Dr Dubya

Nice win. Bit lucky, but you'll take it.

Pretty sure Stevie's been with Tampa for 5 years. I would say he gets a lot of credit for the team he has now. He drafted a few of the players. And brought in a lot of them.

MTL have weaknesses. As I said, no team is perfect. But Montreal and their MVP goalie have been very consistent all year which is more than I can say for Chicago. I honestly think that MTL probably would've handled ANA or CHI in 6 or 7 games.

I think Ovi's best scoring days are behind him. I think he'll be trading it in for team success and improved defensive responsibility. Historically speaking, improving defensively hurts of offensive output and I see this happening for Ovi. Their system is in the transition to a more defensively-structured system in WSH and it's yielded very positive results so far. On top of that, these days players seem to be peaking at a younger age and I can't see him hitting 40 each year throughout this 30's. I think he's without a doubt a top-5 scorer all time, but I don't think his stats will directly show it.

In October I would've agreed. But since then the Sharks and Kings completely fell off the face of the Earth, and the Hawks significantly regressed. They were the only legitimate "powerhouse" teams in the West last year - if we want to use that word. IMO - that word is pretty much a fallacy these days. Then pretenders like the Blues and Preds held top spots and easy beats like VAN, MIN, CGY and WPG replaced good teams like SJ and LA. I'm just not seeing any quality in this conference at all anymore. Chicago and Anaheim - while appearing VERY strong at times, are equally as weak at other times. No team is perfect 100% of the time, but I don't see the same kinds of weaknesses out of teams like NY, TB, MTL and even WSH. Many Eastern teams have made the transition from youthful, talented and high-flying to professional, skilled and structured. I think this will become very apparent during the Finals.

They both had absolute cakewalks to the CF, so it's lucky for TB and NY that they are actually challenging each other. Either way, I'm more certain than I ever have been, that the Final will be a formality for Tampa (or maybe NY) for them to win the Cup. Chicago and Anaheim are about a 5-8 ranked team in the East. Simple as that. The West is soft as butter this year.

These two teams are quite awful for where we are in the playoffs.

The thing about this series is, of all the games I've watched (games 1, 2 and 4) I think the Ducks were more derserving of the win (Game 4 being a possible exception but 1 and 2 for sure). The Hawks are super lucky with have a split series right now, and I just wonder if that is affecting the Ducks at all.

Second one was kinda lucky. Markstrom probably shoulda had it. But the first goal was being in the right spot and finishing and great pass from AA.

Wow. Look at Larkin go!

Wasn't a bad finish by Larkin. Already looks better than Mantha after one goal lol.

Lol. The chances of McCollum being the next Drew Mac are pretty slim. But cool.

Indeed. I just don't see Jimmy as the best man for the job in Motown. I feel comfortable that McCollum will be a more than capable backup too.

After reading this thread... imagine if Blashill isn't hired? Lol, I almost wanna see it now.

Franchise players are not req'd to contend for the Cup. Elite players and depth are all you need. I would say LA and Boston didn't have any "franchise" players in their Cup-winning teams. They just had a bunch of awesome players all pulling in the same direction. NYR would also fit into that category for me. Besides, your whole post is just loaded with strangeness. Comparing Pulkkinen to Maltby?? Larkin lives in a dorm? Crosby lived in a basement for years. Who cares???

My perfect scenario that was never gonna happen was Blashill as the head coach with Babcock in a more senior role. I remember when Babs started in Detroit he said in an interview that 10 years is about the longest you should ever stay in one place professionally - so it seemed obvious he was going to look for a change. I think Blashill as head coach will be a positive for the organization. A new voice, and someone who knows the future leaders of this team better than anyone. He'll be great for integrating guys like Pulkkinen, Marchenko, Ouellet, Athanasiou and Mantha into NHL roles. I'm hopeful at least. But it's important to get a good replacement for Blash in GR. That's my only serious concern.

Don't really care about that stuff. I just think NYR and TB are easily better teams than CHI or ANA. We'll see soon enough...

Is it just me or is the Western Conference really soft this year? Anaheim and Chicago hardly had to break a sweat against their "competition" so far and I can't see either of them lasting more than 5 games against TB nor NYR. The East (to me at least) just seems WAY more competitive all of a sudden.

Hasn't Sproul been a healthy scratch in Grand Rapids for a while now? What happened to him? Based on that he sounds like your frontrunner right now.

I enjoy playoff hockey A LOT

Justin Williams. Maybe then we'd win a game 7 for a change.

Against a team like TB, a good puck-moving goalie is a bigger advantage than usual - and Mrazek is an excellent puck-handling goalie. Babcock will be looking to him to seriously disrupt their style of play and slow down, if not change their style of offense altogether. I can only assume that was the main driver behind Babcock's decision. It's an aggressive tactic but I don't see a conservative approach winning us this series. It's one of the few advantages of being the underdog and not having home-ice. Losing game 1 sucks, but it's no biggie.

Congrats to Matt for making an impact in his own way - in the very short time he had. RIP

Can't see Buffalo finishing 3rd last or higher, so I'm pretty those scenarios are impossible.

I'm sorry, but there Preds really just aren't that good. They're better than 6 losses in a row, but not even close to the best team in the league.