xtrememachine1

So next season, we do terrible, get another high lottery pick, we fire Blashill, Holland steps down, Yzerman gets hired, he hires a new head coach, and we're Stanley Cup contenders in 3 years (or less with all this parity in the league).

He couldn't fake it with the Bolts any longer. lol He's been probably the best GM in the NHL for the past few years and he loves Detroit, he's moving back to Detroit, while we have a GM that's made some questionable moves for quite a while now. If Stevie doesn't become our new GM in the next year or so, it'll never happen.

On HockeyBuzz, Ek has rumored to trade Gus, Helm and a draft pick for Max Pacioretty.

I guess this means Tampa is no longer pursuing Karlsson. https://www.nhl.com/lightning/news/tampa-bay-lightning-sign-forward-nikita-kucherov-to-contract-extension/c-299449650

I like this signing. AA is still really young and has shown flashes of greatness at times, but I'm more concerned with the fact that we only have $6 mil left to pay Larkin and Mantha and we're not really leaving any empty spots for Zadina, who, unless he has a terrible camp, should be on our opening day roster. Is $6 mil enough to keep our two best forwards? We still have a ways to go for this off season, so a trade could be on the horizon. I will say this, I'm not Ken Holland's biggest supporter, but the guy is getting things done this offseason. Good draft, active in free agency, re-signing players. I could be wrong, but I think this is the most active he's been in an offseason since the summer we got Hasek, Hull and Robitaille.

So Barry Trotz is done with Washington. Somebody's going to get a really good new head coach. https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/barry-trotz-resigns-capitals-coaching-change-nhl-2018/

Not sure what will come of it, but Monika and Mike are saying alt he right things. If they're guilty, they're not acting like it at all. Just as I suspected though, they're both being harassed and getting terrible messages. http://ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/nhl/senators-extra/exclusive-hoffman-fiancee-deny-harassing-the-karlssons?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter

Well Mike Hoffman is denying the accusations saying: http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/mike-hoffmans-longtime-girlfriend-allegedly-behind-campaign-of-harassment-against-melinda-and-erik-karlsson Maybe she's doing all this behind his back? Possibly? I'd like to know what concrete evidence the Karlsson's have on Hoffman's fiancée. I'm not saying Monika is innocent, but the things they are accusing her of saying seem really over the top and excessively evil. Maybe she doesn't get along with Melinda, but who celebrates the death of a baby? I mean, maybe she is a terrible person, but then again, maybe she's being setup. Right now they're just allegations and the police are investigating. You know the Monika and Mike are getting attacked, meanwhile, they may not have done anything wrong.

Good for the Knights. Surprised it was so high scoring though. Not sure if they can win the entire series if Fleury isn't at his best. Maybe I'm just being unnecessarily critical of our team or looking at things the wrong way, but LV is really showing how many bad decisions we've made lately. Gerard Gallant, a life long Wings player, was available when we hired Jeff Blashill. Blashill has not only done nothing, but it seems like our young players are regressing under him. Meanwhile, Gallant was a Jack Adams finalist with the Panthers and now took a team of misfits and castoffs to the Stanley Cup Finals. Tomas Tatar, who was a top 6 forward on our team, is a healthy scratch on LV and Tomas Nosek, who was in the AHL with us, scores the GWG for LV in Game 1 of the Finals. On one hand, I'm happy for former Wings players having success (once a Wing, always a Wing), but it just kind of highlights a little of what we're doing wrong.

You're kind of picking and choosing what numbers here you want to focus on here. Yes, Fleury won more playoff games, but he also played in more playoff games. Murray's GAA and Save percentage were vastly superior to Fleury's in both regular season and playoffs and Murray came in relief of Fleury who was shellacked by Ottawa in Game 3 and the team fell behind in the series, 2-1. Another Fleury playoff meltdown appeared to be in the making, they switched to Murray and the result was another Cup. Point taken with the Cam Ward and Jim Carey examples. (Not Brian Boucher, he had one good year). However, none of those guys won back to back Cups. They were good and showed plenty of potential, but none of them did what Murray did. Murray is more comparable to Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy in terms of early success than those other two. You're REALLY pulling information out of context here. Fleury was the starter for only two of those four trips to the Finals. His name is on the Cup 3 times because Matt Murray won it twice as a starter. How many playoff failures did they have with Fleury during seasons where the Pens were expected to win it all? Murray's been in the league three years and this is the first time he won't win it. That's insane. Winning back to back Stanley Cups isn't enough of a body of work to demonstrate you have what it takes to be a long term starter in this league?? Fleury needed to be exposed in the expansion draft and that's the guy Vegas wanted the most, as they took him first overall. Working out a trade with Vegas to NOT take Fleury would have cost the Pens a price they didn't want to pay just to keep a $5 mil backup goalie.

The guy won back to back Stanley Cups as a 21 and 22 year old rookie. What more do you need to be sold on the guy? lol I mean, Fleury was their goalie for 13 years, got them to the Finals twice, won once and melted down several times in the postseason when they had Cup caliber teams. If Fleury had played for the Pens in the postseason, the way he's playing for the Knights right now, they would have been a dynasty. Fleury's playing really well right now, probably the best hockey of his career, but I would've held onto Murray too.

I'm really surprised how well the Caps are doing against the Bolts. Didn't think they'd be this dominating. As to your second point, this is true. This could be like when we finally beat the Avs, then went on to win back to back Cups. Sometimes, its just one team blocking you from greatness.

My son picked Tampa and LV at the beginning of the season to play in the Finals and I was like "No dude, you don't understand. Expansion teams never do well in their first year. They'll be lucky if they don't have the worst record in the league." Well... here we are. I feel like the Jets are a better team, but LV made it this far with everyone doubting them. I feel pretty confident that the Bolts will beat the Caps and go on to win the Cup no matter who they play.

Seeing as how they were a team on the rise and we were on the decline, that really doesn't bother me. Bringing our shortcomings into focus is, I think, a good thing. We could be like some franchise that are clueless, keep doing the same dumb things over and over again and fail. Maybe its just me, but I can turn my hatred on and off like a switch. If the Bolts aren't playing us, I'm cheering for Stevie's team. I want him to get his name on the Cup again. However, when they do play us... eff those guys!

In the regular season the Bolts had some bad games on defense, but the playoffs, they've really fixed it up. Boston was one of the highest scoring teams in the league and they held them to 2 goals or less in 3 of the 5 games. Their ability to keep Boston's top line in check was really the difference. I would imagine they'd be able to do the same to the Caps especially if Backstrom doesn't come back soon.

Glad the Pens are gone, but at the same time, it would have been more satisfying, for me anyways, to see Stevie's team beat them. Oh well, done is done, now I don't have to listen to anymore of this "3elieve" non-sense and I can enjoy watching the Bolts beat on the Caps.

Sure hope so, but knocking out the defending champs on their home ice... I have a feeling this will go 7. I hope I'm wrong. On the plus side, I don't think it'll matter who wins this series, TB is rolling and they'll beat either of these teams.

The cap is kind of the problem. Because of the cap, you can't really build a team through trades or free agency anymore. You have to draft well. Seeing as how the Pens were the worst team in the league for a number of years and acquired several high draft picks going into the cap era, it played out perfectly in their favor. Chicago experienced success the same way. Meanwhile, the rest of the league is stuck half way between trying to be competitive and drafting for the future. You basically need to tank at the right time aka when generational talent like Crosby and Ovechkin come into the league, do that for a few years and then ride that out for 10-15 years. Edmonton would have had the same success as Pittsburgh except they didn't have good players to choose from until McDavid came along.

I hope whomever takes his place in the lineup, scores the GWG tonight.

Those two are on the top of my list as well. Wahlstrom has been a goal scoring machine and it'd be really nice to have a good right handed shooter on the left circle for the PP. The trick, obviously, is who, in the top 10, would trade their pick. If I were Chicago, I'd look to trade that pick for something that can help the team now before Kane and Toews window closes. By the time that pick makes it to the NHL, those two will be on their way out or close to.

What an ignorant thing to say. Especially since history has shown that the Pens can win (and usually do against the Caps) and Washington usually chokes in the playoffs. Sorry if people basing their prediction on historical facts offends you. The Pens have played way more hockey than anyone over the past few years and with Malkin and Hagelin out, Ovechkin being on fire, the revenge factor for the Caps coming into play, this is as good as it'll get for the Caps.

Well they faced their beatdown toys in the first round. In the second round, they'll play someone they beat last year and apparently have been beating down during the regular season this year. Holtby - 3.60 GAA, .897 SV Bobrovsky - 3.82 GAA, .889 SV Pens will be in the final four, I just hope to God Boston or TB is one of the other teams to make it and be healthy.

They "dominated" the series? Let me guess, the Caps had the Pens right where they wanted them when they were down 3 games to 1. Seriously? The Caps rallied back in that series but ultimately did what they do best in the postseason and choke. This team hasn't made it beyond the 2nd round since we beat them in the Finals despite winning numerous Presidents Trophies. Yes, because its the playoffs they do become average and I have history to back that up.

The Caps aren't a good playoff team. They've proven this year after year. The Presidents Trophy means nothing because playoff hockey is different kind of game and the Caps are average at best, not a typical Presidents Trophy caliber team. The Pens have almost always beaten the Caps in the playoffs, dating back to Lemieux. They have no fear facing a team that always finds a way to lose in the playoffs.