Around the League 2020/2021 Thread | Stanley Cup Final Edition
- Thread starter Mr. Canucklehead
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Yeah Tampa has cap issues. They are cursed to have too many good players. Boy I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. They could lose someone good in the expansion draft and might have to trade some good older players for cheaper younger players or picks.
I’m glad we dodged those bullets.
I’m glad we dodged those bullets.
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Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
Everyone says it's a copycat league, and yet no one copies Tampa. Superior drafting, astute trades and free agent signings and excellent asset management are really hard things!!
It's just easier to uhh...get big dudes.
vadim sharifijanov
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- Oct 10, 2007
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Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
Montreal had a great run but it’s pretty clear it’s not repeatable. They may not even make the playoffs in a really tough Division.
I’m not sure where Montreal goes from here. They have a few good young players but they will have to deal with some terrible contracts soon:
Gallagher (6x6.5)
Carey Price (5x10.5)
Shea Webers (5x7.9)
Anderson (6x5.5)
I’m not sure where Montreal goes from here. They have a few good young players but they will have to deal with some terrible contracts soon:
Gallagher (6x6.5)
Carey Price (5x10.5)
Shea Webers (5x7.9)
Anderson (6x5.5)
mriswith
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- Oct 12, 2011
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Montreal got to play two series in a row against teams where their number #1 centre was out. And then they got to play a team that doesn't have a #1C.
Credit where credit is due for beating Vegas but the series of flukes that made this run happen won't repeat themselves. Just like the series of fortunate events that saw the Canucks win two series last year won't repeat themselves under this management, a cinderella run doesn't mean contender.
Credit where credit is due for beating Vegas but the series of flukes that made this run happen won't repeat themselves. Just like the series of fortunate events that saw the Canucks win two series last year won't repeat themselves under this management, a cinderella run doesn't mean contender.
bandwagonesque
I eat Kraft Dinner and I vote
- Mar 5, 2014
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Well, Weber is almost certainly retiring in a couple of years and Montreal isn't liable for any cap recapture. I stand by my conviction that if you know you'll eventually regret a contract you simply don't offer it. Any team that did this consistently would probably outperform the mean.
ProstheticConscience
Check dein Limit
Vegas fans are living in an alternate reality where they were a contending team, but their 6 game loss to the Habs had more to do with what they didn't do than what the Habs *did* do. Vegas would have gotten stomped in the finals, had they advanced. With their situation at center, they are so far, far away from winning a cup. They couldn't beat the Habs 2-1-2 neutral zone slog because they didn't have a puck distributor for their wingers. You can't just have your wingers break in alone all the time and expect success.
Tampa has picked apart the Habs and made Price look average.
I think it's a combination of;
- the coach being out for so long, screwing up their system
- the players playing above their heads and returning to Earth in this series
- Price running out of fuel and having brain farts and not stealing any games
- Forwards, especially Toffoli, having an awful series
- Frustration leading to lack of discipline combined with a lack of knowing the refs threshold after the Chris Lee debacle
Do we really need to cry about not locking Toffoli up now? He was a supporting piece, that's it. He hasn't done anything in this series. They played their best period in Game 2 in the 2nd and still gave up a goal and failed to score. I knew the series was over right there.
As for the Canucks comment, hey, at least we have 2 good centers, a goalie and 3 good top 6 wingers and an offensive d-man. Our issues have to do with dead cap, lacking one top 6, lacking a bottom 6 aside from Motte and needing D. This is fixable. I truly believe this franchise is, on paper, closer to contending than Vegas is just because of how hard it is to acquire a #1C. We have that piece and they don't. Give the Sedins time to correct this.
VanillaCoke
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- Oct 30, 2013
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Montreal just doesn't have the pure bred horses, and their work horses aren't enough to combat tampas higher quality.
I feel bad for Montreal but in reality tampa is just on another level, you can’t expect to win against a top class nhl team when you’re the underdog that flukes their way into the playoffs.
Not every team is 2012 la kings.
Not every team is 2012 la kings.
vanuck
Now with 100% less Benning!
- Dec 28, 2009
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IMO they should be celebrated for maintaining such a high quality of play for such a long time along with their excellent management. They're the new Red Wings.
Up and coming guys on ELC's like Colton and Joseph should be able to step in and replace whichever middle 6 forward(s) they have to trade away and keep rolling.
Anderson’s contract looks pretty good to me.
I’d like to be able to parrot the notion that Tampa has simply outclassed Montreal, but the bottom line is that one team has gotten timely saves, and the other has gotten atrocious goaltending. Tampa are beating Montreal at their own game right now. They’re doing what the Habs did to Vegas. Turning pucks over at the redline and winning races to beat the angles of the defence to the net. The fact that Price picked the worst possible time to play like Andre Rasicot hasn’t helped. The team can’t rush up the ice with any confidence when they are afraid that every single turnover is going to end up in the back of the net. The coaching staff hasn’t adjusted either. If a team is going to stack the neutral zone, you gotta keep them honest with some sprinkled in high flips through there, it takes pressure off your D from having to constantly weave through traffic and make a perfect first pass. It also keeps the opposition honest, when you can sneak a guy or two behind their red line wall once in a while. The other thing Montreal is doing is giving up their blue line too easily themselves. Too many times they’ve passed up chances to really nail a TB forward trying to get cute cutting to the middle of the slot with speed, because instead of stepping up there and taking the man, they’re retreating and backing right into prices lap. Start stepping up at your blue line once in a while, and making it tough on them. All that being said the difference of the series has been goaltending in my opinion. One team has a guy playing world class, and the other team has a guy playing like a third string goalie. Even that out and the series is at 2-1.
Johnny Canucker
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- Jan 4, 2009
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pretty easy. Couple big money guys start the year injured….. again.
Hollywood Burrows
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this guy objectively sucks at his job but he keeps getting on TV because he's hot. I hate the media
Pastor Of Muppetz
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- Oct 1, 2017
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I dont think Montreal 'fluked' their way through these playoffs...They were full value for the all of the series that they won..I think its totally evident that some teams are just built better for the playoffs (regular season results be damned)..Montreal has a balanced squad with an exceptional goaltender..Converesly, teams with top heavy rosters, and just decent goaltending seemed to fall by the wayside.
Agreed that Tampa is on another level.....and while Montreal is a good playoff team, they are an average/ mediocre regular season team... I think they are in tough next season, and may miss the playoffs entirely.
Montreal benefited from Tavares getting injured. They played a bad Jets team without Scheifle.
If the Habs had played the teams the Lightning faced they likely do not get passed the Panthers.
mathonwy
Positively #toxic
- Jan 21, 2008
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Montreal, who doesn't have a 1C, benefited from the Leafs and Jets losing their 1Cs?
Yeah.. I don't think you give the Habs enough credit.
RandV
It's a wolf v2.0
Montreal looks a lot like Minnesota of the past 10 years, and 'where they go from here' depends a lot on how the young guys develop.
Really though this is the tricky part of running an NHL team, where by any typical metrics you could say Montreal is doing a pretty good job but for NHL fans everything it's the ridiculously high standard of Stanley Cup or bust. There's very little room in the league for a team to get as good as Chicago/Pittsburgh/LA/Tampa Bay who actually meet that standard, and by fan expectations it leaves every other team good or bad coming up short.
It's actually kind of hilarious looking how nicely fan expectations line up this year:
Toronto - the great young core is developed and in their prime but can't make it out of the 1st round what a disaster what do we do!?
Colorado - have built an amazing team but can't get past the 2nd round what a disaster what do we do!?
Vegas - almost won the Cup in their inaugural year and have had 66 playoff games in their first 4 seasons but they haven't actually won and the walls appear to be closing in what a disaster what do we do!?
Meanwhile in Vancouver:
Vancouver - we have a great young core so now we just need to make the playoffs and Mission Accomplished!
If we actually get good enough to regularly make the playoffs the fanbase/media will spin on a dime from singing the teams praises to deep delving criticism when it inevitably sinks in that they aren't good enough to win a Cup.
Pastor Of Muppetz
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Disagree with all this..The Leafs had more than enough elite talent up front to win the series, and the Habs had momentum by the time they played the flat footed Jets.
Reverend Mayhem
Tell me all your thoughts on God
Weak division sure, but the Habs were still the best in it and even beat Vegas who everyone said would beat the piss out of Montreal. Montreal has plenty of deficiencies, but they had what every other Canadian team didn't this year - which is depth. Toronto has flashy stars, but no depth. Every year it's the same, they go out and get good names that can't play roles. Spezza and Thornton are good enough hockey players, but they don't play roles - why would they? They've been the best at every level they've played at. They are slow and don't play the body enough to play a role other than auxiliary scoring line.
Habs are the opposite, no high end players but lots of horses. Perry plays a role, Armia plays a role, Danault plays a role, Gallagher plays a role, Evans played a role. On D, Weber is slow but effective, Edmundson I think is one of the more underrated D-men in the league, Petry is great, Chiarot has really come into his own.
It was an underrated team. I'm not overly surprised they won the Canadian division but I sure as hell didn't think they even be in the Finals.
Go to NHL .com and go to the Headlines at the top right. The 2nd thing on the list deals with Eichel and the Sabres. Click on it. Scroll down to the the last paragraph, a quote from GM Kevyn Adams. Consider the condition the Sabres are in and how long they have been in dire straits to the pit they have finally reached and figure out just exactly how he expects to accomplish that off the ice goal, let alone turn around that franchise.
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