Tampa Bay: Are we witnessing the best roster in the cap era?

[KINGS17]

Time will tell. The best rosters win Stanley Cups (more than one).

 

[Drakon]

I thought the 2016 series with the Pens was more dominant. We got closer to winning that one, but the ice was tilted toward the Pens throughout, whereas, vs. Washington, TB carried the play in a few games in the middle, but fell apart at the beginning and end of the series.

Last year? Tampa didn't carry the play in a single game. They won on their powerplay only, and were killed at 5 on 5. The only reason it got past 5 games was some seriously shady calls that looked an awful lot like the typical series management you always see in the NHL.

 

[txpd]

The two Caps Presi teams had the best record of two teams back to the Scottie Bowman Habs. Then they put a cup on top of that in the 3rd season. Penguins. Look at them too.

 

[GordieHowsUrBreath]

Because the players on chicago were actually good enough to play important roles on every international teams and be all stars in the league while noone cares about nobodies like Kunitz, Hagelin, Hornqvist, Bonino in 4 years lmao. Pretty much half of Chicago's team was playing in the olympics for various countries in both 2010 and 14 Pit's nobodies are no where close to that.

Sharp, Prime Seabrook, Byfuglien, Hjalmarsson, Campbell are miles better than Kunitz, Bonino, Rust, Sheary, Hagelin, Hornqvist and co ever were in their careers. 4 top pairing D and a top 5 LW and you think they are comparable those nobodies? Dupuis, Kunitz, Hagelin, Rust, Sheary, Hornqvist, Bonino, and Guentzal would all be bottom 6 players on every chicago cup team and Letang doesnt even crack their top pair. Even 3rd line Chicago players like Teuvo, Versteeg, and Ladd blow Hornqvist's best season ever out of the water. They arent in the same stratosphere as Chicago's supporting cast.

2nd they didnt have the best team post lockout either 08 Wings, 10 Hawks, 13 Hawks all were better by significant margins Pit doesnt have the depth to hang with any of them

LMAO the 08 wings had trouble with the 08 pens who were far inferior to the 16 pens, and don't get me started on your overrated hawks that barely squeaked by the 13 wings who were old and no longer had lidstrom

yet you think the 16 pens couldn't hang HAHAHA

 

[GordieHowsUrBreath]

My like to post ratio proves that your statement is a lie. Where was I wrong? Sharp, Byfuglien, Teuvo, Campbell, etc are miles better than Pits support players. Speaking of which you have 8,000 posts and not one of them has ever contributed to a discussion. What are you even doing here you dont add anything to this site? Your obsession with me is on the creepy side

the same can be said about your obsession with me

 

[GordieHowsUrBreath]

Kings 2014. Could never count them out of a series and some epic comebacks. One of the most gutsiest playoffs I have ever seen. The Chicago Conference Finals was the Stanley Cup. The Best vs the Best.

Gaborik-Kopitar-Brown
Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
King-Stoll-Williams (Mr. Game 7)
Clifford-Richards-Lewis

Muzzin-Doughty
Mitchell-Voynov
Martinez-Greene
Regehr

Quick-Jones

right the "best" roster that couldn't even make the playoffs the next season

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

Dosnt really matter since they cant get in done in the playoffs. Always thought that the critique Ovie got for not winning a Cup with the Capitals were un-called for, yet Ive never heard Stamkos being called a ”choker” with a ”tarnished legacy”. This gets more interesting since Stamkos PO-record is kinda ...bad

 

[Johnnybegood13]

Best team I have witnessed this year, playoffs will see if they have jam though.

 

[libertarian]

Sorry but when the Bolts win 2 or 3 cups in the Cap era like the Hawks, Kings and Pens I will agree with you. Right now they are the best team this season but until they can prove they can win it all a couple of times they are not the best in the cap era.

 

[King Mapes]

Dosnt really matter since they cant get in done in the playoffs. Always thought that the critique Ovie got for not winning a Cup with the Capitals were un-called for, yet Ive never heard Stamkos being called a ”choker” with a ”tarnished legacy”. This gets more interesting since Stamkos PO-record is kinda ...bad

He's actually only had one year at a PPG in the playoffs and he only played 4 games that year. He definitely hasn't performed well.

 

[sr edler]

Unless Stamkos can raise his game in the postseason, Tampa will have kinda hurdle to move over.

I think the playoffs are pretty luck based to be honest. Good teams lose in the playoffs all the time. Look at Washington or the Sharks for example

SJ didn't win a Cup because bad luck? Please.

WSH before 18 didn't have enough top level center performances (Kuznetsov) nor the third line depth (Eller, etc.).

 

[Vasilevskiy]

This is definitely the best Bolts team I've seen. As for stacked teams... This is right up ther for me with Wings 07 and Caps from 4-7 years ago (when Green scoring 30 goals lol, Semin and others beasting)

 

[Todd from Leduc]

We played them last night and they are good but I saw some cracks in their foundation showing. I think the Oilers could beat them in a 7 game series.

 

[Rschmitz]

We played them last night and they are good but I saw some cracks in their foundation showing. I think the Oilers could beat them in a 7 game series.

What cracks were those?

 

[Hoek]

Dosnt really matter since they cant get in done in the playoffs. Always thought that the critique Ovie got for not winning a Cup with the Capitals were un-called for, yet Ive never heard Stamkos being called a ”choker” with a ”tarnished legacy”. This gets more interesting since Stamkos PO-record is kinda ...bad

Getting to at least the 7th game of the third round every time they make the playoffs = "can't get it done" even though that's way more than the Caps ever did before they finally got it done...

 

[Rschmitz]

Getting to at least the 7th game of the third round every time they make the playoffs = "can't get it done" even though that's way more than the Caps ever did before they finally got it done...

Probably too busy planning how to attend his teams draft party to pay attention to the PO's

 

[Sweetpotato]

We played them last night and they are good but I saw some cracks in their foundation showing. I think the Oilers could beat them in a 7 game series.

I mean any team might win a series against any other team, that's the beauty of hockey. But while possible EDM winning a 7 game series is also highly unlikely.

 

[trick9]

I don't think so.

They are definitely one of the best teams not win in a while. Which is exactly like what was said about the Capitals before they finally won.

They will get more praise if they finally win this season but they definitely have to get there first. Before that it's not really a debate because team like Blackhawks were stacked for years.

 

[Caroline Says ll]

One thing I do not understand is that despite their goaltending and D for last season and so far this season they are in the middle of the league in goals against.

They were thirteenth last year and hover at the same this year. It is not terrible, but does that not indicate that defensivly they have a flaw that keeps them from being in the top?

 

[Flat Ronnie]

One thing I do not understand is that despite their goaltending and D for last season and so far this season they are in the middle of the league in goals against.

They were thirteenth last year and hover at the same this year. It is not terrible, but does that not indicate that defensivly they have a flaw that keeps them from being in the top?

Vasilevski and Stralman were out for about a month.

Also, when you score an unusual amount of goals, you tend to give up more too.

 

[Rschmitz]

One thing I do not understand is that despite their goaltending and D for last season and so far this season they are in the middle of the league in goals against.

They were thirteenth last year and hover at the same this year. It is not terrible, but does that not indicate that defensivly they have a flaw that keeps them from being in the top?

That happens when you play your backup half the year instead of a Vezina finalist.

 

[Caroline Says ll]

That happens when you play your backup half the year instead of a Vezina finalist.

He played sixty five games last year.

 

[Rschmitz]

He played sixty five games last year.

Vasy wore down last year in his first season as the starter, he was a Vezina lock up until that point. We also didn't have Ryan McDonagh, when we did acquire him he was hurt. Our PK was also a hot mess.

All of that is fixed now. We will be a top 5 GAA team by the end of the year provided we can stay healthy.

 

[ImNeverWrong]

Yah they're absolutely stacked right now. Hope point asks for like 11 million.

 

[Caroline Says ll]

Vasy wore down last year in his first season as the starter, he was a Vezina lock up until that point. We also didn't have Ryan McDonagh, when we did acquire him he was hurt. Our PK was also a hot mess.

All of that is fixed now. We will be a top 5 GAA team by the end of the year provided we can stay healthy.

We will see. The talk of injuries needs to be eased down though. Teams who have let in less goals have also had serious injury problems on their defensive side of the game and still maintained it.

Where I see an issue is the Lightning have let in 4+ goals in over 11 games. So in even more than 1 in every 4 games they let 4 or more goals in.