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Around the League 2018-2019 Edition

I always had a hard time buying San Jose as a legit contender.

That’s a big part of why I couldn’t see Tavares signing there.
 
yeah Vegas' previous first line, that tore up the NHL last year, is now basically their second line. And they have been replaced by a Patches-Stastny-Stone line that is demolishing the opposition. that, and Vegas can skate circles around the Sharks. and Fleury > Jones.

funny, for pretty much his whole time in Pitts I thought of Fleury as a huge playoff choker. he goes to Vegas, and all of a sudden he's lights out.

I think Vegas is looking good to come out of the Pacific again.
 
WPG is waking up too. They kind of took control last night in a way they haven't done so much this year. I see the same WCF as last year.
 
Kind of annoying how the media keeps referring to Tbay as a "historic" team and talking about them matching the wins record, ignoring the shootout. They had 56 ROW (which also ignores that OT has completely changed since those days, but whatever). Still a great team, one of the best. But not on the same level as that Detroit team or those Montreal teams.
 
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WellPlayed said:
Kind of annoying how the media keeps referring to Tbay as a "historic" team and talking about them matching the wins record, ignoring the shootout. They had 56 ROW (which also ignores that OT has completely changed since those days, but whatever). Still a great team, one of the best. But not on the same level as that Detroit team or those Montreal teams.
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I think this year's regular season Tampa team is worthy of being in a discussion with the all-time great regular season teams.

But like you say, with the proper historical context, when it comes to which teams were the best of all-time there are other teams that were better, and it's not even close no matter how you measure it. If you remove the shootout from the equation, the 76/77 Habs & 95/96 Wings are both better when it comes to wins, point totals and the gap between them and the second place team. And when it comes to goal differential, both those teams blow Tampa's impressive +103 mark this year out of the water.
 
Hockey is a game of luck. I read the other day that for an NHL favourite to win a series as often as an NBA favourite it would have to be a 51 game series.

They used up all their luck in the regular season.
 
Tampa could well win the cup next year. Stay the course. Because of cap concerns, there will be changes. But don't do anything drastic.
 
Bobrovsky .932
Vasilevsky .856




there are some things that will sabotage any hockey team, no matter how good.
 
Columbus may have exposed a major weakness on Vas. A lot of their goals and shot attempts were in a similar location.
 
LeafGm said:
62-16 in the regular season, 0-4 in the playoffs. Absolutely insane.

When you combine that with Tampa blowing a 3-2 lead on Washington last year with back-to-back shutout losses, that's now six straight playoff losses by Tampa.

Has to be THE all-time choke job.
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tampa always finds a way to lose

but i did not expect it to come as a first round sweep

lolcats
 
Does Cooper take any heat for this? Where's the outrage - they just went out with the faintest of whimpers?
 
JackBurton said:
Tampa could well win the cup next year. Stay the course. Because of cap concerns, there will be changes. But don't do anything drastic.
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Yeah, if I was running their team, I wouldn't panic and do anything drastic.

They are going to have to make some changes, simply because of the cap, and will likely be a worse team on paper as a result. But just like Washington after their 1st overall season, they'll still be one of the best teams in the league, and firmly in the middle of their window of contention.

And as much as I'd like to laugh at them for being choke artists, the new San Jose/Ottawa, etc, which isn't undeserved---there's a shit-storm of bad luck at play here too. They ran into a buzz-saw of a first round opponent, who underperformed, loaded-up at the deadline and then finally put it all together just in time to squeak into the last playoff spot. Unfortunately for Tampa, that team also has a Vezina-caliber goalie who also happened to round into form just in time for the playoffs to start.

At the same time, Tampa's own Vezina-caliber goalie shit the bed in epic fashion, their MVP got himself suspended for a must-win game #3 and their Norris-caliber defenseman suffered a concussion right before the playoffs and came back to play when he obviously hadn't properly recovered yet.

Just goes to show how much pure luck has to go hand-in-hand with being a good team when trying to win a championship. If you don't have all of your key guys healthy and at the top of their games at the precisely correct time, and you happen to draw a team who does and matches up well with you---it can all come to an end amazingly quickly.
 
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