OT: NHL Playoffs

[Marat]

Anyone watching the Vegas Golden Knights? I am becoming a fan.

Its quite a remarkable story - an expansion team that is playing really well. They swept LA in the 1st round and are leading the Sharks 2-1. The Golden Knights beat the Sharks 7-0 in the 1st game and had a goal taken away in overtime (interference) in the 2nd game which would have given them the win. They have a legit chance at going really far.

Also, they have the Vegas show before the show on ice.

 

[champs99and04]

The NHL is evil and should be treated as such.

 

[Scoe]

The Knights have already won the Cup Bettman has made sure of it.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Vegas is a great story and the team deserves a lot of credit for their performance, but the NHL handed the franchise that caliber of a team with their ridiculous expansion draft rules. They gave them 18 quality skaters on a silver platter by way of the protection rules. None of them are bonafide superstars, but the team is RIDICULOUSLY deep. They regularly roll their fourth line against the opposition's first line with no issue.

 

[Marat]

And the Golden Knights amazing story continues as they are the first to reach the Cup finals.

 

[gtcam]

BEYOND amazing - INCREDIBLE feat
I hope they win it all
Has an expansion team in any sport (not counting a league start-up) ever done this?

 

[goskis2018]

Not a hockey buff but didn't everyone predict them to finish dead last in their division to start the year? I don't buy the they got stacked because of the draft excuse because it just seems like revisionist history. If the next expansion team comes in and matches what Vegas did this year then I'll put it on the draft but it seems to me like their gm just did a fantastic job and I hope they win the whole thing.

 

[storrsroars]

You can go to any Dick's in Pittsburgh (and probably other stores) and find Fleury Golden Knights jerseys. With the Pens out, all of Pittsburgh is rooting for Fleury and to a lesser extent Kunitz.

 

[ct06111]

Not a hockey buff but didn't everyone predict them to finish dead last in their division to start the year? I don't buy the they got stacked because of the draft excuse because it just seems like revisionist history. If the next expansion team comes in and matches what Vegas did this year then I'll put it on the draft but it seems to me like their gm just did a fantastic job and I hope they win the whole thing.

It's not revisionist history at all.

This is the 1st time they did what they did with Vegas.

Expansion teams like Tampa, San Jose, blue jackets, wild etc. were stuck with AHL players and college kids. It took many years to get an experienced team. They had to tank multiple seasons to maybe get a #1 draft pick to probably get traded in 1-3 seasons.

Vegas got a fully experienced NHL squad. Other NHL teams were only able to protect 1 forward, 1 defenseman, and 1 goalie. After that, if a team wanted to dump salary, they could to Vegas.

Plus, Vegas was eligible for draft picks right away.

If they do win the cup, Vegas sports books may feel it pretty hard.

150-1 for them to win the cup before the season started

Vegas sportsbook says Golden Knights winning the Stanley Cup ‘would be a punch to the face’ - NY Daily News

 

[the Q]

You can go to any Dick's in Pittsburgh (and probably other stores) and find Fleury Golden Knights jerseys. With the Pens out, all of Pittsburgh is rooting for Fleury and to a lesser extent Kunitz.

Which is ironic because he’s the primary reason pitt doesn’t gave a few more cups.

 

[jleves]

I read a story in SI a couple weeks ago about how much more volatile the NHL playoffs is compared to the NBA playoffs. Lower seeds beat higher seeds all the time. When LA won it a few years ago, they were the lower seed in every round. The thing about the NHL is that a goalie in the zone can carry the entire team. I love watching playoff hockey, but the final outcome could just as easily be determined by having each team take 20 penalty shots and save a lot of contact.

All that said, the Golden Knights are a great story. There's no way you can say the draft rules ensured this. Regardless that they expected to finish dead last by everyone, Vegas had them at 500-1 to win the Stanley Cup. Vegas does not make mistakes like that. They have played way above what everyone thought they would. They will be the better rested team going into the final with the hottest goalie in the playoffs (although you could make a case for Vasilevskiy with the Lighting over the last three games). LV will most likely be the favorites.

 

[storrsroars]

Which is ironic because he’s the primary reason pitt doesn’t gave a few more cups.

Not really. Red Wings had a better, more balanced team in Sid's early days.

Also, "Pitt" is the university and only the university.

 

[the Q]

I read a story in SI a couple weeks ago about how much more volatile the NHL playoffs is compared to the NBA playoffs. Lower seeds beat higher seeds all the time. When LA won it a few years ago, they were the lower seed in every round. The thing about the NHL is that a goalie in the zone can carry the entire team. I love watching playoff hockey, but the final outcome could just as easily be determined by having each team take 20 penalty shots and save a lot of contact.

All that said, the Golden Knights are a great story. There's no way you can say the draft rules ensured this. Regardless that they expected to finish dead last by everyone, Vegas had them at 500-1 to win the Stanley Cup. Vegas does not make mistakes like that. They have played way above what everyone thought they would. They will be the better rested team going into the final with the hottest goalie in the playoffs (although you could make a case for Vasilevskiy with the Lighting over the last three games). LV will most likely be the favorites.

That parity is what makes the mlb and nhl playoffs better than the nfl and NBA.

 

[the Q]

Not really. Red Wings had a better, more balanced team in Sid's early days.

The amount of pathetic soft goals were well documented amongst pens fans.

 

[storrsroars]

The amount of pathetic soft goals were well documented amongst pens fans.

Pittsburgh fans complain about everything.

Pirates, 98 win season? They sucked because they didn't win the division.

Tough crowd here.

Btw, a ton of Pens fans wanted Fleury to be primary goalie throughout last year's Cup run, even after Murray got healthy. Fickle folks.

 

[the Q]

Pittsburgh fans complain about everything.

Pirates, 98 win season? They sucked because they didn't win the division.

Tough crowd here.

Btw, a ton of Pens fans wanted Fleury to be primary goalie throughout last year's Cup run, even after Murray got healthy. Fickle folks.

I’ll say this. He had quite a few really bad goals that cost them quite a few SC games.

 

[champs99and04]

That parity is what makes the mlb and nhl playoffs better than the nfl and NBA.

The NFL has plenty of parity. Saying the NFL playoffs don't have parity is like saying there's no parity in the NCAA Tournament.

 

[navery12]

Vegas got a fully experienced NHL squad. Other NHL teams were only able to protect 1 forward, 1 defenseman, and 1 goalie. After that, if a team wanted to dump salary, they could to Vegas.

I don't know where you're getting those numbers from, teams could protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie or 8 forwards/defensemen and 1 goalie

 

[the Q]

The NFL has plenty of parity. Saying the NFL playoffs don't have parity is like saying there's no parity in the NCAA Tournament.

Not nearly as much as MLB or the NHL.

and frankly, it's faux parity. Much of it due to the incredibly small sample size of an NFL season.

 

[champs99and04]

Not nearly as much as MLB or the NHL.

and frankly, it's faux parity. Much of it due to the incredibly small sample size of an NFL season.

Proportionally, the MLB playoffs are a much smaller sample size than the NFL playoffs. In fact, "faux parity" applies more to the MLB than the NFL. The MLB is a scam where you can watch your team win 22 straight games in August and then get bounced in the first round because your Cy Young candidate allowed a .412 BABIP that didn't have time to regress over the twelve innings he pitched.

At least football and to a lesser extent hockey are sports of aggression where physical dominance increases your margin for error. A great NFL defense is going to show up every week, provided they're healthy, and perform to standard. A great NBA star is going to show up and get his numbers every night. When you fought Tyson, you were fighting Tyson. In the MLB Miguel Cabrera can hit .205 in the ALDS and nobody bats an eye because it's expected. It's what makes the MLB postseason compelling but it's also what makes me hate the people who get excited on opening day. The NFL strikes the perfect balance.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Not nearly as much as MLB or the NHL.

and frankly, it's faux parity. Much of it due to the incredibly small sample size of an NFL season.

Also you have a salary cap for 53 players in NFL vs 22 max in NHL. One expensive player in the NFL has more effect on the overall cap of the remaining 52 players than one expensive player on an NHL team.

Back to the original thread. Love Vegas! I'm a Rangers fan, but I've watched all of the Western finals games. McPhee totally fleeced teams like Florida, Minnesota and Anaheim to get good players for cap space and/or protecting other players. Their first line (Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith) is literally all players who were poached through cap implication transactions. Aside from the Tatar trade, McPhee has done a stellar job.

 

[Marat]

Back to the original thread. Love Vegas! I'm a Rangers fan, but I've watched all of the Western finals games. McPhee totally fleeced teams like Florida, Minnesota and Anaheim to get good players for cap space and/or protecting other players. Their first line (Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith) is literally all players who were poached through cap implication transactions. Aside from the Tatar trade, McPhee has done a stellar job.

Nice. Since the Whalers left I have been without a team for most of the time. I hopped on the Red Wings bandwagon for a handful of years in the late 90's, and have tried following the Islanders recently. But Vegas just may be the team for me now.

 

[ct06111]

I don't know where you're getting those numbers from, teams could protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goalie or 8 forwards/defensemen and 1 goalie

Those #'s came from my incorrect foggy memory.

Here are the expansion draft rules:

Rules for 2017 Expansion Draft

My point still stands. They got a stacked team. Plus, NHL thought they would have the 3rd fewest points in a regular season and got to pick 6th in the 1st round and 3rd in the other rounds.

 

[tjhusky]

Just started watching the Stanley Cup finals. Being more of an NHL traditionalist I have avoided watching the LV Golden Knights to this point. I just watched the opening of game one and it was pretty “interesting “.

Reminds me of a cross between WWE and the Hunger games.
I do hope they lose but since crowd seems to like it I think they will be around for a while.

 

[Marat]

Just started watching the Stanley Cup finals. Being more of an NHL traditionalist I have avoided watching the LV Golden Knights to this point. I just watched the opening of game one and it was pretty “interesting “.

Reminds me of a cross between WWE and the Hunger games.
I do hope they lose but since crowd seems to like it I think they will be around for a while.

I'm here in Vegas and people are going crazy for the team. The merchandise is flying off the shelves and everyone is talking about the Knights. I watched game 1 in Legasse Stadium and it was great. This kinda reminds me of Uconn in the late 90s.