Does anyone find it boring with the same result as last year?

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Dallas has had some fun series with Col and WPG. Edmonton is always exciting to watch. Florida is always exciting to watch. You could definitely say Carolina has been boring because they faced a crippled NJ team followed by a pretender WSH team, and then didn't do much in the conference finals. Overall maybe the Conference Finals have been duds if Edmonton ends up winning in 5 because they weren't close enough to create that excitement for outside fanbases. But the finals should be exciting hockey. It certainly was last year.

Florida are not exciting to watch. They thrive on sludge hockey

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Not boring.

Maybe Carolina because they play boring hockey. Every other team is exciting though.

 

[JKG33]

Agreed that brackets aren't ideal. I wish they'd do away with them.

But the heavyweight matches like Dallas vs. Colorado or Florida vs. Tampa are unavoidable, simply because there's more than 4 good teams in each conference. It's a good thing.

Those matchups happen, but they shouldn't be forced upon us this early.

Disagree that there's more than 4 good teams in each conference. In the east I'd say theres only one, and that one team had to go through teams two and three in rounds one and two. A good argument could be made that Carolina would beat Toronto, but I'm convinced Tampa smokes anyone in the metro.

In the west, I just cant take Winnipeg seriously, which by process of elimination takes out St. Louis. LA and Minnesota weren't winning anything unless they happened to play each other. Vegas looked terrible even in the series they won, and I mistakenly had them as a cup favorite coming in. So really, I only see 3 good teams in the west as well. But the difference is I'd take their 4-9 seeded teams over basically anyone in the east outside the state of Florida.

 

[Hockey2Hockey]

This round has been brutal to watch.

Another issue is the playoff format. Go back to 1 vs 8

 

[um]

Those matchups happen, but they shouldn't be forced upon us this early.

Disagree that there's more than 4 good teams in each conference. In the east I'd say theres only one, and that one team had to go through teams two and three in rounds one and two. A good argument could be made that Carolina would beat Toronto, but I'm convinced Tampa smokes anyone in the metro.

In the west, I just cant take Winnipeg seriously, which by process of elimination takes out St. Louis. LA and Minnesota weren't winning anything unless they happened to play each other. Vegas looked terrible even in the series they won, and I mistakenly had them as a cup favorite coming in. So really, I only see 3 good teams in the west as well. But the difference is I'd take their 4-9 seeded teams over basically anyone in the east outside the state of Florida.

That's what I'm saying, it isn't forced, it's the natural layout of the standings.

If it were still a 1-8 format, we'd have Edmonton vs. Dallas and round 1. And whoever lost, some would claim they weren't that good anyway!

There are more than 4 good teams per conference, it's unavoidable. You may not take many teams seriously in the playoffs, but their spots were earned during the season.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

I thought there was supposed to by parity in the NHL. Yet we had the exact same final 4 matchups as last year. And now we have the same cup finals matchup as last year as well.

Are the Panthers and Oilers just THAT much better than everyone else? It just seems like you can skip the playoffs and wait for the finals. There aren't any upsets any more.

I don't know, it just seems boring to me. I would have liked to see some new teams do well. But it seems parity is gone.

But but but the salary cap was supposed to bring parity in the NHL….

Parity doesn't mean that great teams one year automatically become bad teams. It also doesn't mean that there is random number generator where every team every year has the same chance to win. Parity means that over the long term every franchise has an opportunity to succeed - not that every organization will succeed. See the Buffalo Sabres. (Sorry Buffalo fans - just the most recent example of this phenomenon). Historically (which I consider to be post expansion but pre-salary cap just based on my fandom) - "large markets" had huge advantages where they could have TRIPLE the salary of small market teams (EDM vs. DAL back in the day, or the Cup finals with COL vs. FLA or WASH vs. DET). That was the definition of lack of parity.

IMO, teams are the amalgamation of front office decisions. Teams that tend to make good decisions (which I would consider FLA & DAL to be two of those cases) have sustained success. Even a team like the Oilers that got lucky with winning the McDavid lottery made great drafting decisions with Draisatl & Bouchard, and some very good other decisions like Hyman. As a Hawks fan, teams typically go south when their "good decisions" age out (typically when overpaying their own UFA's) and the talent pipeline dries up.

This year is the combination of a team with amazing team construction (FLA with good core drafting of Barkov, Lundell, Ekblad, etc., successful reclamations of Forsling, Bennett, Reinhart, Mikkola and good deadline acquistion of Jones & Marchand) vs. a team with 2 of the top 4 players in the game who is also getting great depth contributions as well.

 

[Rebels57]

Hopefully Dallas beats Edmonton and then destroys Florida in 4.

It will probably be a rematch though and my money is on Florida due to the goaltending mismatch.

 

[Captain97]

I don't mind too much because I enjoy watching McDrai play as a hockey fan.

 

[SensFactor]

To me, Edmonton and Florida are the two best teams in the NHL right now, so it's not boring but dominant hockey... other teams need to up their games to compete against both these two teams..

 

[ChaoticOrange]

"Git Gud" - Florida, Edmonton, Dallas, and Carolina to everyone else.

 

[the_fan]

Parity doesn't mean that great teams one year automatically become bad teams. It also doesn't mean that there is random number generator where every team every year has the same chance to win. Parity means that over the long term every franchise has an opportunity to succeed - not that every organization will succeed. See the Buffalo Sabres. (Sorry Buffalo fans - just the most recent example of this phenomenon). Historically (which I consider to be post expansion but pre-salary cap just based on my fandom) - "large markets" had huge advantages where they could have TRIPLE the salary of small market teams (EDM vs. DAL back in the day, or the Cup finals with COL vs. FLA or WASH vs. DET). That was the definition of lack of parity.

IMO, teams are the amalgamation of front office decisions. Teams that tend to make good decisions (which I would consider FLA & DAL to be two of those cases) have sustained success. Even a team like the Oilers that got lucky with winning the McDavid lottery made great drafting decisions with Draisatl & Bouchard, and some very good other decisions like Hyman. As a Hawks fan, teams typically go south when their "good decisions" age out (typically when overpaying their own UFA's) and the talent pipeline dries up.

This year is the combination of a team with amazing team construction (FLA with good core drafting of Barkov, Lundell, Ekblad, etc., successful reclamations of Forsling, Bennett, Reinhart, Mikkola and good deadline acquistion of Jones & Marchand) vs. a team with 2 of the top 4 players in the game who is also getting great depth contributions as well.

No tax states have big advantage because in a salary cap era when teams can’t pay big salaries, players can sign in those states and maximize their earnings by not paying income tax. Getting rid of the salary cap will fix that. Teams which are in tax states can offer more money to players. It’s no coincidence that Florida which is a no tax state is the team making the finals 3 years in a row.

Get rid of the team salary cap and put a cap on player salary. This way for example, a big market team like NY can’t just offer 30 mill to McDavid and take him off Edmonton’s hands. Make it so the max a player can make is 18 mill or something.

 

[bert]

Florida are not exciting to watch. They thrive on sludge hockey

This is a very very tough look from a neutral fan. Their games are so fast. They just happen to be really physical too. Its actually the best hockey to watch.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

If my team wasn't in it I'd be in full CFL mode right now

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

No tax states have big advantage because in a salary cap era when teams can’t pay big salaries, players can sign in those states and maximize their earnings by not paying income tax. Getting rid of the salary cap will fix that. Teams which are in tax states can offer more money to players. It’s no coincidence that Florida which is a no tax state is the team making the finals 3 years in a row.

Get rid of the team salary cap and put a cap on player salary. This way for example, a big market team like NY can’t just offer 30 mill to McDavid and take him off Edmonton’s hands. Make it so the max a player can make is 18 mill or something.

To make sure I understand - your solution to the "big advantage" of no state income tax (which when compared against low tax states like IL, OH, or PA would be about ~2.5% or for high tax states like NY, CAL would be ~7.5%) would be to get rid of the salary cap when under a no-cap system big market teams had up to a 200% payroll advantage instead? That's literally insane. Only having a "max salary" limitation would just screw the elite players and destroy the sustainability of the league.

FLA is in the finals 3 years in a row because they've made some great drafting and trades. They have a slight advantage on getting guys signed, but the team with one of the worst tax situations (NYR) historically has signed the most UFA's. Doesn't seem like taxes is the primary reason that UFA's sign somewhere.

 

[JFedol]

But but but the salary cap was supposed to bring parity in the NHL….

Said before by others lol, but it's one of the biggest myths ever said on this site lol

 

[Golden_Jet]

No tax states have big advantage because in a salary cap era when teams can’t pay big salaries, players can sign in those states and maximize their earnings by not paying income tax. Getting rid of the salary cap will fix that. Teams which are in tax states can offer more money to players. It’s no coincidence that Florida which is a no tax state is the team making the finals 3 years in a row.

Get rid of the team salary cap and put a cap on player salary. This way for example, a big market team like NY can’t just offer 30 mill to McDavid and take him off Edmonton’s hands. Make it so the max a player can make is 18 mill or something.

There is a cap on players salaries it’s 20%.
I’d prefer a little lower, say 15-18%

 

[MOGlLNY]

I'm cool with it - McDavid rematch is a good storyline.

 

[Golden_Jet]

But but but the salary cap was supposed to bring parity in the NHL….

Salary cap was for cost certainty, as was repeated many times by NHL.
Parity was thought to be a by product of cost certainty.

 

[Iggys Dome]

Re-matches are fun

The same teams going deep every year prove that they have a winning mentality and DNA, I respect it.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

No tax states have big advantage because in a salary cap era when teams can’t pay big salaries, players can sign in those states and maximize their earnings by not paying income tax. Getting rid of the salary cap will fix that. Teams which are in tax states can offer more money to players. It’s no coincidence that Florida which is a no tax state is the team making the finals 3 years in a row.

Get rid of the team salary cap and put a cap on player salary. This way for example, a big market team like NY can’t just offer 30 mill to McDavid and take him off Edmonton’s hands. Make it so the max a player can make is 18 mill or something.

And Toronto/NY have big advantages because of more sponsorship opportunities.

Montreal/Boston/Detroit have an advantage with being desirable as historic/prestige franchises.

We gonna account for all advantages any team might have or just keep cherry picking taxes because Florida teams happened to kill it drafting (Kucherov/Vasy/Hedman/Point) or drafting plus trades (Barkov/Tkachuk/Bennett) and you can't accept your team's front office sucks

 

[Jumptheshark]

Effective immidiatley a team will only be allowed to appear in the cup final once every 3 years so fans do no get bored. After all, it is all about the fans not being bored and not about the best teams making the finals. And the best teams? have very little to do with standings

 

[the_fan]

There is a cap on players salaries it’s 20%.
I’d prefer a little lower, say 15-18%

Yeah but that’s 20% based on what the salary cap is. What I’m suggesting is, remove team salary cap and make an adjustment to player salary cap, and since there won’t be a team salary cap, just set a maximum number a player can make. Just go with 18 mill max, this way if the Rangers offer McDavid the max 18 mill, Oilers won’t have a problem matching it

 

[Gizmoskevich]

Effective immidiatley a team will only be allowed to appear in the cup final once every 3 years so fans do no get bored. After all, it is all about the fans not being bored and not about the best teams making the finals. And the best teams? have very little to do with standings

To also cater to the fans of teams in non-taxed states, all Florida, Texas and Nevada fans but pay an extra $3 per game to help pay for the poor struggling teams in NY, Toronto and Boston so they can re-sign depth players.

 

[avocadosmoothie]

Too bad that Panthers superstars >>>>> Toronto superstars

superstar, you mean? Barkov's the only one they have

 

[the_fan]

To make sure I understand - your solution to the "big advantage" of no state income tax (which when compared against low tax states like IL, OH, or PA would be about ~2.5% or for high tax states like NY, CAL would be ~7.5%) would be to get rid of the salary cap when under a no-cap system big market teams had up to a 200% payroll advantage instead? That's literally insane. Only having a "max salary" limitation would just screw the elite players and destroy the sustainability of the league.

FLA is in the finals 3 years in a row because they've made some great drafting and trades. They have a slight advantage on getting guys signed, but the team with one of the worst tax situations (NYR) historically has signed the most UFA's. Doesn't seem like taxes is the primary reason that UFA's sign somewhere.

Yeah but it’s not just signing free agents, no tax states also have an advantage making trades. When players have NTC, they often willing to waive to go to Florida, Texas or Nevada (no tax states)