Hockey Playoffs

[DILLIGAF]

Not sure how happy the league is when the small market teams wins though. :biggrin2:

Here's hoping the Jets go all the way!

@What A Wookie

I sort of agree with you on the small market team idea but if the Jets win the series at least they will still be playing an American market team.
Can you imagine what Bettman would say if The Jets and Flames were ever in a Stanley Cup Final Playoff.:SayWhat?:

I would certainly like to see the Jets win the cup but my sympathy lies with Washington. Just to see a Captain final win the cup that so deserves it!

DILLIGAF

 

[What A Wookie]

Jets vs Lightning would be good match up but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'm sure fans would like to see Ovechkin win but he'll be the Dan Marino of the NHL.

 

[Infotel]

Could this be Ovechkin's time?. Beat Crosby and demolished Tampa in game one.

 

[Infotel]

Dubas at 32 becomes new GM :unknw:

 

[What A Wookie]

Jets... What are you doing... :Crying2:

 

[What A Wookie]

Damn it. Jets out. Las Vegas vs Tampa Bay is probably the Stanley Cup Final. Who to root for?

 

[What A Wookie]

Shows you what I know... Capitals vs Golden Knight's for the Cup. :unknw:

 

[WOLF]

LAS VEGAS — Embarrassing or exhilarating? The most unusual Stanley Cup final in history is about to begin with a question being asked around the hockey world.
Is the appearance of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights absolutely mortifying for the National Hockey League and the franchises who aren’t playing for the Cup? Or is this good for NHL business?

The truth is it is a little of both. It is marvelous and preposterous, impossible and ridiculous, spectacular and magnificent, and, yes, absolutely shocking, still — that after three remarkable playoff rounds, this expansion team has lost just three playoff games along the way.
“They’ve broken every template that’s ever been constructed on hockey,” said Doug Armstrong, general manager of the St. Louis Blues. The Blues are one of 12 NHL teams that have never won the Cup. They haven’t been in the final in 48 years. How could Armstrong explain to a Blues fan that their team is out of the playoffs and the Golden Knights are playing for the Cup?

“I don’t know how I would do that,” he replies. “The reality is, they’re not supposed to be here, they’re not supposed to be this good. I don’t say this with envy. I say this with excitement. I’m hooked on the story.”
He may well be hooked on the story, as are many of his management colleagues around the NHL contacted by Postmedia, all of whom provided the Golden Knights with the players performing at such a high level.
But for fans in established markets such as St. Louis, such as Toronto, where the Maple Leafs have not won a Cup since the NHL was a six-team league, there is a sense of awe and an accompanying exasperation over the lofty state of the Vegas franchise.
Why them? Why not us?

In all, 12 of the NHL’s 31 franchises have never won the Cup. Four franchises have never played for it. In an established market such as Philadelphia, the Flyers, considered hugely successful over time, haven’t won the title since 1975. Lou Lamoriello’s new team in Long Island hasn’t won a Cup since 1983 or played for one since 1984 — 34 years ago. And the Maple Leafs, the team he just left, last won in 1967, some 51 years ago. John Davidson’s Columbus Blue Jackets have never made it to a final. David Poile has worked in the NHL since 1972, 46 years in all. He’s been very successful but has never won a championship. The Washington Capitals, the one team left standing between Vegas and a title, are among the 12 that have never celebrated with a parade in late June.
“It’s unfathomable what they’re doing,” said Poile, general manager of the Nashville Predators, last year’s finalists, forever chasing the Cup. “Regardless of what anyone says about the rules being favourable and all that went their way, this is not a fluke. What George McPhee and Gerard Gallant have done this year is something worth studying. They were one of the most consistent teams all year long. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, this is a really good hockey team.

“How did it happen? I don’t know if I can answer that. They have six defencemen who played in the NHL last year and none were top pairing guys on any of their teams. They weren’t top-four in most cases. And it’s working, somehow it’s working, whether it’s system, coaching, confidence, pairings, playing fast, whatever they are doing, it’s working.”
You wouldn’t blame Davidson if he was just a little jealous of the Las Vegas story when considering his path as an NHL executive. Twice, once in St. Louis and now in Columbus, he has started with teams that had hit rock bottom.
“It’s a painful, arduous process to try and build your team,” said Davidson, the president of the Blue Jackets.

This year, maybe more painful. Columbus led Washington 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs. “We hit five goal posts or could have been up 3-0. They won, and they deserved to win. But it hurts.
“With Vegas, what you’re finding is, it’s the team that wins. This is a team. It’s four lines. It’s six defencemen. How many times have they given up a goal and then come right back and got one? That’s a sign of mental toughness and they have that. That’s what’s impressed me.
“I watch and I’m almost numb to it. Here they come again. For me to see it, you try to read, you try to watch, you try to learn, what can we learn from them?
“You always hear teams saying they need a captain. They don’t have a captain. You need a top defenceman. I’m not sure they have a top defenceman. They have four lines of balance and they keep throwing them at you.
“Two words I learned as a broadcaster working for John Shannon. How and why? How did this happen and why. We as an industry have to look at them and learn and ask: How the hell did this happen?”

For the Blue Jackets, it is particularly galling that they made what they thought was a terrific deal with the Golden Knights, getting them to take David Clarkson’s salary and, in a complicated deal, protect Josh Anderson. Vegas wound up with William Karlsson, who went on to score 43 goals for the Knights. Columbus didn’t view Karlsson as a big-time scorer and has been left answering questions all season long.
“You never know when it’s going to happen for any player,” said Davidson. “No one in their right mind expected it here. He’s a good kid and congratulations to him. But whatever they’ve done and whatever he’s done, what a story!

“We’ve talked a lot about William here. How did this happen? Jarmo (general manager Kekalainen) and Torts (coach John Tortorella) have had extensive discussions about what happened here, what we did, was it just fate or bad luck? You have to study it. You have to wonder.”
Lamoriello was like a lot of us. He kept waiting for the Golden Knights to fail. Oh, they started well, but the new boss of the New York Islanders didn’t think it would last.
“I kept thinking: ‘This wasn’t for real. It couldn’t last.’ Then I went out there for our game on New Year’s Eve. I watched them. I saw how they played and how they competed. I said to myself: ‘They’re for real.’
“Every time you thought this may be it, they just played through it. And they’ve withstood everything and there have been so many stories within the story. The tragedy at the beginning. The way the players and the organization have handled that. It bonded people, it bonded their team. There are so many factors that go into winning at any time and they’ve touched on almost all of it.

“Right now, they are where they are because they deserve to be there. You have no idea how hard it is to get to a Stanley Cup final. I know what it’s like, how hard that is for everybody. What does this tell people? This team gives you every reason and every opportunity to believe (in the future).
“Here’s the thing: You get opportunities in the playoffs and, once you get in, it’s what you do with them. People don’t realize it. We’ve seen those miracle-type wins — the Cinderella stories — before, but that’s not what this is. They’ve played three rounds of the playoffs and lost three games. This isn’t about winning one game. They’ll have played more than 100 games when this is done. You know how hard that is?

“This is a fantastic thing for the NHL. It’s an incredible story being told by so many people. It’s going to make a great book someday. And I couldn’t be happier for George McPhee (the general manager). He’s a great friend and a great human being. I’m so happy for him.”
Lamoriello compared the Golden Knights to playing with popsicle sticks as a kid. You put one popsicle stick on the table and it’s easy to break it in half. You put two down, same thing. You put three, still easy. When you put five, you try and break it and you can’t. That’s what they’ve got going for themselves as a team. You can’t break them.”

Said Poile: “How great is sports? I looked back at pre-season forecasts and nobody had Vegas in the playoffs and a lot of people had Washington not making the playoffs, as a team apparently in decline. Now they’re playing for the Stanley Cup. Do I wish we were there? Absolutely.
“But Vegas has hit on everything. George McPhee, executive of the year. Gerard Gallant, coach of the year. Sports Business Journal just named them franchise of the year. They didn’t miss on anything. They ran the table. And it doesn’t hurt when you have a very special goalie (Marc-Andre Fleury). We (other 30 teams) all played a part in their success. We all have to answer for that.”

[email protected]
twitter.com/simmonssteve

 

[What A Wookie]

Caps up 2-1. Vegas Cinderella story over?

 

[Paltak]

Caps up 2-1. Vegas Cinderella story over?

I would say so. Ovie the man is due for a cup.

 

[Toronto Passions]

I would say so. Ovie the man is due for a cup.

go caps go!

Philip

 

[Splogger]

Why did Ovechin get the MVP award?.

Should have gone to Holtby.

 

[STU700]

She flashed him Funky & Music