Around the League - 15/16 Edition: Part 4

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

What do prior versions of the team have to do with the current roster? The team has never had a legitimate 2nd center before. Ovechkin is probably their 3rd or 4 best player now. It is a completely different team.

It has a lot to do with it. They were effectively shut down by a tired Rangers group that had no gas left to deal with the Lightning.

 

[Replacement*]

What do prior versions of the team have to do with the current roster? The team has never had a legitimate 2nd center before. Ovechkin is probably their 3rd or 4 best player now. It is a completely different team.

A team never entirely discounts its history and what its done before when several of those players still reside. Or even when they don't.

Reputation to this extent is real, and is felt, in any sport. One reason why nobody should ever pick SJ or STL in the west and nobody should ever pick say Ottawa, or Washington in the East.

Similarly in WC play England perennially go into WC's with this reputation of being longstanding losers. Doesn't even matter who is wearing the jerseys there expects to be infamy for England in the WC because they're England...

or in the words of the immortal Johnny Rotten "England is dreaming"

Don't pick the perennial losers whether it be hockey, soccer, horseshoes, horses, stocks etc. You'll never make much that way unless you can get some extraordinary house odds.

 

[McDeepika]

A team never entirely discounts its history and what its done before when several of those players still reside. Or even when they don't.

Reputation to this extent is real, and is felt, in any sport. One reason why nobody should ever pick SJ or STL in the west and nobody should ever pick say Ottawa, or Washington in the East.

Similarly in WC play England perennially go into WC's with this reputation of being longstanding losers. Doesn't even matter who is wearing the jerseys there expects to be infamy for England in the WC because they're England...

or in the words of the immortal Johnny Rotten "England is dreaming"

Don't pick the perennial losers whether it be hockey, soccer, horseshoes, horses, stocks etc. You'll never make much that way unless you can get some extraordinary house odds.

LOL. I don't believe in this kind of stuff. Unless of course we are talking about the Canucks. .

I would consider prior history if this was the same type of free flowing run and gun team relying on Ovechkin/Backstrom/Green/Semin. They just have a different feel to them now. They are heavy and they play responsible two-way hockey. They're loaded. The only thing they don't have is that Keith/Doughty level dman. I'm hoping they come out of the East. Should make for one of the best finals in a very long time.

 

[Replacement*]

LOL. I don't believe in this kind of stuff. Unless of course we are talking about the Canucks. .

I would consider prior history if this was the same type of free flowing run and gun team relying on Ovechkin/Backstrom/Green/Semin. They just have a different feel to them now. They are heavy and they play responsible two-way hockey. They're loaded. The only thing they don't have is that Keith/Doughty level dman. I'm hoping they come out of the East. Should make for one of the best finals in a very long time.

hmmm

I'm a Germany fan so I innately believe in this stuff. I've followed WC for 50yrs and even very plodding middle of the road German teams have always faired decently in WC play. To the degree people find it uncanny. As if Germans invented Football.

If I was an England fan I wouldn't want to believe it...

jk and one context aside it is very real. Players even talk about the doubts and beliefs. For instance when the kings beat the sharks in that series every King player was saying the knew they would win after game 3. Its uncanny, and its real. There is absolutely no way, ever, that the Sharks would have had the resolve, belief, and resilience to come back from 3 games down against the Kings.

which leaves me to my last point that resiliency is very real whether we are talking about people, place, or teams. Faith and Belief is strong or it isn't.

 

[doulos]

I don't think past history over such long time periods means much of anything other than historical interest.

It's low hanging fruit to pick a couple teams that have historically failed, and then say they will fail again. I can say "San Jose and Washington are failures and will fail in the playoffs again."

Since only 1 team can win the Stanley Cup out of 30, I am guaranteed to get at least 1 of my predictions correct, and have an incredibly high chance of having both hit. This is how psychic charlatans dupe people as well. Make a bunch of high % claims, then claim success on the vast majority that hit, knowing that people generally only remember those. If one of those teams goes to the Cup Final and loses (let's say like a Tampa Bay last year, or a Vancouver in the past) I can still claim they are losers even though they did what 28 other teams couldn't that season.

The Capitals are a phenomenal team. I will be cheering for them to win it all for sure this season but there are so many variables that go into winning a Cup, including injuries, luck, etc that the odds of them winning are not good,even though they are an extremely good team.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

This outdoor game sure is exciting

 

[Logical McNonsense]

This outdoor game sure is exciting

Dubnyk is having one hell of a game.

 

[BlackDogg]

This outdoor game sure is exciting

Didn't see it but I'm assuming your being sarcastic, as I see it is 6-1.

Too bad Kane got another point. Small stats is all we have left and Connor is tied with him on PP60minutes.

 

[Zaddy]

A team never entirely discounts its history and what its done before when several of those players still reside. Or even when they don't.

Reputation to this extent is real, and is felt, in any sport. One reason why nobody should ever pick SJ or STL in the west and nobody should ever pick say Ottawa, or Washington in the East.

Similarly in WC play England perennially go into WC's with this reputation of being longstanding losers. Doesn't even matter who is wearing the jerseys there expects to be infamy for England in the WC because they're England...

or in the words of the immortal Johnny Rotten "England is dreaming"

Don't pick the perennial losers whether it be hockey, soccer, horseshoes, horses, stocks etc. You'll never make much that way unless you can get some extraordinary house odds.

I guess some of this is true to an extent but it doesn't mean a "perennial loser" can't win / become a winner. If we're talking football, look at Spain. I don't think they had ever gotten past the quarter-finals in any championship despite being loaded with talent for years on end before they won the European Championship in 2008, the World Cup in 2010 and the EC again in 2012. So they went from perennial losers to the best team in the world for 4 straight years.

In reality, I think it has more to do with the fierce competition and how hard it is to win the finest trophy, whether it's in world football or NHL. In an atmosphere like that I also think that to win it all you have to have both good luck and timing. Of course, the mental aspect is also real in some cases but if we're talking Washington I don't see any reason why they would feel mentally incapable towards any other Eastern team. They've been talked about as this great team the last couple of years but in reality they've never been close to as good as they are now, aside from last year. And one year of losing to the Rangers isn't going to affect them. If they lose again this year against the Rangers in a close series then maybe, but as of right now? No.

 

[BlowbyBlow]

Dubnyk is having one hell of a game.

i used to hate Dubynk but I hate Scrivens more had such entitled attitude. Dubnyk was a feel sorry for himself type.

I seem to be able to better understanding of that.

 

[BlowbyBlow]

A team never entirely discounts its history and what its done before when several of those players still reside. Or even when they don't.

Reputation to this extent is real, and is felt, in any sport. One reason why nobody should ever pick SJ or STL in the west and nobody should ever pick say Ottawa, or Washington in the East.

Similarly in WC play England perennially go into WC's with this reputation of being longstanding losers. Doesn't even matter who is wearing the jerseys there expects to be infamy for England in the WC because they're England...

or in the words of the immortal Johnny Rotten "England is dreaming"

Don't pick the perennial losers whether it be hockey, soccer, horseshoes, horses, stocks etc. You'll never make much that way unless you can get some extraordinary house odds.

I have gambled on sports for years and psychology is such a huge thing. There is certain teams like the Bengals who have great regular season records but can't get it done.

I notice alot that people emphasis way to much on regular season success vs playoff or championship success.

Or many teams can have talent but not mental fortitude. Look at the Raptors a great team but against teams that will engage them mentally they shut out.

Teams are built so much on team building, and character guys or guys who feed off one another. Talent is only a very singular aspect. Part of why it is is you need different elements that combat ways you approach something, because teams get settled in there ways or the message gets old and stale. Many teams have old management or rehashed coaches.

Like my opinion of Hitchcock is he coaches in an old way that works 75% of the time and is great for regular season success.

 

[Replacement*]

I guess some of this is true to an extent but it doesn't mean a "perennial loser" can't win / become a winner. If we're talking football, look at Spain. I don't think they had ever gotten past the quarter-finals in any championship despite being loaded with talent for years on end before they won the European Championship in 2008, the World Cup in 2010 and the EC again in 2012. So they went from perennial losers to the best team in the world for 4 straight years.

In reality, I think it has more to do with the fierce competition and how hard it is to win the finest trophy, whether it's in world football or NHL. In an atmosphere like that I also think that to win it all you have to have both good luck and timing. Of course, the mental aspect is also real in some cases but if we're talking Washington I don't see any reason why they would feel mentally incapable towards any other Eastern team. They've been talked about as this great team the last couple of years but in reality they've never been close to as good as they are now, aside from last year. And one year of losing to the Rangers isn't going to affect them. If they lose again this year against the Rangers in a close series then maybe, but as of right now? No.

Nobody is speaking in absolutes, but in what are good bet calls. For instance if a person bet against Spain in every world cup they would have made money. Same with France, or England. The actual years those respective teams finally manage to win their one ever WC they were so absolutely loaded with talent that it was hard to miss. That can happen. Thing is, none of these countries have good overall records in WC's and in the vast majority of WC's these are competitive soccer nations that go out early.

All I'm saying is I've made a lot of coin betting against STL, SJ, OTT, Wash and they've been sure bets. The safest bets I make. This is the one season where Washington might be Spain. It could happen.

I have gambled on sports for years and psychology is such a huge thing. There is certain teams like the Bengals who have great regular season records but can't get it done.

I notice alot that people emphasis way to much on regular season success vs playoff or championship success.

Or many teams can have talent but not mental fortitude. Look at the Raptors a great team but against teams that will engage them mentally they shut out.

Teams are built so much on team building, and character guys or guys who feed off one another. Talent is only a very singular aspect. Part of why it is is you need different elements that combat ways you approach something, because teams get settled in there ways or the message gets old and stale. Many teams have old management or rehashed coaches.

Like my opinion of Hitchcock is he coaches in an old way that works 75% of the time and is great for regular season success.

Yep.

Resilience, and Resiliency theory is a real theoretical construct. Its not an entire random abstraction to say that some people are more resilient than others and that some groups of people, teams, or orgs are more resilient than others. Indeed it comes largely from the same stuff. The right stuff to coin an adage. Can you imagine how hard it would get to blast astronauts into space at escape velocity without constructs like resolve, faith, resilience? you couldn't force people into those capsules at gunpoint without that.

The greatest achievements of mankind have uniformly been the product or resolute and shakeable belief, faith in what one, or a group is doing.

I think it odd that some people feel differential belief is not evident in the world. Every successful firm and org and person in the world is borne of the stuff. I'm not sure how one can walk in this world and not be aware of it.

Many positivity gurus even use things like visualisations to try to get people to make the leap to success by associations and intense visualizations imagining that success. mike Keenan somehow got the SC to be able to take into the Flyers dressing room in that 7 game series against the Oilers. In the end it didn't overcome but that's the closest a team ever came to winning the cup without doing it. The closest series ever imo. Although in the end the team that knew how to win did end up winning. But Keenan was an expert at positivity and visualisation approaches. Very underrated coach. Probably the best and brightest in modern era.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Man there's another outdoor game next week? Does anyone care about these anymore?

 

[BlackDogg]

Calgary's doing worse against the Ducks than the Oilers did - probably aren't getting screwed over by the officiating either.

Which brings up another point - was reading the Winnipeg paper and half the letters to the editor are about the poor officiating. I guess they really got a good ol biased game the other night when Maurice got the boot. Ref was chuckling about it even at the faceoff dot. Bunch of unprofessional ********.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Embrace the suck, Flames. You're just as bad as us.

 

[BlackDogg]

Embrace the suck, Flames. You're just as bad as us.

They do suck, just too bad we suck more. Was hoping for the consellation prize of catching the Flames, but I see now that this team is mentally incapable of any kind of success - even menial.

 

[NewBoysClub97*]

We suck, but it's always nice to see a pretty healthy roster int he Flames sh** the bed this year. The great fast rebuilding Flames. LOL.

I find it funny that a lot of Vancouver and Flames fans are pro-tank. They all swore on their graves they would never like losing games.

I didn;t even know there was an outdoor game.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Watching the other Canadian teams fail makes me feel a lot better about the Oilers.

 

[friction]

Canadian tank-a-thon! Weooo

 

[Mr Positive]

We suck, but it's always nice to see a pretty healthy roster int he Flames sh** the bed this year. The great fast rebuilding Flames. LOL.

I find it funny that a lot of Vancouver and Flames fans are pro-tank. They all swore on their graves they would never like losing games.

I didn;t even know there was an outdoor game.

we were pro tank too for a few years. We're like in stage 7 of dealing with a crap team. I don't think any of us want the team to finish in dead last. I really enjoyed Nelson's run last season.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

we were pro tank too for a few years. We're like in stage 7 of dealing with a crap team. I don't think any of us want the team to finish in dead last. I really enjoyed Nelson's run last season.

What run? He had 17 wins in 51 games....

 

[Mr Positive]

What run? He had 17 wins in 51 games....

He climbed two spots in the standings after starting in 30th with a 5 point cushion. Also we had a couple huge losing streaks after trading Petry and after a key injury I can't recall atm. That squad seemed to pull together and find ways to win with meager talent.

(and btw I still support McLellan, and I'm aware of Nelson's coaching drawbacks as well)

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Did I hear that right, Calgary has lost 22 straight at the Honda Centre?

 

[McAsuno]

Did I hear that right, Calgary has lost 22 straight at the Honda Centre?

I believe so. That arena is literally their kryptonite. I ain't mad though. After all the arrogance from flame fans during the off season, it reminded me of the avs and their fanbase #whynotus BS.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

They do suck, just too bad we suck more. Was hoping for the consellation prize of catching the Flames, but I see now that this team is mentally incapable of any kind of success - even menial.

I am 100% serious when I say I don't think that's the case. They've had essentially their entire complement of players right from the get-go aside from missing Brodie for a bit. Edmonton's lost 246 man-games to injury, Calgary is at 109.

Edmonton's IIT-Skater stat is 2034, Calgary's is 940.

It's amazing that a team with three 'top pairing defencemen' like Gio, Brodie, and Hamilton, and one more 'top 4 on any team in the league' like Russell can be so, so horrible.