What the heck happened to VAN this season? 109 point juggernaut last year and this year looking like 85+point team that misses the playoffs. Which season is the anomaly? And if I’m a betting man, Tocchet finishes out this year on his contract and signs with Philly.
The Playoff Push, Tanking and Scoreboard Watching Thread
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Last year was the anomaly. They shot 12% as a team and got .928 goaltending at 5-on-5. Maybe they’re not as bad as they’ve shown this year and the dysfunction in the locker room didn’t help, but last year was kind of a best case scenario for them.
BrokenFace
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Coming into the season it looked like they had elite top 6 centers, a Norris D-man, and reliable goaltending. Now it looks like Hughes is the only one of those pieces a contender should build around and he was injured at a critical time for the team.
Paying $11.6mil for a center who is pacing for a 67-point season (over 82 games) can throw a wrench in things.
Spear
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DoubleK81
It's always something with these pricks.
Petterson is garbage is a big part of it. They got rid of the wrong guy.
BrokenFace
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This. I don't know how JT gets such a pass for this mess. Not like he's had much of an impact on the Ranger's playoff hopes.
Brian39
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They are already great example of it despite that draft.
They won the President's Trophy in 2013/14 and then barely missed the playoffs in 2014/15. So 2014/15 was clearly year 1 of the reboot. They missed the playoffs again in year 2 and made the playoffs year 3.
Then from years 4-10 they were one of the league's best teams. In this 7 year window they won 2 President's Trophies, set the single-season win record, and made it to game 7 of a Cup Final. They finished with 107+ points (or paced for 107+ points) in all 7 seasons. No team in the NHL earned more standings points than the Bruins from 2017/18 through 2023/24. They lost to the eventual Cup champs in the playoffs in 3 of the 7 seasons, so it isn't like they were just playoff chokers.
I'm not going to say that their reboot wasn't a success because we were the team that managed to win a series that genuinely could have gone either way.
Drubilly
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Dang! Pretty impressive when you lay all of that out. Even crazier to think what could have become if they had cleaned up at that draft. 5/6 years as THE Cup favorite.
Anyway, thanks for 1776 Boston but everyone hates you now.
Anyway, thanks for 1776 Boston but everyone hates you now.
Brian39
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And despite that insanity we snagged 3 of 4 possible points against them in LA. 60 minutes wasn't enough to decide the winner in either game. I'll take my chances against their home record vs taking my chances against teams that I believe are better constructed overall.
FWIW, one of my biggest concerns about the 1st round opponent is special teams. More specifically, it is our PK allowing our 1st round opponent to win the series by dominating on the PP. The refs don't start really putting the whistles away right when playoffs start and you can absolutely lose an opening round series on special teams alone. Our 28th-in-the-league PK is a large liability, especially early in the playoffs when the officiating standard hasn't quite caught up to the increase in violence.
Vegas has the best PP in the league. Winnipeg is 2nd. Both of them are above 29%. There is a real concern that either of those teams goes 8 for 19 on the PP against us in a series and that hole is just too big to overcome.
LA's PP is 28th at just 16%.
If we're talking about cherry picking "when" we have to play certain teams, avoiding elite PPs in round 1 would be a break. I think that any 'formula' for a deep Blues playoff run is to play really well at 5 on 5, be 'good enough' on special teams, and rely on Binner to shut the door in critical situations more often than the other team's goalie does. We're going to be playing with fire every time we go shorthanded in the playoffs, especially against teams with good PPs. Vegas, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Colorado are all top 8 PPs in the league. Dallas is 16th at 22%. Opening up against the clear worst PP of the group when the refs are still calling (closer) to everything helps that formula.
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execwrite1
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taylord22
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Assuming it's related to what Friedman said on 32 thoughts today (recorded yesterday)..."I don't like what I'm hearing about Dylan Holloway's injury"
Drubilly
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Btw, I cannot take credit for that last sentence. One of you fine folks here said that on the night of June 12th 2019. One of many things I recall from that all glorious of evenings.
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Agree on LA not likely to catch Vegas with a 5 point lead.
Vegas is at Colorado, home vs. Seattle, home vs. Nashville, at Calgary and at Vancouver. Even if Vegas finishes 3-2, LA would have to go 6-0 against Seattle x2, Anaheim, Colorado, Edmonton, and Calgary to finish ahead of them.
mk80
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I can’t believe I’m going to say it but for tonight only…. Let’s Go Sharks!
That said I’ll be shocked if they actually help us clinch tonight
That said I’ll be shocked if they actually help us clinch tonight
execwrite1
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Beating Minnesota for first wild card nice, not necessary.
Only thing that matters is making the playoffs. One Blues win plus one Flames loss and they're in.
But this thing isn't locked up yet.
Only thing that matters is making the playoffs. One Blues win plus one Flames loss and they're in.
But this thing isn't locked up yet.
Drubilly
Registered User
Not sure where to slide this in but this thread seems appropriate:
| Team | Magic Number to clinch Playoffs | Current Points | Games Remaining | Possible Points | RW | ROW | Common Games |
| Blues | 4 | 93 | 3 | 99 | 31 | 39 | vs U |
| Wild | 6 | 91 | 4 | 99 | 34 | 39 | vs C, vs V |
| Flames | . | 87 | 5 | 97 | 28 | 33 | vs W |
| Canucks | . | 83 | 5 | 93 | 27 | 32 | vs W |
| Utah | . | 82 | 5 | 92 | 27 | 34 | vs B |
The Blues are actually in WC2 at the moment. The Flames had to have that win to give themselves a chance.
Brian39
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We are ahead of Minnesota by points and points percentage. I get that we are in WC2 if you go by 'possible points' but I don't consider Minnesota already ahead of us until they actually win that game in hand. I know their schedule has been hard lately and has now flipped to easy, but they have failed to get 2 points in 6 of their last 8 games, which includes two losses to the Devils, 1 loss to the Isles, and 1 loss to the Rangers. They have played 11 games against teams below them in the standings since the start of March and have won just 4 of those games.
Do I think they will win their game in hand? Yeah, it's probably more likely than not. But it is far enough away from being a slam dunk win that I'm not saying that they are currently higher than us on the assumption that they win it.
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