Stanley Cup

[Kor.A.Door]

Oh yeah. The refs in hockey can be hard to figure sometimes, but if you know who the league wants in the finals, you'll have a pretty good idea of what team will or won't be penalized during the games. The one way to keep the refs from getting involved isntondu what the Ducks did a few years back as the 7th seed. Just don't let anyone score. Their goalie Giguère didn't let anything in that playoff season. My team is sorta rebuilding, but we've had our share of bad refing in the playoffs. We had a good 25 year run until last season. Time to start a new one.

[Brian A]

They've been fixing thing for the Penguins for years. Remember when Pittsburgh was in bad shape in the early 2000's and ownership was threatening to move to Kansas City? Then the lockout happens and every team gets equal odds in the draft lottery but somehow, “oh, what do you know” Pittsburgh wins the draft lottery and drafts Sidney Crosby. How convenient huh?

 

 

 

 

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Not quite how that went down. Teams got a different number of balls due to their past performance, playoffs and #1 picks over the previous 3 years. 

 

 

Three balls

• Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins

Two balls

• Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Atlanta Thrashers, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes

One ball

• Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals

[deejaid]

You're right. I actually went back and looked at that draft as well as the previous when the Pens took Malkin #2 overall. All teams had a shot at the #1 pick but it was weighted.

 

Hey, I don't blame the NHL. It's entertainment and at the time the threat of a team that just over 10 years earlier was a two-time cup winner with Lemeuix and Jagr leaving to a new city was not one the NHL Board of Governors wanted to deal with.

 

Lemeuix was crying poor and the Pens needed a new arena. Get Malkin and Crosby and a dynasty was born.

 

 

 

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[Kor.A.Door]

The draft lottery is no good anyway, and that goes for any sport imo. But, hockey has done a very good job of getting some parity from top to bottom in the league. You can have a dominant team if the guys who are there are willing to play for less money. The Wings, Blackhawks, even the Pens have done a good job of getting good players to play for less money with many opportunities to win. Baseball is getting better at this as well, so is football. But NBA has lots of work to do in this area. Of the 4 major sports though, hockey has put out a good product to watch over the last 15 years or so. I still think bigger nets, and less bulky goalie equipment is coming soon. Scoring is up some from the last 20 years, but I think it needs to come up a little more.

[Brian A]

You're right. I actually went back and looked at that draft as well as the previous when the Pens took Malkin #2 overall. All teams had a shot at the #1 pick but it was weighted.

 

Hey, I don't blame the NHL. It's entertainment and at the time the threat of a team that just over 10 years earlier was a two-time cup winner with Lemeuix and Jagr leaving to a new city was not one the NHL Board of Governors wanted to deal with.

 

Lemeuix was crying poor and the Pens needed a new arena. Get Malkin and Crosby and a dynasty was born.

 

 

 

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While Im not usually a fan of teams saying they need a new arena, however in this case they did. The old Mellon arena was a total dump. Having been in both buildings and the locker rooms and amenities. They needed it! 

[deejaid]

I'm an Oakland A's fan so I know all about teams needing new facilities! But yeah, not a fan of them always asking for taxpayer money to pay for them.

 

 

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[Gravitykillr]

Boston going to Game 7?

[newballcoach]

The draft lottery is no good anyway, and that goes for any sport imo. But, hockey has done a very good job of getting some parity from top to bottom in the league. You can have a dominant team if the guys who are there are willing to play for less money. The Wings, Blackhawks, even the Pens have done a good job of getting good players to play for less money with many opportunities to win. Baseball is getting better at this as well, so is football. But NBA has lots of work to do in this area. Of the 4 major sports though, hockey has put out a good product to watch over the last 15 years or so. I still think bigger nets, and less bulky goalie equipment is coming soon. Scoring is up some from the last 20 years, but I think it needs to come up a little more.

 

The draft lottery is no good anyway, and that goes for any sport imo. But, hockey has done a very good job of getting some parity from top to bottom in the league. You can have a dominant team if the guys who are there are willing to play for less money. The Wings, Blackhawks, even the Pens have done a good job of getting good players to play for less money with many opportunities to win. Baseball is getting better at this as well, so is football. But NBA has lots of work to do in this area. Of the 4 major sports though, hockey has put out a good product to watch over the last 15 years or so. I still think bigger nets, and less bulky goalie equipment is coming soon. Scoring is up some from the last 20 years, but I think it needs to come up a little more.

 

Draft lottery is the best thing to ever happen to the NHL (although there are better plans out there). Google the Gold Plan for a really interesting take on it.

 

NHL has huge parity though, teams can go from bottom to competing very quickly (much faster than in the NBA or MLB for example). The last two years the team that finished with the worst record in the league has made the playoffs the next season, Leafs with Matthews and the Avs this year (Avs even lost the lottery and had a bad draft pick). It makes it easier to stay connected for a fan base to not have to ensure a painful long-term rebuild.

[AH1980MN]

If we want more "exciting" hockey, we need less teams. Less teams= more talent per.

[tommc23]

If we want more "exciting" hockey, we need less teams. Less teams= more talent per.

I disagree with that I think the 30 number is a good number. Vegas this year was the highlight first year in the league and making the playoffs I mean wow.

 

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[Canucklehead]

I disagree with that I think the 30 number is a good number. Vegas this year was the highlight first year in the league and making the playoffs I mean wow.

 

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Being a fan of a team that was the joke of the league for a decade, I respectfully disagree. I will say, management is a big reason why it was dark for so long around here, and parity has gotten better, but there's still a number of teams who don't have NHL talent top to bottom.

 

George McPhee played the system perfectly for the expansion draft, acquiring additional draft picks for taking certain players so the teams could keep players the weren't able to protect wanted to keep. A few of the older players were becoming UFAs within a season or two, or were replaced by younger players so the vets were in a more reduced roll, but had the same cap hit (Neal, Perron, Fleury).

 

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[Kor.A.Door]

Draft lottery is the best thing to ever happen to the NHL (although there are better plans out there). Google the Gold Plan for a really interesting take on it.

 

NHL has huge parity though, teams can go from bottom to competing very quickly (much faster than in the NBA or MLB for example). The last two years the team that finished with the worst record in the league has made the playoffs the next season, Leafs with Matthews and the Avs this year (Avs even lost the lottery and had a bad draft pick). It makes it easier to stay connected for a fan base to not have to ensure a painful long-term rebuild.

I'm just not a big fan of a “lottery” for the picks. Yes, the NHL has done a good job of keeping things even from top to bottom in the league in regards to parity.

[golfinnut]

Caps vs Pens this evening!  Will be a great series.  Let's GO CAPS will be chanted in the NUT CAVE all night long!! 

[No3PuttLaLa]

Bruins v Bolts starting on Saturday! Going to be a Great series!

 

Let's go Bolts!

[No3PuttLaLa]

Ready to go for Game 1 vs Boston! Let's go Bolts!

 

 

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[fozcycle]

Not going so good for the Bolts....☹️

 

 

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[tommc23]

The caps are gonna have to start playing in this series if they want to actually win a cup for once

 

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[russtopherb]

Not going so good for the Bolts....☹️

 

 

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I missed the whole game, unfortunately. The Bruins won big in their first game against the Leafs and look at how that series panned out. I think this one's going 7 games too.

[00sportsman]

With all due respect to my new MGS friends from Tampa:

 

YEAAAAHH BRUINS!!!

 

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[deejaid]

This Winnipeg-Nashville series is shaping up to be a great one!

 

 

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[00sportsman]

I missed the whole game, unfortunately. The Bruins won big in their first game against the Leafs and look at how that series panned out. I think this one's going 7 games too.

Maybe.  Big difference to me is that against the Leafs they did it on home ice, and against Tampa they did it on the road.  They've essentially taken home ice away, and that can be huge.

[yungkory]

Damn that was another sick OT game between the sharks and knights

 

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[tommc23]

Damn that was another sick OT game between the sharks and knights

 

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I fell asleep that is a series right there though. Not many new teams can do what Vegas has.

 

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[deejaid]

Damn that was another sick OT game between the sharks and knights

 

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William Karlsson is a stud this year. The Columbus Blue Jackets exposed him in the expansion draft and gave Vegas their 1st and 2nd round picks in 2019 and David Clarksons bad contract to ensure Vegas would take Karlsson instead of another player off their roster.

 

Think Columbus would like a do-over on that deal?

 

 

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[revkev]

Great Lightning win last night - sorry Sportsman

 

 

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[00sportsman]

Great Lightning win last night - sorry Sportsman

 

 

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I was thinking about this thread last night, hoping everyone else would have forgotten about it.

 

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[tommc23]

I've been so busy I haven't been able to watch much even if the flyers were still in I'm not sure how much I would be able to watch.

 

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[ddryan]

The caps are gonna have to start playing in this series if they want to actually win a cup for once

 

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they did the past two games.. now they can clinch in Pittsburgh which would be awesome!!!

 

 

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[STUDque]

they did the past two games.. now they can clinch in Pittsburgh which would be awesome!!!

 

 

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My brother and sister were at the game last night. Must've been a fantastic atmosphere and I can't wait to hear their report.

 

Knowing the Caps (and Penguins for that matter), we can still probably expect a game 7.

 

 

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[tommc23]

they did the past two games.. now they can clinch in Pittsburgh which would be awesome!!!

 

 

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I cannot watch that series even if I wanted to. Every time I turn a game on the pens score and/or I have to mute the game because the announcers have a absurd amount of love for the penguins and it pisses me off.

 

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