Is Tampa cooked?

[Mrb1p]

I think the main mistakes they made was trading Sergachev instead of Hedman. In a retool you need to retain the younger player. It just made no sense. Sergei is getting better still, hes only 26 and is signed for 7 more years at .5 more than what Hedman signed for.

I understand the legend thing and legacy and wtv but this is a business.

 

[Pure Slaughter Value]

There are some wild takes here. There's a lot of teams that would love a perennial Hart tropy finalist, a top center who hits 40 goals, a couple of 35-40 goal wingers, a couple of 20-25 goal wingers and a somewhat deep D anchored by a 6'7" Norris winner.

If Colorado loses to Dallas we'll probably see some "Are the Av's Done?" posts as well.

 

[Frank Drebin]

There are some wild takes here. There's a lot of teams that would love a perennial Hart tropy finalist, a top center who hits 40 goals, a couple of 35-40 goal wingers, a couple of 20-25 goal wingers and a somewhat deep D anchored by a 6'7" Norris winner.

If Colorado loses to Dallas we'll probably see some "Are the Av's Done?" posts as well.

Its just the ages of the star players
Kucherov 32 this summer
Hedman 35 in December
Vasi 31 in June. Same with gentzel.

Not a star player but mcdonut is 36 this summer

Even point is 29. Not exactly a young player but still has 5-6 very good years left.

Their gm has been very creative trying to extend this window but they haven’t been able to get over the hump for 3 post seasons now. With other teams in the east getting younger and better i just don’t know how you can keep betting on tampa.


Colorado is a bit of a different story. Mackinnon is 30 this year but makar will only be 27. Their superstar f-d combo is 5 years younger than the bolts

 

[BKarchitect]

They’ll still be good but yeah, the peak run is over IMO.

The blueline is a bit of a mess. Hedman has seriously declined, McD was great in the regular season but shockingly poor in the playoffs and also not young. Cernak fills a role but can be badly exposed. Moser seemed a shadow of his first half self after his injury. The rest is all flotsam. It’s hard to see a path for this blueline to be contender worthy moving forward even if they add a guy.

At least up front Goncalves showed a lot of promise and you’ve got Geekie as well. Plus Howard or whatever you get for him in a trade and some wildcards like Finley. The bottom six is trash right now but there could be some in-house help on the way. Plus it’s hard to see a guy like Point being this bad again - he’s among a few guys who just had bad series…it happens.

A rebuild seems logistically impossible though so to me the only choice is make a couple of moves here or there and keep taking bites and try to bridge forward.

 

[HockeyVirus]

To me the problem with Tampa is Vasi. He hasn't been any good for at least 3 seasons in the playoffs. No big save they need, so many soft goals. He covered a lot of problems for them but not every goalie can be a wall for years and years.

 

[Foppberg]

Yes. It took this core a long time to win a Cup. They won 2 at the end of their window, which has very clearly closed now. They are still making the playoffs, so a rebuild isn't necessary. They'll retool because they should still think they can contend. It's really just Florida and Carolina they have to compete with.

Carolina...?

 

[SirKillalot]

No they are still a dangerous team, but getting more into the hot or cold category where they will be more streaky.

Also have to take into consideration that they have been playing good teams in the playoffs.
They could have beaten Florida in this series, wasn't really a 1-4 series quality wise.

 

[Gnome17]

I wouldnt count them out, though the only thing that would worry me about them is Hedmans age.
But good cores keep coming back, we have seen it with the Pens who took what, 7 years between winning cups? Boston went to the finals in 11, 13 and 19 I think, all with the same core, there are plenty of examples.
I think theyll be a good team for a couple more years atleast and could make a run again.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I can still see them making noise in the next 2-3 seasons but the window is definitely fading some.

They have a good team and a goalie who could suddenly win you a playoff series or 4. GM who will make the hard decision and be aggressive. It is hard for me to write them off.

 

[Gnome17]

Yes. It took this core a long time to win a Cup. They won 2 at the end of their window, which has very clearly closed now. They are still making the playoffs, so a rebuild isn't necessary. They'll retool because they should still think they can contend. It's really just Florida and Carolina they have to compete with.

I dont know how you can be so confident about this, they finished tied 7th in the league in points, 1st in goals scored and 4th in goals against. They have a core that could be very good for a couple more years.

 

[aylib]

I’d say the team is at crossroads, their current roster isn’t built for battling Florida/Toronto.

 

[M88K]

I’d say the team is at crossroads, their current roster isn’t built for battling Florida/Toronto.

Toronto? Really? You don't think the Lightning would beat Toronto?



Tampa has issues, chief among them is that Vasi hasn't been his normal self in the PO. They've got a couple more years before "cooked" but they're also not going to be winning a cup in that time.
The only teams I'd expect to beat them consistently are Florida and Carolina. And they're going to run into 1 of them in the 1st or 2nd round.

 

[LOFIN]

I’d say the team is at crossroads, their current roster isn’t built for battling Florida/Toronto.

Let's see if Toronto can beat out Ottawa first, before we start discussing how they stack up against Florida vs Tampa

 

[Fatass]

Tampa might try a new coach to see if he can squeeze more juice from the aging core. West coast sports radio (650 Van) talking about that potential this morning.

 

[SpezDispenser]

I’d say the team is at crossroads, their current roster isn’t built for battling Florida/Toronto.

No rispek.

 

[sxvnert]

No the Panthers are that good.

 

[MOGlLNY]

no

 

[BHD]

Vasilevsky's last three playoff outings: .872, .897, .875. Not good...

 

[aylib]

No rispek.

They don’t deserve no respek on their name. Offense is soft and lacking clutch plays/players, defense can’t clear the crease, Vasy craps the bed at the most inappropriate times. The core looks content with the 2 cups and their comfy contracts with the the no-trade/movement clauses.

 

[ShootIt]

I don't think so. Just need to keep retooling.

They got some young players with potential in the Utah trade. Those guys just need to keep developing.

My biggest take away from this year from last year was the lack of a lethal shot on the powerplay. Of course finding a Stamkos level threat isn't easy, but their Powerplay was mostly perimeter passing/easily deflected cause the Panthers could be aggressive on the puck carrier. Last year Stamkos could still fire off a howitzer if given a foot of space.
They need more grit, but not at the expense of talent. Just thought Point, Kuch and Guentzel are very talented players, but on the powerplay, just didn't seem like an unit that could be effective vs the Panthers pressure on the PK

 

[Draiskull]

Always love a "The current playoff format sucks" post. Fans need to be loud until it gets changed back. The matchups would have been cooler, but tough* 1st round opponents are unavoidable.

Under the old format:
WSH vs MTL
TOR vs NJ
TB vs OTT
FLA vs CAR*

WPG vs STL
VGS vs MN
DAL vs EDM*
LA vs COL*

way too much work just to get supposedly better 1st round opponents.
After 1st round there really wouldnt be much difference between formats.

One thing we should get rid of are the divisions. There really is no point of them anymore.
just have 2 conferences, east and west.
Oilers for example played the Flames and Canucks only 3 times this season which is the same amount as all the central teams they played.

 

[TotalHomer]

People said the Bruins were cooked for like seven years before it happened. Tampa isn't going anywhere in the next three at least.

 

[Prettyisland]

I don’t like Tampa. I wish this was true. They have just faced the best team right off the bat. Florida is a crazy well constructed hockey club. They are a bulldozer

 

[NVious]

They're in a very tough spot from an ideological standpoint.

On one hand it's clear the core is still great, not mega elite contender, but quasi contender. On the other hand they're not getting any younger and Hedman and McD are in mid 30s, Kucherov/Guentz early 30s, Point nearly 30 and Vassy 30.

The hauls they could get if they just decided to totally strip and it retry in 2-4 years with Hagel/Cirelli/their young D would be massive, but I don't know if they have the heart to do that tbh. I guess they probably ride it out with this core and hope for a hail mary cup, but if you were extremely shrewd you'd strip it to the bone and restart.

Personally I think losing the other night's game after what happened to Hagel/the 5 minute pp AND after they gained the lead, had it into the last few minutes of the third and then totally imploded was an awful look. Who knows, maybe they can still come back, but if they don't I'd look at this game and realistically deduce that:
1.It's hard to be perpetually hungry
2.The core isn't getting it done and they're not getting any younger
3.If you can't win games when you have a massive motivator and you're up vs a rival, it might be over

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Yes. It took this core a long time to win a Cup. They won 2 at the end of their window, which has very clearly closed now. They are still making the playoffs, so a rebuild isn't necessary. They'll retool because they should still think they can contend. It's really just Florida and Carolina they have to compete with.

Yes but they won 0 non-Mickey mouse cups .

Cooked.