Out of Town Stanley Cup Edition

[Svechhammer]

You're preaching to the choir. I called it out before the playoffs and said he not only could have played but that elite players can play well after that time off and have before

And maybe that's where I am most annoyed. They blatantly gamed the system. They intentionally manipulated his medical prognosis to delay being medically cleared until far after he was good to go for the sole purposes of manipulating their cap. If he was really at the recovery stage they said he was, there is absolutely no way he's as effective in the playoffs as he was. The guy hits the ice fully recovered the game after he is medically cleared to practice after hip surgery? Bullshit

At the end of the day it gained them an additional 25% in cap space. I don't give a damn if the roster they iced was only 9% over like the latest talking point their drones are parroting on the main board. That extra amount allows them far more leverage to ice a far better team than anyone else could afford to do. They didn't have to worry about debating whether its less painful to play Gardiner or Keane because their additional cap usage allowed them extra players to choose from.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they cheated their way to a title, but they certainly didn't give one ounce of a shit about the spirit of the cap.

 

[Tryamw]

And maybe that's where I am most annoyed. They blatantly gamed the system. They intentionally manipulated his medical prognosis to delay being medically cleared until far after he was good to go for the sole purposes of manipulating their cap. If he was really at the recovery stage they said he was, there is absolutely no way he's as effective in the playoffs as he was. The guy hits the ice fully recovered the game after he is medically cleared to practice after hip surgery? Bullshit

At the end of the day it gained them an additional 25% in cap space. I don't give a damn if the roster they iced was only 9% over like the latest talking point their drones are parroting on the main board. That extra amount allows them far more leverage to ice a far better team than anyone else could afford to do. They didn't have to worry about debating whether its less painful to play Gardiner or Keane because their additional cap usage allowed them extra players to choose from.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they cheated their way to a title, but they certainly didn't give one ounce of a shit about the spirit of the cap.

and the league didn't care as much as when Kovalchuk had his contract. Different rules for different teams.

 

[Tryamw]

Tampa won't get squeezed hard by the other GM's they SHOULD squeeze them but it won't happen don't get me wrong they won't be nice either but they won't go for blood.

 

[Sens1Canes2]

Wasn’t there was a story where the Tampa owner (or GM) proposed to close the cap loophole back in 2015, but all the other GMs basically refused to address it?

 

[Tryamw]

Wasn’t there was a story where the Tampa owner (or GM) proposed to close the cap loophole back in 2015, but all the other GMs basically refused to address it?

AFAIK Both Tampa and St. Louis did vote for it. But teams like the loophole for the ability to do the deadline trades.. That's what Tampa wanted to eliminate I beleive..

 

[hblueridgegal]

Perhaps openly praising and promoting a team that cheated the system isn't the best for ratings? Why would they think having a lopsided situation would help them with their audience share? It's the same as their tone deaf response to the officiating woes.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Perhaps openly praising and promoting a team that cheated the system isn't the best for ratings? Why would they think having a lopsided situation would help them with their audience share? It's the same as their tone deaf response to the officiating woes.

That seems like a huuuuuuge stretch to me...

National ratings, especially in the playoffs/finals of the major sports, are all about attracting casual fans and even non-fans, which the NHL has a history of being terrible at for any number of reasons.

Anyone who has a strong opinion about the Tampa cap situation is already hooked on this stupid sport and is probably watching the games no matter what.

(I will say, we are personally a 1-TV household and last night we just so happened to watch parts of all 3 of the shows described in that tweet. But for me I haven't been glued to these finals just because of the sense of inevitability - I watched the full 3rd period and that's it.)

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

The series wasn’t very good
The series wasn’t competitive (people knew it wasn’t going to be)
Montreal was the worst team to make the finals in some time, maybe ever
NHL still sucks at promoting

all factors that fed in to low viewership.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

I know I didn't watch any of the games in the Finals. As stated, I wasn't expecting competitive games, so the entertainment value wasn't there. And if anything interesting happened, I knew I could just catch the highlights on Twitter or YT.

 

[hblueridgegal]

That seems like a huuuuuuge stretch to me...

LTIR was trending last night on Twitter. They can push it under the rug and have the media tell fans how they should feel about it all they want but it's still out there.

 

[Svechhammer]

NBC sucked at sports promotion. I'm glad the league is done with them. It's almost a guarantee that ratings will climb under ESPN. Hell, ESPN has already tried to hype the league up more lately than NBC has ever done.

Shit, remember when the playoffs were preempted for a horse race? Yeah, NBC sucked.

 

[GoldiFox]

And maybe that's where I am most annoyed. They blatantly gamed the system. They intentionally manipulated his medical prognosis to delay being medically cleared until far after he was good to go for the sole purposes of manipulating their cap. If he was really at the recovery stage they said he was, there is absolutely no way he's as effective in the playoffs as he was. The guy hits the ice fully recovered the game after he is medically cleared to practice after hip surgery? Bullshit

At the end of the day it gained them an additional 25% in cap space. I don't give a damn if the roster they iced was only 9% over like the latest talking point their drones are parroting on the main board. That extra amount allows them far more leverage to ice a far better team than anyone else could afford to do. They didn't have to worry about debating whether its less painful to play Gardiner or Keane because their additional cap usage allowed them extra players to choose from.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they cheated their way to a title, but they certainly didn't give one ounce of a shit about the spirit of the cap.

On NBC pregame one of these games they were joking that Kucherov looked so good because he had been practicing with the best team in the league since January.

If one was making a case for the court I would focus on that. Kucherov was healthy and could have absolutely played the last game of the season. However that would have put the team in non-compliance. So the medical records had to be falsified to present the case that Kucherov was only healthy enough to play in the Playoffs. I don't think anybody in the entire NHL would dispute that claim. It is impossible to be so coincidental. That is where a punishment for TB would be based, but that punishment will never happen.

 

[Svechhammer]

On NBC pregame one of these games they were joking that Kucherov looked so good because he had been practicing with the best team in the league since January.

If one was making a case for the court I would focus on that. Kucherov was healthy and could have absolutely played the last game of the season. However that would have put the team in non-compliance. So the medical records had to be falsified to present the case that Kucherov was only healthy enough to play in the Playoffs. I don't think anybody in the entire NHL would dispute that claim. It is impossible to be so coincidental. That is where a punishment for TB would be based, but that punishment will never happen.

If this was anyone but the defending champ, and anyone but Kucherov, they probably would already have forfeited a draft pick next year, much like what happened with Kovalchuk and the league would have already closed the loophole.

But because they need their champ to be pristine and they wanted the story, it's all gravy. But seriously, Florida, Carolina, and NYI should all be livid behind closed doors that this circumvention really did significantly impact their ability to win it all this year.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Later round playoff hockey is generally boring if your team isn't playing or you can't muster up a rooting interest in a matchup. Perhaps the most skilled team in the league was content in playing like it was the least skilled team in the league. I commend the Lightning on their structure and commitment in the defensive zone, but it was ugly to watch the go to play for opposing teams being a shot from the point in the hope of a fluke bounce to beat Marshmallow Man.

 

[HisIceness]

I mean the series on paper had some intrigue (cinderella vs defending champ) but it was a mis-match overall. The casual viewer isn't going to want to watch blowouts

 

[WreckingCrew]

I mean the series on paper had some intrigue (cinderella vs defending champ) but it was a mis-match overall.

As I predicted, Montreal played way over their heads in the series vs Vegas (and honestly EDM/WPG weren't tough competition), and they were totally outclassed against Tampa...they never really had a chance.

 

[Sens1Canes2]

This was the most playoff hockey I watched in a long time. Maybe it was the fans-back-in-arenas vibe…not sure. But I found Tampa a joy to watch. Clinical.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

This was the most playoff hockey I watched in a long time. Maybe it was the fans-back-in-arenas vibe…not sure. But I found Tampa a joy to watch. Clinical.

Definition of MASOCHIST

 

[Stickpucker]

This finals felt the most inevitable since we played Detroit in 02.

As far as entertainment goes the first game was the most fun when both teams were trying to set the tone and get under each other's skin. After that things cooled off a lot, there was very little emotion, and TB clinically disposed of MTL.

Going back and watching our run in 06 those games all felt heated and physical with tons of people throwing their body.

I don't know if the reffing or fatigue has a larger part to play in how some of these games settle down too quickly. For example when people were more rested Florida/TB had some crazy games with lots of speed and physicality that I enjoyed.

 

[Bunch of Jurcos]

Hockey died for me when we got eliminated. Once the Avs were eliminated, the only team I could have rooted for was the Islanders and they did well but I didn't believe they were getting past Tampa either. July is going to be far more lit than the playoffs.

 

[CanesFanBudMan]

On NBC pregame one of these games they were joking that Kucherov looked so good because he had been practicing with the best team in the league since January.

If one was making a case for the court I would focus on that. Kucherov was healthy and could have absolutely played the last game of the season. However that would have put the team in non-compliance. So the medical records had to be falsified to present the case that Kucherov was only healthy enough to play in the Playoffs. I don't think anybody in the entire NHL would dispute that claim. It is impossible to be so coincidental. That is where a punishment for TB would be based, but that punishment will never happen.

The way to fix the issue is to require teams to carry 3rd party insurance to pay LTIR salary on all contracts over x amount. You can bet your ass that if a player on LTIR was fit to play the insurance company would not pay out

 

[cptjeff]

Montreal was the worst team to make the finals in some time, maybe ever

Well, absolutely not ever. When the NHL was forced to expand from the Original 6 by the threat of being hit by antitrust laws, they didn't like it and the expansion 6 all played in their own division without interacting with the O6, and were guaranteed a spot in the finals, which led to three straight years of the Blues getting humiliated in the finals. Three years and they didn't win a single game. Those teams are pretty easily the worst ever, at least in the NHL era. Some of the challenge cup era teams got pretty thoroughly trounced, though.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

This finals felt the most inevitable since we played Detroit in 02.

Except we won Game 1, and were one lucky break from winning Game 3 in triple OT. The Habs didn't even have a lead until Game 4.

 

[skipnjump]

I watched the game with my Mom because she likes watching the Cup being awarded and the handshake line. I'm glad that Montreal wasn't swept.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I watched the games because I'm a degenerate. But this was really the first year where I really just wanted it to be over. I couldn't even get behind the underdog thing which normally might interest me because the Habs seem poorly run and truly lucked into in a year where they played a shit division and had a weird regular season and playoff format.