GMRwings1983

Out of the 5 starting goalies still remaining in the playoffs, Nabokov is the only one who was expected to be a starter at the beginning of the season. The other guys were all projected backups. Remember how 10 years ago you needed a Hasek, Roy, Brodeur or Belfour to win the Stanley Cup? Hell, it seemed like those guys were playing for the Cup every year against each other. Well, the biggest names now in hockey amongst goalies are guys like Luongo, Brodeur, Miller, Lundqvist and Kiprusoff. Of course, those guys are nowhere to be found every year in the playoffs. Their teams don't usually make deep playoff runs. Also, I remember how as recently as the 2002 Olympics, countries like Sweden, Finland and Slovakia were thought of as lacking in the goaltending department as compared to the other nations. Obviously, that's not true anymore as there are some great goalies from each of those countries. I guess this thread isn't really a complaint as much as an outlook on how strange the NHL is nowadays in terms of goaltending. Seemingly, teams can just plug in backups that no one has ever heard of, and those guys can take their teams on a long run. This has happened before in league history in isolated cases, but not to the extent we've seen in recent memory.

So if we kept Leino, does that mean we'd have come back from 3-0 down?

I doubt people would pack the JLA to watch us play the Sharks in a game 7 on the road, though. In any case, Ville Leino is now a part of sports history.

The big giraffe once again proved that he's not a good captain. That team appeared to have no leadership whatsoever to overcome adversity in the series. Same thing happened last year when they lost to a Carolina team they should have beat.

Would fans come to the JLA to watch the Wings play on a monitor?

I hope Claude Julien enjoyed coaching his last game in Boston. If ever an idiot coach deserved to get fired.

I was hoping we'd be in the Flyers situation when we went down 3-0.

Leino the early favorite for the Conn Smythe trophy.

I doubt Montreal wants to play Philly. The Flyers will use their size and bully tactics to intimidate Montreal, much like they did in the playoffs several years ago. Other than Moen, Montreal doesn't have very much in that department.

Leino dominating a game 7. Who would have thought that mid-season?

If it's not bad enough that Boston may blow a 3-0 lead in the series, they're doing it by blowing a 3-0 lead in game 7. What a major, monumental chokejob. This would be the worst of all the 3-0 chokejobs in sports history, even though there's only been a few others.

What a fun thread.

Monteal had guys like Moen and Laraque to protect him from getting murdered. Aside from Lilja who doesn't fight anymore, who do we have that could protect Lapierre the first time he runs someone face first into the boards?

Only one that was a true bust was Williams. I wish Holland went after Moen instead of Williams. I think it would have made us tougher to play against. Williams made us easier to play against when he was in the lineup, as he's not a 3rd or 4th liner.

Better than those soft euros, right?

When Hextall jumped him was even worse.

Isn't the trading deadline gone? I always thought teams couldn't make trades until the offseason begins?

Reminds me of the show "The Biggest Loser"

Any chances that Holmstrom steps in front of the pitch and deflects it with his shin?

I want the Sharks to win, but Chicago probably wins the Cup from now on out. Sharks in the Finals would be bad for NHL ratings, but I'd love to see it happen.

Wow, this guy gives out even harsher grades than I do. Even mindfly probably wouldn't agree with some of these low grades.

Imagine if these idiots win the Cup. Rioting after a 2nd round win? Shows you what their franchise has sunk to. Maybe it's a good thing that they've sucked for the last 15 years, or else we'd see more riots in Montreal.

That creates an even weirder situation and there is much truth in what you say. In the next few years, guys like Halak and Rask may start demanding big money based on current playoff performance. Still, though, Brodeur and Luongo played like crap in these playoffs and should get more blame than anyone else on their team. Even if there was a talent gap between the rest of the team, a great goalie should be able to even that out. Doesn't seem like any of them now can do that.

It's true that those goalies I mentioned 10 years ago played for teams that had tons of money. However, do you really think that Boston, Montreal and Philly are that much more talented than Pittsburgh, Jersey or Vancouver? Guys like Brodeur, Luongo and Fleury had plenty of talent in front of them, yet still lost to the lesser known goalies.