GDT: 4/29/24 - 7:00PM EDT - #1 WC Tampa Bay @ #1 Florida [ECQF GAME 5]

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

It's equal parts easier to stomach losing he way we did this year - being squarely the inferior team, no discussion to be had about "we played better and were sunk by our goalie" - and harder to stomach knowing that the talent on this team has been drained, in equal parts due to cap attrition which is just an unfortunate byproduct of the way the NHL salary cap structure is designed to work, but also as a result of some bad self-inflicted decisions like tossing around 8-year contracts at the first moment of being able to for players who didn't really merit full 8-year contracts.

Two years ago, I felt the worst contract we had on our books was McDonagh, and even that wasn't a truly "bad" contract, it's just that there has to be a worst contract by default and his looked to be it. Now, depending on your view, we have 2-3 bad contracts hanging around our necks like an anvil. Entirely self-inflicted, happy for the guys getting paid I guess but from a team perspective the kinds of mistakes that ruin the books. We've been paying for that ever since.

Sergachev's still got 7 years left on his deal at over $8M AAV. I'm sure Sergy's going to achieve his potential someday, he's only been in the NHL for...let's see, carry the one...oh, seven f*cking seasons now + an entire season's worth of games in the playoffs.

 

[DFC]

Well yeah, "death by structure" is the antithesis of possession and it's ALL. WE. EVER. RUN. We have possession players and simply elect not to do it. Therein lies the difference


We never did em. This is what happens when you don't do it

We have like two possession players.

We have been a structure-and-pounce team for a long time.

This is what happens when you lose all your depth players to the cap.

 

[DFC]

It's equal parts easier to stomach losing he way we did this year - being squarely the inferior team, no discussion to be had about "we played better and were sunk by our goalie" - and harder to stomach knowing that the talent on this team has been drained, in equal parts due to cap attrition which is just an unfortunate byproduct of the way the NHL salary cap structure is designed to work, but also as a result of some bad self-inflicted decisions like tossing around 8-year contracts at the first moment of being able to for players who didn't really merit full 8-year contracts.

Two years ago, I felt the worst contract we had on our books was McDonagh, and even that wasn't a truly "bad" contract, it's just that there has to be a worst contract by default and his looked to be it. Now, depending on your view, we have 2-3 bad contracts hanging around our necks like an anvil. Entirely self-inflicted, happy for the guys getting paid I guess but from a team perspective the kinds of mistakes that ruin the books. We've been paying for that ever since.

Sergachev's still got 7 years left on his deal at over $8M AAV. I'm sure Sergy's going to achieve his potential someday, he's only been in the NHL for...let's see, carry the one...oh, seven f*cking seasons now + an entire season's worth of games in the playoffs.

To me, the problem with Sergachev's contract is we can't get full value for it so long as he isnt on PP1. And we are still at least a year or three away from that. So in the meantime we are gonna pay 8.5 for a 45 point D who runs hot and cold defensively.

 

[Hoek]

He ain't wrong. Not that it changes the series or what deserved to happen.

 

[TheSchmidt]

For real it didn't look remotely offside unless someone was still in the zone bottom of frame? And to call it intentional and put it in our zone?

went back and looked, kucherov was 100% offsides at the bottom

oh well, guess goals are the only thing they got wrong this game

 

[Hoek]

went back and looked, kucherov was 100% offsides at the bottom

oh well, guess goals are the only thing they got wrong this game

Fair enough. I wonder how much warning Cirelli got before touching it to make it intentional, but whatevs.

 

[Todd1a]

Where the hell was point and Kucherov this playoffs on vacation?

 

[Bozo Nicholson]

Where the hell was point and Kucherov this playoffs on vacation?

Point was moving like Fat Pat after preseason pizzas, and Kuch was passing like it was a Skills Competition.

 

[Master P]

We never did em. This is what happens when you don't do it

Doesn’t matter, the deed was done. This is our reward.

 

[The Gongshow]

Point was VERY dussapointing. He had a rough year in general, but got hot at the end. He's producing in the regular season but man we need him most in the playoffs. Was completely invisible and not a game changer at all

 

[OffBy1]

Watching Dumba, Perbix, the decline of Cernak, a wayyyy too green Crozier, and inconsistent Lilleberg really makes me miss McDonagh

You forgot the decline of Hedman as well - at least skating wise and with it some of his defensive game. Decline, it's the theme of the team this year.

 

[OurlordAndSaviorKuch]

This loss in the series hurts probably the most because it feels like we got screwed.

But the effort also just wasn’t there at all and it was consistent when we needed it.

Dumba needs shot into space, Do not bring him back.

 

[OffBy1]

Kucherov
Cirelli
Duclair
0 Goals

Our 3rd line f***ing sucked the entire series 0 chemistry. Chafee is a AHLer, Paul is to slow to play Center

Our third line is Paul and two guys that are 4th liners on most other teams in the NHL. Paul can contribute offensively and is good winning faceoffs. He needs some 3rd line quality wingers, which Eyssimont and Chaffee are not.

JBB is going to trade Cernak and Cirelli and not replace either player.

He'll do that and give all the savings to Stamkos, Duclair and Dumba.

 

[Stammertime91]

A good indicator that JBB and Cooper haven't entirely lost the plot or their minds is the utilization of Perbix, Crozier and Dumba. I mean, all three were warm bodies so aside from asking someone at Brandon's men league to play RD, that's all we had left. Scratching Perbix was a must. Coopers quote of "if you don't believe, don't come," was probably directed to several players of which he was one. Perbix was utter dogshit and I hope he never plays another game for this franchise. Dumba was chosen because of experience and physicality but he was a liability. No surprise Hedman had to babysit that dumpster fire. Crozier drawing in to a playoff series with minimal experience shows the dire need for a RD.

Brisebois has to see this as priority #1. We flung pucks to a Florida player every exit.

 

[DMB06]

We could probably do with some bigger forwards. We have a lot of guys under 6'0.

Yep, we need another Lecavalier.

 

[OffBy1]

Two years ago, I felt the worst contract we had on our books was McDonagh, and even that wasn't a truly "bad" contract, it's just that there has to be a worst contract by default and his looked to be it. Now, depending on your view, we have 2-3 bad contracts hanging around our necks like an anvil. Entirely self-inflicted, happy for the guys getting paid I guess but from a team perspective the kinds of mistakes that ruin the books. We've been paying for that ever since.

JBB is looking like he's just not quite good enough at the GM'ing thing. Yes, Goodrow and Coleman, 2 cups, I know. He's had more misses than hits since then with trades and free agent signings.

The Jeannot draft, er, trade was aptly described by someone on this site as arrogant and it couldn't have turned out worse. He kept Stamkos instead of facing the hard truth the window was already closed and trading him at the deadline. Now we can hang our hats on a single playoff win for that decision (though I have to give the benefit of the doubt - Stamkos might not have been willing to waive his no trade or maybe even Vinik wouldn't allow it). Not one of his "next wave" 8 year contracts is looking good right now, though I still believe Serge might come the closest to earning it.

Hagel, Paul, Eyssimont and Lilleberg are the best moves I can remember him making these last two years. This year's performance shows it's not enough.

 

[Lightning1995]

The Cats neutered the PP, end of season. The PP produces and the Lightning may have won the series. They solved it. They took penalties because they didn’t care. They solved kuch

 

[Hoek]

 

[Stammertime91]

Florida fans:

"ThOsE WeRe GoOd CaLlS"

Can't wait for that energy against the ol original six dicking they're about to get again.

 

[DMB06]

He ain't wrong. Not that it changes the series or what deserved to happen.

I love that he responded this way, and not the typical safe route "we needed to try and overcome it, it's on us" garbage that so many coaches go with because they're afraid of getting fined.

He's right, everything he said is correct. I said it earlier, both of those goals would've been scored no matter what. It goes against the spirit of the rule. Do people not realize that goalies could just start hanging out at the top of the crease, and kicking the closest person to them any time a puck is shot on net? Do people honestly not realize this? By the current iteration of the rule, this behavior would overturn any goal that was scored. The first goal, Bob created 100 percent of the contact himself, if he truly couldn't get over to the other post it was entirely on him. Offensive players have a right to screen the goalie, they have a right to hang out near the crease. It's one thing to hang out in the crease and purposely get in the goalies way, that's not what happened and we all know it (and so does the entire Florida roster). It's another thing for the goalie to make contact on his own (stupidly), and then give up a goal. That is what happened, it will always be what happened.

The second one, no honest person could say the trivial amount of contact caused that goal. That puck was going in no matter what, Bob had no clue whatsoever where that puck was. Not because he was lightly brushed up against, but because he simply lost the puck. Anyone who says otherwise is just a dishonest person. The spirit of the rule, again, was not in play here.

So, good on Coop for not mincing words, he said what he felt and what he said was correct.

 

[FinnLightning26]

So.. that's that then. It doesn't hurt much losing to the clearly better team. This series and the Avs series were two which we got f***ed in the ass the whole series and desperately tried to hang on. What pisses me off are series like the last Toronto series where we just handed them the series on a silver platter.

The PP was absolutely brutal and that was our one lifeline. Kucherov and Point sucked big time. Kuch getting 7 points while sucking is classic Kuch.

One good thing that came from this series is that Vasy showed he still has it. Probably our best player with Stammer. It's a shame if this was the last we see of Stammer in Bolts jersey.

Hopefully Cirelli is traded to make room for some depth. He's supposed to be this elite shutdown center who had the worst +/- on the team. The first Panthers goal he just lets Verhaeghe past him while looking like a f***ing idiot. Not like he was some offensive dynamo either. Find a sucker who's going to trade us a top 4 RD and I won't miss him one bit.

Please let Dumba and Duclair walk. Both we're awful when it mattered and we don't need guys like that. Let Duclair go coast on some bottom feeder where he's best suited and Dumba shouldn't even be in the NHL.

Interesting to see what happens in the summer because this roster needs fixing bad. We didn't lose because of the refs or the called back goals. We lost because we have zero offensive depth and half of our defense is AHL quality. Kuch, Hedman, Hagel and Vasy should be the only safe players. Maybe Paul too because his contract is good value. Everyone else should be on the table to bring in upgrades on several positions.

 

[Sky04]

Paul was all kinds of awful today, 3 shifts where his line mates battled and dug the puck out for him and he throws it away or loses it then just floats away. That type of lazy play has been following him all year.

Jeannot sucks but at least he's one of those guys in the corners digging pucks.

 

[Sky04]

We got torched by CV - what a player to lose, dudes outperforming superstars out there.

 

[JoVel]

We really needed to steal one of those games 1-3, that were all one goal games despite Florida being clearly the better team.

 

[Stammertime91]

So.. that's that then. It doesn't hurt much losing to the clearly better team. This series and the Avs series were two which we got f***ed in the ass the whole series and desperately tried to hang on. What pisses me off are series like the last Toronto series where we just handed them the series on a silver platter.

The PP was absolutely brutal and that was our one lifeline. Kucherov and Point sucked big time. Kuch getting 7 points while sucking is classic Kuch.

One good thing that came from this series is that Vasy showed he still has it. Probably our best player with Stammer. It's a shame if this was the last we see of Stammer in Bolts jersey.

Hopefully Cirelli is traded to make room for some depth. He's supposed to be this elite shutdown center who had the worst +/- on the team. The first Panthers goal he just lets Verhaeghe past him while looking like a f***ing idiot. Not like he was some offensive dynamo either. Find a sucker who's going to trade us a top 4 RD and I won't miss him one bit.

Please let Dumba and Duclair walk. Both we're awful when it mattered and we don't need guys like that. Let Duclair go coast on some bottom feeder where he's best suited and Dumba shouldn't even be in the NHL.

Interesting to see what happens in the summer because this roster needs fixing bad. We didn't lose because of the refs or the called back goals. We lost because we have zero offensive depth and half of our defense is AHL quality. Kuch, Hedman, Hagel and Vasy should be the only safe players. Maybe Paul too because his contract is good value. Everyone else should be on the table to bring in upgrades on several positions.

Agreed on all fronts except for your core group. Point is absolutely in that group. In the event we move on from Stamkos or trade Cirelli, Point being one of the top two C's is a given. Right now, it's a given and we have a UFA Stamkos and signed Cirelli. I would also say Sergachev is in that group because management's perception of him is Hedman's eventual replacement.