2023 Playoffs General Thread

[F.Michael 4,590]

[Walman6million 250]

GRU is gonna giguere these playoffs

[Axl Foley 334]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:45 AM, Walman6million said:

Out of the playoffs the year before. Last place in January. Hot streak to win cup. Out in round one next 2 seasons in a row. Literally used as the prime example of how "lol anyone can win the cup if you just make the playoffs"

Sure pal

Edvinsson = Sergachev
Seider = Hedman
Raymond = Kucherov
Kasper = Stamkos
Cossa = Vasilevsky

Ah, we're allowed to predict Kasper and Edvinsson, but not Cossa, Ajo, Wallinder, Mazur, or Lombardi. Sorry. I forgot

 

They weren't a wild card team. They won a Cup. I think you underestimate how good those teams were. And your point is meaningless because I never said this team was those Blues teams. I have said numerous times why I mentioned the Blues and Kings in comparison to the eventual makeup of this team. I dont know why this gaslights you.

I literally said what I thought Wallinder and AJo would be. And I didnt do Cossa, Mazur, or Lombardi because they are newly drafted and playing way down the depth chart.

[Walman6million 250]

1 hour ago, Axl Foley said:

They weren't a wild card team. They won a Cup. I think you underestimate how good those teams were. And your point is meaningless because I never said this team was those Blues teams. I have said numerous times why I mentioned the Blues and Kings in comparison to the eventual makeup of this team. I dont know why this gaslights you.

I literally said what I thought Wallinder and AJo would be. And I didnt do Cossa, Mazur, or Lombardi because they are newly drafted and playing way down the depth chart.

You did all those things lol schizo

[Dabura 12,232]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:45 AM, Walman6million said:

Agreed with everything you said about the defense. Eddog - Mo basically make all our other D bonuses, and we'd likely still be fine with out them. That said I do think we have a lot of very nice bonuses coming in the pipeline and the potential to have one of the most dominant young D cores in the near future.

gOAliEs aRe UNpReDiCTaBLe. I think Cossa's floor is Howard. With sky being the limit on his cieling.

I don't think Kasper and Raymond get enough respect. Kasper has the potential to be much better than Larkin and be a true 1C. His cieling being Zetterberg with teeth. Everyone's pulling back on Raymond because of an average sophomore season. He just turned 21 last month. He probably still has 2 more years of developing yet and he's wayyyyyyy far ahead of every other prospect his age. He's gonna be great.

I'm not so pessimistic about our other forwards. Beggren and Soder look like future top6 players. Mazur and Lombardi look like serious contenders for top6 positions in a season or 2. And we're adding 2-4 more great pieces this offseason.

Yzerman is building an extremely big, fast, and gritty team. Our talented forwards that don't bring size or grit are soon going to have the luxury and confidence of playing in front of a solid goalie and a big mean talented defense.

Yzerman is for the first time building his blueprint of a dream team.

Yeah, I don't think you and I really strongly disagree on anything we're talking about here. You may be a bit more bullish overall, but we agree that Yzerman's building a really solid team that's gonna be really hard to play against when it all comes together. When I said we're probably gonna be short on superstar talent, I wasn't really trying to be a buzzkill; all I meant was the vision is more "Big, lean, fast, aggressive, relentless" than "Look at how many $10M players we have; we're clearly the superior team here."

I don't want this to reply to read like cope, but on some level I feel like "elite, elite" star power means less and less as we get deeper and deeper into the age of parity. Or, rather, it's becoming more and more important that the star power is backed by teeth and claws and guts and smarts and give-a-s***. Stuff that wins when the games really, truly mean something (i.e. in the playoffs).

Can you roll four lines and three D pairings all game every game? Can your players consistently win their matchups at home and on the road? Can you execute your system better than the other team executes theirs? Are you loaded with forwards who'll empty the tank on the backcheck, steal the puck, and then hit a streaking teammate with a perfect stretch pass? If you struggle to hang with the opponent at even strength, can you win with your special teams?

^^^Those questions are, I feel, just as - if not more - important than, like, "Where's our 60-goal scorer?"

And so I look at our forwards and, while I certainly do lament the fact that we only have one proven young gun scoring winger after years of rebuilding...I'm not super-concerned. That's largely/mostly because of Edvinsson-Seider, but it's also because I do think one day we're gonna take a look at our forward lines and be like "Holy crap, we're actually really, really deep up front." That is, I'm thinking it's not gonna be evident...until it is. It'll slowly come together, and then it'll all click. I reckon that's how it's gonna go.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Dabura

[AtlantaHotWings 1,126]

Cats win ...man they are on a roll. Haven't looked is #FireSheldonKeefe trending yet?

[Jonas Mahonas 1,872]

7 hours ago, Dabura said:

Yeah, I don't think you and I really strongly disagree on anything we're talking about here. You may be a bit more bullish overall, but we agree that Yzerman's building a really solid team that's gonna be really hard to play against when it all comes together. When I said we're probably gonna be short on superstar talent, I wasn't really trying to be a buzzkill; all I meant was the vision is more "Big, lean, fast, aggressive, relentless" than "Look at how many $10M players we have; we're clearly the superior team here."

I don't want this to reply to read like cope, but on some level I feel like "elite, elite" star power means less and less as we get deeper and deeper into the age of parity. Or, rather, it's becoming more and more important that the star power is backed by teeth and claws and guts and smarts and give-a-s***. Stuff that wins when the games really, truly mean something (i.e. in the playoffs).

Can you roll four lines and three D pairings all game every game? Can your players consistently win their matchups at home and on the road? Can you execute your system better than the other team executes theirs? Are you loaded with forwards who'll empty the tank on the backcheck, steal the puck, and then hit a streaking teammate with a perfect stretch pass? If you struggle to hang with the opponent at even-strength, can you win with your special teams?

^^^Those questions are, I feel, just as - if not more - important than, like, "Where's our 60-goal scorer?"

And so I look at our forwards and, while I certainly do lament the fact that we only have one proven young gun scoring winger after years of rebuilding...I'm not super-concerned. That's largely/mostly because of Edvinsson-Seider, but it's also because I do think one day we're gonna take a look at our forward lines and be like "Holy crap, we're actually really, really deep up front." That is, I'm thinking it's not gonna be evident...until it is. It'll slowly come together, and then it'll all click. I reckon that's how it's gonna go.

Unless we get Bedard, we are a long way away.  Missing an entire top line right now.  Everybody knows it.  Missing 2 bottom 6 guys that can fight.  Everybody knows it.  Missing 2 RHD.  Everybody knows it.  Yzerman should be able to fix the tough guy and RHD issues in the offseason, but finding a top line is now a crap shoot.

[Akakabuto 1,842]

54 minutes ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

Unless we get Bedard, we are a long way away. 

You said the same thing about Alexis Labustiere. Wanna trade him for Raymond?

[Jonas Mahonas 1,872]

1 hour ago, Akakabuto said:

You said the same thing about Alexis Labustiere. Wanna trade him for Raymond?

I would.  He's 21 and has 3 seasons under his belt.  He will be a beast in 3 years.

[Akakabuto 1,842]

27 minutes ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

I would.  He's 21 and has 3 seasons under his belt.  He will be a beast in 3 years.

Raymond will be beastier. 

[Walman6million 250]

11 hours ago, Dabura said:

Yeah, I don't think you and I really strongly disagree on anything we're talking about here. You may be a bit more bullish overall, but we agree that Yzerman's building a really solid team that's gonna be really hard to play against when it all comes together. When I said we're probably gonna be short on superstar talent, I wasn't really trying to be a buzzkill; all I meant was the vision is more "Big, lean, fast, aggressive, relentless" than "Look at how many $10M players we have; we're clearly the superior team here."

I don't want this to reply to read like cope, but on some level I feel like "elite, elite" star power means less and less as we get deeper and deeper into the age of parity. Or, rather, it's becoming more and more important that the star power is backed by teeth and claws and guts and smarts and give-a-s***. Stuff that wins when the games really, truly mean something (i.e. in the playoffs).

Can you roll four lines and three D pairings all game every game? Can your players consistently win their matchups at home and on the road? Can you execute your system better than the other team executes theirs? Are you loaded with forwards who'll empty the tank on the backcheck, steal the puck, and then hit a streaking teammate with a perfect stretch pass? If you struggle to hang with the opponent at even-strength, can you win with your special teams?

^^^Those questions are, I feel, just as - if not more - important than, like, "Where's our 60-goal scorer?"

And so I look at our forwards and, while I certainly do lament the fact that we only have one proven young gun scoring winger after years of rebuilding...I'm not super-concerned. That's largely/mostly because of Edvinsson-Seider, but it's also because I do think one day we're gonna take a look at our forward lines and be like "Holy crap, we're actually really, really deep up front." That is, I'm thinking it's not gonna be evident...until it is. It'll slowly come together, and then it'll all click. I reckon that's how it's gonna go.

I mean after this next season Seider's gonna need a $10 x 8. Raymond, depending on his season, will also be getting a significant raise, or maybe a short bridge. We are only 3-5 seasons from becoming a team with multiple $10 mil players on it. 

[F.Michael 4,590]

40 minutes ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

I would.  He's 21 and has 3 seasons under his belt.  He will be a beast in 3 years.

Yeah - a beast - in the AHL...

 

[Dabura 12,232]

8 hours ago, Walman6million said:

I mean after this next season Seider's gonna need a $10 x 8. Raymond, depending on his season, will also be getting a significant raise, or maybe a short bridge. We are only 3-5 seasons from becoming a team with multiple $10 mil players on it. 

Point is we're probably not gonna be super-top-heavy.

[Dabura 12,232]

11 hours ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

Unless we get Bedard, we are a long way away.  Missing an entire top line right now.  Everybody knows it.  Missing 2 bottom 6 guys that can fight.  Everybody knows it.  Missing 2 RHD.  Everybody knows it.  Yzerman should be able to fix the tough guy and RHD issues in the offseason, but finding a top line is now a crap shoot.

If we get Fantinelli, we're in the playoffs in 2024 or 2025.

So, no, I don't think it's Bedard-or-death. And I don't think it's Fantinelli-or-death either, for that matter.

Ideally, yeah, Larkin and Raymond are on our second line and we have absolute world-destroyers on our top line. But I don't think the standard rules of What a Team Needs If It Wants to Win are as ironclad today as they once were.

Bottom line: I think we just need to keep adding good young players and eventually it'll come together.

If Kasper and Edvinsson are the players we're hoping they are, we're in good shape.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Dabura

[Axl Foley 334]

20 hours ago, Dabura said:

Yeah, I don't think you and I really strongly disagree on anything we're talking about here. You may be a bit more bullish overall, but we agree that Yzerman's building a really solid team that's gonna be really hard to play against when it all comes together. When I said we're probably gonna be short on superstar talent, I wasn't really trying to be a buzzkill; all I meant was the vision is more "Big, lean, fast, aggressive, relentless" than "Look at how many $10M players we have; we're clearly the superior team here."

I don't want this to reply to read like cope, but on some level I feel like "elite, elite" star power means less and less as we get deeper and deeper into the age of parity. Or, rather, it's becoming more and more important that the star power is backed by teeth and claws and guts and smarts and give-a-s***. Stuff that wins when the games really, truly mean something (i.e. in the playoffs).

Can you roll four lines and three D pairings all game every game? Can your players consistently win their matchups at home and on the road? Can you execute your system better than the other team executes theirs? Are you loaded with forwards who'll empty the tank on the backcheck, steal the puck, and then hit a streaking teammate with a perfect stretch pass? If you struggle to hang with the opponent at even-strength, can you win with your special teams?

^^^Those questions are, I feel, just as - if not more - important than, like, "Where's our 60-goal scorer?"

And so I look at our forwards and, while I certainly do lament the fact that we only have one proven young gun scoring winger after years of rebuilding...I'm not super-concerned. That's largely/mostly because of Edvinsson-Seider, but it's also because I do think one day we're gonna take a look at our forward lines and be like "Holy crap, we're actually really, really deep up front." That is, I'm thinking it's not gonna be evident...until it is. It'll slowly come together, and then it'll all click. I reckon that's how it's gonna go.

strange. its almost like someone else has been saying something similar.

[Dabura 12,232]

7 minutes ago, Axl Foley said:

strange. its almost like someone else has been saying something similar.

Gimme their contact info so I can sue them for copyright infringement.

[Axl Foley 334]

23 hours ago, Dabura said:

Gimme their contact info so I can sue them for copyright infringement.

Just glad to see someone else with a more measured approach to the rebuild without being over the top negative.

[Walman6million 250]

On 5/3/2023 at 5:53 PM, Dabura said:

Gimme their contact info so I can sue them for copyright infringement.

 

2 hours ago, Axl Foley said:

Just glad to see someone else with a more measured approach to the rebuild without being over the top negative.

Well I think you both are retarded.

Seider = Legend
Eddog = Legend
Ray = Legend
Kasper = Legend
Cossa = Legend

go follow Holland with ur negative takes

[Akakabuto 1,842]

Toronto parade planning status, @F.Michael?

Or did they have it already after finally getting out of the first round?

Edited May 5, 2023 by Akakabuto

[Walman6million 250]

5 hours ago, Akakabuto said:

Toronto parade planning status, @F.Michael?

Or did they have it already after finally getting out of the first round?

Leafs about to get swept their first time in the 2nd round lulz

Muh Krakies lost game 2 so its pretty much over for them now. Go kittens.

[kipwinger 8,756]

39 minutes ago, Walman6million said:

Leafs about to get swept their first time in the 2nd round lulz

Muh Krakies lost game 2 so its pretty much over for them now. Go kittens.

They're still in really good shape. They split 1-1 on the road and are heading home for two with a healthy roster. They could very easily take the next two.

[AtlantaHotWings 1,126]

Someone is stressing.....

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/i-don-t-give-a-f-ilya-samsonov-responds-to-question-about-sergei-bobrovsky-s-play-1.1956484

This aged well

https://www.tsn.ca/masters-toronto-maple-leafs-plan-to-get-more-physical-with-matthew-tkachuk-line-1.1956338

[Walman6million 250]

47 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

They're still in really good shape. They split 1-1 on the road and are heading home for two with a healthy roster. They could very easily take the next two.

Idk Pavdog is raining hot fire on them right now. Can he be contained?

[F.Michael 4,590]

8 hours ago, Akakabuto said:

Toronto parade planning status, @F.Michael?

Or did they have it already after finally getting out of the first round?

It appears the Leafs are stuck in the Cat box...

Edited May 5, 2023 by F.Michael

[The 91 of Ryans 3,019]

4 hours ago, kipwinger said:

They're still in really good shape. They split 1-1 on the road and are heading home for two with a healthy roster. They could very easily take the next two.

So is McCann heathy now? Cuz he’s sort of important.