Around the NHL, 11th Armored Tank Division

[SKRusty]

Everyone knows Tanking exists. What about the Yotes or Sabres lineup last year even remotely looked like an NHL lineup. How about the Leafs this year?

Teams tank because it's best for business. Sometimes you throw in the towel to be better in the long run. Every successful person in this world can vouch sometimes you go in the red to bounce back into the black.

Teams tank because their GM's are sub-par. The GM feels that is the only way to rebuild. Detroit, LA, Chicago , St. Louis, Montreal, and New York are examples of how you do not have to "Tank" to be competitive.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Maloney is not the evil here. Since the 83-84 the "Tank" has been in play. Maloney finally confirmed to the fans that this was the case.

He like most others wanted change. Now we might be able to finally see a quantifiable change made to the process.

Ironically the only GM to not vote for the changes was Tim Murray and I see few throwing him under the bus.



http://www.torontosun.com/2015/04/18/edmonton-oilers-win-first-overall-nhl-draft-pick-yet-again

Murray is a joke. Like when he complained about getting the second pick.. What a goofball that guy is. I feel like if I grew up with him, he would have had significantly less lunch money.
If anything I think the lottery system needs to be altered even more to discourage taking. But at least the top three picks are lottery now. The Leafs tank show could give them at worst the fourth pick. Under the old System they basically would be guaranteed one of Pulju or Laine.
Can't really blame teams for doing it. I mean if Arizona finished last they were guaranteed at worst Eichel.

 

[Dertell]

Teams tank because their GM's are sub-par. The GM feels that is the only way to rebuild. Detroit, LA, Chicago , St. Louis, Montreal, and New York are examples of how you do not have to "Tank" to be competitive.

lol where were you before the 2010s?

 

[SKRusty]

You haven't seen Tim Murray thrown under the bus? Where were you last year?

I was referring to the thread. I loved it when Buffalo did not get McDavid...Was not happy where he ended up but at least Murray did not get him.

Same as I was happy that neither Phoenix or LA got Kane.

 

[SKRusty]

lol where were you before the 2010s?

LA did not tank. Ziggy went to the Pens. Allison and Deadmarsh were lost to concussions very early in their careers. To lose the top 3 players (for nothing) offensively did them in. In the worst year the Kings only traded 3 players Modry, Stuart and a 3rd String Goalie.

St. Louis's - the 2006 season was the first time St. Louis had not been in the playoffs since the late 70's. They took Eric Johnson (ahead of Toews, Backstrom and Staal) hardly a once in a generation player. The next year the Blues were back in the playoffs. This their only pick in the top 5.

Chi- 2006 Picked Toews # 3 overall behind St. Louis and Pitt. In 2007 draft Chicago won the draft lottery moved from 5th to 1st overall. Neither would have been classified as tanking.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Teams tank because their GM's are sub-par. The GM feels that is the only way to rebuild.

Teams tank because it is the only way to rebuild.

Detroit

Detroit never "rebuilt". They have not replaced Lidstrom at all. Once Datsyuk and Zetterberg retire they will not be the dominant team that they are right now. Their big three of Lidstrom-Datsyuk-Zetterberg hasn't been replaced and while they were extremely fortunate Larkin was playing 2nd line on USNTDP (re-draft, Larkin goes top 3-5) that's not enough.

LA

Drew Doughty.

Chicago

Patrick Kane.
Jonathan Toews

St. Louis

Alex Pietrangelo.

Montreal, and New York

Because riding elite goalies has gotten them championships......oh, wait.

Chi- 2006 Picked Toews # 3 overall behind St. Louis and Pitt. In 2007 draft Chicago won the draft lottery moved from 5th to 1st overall. Neither would have been classified as tanking.

Any time you have a top 5 pick in a draft, you tanked. That includes our Sam Bennett year. Look at guys like Tyler Wotherspoon, Kenny Agostino, Chad Billins, Chris Breen, Mark Cundari, Joni Ortio, and Max Reinhart. Hartley doesn't have any confidence in those guys right now yet somehow he was playing them plenty two years ago. Only difference was that team built such a "inverted-standings-cushion" early on that they could put up a mirage of management trying to win to close out the season, and really that team was winning despite its roster. I mean, forget the AHLers that team was icing, that team was actually trying to sell 24-year-old Joe "-17" Colborne as a key contributor. A guy who couldn't even crack the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Any time you go into a season not expecting to make the playoffs, you are tanking. Sometimes mediocre teams do have injuries, but rarely does a team at the bottom of the standings make a clear effort to mitigate them. Look at the OIlers. Injuries to Klefbom, Eberle etc and what did they do to mitigate the injuries? Nothing. Tanking.

 

[Anglesmith]

Any time you have a top 5 pick in a draft, you tanked.

That's the fundamental point of disagreement right there.

 

[TheHudlinator]

Coyotes GM admits tanking for shot at McDavid last season

But tanking doesn't exist.

Looking at that roster how could you not think they were tanking

 

[Lunatik]

Looking at that roster how could you not think they were tanking

No doubt the Coyotes, Sabres and Leafs all tanked. I hope that all get theirs with a Wirtz/Ballard like owner

 

[Calculon]

Out of town tank watch:
Jets continue to suck
Blue Jackets get a point
The Sabres and the Senators both get a point
Oilers oiling things up against the Ducks after one period

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Apparently this happened.

 

[tmurfin]

I don't usually get worked up, but that dive is ****ing disgraceful. I see those soccer dives and I laugh and feel embarrassed for the sport of soccer. That that does not belong in our sport.

 

[Pirate King Luffy]

I wish there were more dives in the league. I see nothing wrong with it. He tried to give his team the edge.
im not serious

 

[InfinityIggy]

I wish the league would treat very blatant dives like this more seriously. They have moved in the right direction with fines and even short suspensions for repeat offenders. I think they need to make the suspension a minimum 5 games when its very obvious like this.

It's embarrassing for the league. They should treat it as such.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

TSN showed some highlights of dives over the years, pretty funny stuff.

 

[tmurfin]

Montreal thinking about dealing PK?? What the ****? That sounds like an incredibly stupid thing to do..

 

[moon*]

The Canadiens are 13th in the East and 8 points out of a play-off spot nobody on that team (outside of maybe Carey Price) should be untouchable.

Throw in the fact that outside of Price playing amazing the Canadiens haven't been close to contending for a Cup and you have to start to wonder what are you trying to keep by not even looking at trading Subban.

I doubt he moves because NHL teams almost always take the safe route rather than making big moves but Subban isn't even a top 10 defenseman, let alone a top 10 player and the team looks like crap so I am not sure why it is so crazy that they are looking to shake things up, that all ignores all of his personality issues.

 

[tmurfin]

Maybe the fact that he IS a top 10 dman, is practically the face of the team and their defense looks like **** without him. Their struggles can be attributed to weak depth and losing Price, not to PK Subban. They have 3 big building blocks already in Pac, Subban, Price. I don't see how trading one helps them at all unless they get a kings ransom (eg. Replacement 1D++)

 

[moon*]

Maybe the fact that he IS a top 10 dman, is practically the face of the team and their defense looks like **** without him. Their struggles can be attributed to weak depth and losing Price, not to PK Subban. They have 3 big building blocks already in Pac, Subban, Price. I don't see how trading one helps them at all unless they get a kings ransom (eg. Replacement 1D++)

Well they have had Pac, Subban and Price for the past 3-4 years or so and what has that got them? A few wins in the Eastern play-offs? They don't look like they are close to competing for the Cup and aren't close to the top teams in the league.

So they keep Subban and what continue to hope that Price can carry them to the Cup? They can do that with him or without him.

I don't think trading him should be priority number 1 but looking at what they can get for him isn't crazy when you look at where this team is and where they are projecting to go in the future.

 

[Bosnian Beast]

If Montreal trades Subban before firing Therrien, that's going to be such a ****show. As tmurfin said, he's one of the key building blocks for that team, removing him only sets them back, IMO.

 

[Anglesmith]

Well they have had Pac, Subban and Price for the past 3-4 years or so and what has that got them? A few wins in the Eastern play-offs? They don't look like they are close to competing for the Cup and aren't close to the top teams in the league.

Say what you want about the team not actually winning a Cup, but they were absolutely contenders in the East the past couple of seasons with Price and Subban healthy. I was holding my breath every year until they were eliminated, hoping they wouldn't go all the way.

You can't make the claim that they've had Pac, Subban and Price this season. They've only had two of the three.

Having a star goalie and a star defenceman is the most basic blueprint of how to build a contender. Montreal has that, and I think they'd be crazy to throw it away.

 

[Bosnian Beast]

Say what you want about the team not actually winning a Cup, but they were absolutely contenders in the East the past couple of seasons with Price and Subban healthy. I was holding my breath every year until they were eliminated, hoping they wouldn't go all the way.

You can't make the claim that they've had Pac, Subban and Price this season. They've only had two of the three.

Having a star goalie and a star defenceman is the most basic blueprint of how to build a contender. Montreal has that, and I think they'd be crazy to throw it away.

Bingo (the bolded). A couple seasons ago when the Rangers went to the SCF, I thought Montreal could had beat the Rangers had Price been healthy. They were and still can be contenders when their key pieces are all healthy.

 

[Volica]

Having a star goalie and a star defenceman is the most basic blueprint of how to build a contender. Montreal has that, and I think they'd be crazy to throw it away.

Yeah, more or less eh?
Toss in a good Centre group; and you get yourself a winner.

Having a goalie that can win you a game or two, is pretty sweet. I wonder how that feels, it seems like forever ago Kipper retired

 

[moon*]

Say what you want about the team not actually winning a Cup, but they were absolutely contenders in the East the past couple of seasons with Price and Subban healthy. I was holding my breath every year until they were eliminated, hoping they wouldn't go all the way.

You can't make the claim that they've had Pac, Subban and Price this season. They've only had two of the three.

Having a star goalie and a star defenceman is the most basic blueprint of how to build a contender. Montreal has that, and I think they'd be crazy to throw it away.

They were competitive in the East which is much weaker than the West. They lost to that Rangers team which was then killed by the Kings.

Unless they stop playing the Western Conference for the Stanley Cup being competitive in the East is nice but ultimately doesn't mean much. That is assuming that winning the Cup is the goal for teams.

 

[L13]

The Canadiens are 13th in the East and 8 points out of a play-off spot nobody on that team (outside of maybe Carey Price) should be untouchable.

Throw in the fact that outside of Price playing amazing the Canadiens haven't been close to contending for a Cup and you have to start to wonder what are you trying to keep by not even looking at trading Subban.

I doubt he moves because NHL teams almost always take the safe route rather than making big moves but Subban isn't even a top 10 defenseman, let alone a top 10 player and the team looks like crap so I am not sure why it is so crazy that they are looking to shake things up, that all ignores all of his personality issues.

No, no player should be 'untouchable' if trading him would help the team... but there is simply no reason for Montréal to trade PK Subban? Not sure what 'the safe route' means in this context given that the opposite of taking the safe route is taking a risk, and trading PK Subban would not be a risk because there would be no potential upside. It would be a completely senseless action. Getting an offensive player in return would leave Montréal's d-core only slightly better than Edmonton's. Getting a defenceman back would be a downgrade, unless Keith or Karlsson was part of the deal. There's no way the Habs would come out on top after trading Subban, so... why trade him?

Also, what are these supposed "personality issues"? Subban is a great media personality, the fans love him and he works hard every night. In what way is his personality a detriment to Montréal?