Well after the Oilers made the playoffs anything was possible.
But it does bring a lot of perspective. Most of the remaining teams are deep on the front and back end and have top notch goaltending. If MAF were healthy throughout the whole year he likely would have a few award nominations.
One wonders if the Pens win another cup if Fleury is still their goalie. Actually I think that's a slam dunk. Its interesting how teams overthink things. Fleury was one of the best goaltending talents in the game. You stay with that guy. You resist hitching the train to the current hot goalie who is imo not as good as Fleury.
Seems like everything about Vegas is a story about some other teams mistake. This is the playoffs where the NHL got undressed. I wonder what GM's are thinking about the expansion draft formula right about now. Looks like revisions before Seattle.
I don't think about the Oilers much when watching these games. I'm a hockey fan as well as an Oiler fan so I don't get upset that another team is doing well while the Oilers aren't unless it was one of the Oilers hated rivals or Hall making a Cup run therefore making this place even more unbearable. I'm just watching the hockey because I enjoy playoff hockey.
I still have plenty of time for outside activity and watching playoff hockey when I can.
I do think the storylines are outweighing the quality of hockey. There hasn't been a lot of close games and marathon overtimes so in that sense, the playoffs have been a bit of a disappointment but my interest is primarily due to the storylines and in particular, Ovi and the Caps pursuing their first Cup. If the Caps get knocked out, my interest level will wane.
The OOT thread is lacking posters because there's no team to hate. If Calgary, Anaheim, Vancouver or Hall were still in the playoffs, this thread would be a lot more active.
That's essentially it. If one didn't buy the storylines, didn'g get engaged in that the game results are not very compelling. While some of the play is quite good theres a lot of a sense of it being one team with the clear edge one night, and who knows what happens the next. Other than the Caps vs Pens series and Jets vs Preds I don't feel any of the series were really close. Even in those series most of the actual games were not close. I like OT's close games, battles. Seeing one team win 4-0 one night and the other 5-1 the next night sure isn't doing it for me. More games have been cakewalks for one team than compelling battles that went the distance. The biggest story is goalies stoning. Seen that movie before.
I don't think people aren't posting due to no hate factor. I think theres just little interest. This playoffs, entirely, is anticlimactic for Oilers fans after the excitement of last year. This whole season is one big letdown and can't end soon enough imo.
