/Tampa Bay (2004), Edmonton/Carolina (2006) and Ottawa/Anaheim (2007).

Granted the 2005 playoffs being wiped out with the strike could be a confounding effect on 2006's ratings (e.g. could they have lost viewers due to the strike?), but that could shed some light which would be interesting to see...!

ExThaNemesis posted...

that sucks coz it was one of the most entertaining. I can't stand the Canes though, they only got that far because of teams getting decimated with injuries against them.

I don't really understand this comment because they were a straight-up better team than everyone they faced. This is true both in terms of points (the only teams with more points than them lost before facing them), and just judging by the strength of their roster, especially once you bake in that Cam Ward played better than at pretty much any other time in his career. Go look at their roster; it's really damn good, the forward depth in particluar is nuts.

I can see disliking them because they definitely loaded up on talent late in the year (e.g. Recchi and Weight, I think there was someone else?) to become the team they did and obviously kinda mortgaged much of their future to do this (to the point where they've had almost no success since) but I dunno, as someone without much of a direct stake in eastern teams, I thought they were fun. I also hated Edmonton at the time (the Canadian media salivated over them in a way that made me cringe) so of course the final result was cathartic.
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The only reason they were even close with that Sabres team was because half of them got injured during the series. I say this as someone who can't stand the Sabres. That series wouldn't have been close without injuries.
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I feel Winnipeg has been slightly better this series and has deserved it, even though they looked ungodly awful during that overtime
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Ottawa wins the 2006 cup EASILY if Hasek didn't fuck up his groin in the Olympics

Great team, Presidents trophy, dominant at every position - loses anyway because their supposedly good goalie picks the exact worst moment to shit the bed.

Gee, where have we seen this before?
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I mean,I've seen enough of the Blackhawks owning the Preds (especially in the playoffs) to question whether Rinne had the ability to get the Preds to the Finals. Then he completely dominated last year. I expected a big regression from him this year but it just took till the playoffs for it to happen.

Winnipeg wasn't exactly some nobody team. They finished only 3 points behind Nashville and were 2nd overall. If Nashville was going to lose to anyone, this would make the most sense.
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https://twitter.com/DownGoesBrown/status/994768978210902016
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oh my

what an interesting final 10 seconds of a period
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loooooool
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Nightmare end to that period for Tampa

Maybe the Capitals are the one who gets other teams to job this year
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I love this.
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Great start from Tampa!
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Trying not to get too excited here, but that's a p good start to a series, especially with Backstrom out.
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The Capitals are winning the Cup this year.

They just had to get past Pittsburgh and the floodgates are open.
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I feel the Caps have been slightly underrated, as the Atlantic teams all have a few more points than they "should" because literally four of the five worst teams in the league played there. I still favoured TB slightly going into this but it should be good.

ExThaNemesis posted...

The only reason they were even close with that Sabres team was because half of them got injured during the series. I say this as someone who can't stand the Sabres. That series wouldn't have been close without injuries.

Twelve years later, I can't say I remember that series with the clarity required to say if the Sabres were really outplaying Carolina or something, so it's possible you're right.

But... I look at the Sabres' 2006 roster and I'm just not nearly as impressed with it as I am with Carolina's. (Still pretty good, mind.) And they never led that series by more than one game (and didn't lead at all after game 3), so it's hard to buy an argument that a bunch of injuries enabled a Carolina comeback.
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I feel the Caps have been slightly underrated, as the Atlantic teams all have a few more points than they "should" because literally four of the five worst teams in the league played there. I still favoured TB slightly going into this but it should be good.

Eh... I kinda get this argument. That said, I feel like most of the "middle of the pack" of the Metro was vastly overrated and ended up with a lot more points than they probably deserved. Mainly looking at Philly, Columbus, and New Jersey here.

Sure, those teams weren't quite as bad as Montreal, Ottawa, and Buffalo. But the Caps also didn't have to deal with anyone of the quality of Tampa/Boston/Toronto either.
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Oh hey the NHL got a review right

And I actually had faith they would!
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Vegas looks to be perfectly employing the Tampa Bay Lightning way of great starts.
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SmartMuffin posted...

Eh... I kinda get this argument. That said, I feel like most of the "middle of the pack" of the Metro was vastly overrated and ended up with a lot more points than they probably deserved. Mainly looking at Philly, Columbus, and New Jersey here.

Sure, those teams weren't quite as bad as Montreal, Ottawa, and Buffalo. But the Caps also didn't have to deal with anyone of the quality of Tampa/Boston/Toronto either.

Well remember that Tampa didn't have to face one of the three strong teams in their own division: that is, themselves.

Just ran the numbers and, if we exclude Washington and TB themselves, Metro teams acquired 46 more total points than Atlantic teams, or roughly 7 and a half per team. That's a pretty significant difference. (And there's a slight feedback effect here, where all of Tampa's divisional opponents are themselves slightly overrated from playing each other.)

(If you want to compare other random teams, like, say, Florida vs New Jersey, then the gap is still significant, though closes slightly. No question that based strictly on records and strength of schedule, New Jersey was the better team.)
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Sports
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against the Atlantic:
TBL got 38 pts in 28 games (68% of possible pts)
WSH got 34 pts in 24 games (71%)

against the Metro:
TBL got 34 pts in 24 games (71%)
WSH got 37 pts in 28 games (66%)

looks like a wash
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I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but somehow the officials are getting even worse

That call on Oshie was complete and total bullshit
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nice sequence there by Vassy

dumb penalty followed by awful play on soft goal
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Wow, what a brutal finish by Tampa to that period
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Karmic goal there.
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Damn, Capitals are on a mission.
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Man, I don't wanna jinx it or anything, but I don't think I've ever seen the Caps look this good in the playoffs...
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So much for pushback. Caps look strong.
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I'm sure the Lightning have them right where they want them.
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go my vegas go
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Reaves trying to truck Byfuglien only to get absolutely dumpstered will always be funny.
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oh cool, Holtby sucks balls again
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