GDT: Carolina @ Tampa Bay 4 PM EDT USAN

[Auto Pilot]

Thats what it looks when u are able to play 17m over cap in the palyoffs

Structuring contracts a certain way that’s legal can be deemed going against the spirit of the cba, but holding a guy out for two months that was ready to go back in March is totally kosher and not also going against the spirit of the cba.

 

[Canes]

Honestly you can't really pin this series on any particular players. It has been a team failure for the most part, just like the last two years vs Boston which makes it especially difficult to evaluate what we need to do in the offseason.

 

[wunderpanda]

i still believe the canes will win, game 7 is at home after all.

 

[3CanesInTheBox]

When we're fighting to keep our head above water, these little things are so frustrating and demotivating as a fan. Got to assume it is similar as a player.

Yup. They didn't respond well, but it was demoralizing JUST WATCHING it. I'll be really happy if they come out strong next game. just a brutal way to lose.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Tampa’s PP is in another planet and the refs are inventing penalties to get them on it. It’s gonna be a bad time.

 

[The Faulker 27]

Tampa’s PP is in another planet and the refs are inventing penalties to get them on it. It’s gonna be a bad time.

It's gonna be another Cup. For sure. At least it'll be underscored by the totally legit but slimy cap circumvention.

 

[HisIceness]

We’re three seasons into being a good team and all our best players are still in their early and mid 20s.

I’m disappointed but I was also emotionally prepared. Because I don’t think this team is veteran enough or experienced enough to go all the way. And even if they were that has to coincide with some injury luck which we’ve obviously not had.

good season, one more game at home to say goodbye.

Without turning this into a long drawn reply I'll just say I agree.

But, I'll follow that with these collapses in must win games (game 4 last year and today) are concerning

 

[Kaljis]

Structuring contracts a certain way that’s legal can be deemed going against the spirit of the cba, but holding a guy out for two months that was ready to go back in March is totally kosher and not also going against the spirit of the cba.

No question. Looking kuch or stamkos playing from day 1 in palyoffs.

 

[Canes]

It's gonna be another Cup. For sure.

I doubt it, they don't look any better than the Bruins, Avs or Golden Knights to me. If they don't get a massive PP advantage vs those teams either it's not going to be a good time for them.

 

[Wolfpuck]

It's gonna be another Cup. For sure. At least it'll be underscored by the totally legit but slimy cap circumvention.

*laughs in Colorado Avalanche

 

[Roboturner913]

Without turning this into a long drawn reply I'll just say I agree.

But, I'll follow that with these collapses in must win games (game 4 last year and today) are concerning

It’s a matter of perspective what a “collapse” is I suppose. I don’t see it as so much of a collapse as just finally running out of gas.

and also in hockey more than other sports, I feel like you just have to keep your core together and wait for your turn.

 

[The Faulker 27]

I doubt it, they don't look any better than the Bruins, Avs or Golden Knights to me. If they don't get a massive PP advantage vs those teams either it's not going to be a good time for them.

Believe me. I hope you're right but I feel like I'm watching a league love affair circa Penguins era.

 

[hblueridgegal]

Without turning this into a long drawn reply I'll just say I agree.

But, I'll follow that with these collapses in must win games (game 4 last year and today) are concerning

I was hoping RBA would burn his timeout in the 2nd after they scored on the Bean penalty...just take a breath and regain some composure instead of letting the train completely leave the tracks.

 

[Sigurd]

If you think I’ve been ranting feel free to make use of the ignore feature

Some of us aren't a ray of sunshine all of the time and are negative when warranted. Here, I'll start with a "rant."

The penalties killed us in no small part due to the refs calling everything against us. Even if we had Trocheck and Nino, I'm not sure how much more they'd improve our odds of winning since Trocheck's scoring took a nosedive after his injury earlier this season, and Nino isn't an Aho type of forward but he'd be an improvement over one of the call ups. Really it feels like Aho and Staal have been the only forwards carrying this team scoring wise in the playoffs. Svech has been a dumpster fire this year, and magnified mostly in the playoffs.

We need more offensive depth. We also need our players to stop making so many basic and dumb mistakes. Also, Pac man was invisible for his physicality. Why did we get him if he wasn't going do the one thing he is supposed to be good at?

Mrazek failed us. Full stop. Hamilton also was in no man's land on one of the Tampa goals. I used to be all for keeping Hamilton, but I'm really indifferent at this point. His crappy defense offsets or nullifies at best the sporadic offense he provides.

Sooner or later a team's core is gonna fall apart either performance wise, and or through free agency, trades etc. I don't know how many more play off entries we need before we make the f***ing Stanley cup finals again, and much less actually win it again in my lifetime.

 

[The S5]

My take aways from this debacle.
1. They really missed Nino and, to a lesser extent, Tro.
2. Svech is one of the more selfish players that I have seen.
3. Necas needs to clean up his game. Way too many give aways.
4. Skjei had a quietly good game.

This one hurt. This should have been a rout. The Bolts were on life support after the Slavin goal, but we just performed CPR.

 

[spockBokk]

Some positives:

-No way you can not call Nedeljkovic the best goalie option going into game 5 and next season

-Bean = not passable defensively with top 4 minutes. Sure he’s a rookie, but I don’t think he ever becomes passable. Let Francis have him, expansion draft issue solved

-Hamilton = looks like the braintrust is likely right about what they’re offering him. He’ll get his $8M, but not from CAR. The team that signs him for $8M by 7 will regret it

 

[Svechhammer]

We need a legitimate f***ing superstar to lead the offense.

Svech is anything but one right now
Necas isn't one
Aho and Turbo are good but they aren't superstars
We have elite defensive players but that doesn't f***ing help you score goals. Dougie is at best contributing as much offensively as he contributes to screwups defensively. None of our other defensive players provide a goddamn thing on offense.

We need a legit alpha. And if that means packaging one of our core pieces with a prospect to get one, well then we need to do it.

 

[3CanesInTheBox]

i still believe the canes will win, game 7 is at home after all.

from your keyboard to the hockey gods' ears

 

[Wolfpuck]

i still believe the canes will win, game 7 is at home after all.

I mean, I did vote Canes in 7…

 

[Svechhammer]

It’s a matter of perspective what a “collapse” is I suppose. I don’t see it as so much of a collapse as just finally running out of gas.

and also in hockey more than other sports, I feel like you just have to keep your core together and wait for your turn.

Running out of gas?

If this team is running out of gas in Game 4 of the 2nd round we have no hope of ever competing for a Cup

 

[dogbazinho]

We need a legitimate f***ing superstar to lead the offense.

Svech is anything but one right now
Necas isn't one
Aho and Turbo are good but they aren't superstars
We have elite defensive players but that doesn't f***ing help you score goals. Dougie is at best contributing as much offensively as he contributes to screwups defensively. None of our other defensive players provide a goddamn thing on offense.

We need a legit alpha. And if that means packaging one of our core pieces with a prospect to get one, well then we need to do it.

I think we need an Alpha in personality. IE someone that will tell other players that their fancy passes aren't good enough.

 

[Roboturner913]

Running out of gas?

If this team is running out of gas in Game 4 of the 2nd round we have no hope of ever competing for a Cup

that’s a pretty drastic oversimplification that doesn’t account for circumstance.

again, we’re in the 3rd year of this, it’s not like we’re looking at geriatric versions of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marceau and crying out when lawd, when’s it gonna be our time?

Just think it’s still too early in the big picture to be navel gazing and psychoanalysis.

 

[Svechhammer]

I think we need an Alpha in personality. IE someone that will tell other players that their fancy passes aren't good enough.

What, drop passing all over the ice on the PP isn't going to get it done?

 

[Svechhammer]

that’s a pretty drastic oversimplification that doesn’t account for circumstance.

I mean yeah we had a few overtime games but we are playing against Tampa who won the Cup after a long playoff run about 8 months ago and played 1 less game than us in the last round. If any team was supposed to run out of steam this series, it's them

 

[WreckingCrew]

Sounds like taking my pup to splash around waterfalls at Hanging Rock was the right decision...I probably would have destroyed some shit if I had to watch them blow another 2 goal lead, give up 4 unanswered, and lose. We flat out aren't a playoff team. 3 years straight we've epically collapsed against difficult teams, mostly self-inflicted