Around the League - PLAYOFFS!?

[Trapper]

Back to back Cup final losses hasn't happened since the 70s. I don't think it will happen this year either.

Dallas looked like they were running out of gas halfway through round 3.
The Panthers seem to be firing on all cylinders.
As Paul Maurice said, his team is built to play 4 rounds of 7 games.

 

[KMNRB]

We got 2 1st overall guys who aren’t going to make the finals. Throw JT in there too.

The No. 1 picks from 2003 to 2008 (Fleury, OV, Crosby, E Johnson, Kane, Stamkos) all eventually won the cup.

From 2009 to 2024, only MacKinnon has won the cup.

We've to remember, the salary cap started in 2005-6. It just negates much of the advantage of having a No. 1 pick (MacKinnon was on a super cheap contract that was signed before he broke out). The savvy of management (along with a tax free state) becomes the most important factor in winning a cup, much more so than a No. 1 franchise player. If Florida wins it, it is yet another example of this combo.

 

[Americanadian]

Late to the discussion here. I want Edmonton to win because Florida winning would give the insufferable part of Leafs nations too many excuses (can't compete due to taxes, the Atlantic is too hard).

 

[Mess]

They aren’t McDavid and Draisaitl level players.

A tale of 2 different Oilers teams ..

1) With McDavid and Draisaitl in GREEN
&
2) With McDavid and Draisail & Hyman in YELLOW

Perhaps its not always only the about the Star players ... Maybe its the quality of the Support players particularly those that stir the drink.

Oilers despite their stars were a floundering mess come playoff time as they only won 1 single playoff round in 6 playoff years. Sound familiar?

Zach Hyman has recorded in 46 playoff games with Edmonton and has scored 28 playoff goals as they have won 6 playoffs rounds and looking for 7 to hoist the Cup.

Zach Hyman was my favourte player as a Leaf, so its easy to cheer for him and appreciate how his hard work and tireless effort has paid off now that he has been set free.

However the real reason for Oilers success was when they hired themselves a competent GM and President.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

A tale of 2 different Oilers teams ..

1) With McDavid and Draisaitl in GREEN
&
2) With McDavid and Draisail & Hyman in YELLOW

View attachment 879143

Perhaps its not always only the about the Star players ... Maybe its the quality of the Support players particularly those that stir the drink.

Oilers despite their stars were a floundering mess come playoff time as they only won 1 single playoff round in 6 playoff years. Sound familiar?

Zach Hyman has recorded in 46 playoff games with Edmonton and has scored 28 playoff goals as they have won 6 playoffs rounds and looking for 7 to hoist the Cup.

View attachment 879148

Zach Hyman was my favourte player as a Leaf, so its easy to cheer for him and appreciate how his hard work and tireless effort has paid off now that he has been set free.

However the real reason for Oilers success was when they hired themselves a competent GM and President.

View attachment 879151

Dubas didn't value him the way he should've. Simple as.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Late to the discussion here. I want Edmonton to win because Florida winning would give the insufferable part of Leafs nations too many excuses (can't compete due to taxes, the Atlantic is too hard).

On the other hand, I feel like the Oilers are a contender that most closely resemble the Leafs. Star forwards, one good D pair, young goalie we are YOLOing on

 

[KMNRB]

Back to back Cup final losses hasn't happened since the 70s. I don't think it will happen this year either.

But the only time a team makes it to the Cup final twice over the past few decades is Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008-2009.

Experience certainly holds an advantage and Florida is clearly the favorite, but the stat isn't that reflective because a team rarely makes it to the cup final twice.

 

[Americanadian]

On the other hand, I feel like the Oilers are a contender that most closely resemble the Leafs. Star forwards, one good D pair, young goalie we are YOLOing on

Not really. The Leafs issue isn't that they have stars. The issue is they have 4 players making 10.9M+. McDavid+Draisaitl cost less than any two of Matthew/Marner/Nylander/Tavares and I'd take the two of them over any 2 of the Leafs players. The overpay on Nurse is outweighed by significant bargains on Hyman and Bouchard. Give me Nurse+Bouchard at 13.4M>Rielly+Brodie at 12.5M.

 

[fahad203]

Dallas looked like they were running out of gas halfway through round 3.
The Panthers seem to be firing on all cylinders.
As Paul Maurice said, his team is built to play 4 rounds of 7 games.

They were pretty good last year. But they really went out and got some great depth

Kulikov has been good for them
Mikkola - very underrated. 6'5 and very quietly good
Rodriguez has been great find
OEL has been decent. He was always a decent D, highly overpaid. He's been decent and great depth
Tarasenko - has been decent and still a threat to score
Stenlund - 4th liner, responsible and great size 6'5

That doesn't include the evolution of Lundell.

They are got a lot better this year. They got 3 NHL caliber D that aren't over the hill

Must be nice to add 3 D and 3 forwards

 

[All Mod Cons]

The eye test told you he had consistently demonstrated a desire to get possession of the puck. He was working every shift to get that.

Dubas sucked, he was what I said off the hop. You want some laughs drag up my comments about Dubas when he was hired etc. Those initial threads should contain posts that read... Snake oil salesman, The face of dumb, I don't trust him etc.

It is what it is. This situation we are in is not some sort of who could have possibly known type of deals. Its black and white. A lot of people confidently called it out.

Hyman is not a unicorn. Just like all the other players Dubas let slip.

Yes. Plenty of people thought the Kadri trade, the non Hyman extension, the Marchment trade and a lot of the other moves were stupid at the time. Whether they knew from knowledge of the game, or were just plain lucky in their opinions, we would've been better off with them as GM.

 

[keonsbitterness]

Not really. The Leafs issue isn't that they have stars. The issue is they have 4 players making 10.9M+s.

The bigger issue is that they are on a 14-game playoff streak of leading their team to averaging less than two goals per game.

 

[Americanadian]

The bigger issue is that they are on a 14-game playoff streak of leading their team to averaging less than two goals per game.

I think those two things are related. They can't afford 3 lines that can score because they overspend on lines 1 and 2.

 

[keonsbitterness]

I think those two things are related. They can't afford 3 lines that can score because they overspend on lines 1 and 2.

Overspending is one thing, but they should be putting up more goals in the playoffs as they hit their primes.

 

[ruaware41]

Unfortunately the previous management stripped away the draft picks and depth in order to keep supporting a core that repeatedly failed them.
There is a minimal amount of players in the system we have hope for but mostly we are left trying to build a team through UFA. No other real assets to trade for improvement.

well idk if that’s an entirely accurate way of putting how it all transpired. It was more like the fans begged and begged for a proper rebuild until the management finally buckled and was on board finishing low and collecting top picks including winning the Matthews lottery.

Then when it came to the next step of the rebuild where you continue building, trade away expiring contracts, keep and use draft picks, and develop a bolstering squad with depth everywhere, like a bunch of greedy pigs they decided the first year they made the post season they will go all in and kept bozak and jvr as “own rentals.” and decided to acquire brian boyle for 2 2nds . then they decided to give the guy with the worst leadership qualities and a softer game than William Nylander a multiple year 6m contract to help show the big 3 the way and boy he delivered. They continued making greedy moves including signing Tavares despite no need for it and eventually poor decision making just culminated to what we have now. not tough enough offensively not enough money to go around and value for money given not the right attitude among the big 4 etc. On top of that we had too many contracts and had to move out pieces like Verhaeghe Durzi and Joshua.

I remember the yolo justifications - we don’t know if we’ll get this opportunity again life is short you’re lucky to just be here. okay then socrates why did you go for a rebuild in the first place then by that same logic rather than try to win in the year you went for a rebuild? I absolutely hate that we refused to stick to our plan.

If we had not acted so greedily we could have had a top 9 roster consisting of Kadri Matthews Marner Nylander Verhaeghe Joshua Marchment McMann Domi. that’s a very strong group with players who take reasonable deals, some skill, some grit etc. At the deadline once ready we could have acquired an ROR type piece and that’s a cup contending forward group all of a sudden.

supplemented by the assets we could use from the return from the jvr and bozak trades at a heavy premium at the deadline, 2 seconds for Boyle we traded away, along with the hoards of other bad trades we made.

All it would have taken is a few more years of patience but no, yolo

 

[Americanadian]

Overspending is one thing, but they should be putting up more goals in the playoffs as they hit their primes.

They aren't scoring in the playoffs because they can't. They haven't been good enough, thus they are overpaid.

 

[Fogelhund]

Yes. Plenty of people thought the Kadri trade, the non Hyman extension, the Marchment trade and a lot of the other moves were stupid at the time. Whether they knew from knowledge of the game, or were just plain lucky in their opinions, we would've been better off with them as GM.

There were people who thought the Hyman non-extension was bad... but more thought it was good. That paying him $5-6 mil wasn't likely going to age well. We wanted players, who performed in the playoffs... and he had a combined FIVE points, in the previous three years in the playoffs (17 games).. playing shot gun to Matthews and Marner... performed as big a disappearing trick as any of the other players.

I looked through some of the previous posts... you were against letting him go... @rumman was mad about it too... not many other people were that mad though.

He had actually stunk in the playoffs for us pretty consistently... So, it's no shock many didn't want to commit to him, when he wasn't very good in the playoffs.

I mean, he's sure proved us all wrong though...

Marchment I never understood... Verhaeghe never made sense. Kadri I knew was gone the second he took that final suspension, given his history here.

 

[ruaware41]

Yes. Plenty of people thought the Kadri trade, the non Hyman extension, the Marchment trade and a lot of the other moves were stupid at the time. Whether they knew from knowledge of the game, or were just plain lucky in their opinions, we would've been better off with them as GM.

honestly those ppl were a minority but ultimately all we wanted was for the team to stick to what they told us they were going to give us - a proper rebuild. The pieces would’ve fallen in place. Dubas and Lou both colossally failed in that regard but Lou escapes a lot of the criticism

 

[Stephen]

But the only time a team makes it to the Cup final twice over the past few decades is Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008-2009.

Experience certainly holds an advantage and Florida is clearly the favorite, but the stat isn't that reflective because a team rarely makes it to the cup final twice.

Tampa made it to the finals 3x years in a row in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Pittsburgh also went to the finals 2x in a row in 2016 and 2017.

Detroit made it to the finals 2x years in a row in 2008 and 2009.

Boston made it to the finals 3 years in separate seasons in 2011, 2013 and 2019.

LA made it to the finals twice in 2012 and 2014 skipping 2013.

Chicago made it to the finals 3 years in separate seasons in 2010, 2013 and 2015, skipping 2014.

So championship caliber teams tend to make the finals on a repeat basis over a number of years clustered together and I think we’re seeing that with Florida now.

 

[Stephen]

Yes. Plenty of people thought the Kadri trade, the non Hyman extension, the Marchment trade and a lot of the other moves were stupid at the time. Whether they knew from knowledge of the game, or were just plain lucky in their opinions, we would've been better off with them as GM.

Losing Hyman at the time was one of those risk assessment coin flips but his progression in Edmonton has been off the charts unusual. But then again, the previous regime was often not insightful about anything when it came to having deep knowledge on a player and making a great decision.

 

[Oilers in NS]

"The whole country will be backing the Oilers as Canada's team as we haven't won a Cup since 1993" - Wayne Gretzky

Do you guys agree with this ? I'm the type that only will cheer on the Leafs bringing the cup back. If Edmonton wins I'd be kind of happy for McDavid and Drai but I wouldn't be too thrilled overall. Definitely rooting for the Panthers to keep the dream alive.

Not sure what to tell ya there. Im hoping for a cup back in Canada. Sometimes u gotta have a Plan B

 

[Jmo89]

I won't be surprised if Edmonton wins it. Mcdavid will get a cup eventually. Honestly, it's a bit surprising he hasn't gotten one yet.

I thought Vancouver was their biggest challenge and who I preferred out of the west. Vegas, Colorado, and Dallas all looked a little off.

Florida is looking really solid though and you have to wonder how big of a part their finals appearance last year will play.

I don't really care about the whole "Canada drought" but if I had to pick a team to win its probably the Oilers. I'd like to see Mcdavid, Drai, Hyman win a cup.

HFOil can be a bit annoying but so can HFLeafs.

 

[Fogelhund]

I don't know who to cheer for... part of me dislikes the Oilers fanbase, part of me wants a Canadian team to win. Part of me hates the Panthers.. part of me wants to not have to hear the Oilers fanbase if they win...

It will be an interesting clash of styles though, and we shall see how the physicality of Panthers can slow down the Oilers at all... and how what has been a good defensive team in the Panthers, handles the high octane Oilers... it will be fun to watch

 

[Peasy]

I don't know who to cheer for... part of me dislikes the Oilers fanbase, part of me wants a Canadian team to win. Part of me hates the Panthers.. part of me wants to not have to hear the Oilers fanbase if they win...

It will be an interesting clash of styles though, and we shall see how the physicality of Panthers can slow down the Oilers at all... and how what has been a good defensive team in the Panthers, handles the high octane Oilers... it will be fun to watch

Whatever team wins, they have some of the most insufferable posters on this site that im sure wont be shutting up anytime soon.

Surely one day it will be our turn...

 

[Kurtz]

I'd be downright shocked if Edmonton can take more than 2 games from Florida. I think this will be a quick 4-1 with most games being very low-scoring.

 

[ThrowDemTongs]

I wonder if there are stats on outsider activity on the Leafs board and vice-versa.

Jamie, pull that shit up.