The Carolina Hurricanes Have Lost 13 Straight ECF Games...

[PistolPete]

Let the record show that the Sabres have won an ECF game more recently than the Canes.

Not when they played against each other

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Rod Brindamour - Never deviate from the plan.

 

[PistolPete]

A remarkable thing to do. Teams that make the conference finals should theoretically be close to each other in talent. NHL absolutely needs to change the seeding system. The current one sucks and has gotten boring with the same matchups year after year. To hell with this creating rivalries crap the NHL says the current system promotes. Conference finals should be tight affairs.

You're not going to get that ever uear or second year. Ebbs and flows. No seeding system is going to ensure every series is close.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Let the record show that the Sabres have won an ECF game more recently than the Canes.

Montreal has won more WCF games than Canes have ECF games!

 

[Mr Positive]

You're not going to get that ever uear or second year. Ebbs and flows. No seeding system is going to ensure every series is close.

I agree. We have got to a point where there are teams who just aren't suited for regular season and become a contender in the playoffs. Florida and Edmonton seem this way. Then there are the opposite: teams who excel in the season but flounder in the playoffs. Its clear that the problem with the seeding system is that the playoffs and the regular season are just different games with different rules even. It's like using a badminton season to seed a tennis tournament

 

[Ralonzo]

Lol come on.. are Jarvis, Svechnikov, Necas(before he was traded) just a bunch of scrubs?

Inadvertantly precocious post, there. It was an up and down year...
On the one hand, they realized they needed more top-end talent so they gave talent to get talent.
On the other hand, they realized RBA coaches the team so they shipped out the newly acquired talent to get more middle-6 borgclones.

 

[hangman005]

Can't blame injuries this time

You can blame anything you like if you try hard enough.... personally I'm blaming mercury being in retrograde.

 

[kabidjan18]

I think they need more defensive depth. But that's just my opinion.

 

[NYRnine94]

Playoff seeding should just be 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc. The matchups suck and it would save us from watching Carolina get taken advantage of in the ECF every year. At least they would lose earlier

 

[Bruce Granville]

I agree. We have got to a point where there are teams who just aren't suited for regular season and become a contender in the playoffs. Florida and Edmonton seem this way. Then there are the opposite: teams who excel in the season but flounder in the playoffs. Its clear that the problem with the seeding system is that the playoffs and the regular season are just different games with different rules even. It's like using a badminton season to seed a tennis tournament

Not suited for the regular season?
Oilers and Panthers just don‘t care about seedings.
Both know what it takes to go far in the playoffs and home ice advantage might as well be a myth.
If you don‘t have to worry about your match ups, you just go out and play your game. No coach to mess it up…

 

[goeb]

I do think the Canes have overachieved for quite a while. This is probably the weakest roster they have had on paper in quite some time.

Shipping off Rantanen and losing Necas prior to that put them in a tough spot. I am impressed they were able to eliminate the Caps in 5 games.

That being said, they should still be performing much better than this. They look like the worst team in the league out there against Florida.

Canes definitely need to go hard after a goal scorer this offseason. They took a chance with Rantanen but unfortunately it didn’t pan out.

 

[Cool Hand Puke]

A Bakers Dozen!

 

[TheDoldrums]

In a proper 1-8 seeding this would’ve been a 1st round matchup as the 4/5 seeds

 

[Daximus]

I think since the Pens have fallen off the Metro is just a really weak division. Unfortunately someone has to make the playoffs.

 

[ViD]

It will ruffle a lot of feathers but it’s time to admit the Leafs were the second best team in the eastern conference this year

 

[MrHeiskanen]

There is a reason Rantanen didn't want to play there.

 

[PistolPete]

I agree. We have got to a point where there are teams who just aren't suited for regular season and become a contender in the playoffs. Florida and Edmonton seem this way. Then there are the opposite: teams who excel in the season but flounder in the playoffs. Its clear that the problem with the seeding system is that the playoffs and the regular season are just different games with different rules even. It's like using a badminton season to seed a tennis tournament

The difference is length.

The RS is 82 games, over the course of 28 games you can go 12 and 16 and still come out atop the league. It evens out the rises and falls and minimizes the influence of luck and random chance.

The PO- heightens random chance and luck and you go into a dip, you're done.

Then there's also the fact that the NHL RS schedule isn't equalized- some teams play each other 4 times, others only twice, not a factor if 30 points separate two teams, but if only 8 points separate them? Is that 8 point difference a function of talent difference or scheduling?

This is why it's absurd to equate Stanley Cup champions with best team of that season.

The SCC are just winners of a short tournament.

 

[PeteWorrell]

It will ruffle a lot of feathers but it’s time to admit the Leafs were the second best team in the eastern conference this year

Being the second best in a weak conference is not really controversial.

 

[PistolPete]

It will ruffle a lot of feathers but it’s time to admit the Leafs were the second best team in the eastern conference this year

You forgot about Tampa Bay.

If Florida is the best team that means TB is still possibly the second best who got beat by the bear before they coild get a chance to play and beat the third best.

 

[ViD]

You forgot about Tampa Bay.

If Florida is the best team that means TB is still possibly the second best who got beat by the bear before they coild get a chance to play and beat the third best.

Toronto recently beat Tampa in play offs and Florida had an easier time with them than with the Leafs

 

[Mr Positive]

The difference is length.

The RS is 82 games, over the course of 28 games you can go 12 and 16 and still come out atop the league. It evens out the rises and falls and minimizes the influence of luck and random chance.

The PO- heightens random chance and luck and you go into a dip, you're done.

Then there's also the fact that the NHL RS schedule isn't equalized- some teams play each other 4 times, others only twice, not a factor if 30 points separate two teams, but if only 8 points separate them? Is that 8 point difference a function of talent difference or scheduling?

This is why it's absurd to equate Stanley Cup champions with best team of that season.

The SCC are just winners of a short tournament.

Sure, except the issue with the regular season champion is that there are teams who just don't try to win that, and whose goal of the regular season is prepare for the playoffs, and do things like ride the LTIR longer than they would in the playoffs, avoid contact in the RS season, and even have elite players take rest days or reduced minutes in the RS to stay fresh.

As an Oiler fan I'd have to say our regular season was a farce in a way, especially at the end of the regular season where the team obviously gave up on fighting for the division lead and opted to rest players and limit minutes instead, and simply making the playoffs was good enough. The Oilers are also an older team, and lots of those guys likely only gave 80% effort just to save their bodies and stamina.

Maybe the answer is to make being the home seed more worthwhile in some way

 

[PistolPete]

Sure, except the issue with the regular season champion is that there are teams who just don't try to win that, and whose goal of the regular season is prepare for the playoffs, and do things like ride the LTIR longer than they would in the playoffs, avoid contact in the RS season, and even have elite players take rest days or reduced minutes in the RS to stay fresh. As an Oiler fan I'd have to say our regular season was a farce in a way, especially at the end of the regular season where the team obviously gave up on fighting for the division lead and opted to rest players and limit minutes instead, and simply making the playoffs was good enough

There's there too.

So basically the entirety of the NHL season and PO is a farce.

 

[PistolPete]

Toronto recently beat Tampa in play offs and Florida had an easier time with them than with the Leafs

Recently isn't this season. Otherwise I can go back and say Carolina is better than Toronto because they beat them in '02- that's recent to me!

 

[DrDangles]

Carolina is a paper tiger and the league knows it. Guentzel didn't want to stay, Rantanen didn't want to stay, Marner nixed a trade there.

I'd compare them to the Thornton - Marleau era Sharks but the west was a bloodbath back then and the east is lukewarm at best right now, so I dunno.

 

[Hoek]

Toronto recently beat Tampa in play offs and Florida had an easier time with them than with the Leafs

Yeah I'm a Bolts fan but it's hard to argue with this. Only thing I can see arguing is in an alternate universe where they didn't piss away Game 4 in 11 seconds maybe the series goes different.