Is it just me or this a very exciting postseason?

[Hoek]

When fraudulent teams win 112 games, that says a lot about the league and its regular season.

None of it is good.

I think it says more about the postseason, but regardless I hate how it's basically two different sports. Most complain that the postseason should be reffed like the regular season but I would take the opposite as long as it's consistent. It's the crapshoot aspect that's the worst like you say. The Stanley Cup shouldn't feel like it has no sense or rhyme or reason to it.

 

[MattySnipes]

After winning 18/23 games when the Avs collapsed, I thought we were done.

I didn't expect us to make the playoffs.

Now we're going to the second round, and if we keep playing well, we can make some noise.

Yes, the playoffs are exciting.

When you guys were in that position in the season (down but not out)...who stepped up? MacKinnon, Grubauer, Rantanen?

 

[Lindemann]

Exciting in some ways, having 2 8 teams win and 2 sweeps early on is fun for sure but at the same time, I hate lopsided series, which those have been

I rather see fun 7 games OTs, etc

The caps series has been pretty boring so far, the bruins/TOR has been underwhelming. Pitt/isles was a snooze fest

It’s been okay for me

 

[Leonardo87]

So far it’s been the playoff season of upsets. Some great story lines so far like someone said before. My two teams are not even in it and have been still very engaged and watched several series.

 

[Louie the Blue]

That's the last time there was real buzz in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

I respectfully disagree.

Vegas making the SCF in their 1st season as well as the Caps getting over the hump and beating Pittsburgh were buzz worthy last year.

 

[AD1066]

Could use a Game 7 or two, but overall I'm happy with the teams still in the picture. Lots of great storylines that can potentially unfold, and the teams that have won 8 of the past 10 Cups are nowhere to be found.

 

[AvsFan29]

When you guys were in that position in the season (down but not out)...who stepped up? MacKinnon, Grubauer, Rantanen?

Grubauer.

Macks point production went down. Rantanen and landeskog got hurt.

We still played solid, but it was 90% solid goaltending.

If we had even average goaltending all year, we would have been top 3 in the West.

 

[SavedByRoy]

Ok, it's half the teams in the playoffs. And the top half has won every championship in history but three. I'm not asking for superteams. I'm asking for top half.

The NBA is far from a great league, don't get me wrong. But the NHL has gone in the complete opposite direction where every team is a mass-produced vanilla clone of each other.

You mentioned the NFL (which is by far the most popular sport in the States) with top teams always winning, but that's just not the case. Let's look at this century:

2000 - Baltimore was a wildcard, the 4th seed, and won it all with 2 road playoff games
2001 - Pats 2 seed, played on the road in the AFC Championship
2002 - Bucs 2 seed, played on the road in the AFC Championship
2003 - Pats were the 1 seed
2005 - Pats 2 seed, played on the road in the AFC Championship
2005 - Pittsburgh was the 6 seed and played all games on the road
2006 - Colts were the 3 seed, won a road playoff game
2007 - Giants were the 6 seed, won all playoff games on the road
2008 - Pittsburgh 2 seed
2009 - Saints 1 seed
2010 - Packers were the 6 seed, won all playoff games on the road
2011 - Giants 4 seed, won 2 road playoff games
2012 - Ravens 4 seed, won 2 road playoff games
2013 - Seahawks 1 seed
2014 - Pats 1 seed
2015 - Broncos 1 seed
2016 - Pats 1 seed
2017 - Eagles 1 seed
2018 - Pats 2 seed, played on the road in the AFC Championship

That's 7 Superbowl winners this century who played wild card weekend, 3 were the dead last seed.

Edit: forgot to include the 2006 Colts as a wild card weekend team

 

[MattySnipes]

Grubauer.

Macks point production went down. Rantanen and landeskog got hurt.

We still played solid, but it was 90% solid goaltending.

If we had even average goaltending all year, we would have been top 3 in the West.

Solid pickup. Holtby looks shaky this year.

 

[AvsFan29]

Solid pickup. Holtby looks shaky this year.

Yes and no lol he nearly tanked our season. At one point he was 47th in goaltenders with more than 10 games played. Then he went 8-1-2 with a .955 and got us in the playoffs.

He was .939 against Calgary and came up big when needed.

 

[Sam Spade]

The only even remotely "exciting" series has been Jets/Blues.

Although if you count "exciting" as "will that shot from the blueline get past Martin Jones" I suppose that series is exciting as well.

 

[MattySnipes]

Yes and no lol he nearly tanked our season. At one point he was 47th in goaltenders with more than 10 games played. Then he went 8-1-2 with a .955 and got us in the playoffs.

He was .939 against Calgary and came up big when needed.

Hot teams going into playoffs are too dangerous. Columbus this year and Colorado.

 

[Master P]

I think it says more about the postseason, but regardless I hate how it's basically two different sports. Most complain that the postseason should be reffed like the regular season but I would take the opposite as long as it's consistent. It's the crapshoot aspect that's the worst like you say. The Stanley Cup shouldn't feel like it has no sense or rhyme or reason to it.

I think you hit the nail on the head. There is regular season hockey and then there is playoff hockey. Both are called differently unfortunately.

 

[AvsFan29]

The only even remotely "exciting" series has been Jets/Blues.

Although if you count "exciting" as "will that shot from the blueline get past Martin Jones" I suppose that series is exciting as well.

I guess you missed Calgary / Colorado

 

[AvsFan29]

Hot teams going into playoffs are too dangerous. Columbus this year and Colorado.

Yah the Avs have been playing elimination hockey for the last 17 games.

2 regulation losses in the last 17

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

I feel every postseason year in the NHL is very exciting. It is the best postseason sport out of all sports.

 

[Avs44]

@Machinehead

I think you raise some good points regarding the discrediting of the regular season. But I also think in many respects you're overstating it.

1) Other sports are not exactly immune to similiar problems...I know the NBA is more popular than ever right now, but seriously...what's the point of their regular season, if that's the metric we're using? You can predict the outcome of the regular season + essentially the entirety of the playoffs right now in October: it's the Warriors. As someone who used to absolutely love watching professional basketball...I just can't anymore. I'd be horrified if the NHL moved in the identical direction. I don't want to be able to predict with nearly 100% certainty who's going to be in the finals (again...) before the season has even begun, or anything close to that. The NBA regular season, in terms predicting 'who's going to be the best,' is pretty much pointless -- we already know before they set foot on the court. And yeah, I recognize the NBA is more popular than ever, but to me a plastic-ness has developed in it.

2) Doesn't a sport like the NFL have similiar problems regarding your arguments about the regular season? The playoffs have been all about the Pats for some time regardless of the regular season. They play in a rather pathetic division, had a not that impressive 11-5 record, looked like one of the weakest Pats teams in years, and then once again Brady and Belichick did their things come playoffs. They dummied the #1 seed in the superbowl and exposed the regular season's second highest scoring offense as something of a fraud that put up just 3 points. Kind of made the whole Rams regular season look pointless, if that's the metric we're using here, yeah?

3) I really think you're overstating the NHL's "problem" by looking too much at just this year, which is something of an anomally. Most cup winners do end up being the same, somewhat predictable winners. We had the Pens back to back and in 2009; we had the Hawks win 3 of 6; the Kings won two in the midst of the Hawks' run; and the Bruins and Caps, both very good clubs, won cups in the midst of that as well. The Bruins took down the back to back President's trophy winning Canucks in a 7 game series, and the Caps had historically been one of the best regular season teams before they finally put it together. Point being...the last full decade of cup winners have not been random, outlying teams....it's been the class of the NHL winning the cups, facing off against generally extremely good clubs in the final.

In other words...these playoffs so far are not the norm.

The last potentially anomalous win / final we saw was the Canes vs. Oilers in 2006...I think that era was something of a transition phase, between the era of the Red Wings, Avs, Devils, etc, to the rise of the new perennial contenders of the Pens / Kings / Hawks. The Wings won again in 2008, but before 2006, when the Canes won, 8 of the last 10 Stanley Cups had been won by the Devils, Wings, and Avs.

I think it might be fair to say we are just in another transition phase now. The Hawks / Pens / Kings have fallen, just like the Wings / Devils / Avs did, and I imagine we'll soon see the re-emergence of a perennial set of contenders after perhaps a few more 'random' cups. Just so happens it might not be a team like the Lightning...but a couple of great regular season teams who choke come playoffs isn't exactly an issue unique to the NHL either. As I see it, we're right now just seeing a changing of the old guard since the former class of the league have fallen (only one of them even made the playoffs, the Pens), and the set of new dominant clubs -- the new Hawks, Pens, and Kings -- hasn't quite been sorted out yet.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Yes, it’s just you..


Seriously, wth question is this?

 

[Machinehead]

I get the impression you're an NBA fan. If not, I think you should take up watching basketball.

If anything I feel this year just highlights how differently the regular season and post season are called in hockey. It's like watching two completely different games.

"The NHL is all about speed and skill now".

Lol okay.

Hockey is my favorite sport but I've said for a long time now that I don't particularly care for the NHL.

Every time an international tournament ends, I'm depressed that I have to go back to the NHL.

 

[Grifter3511]

It feels to me like two different things are being debated in this thread.

Forgive me for putting words in your mouth, but it feels as though Machinehead is arguing about optics and the effect on the general public. The average person pays more attention to the big names and big teams so having Tampa play Pittsburgh or whoever will draw a larger audience which is good for the league in general (from a publicity/monetary perspective).

The majority of others seem to be arguing about personal entertainment. As a fan of the game in general, I am hugely entertained by what I'm seeing. I live in Vancouver. I cant wait to watch Colombus play Toronto or Boston in the second round. Are as many people in north America going to watch the later rounds? Probably not. But on a personal level, on an individual enjoyment level, why do I care? It doesn't affect me one way or another if the rest of the world is tuning in to see the games.

At the end of the day, I dont care how many people tune in. There will always be a market for hockey. And if we take it to the extreme, the league contracts because theres a loss of interest in NA, well so what? There will still be a league, there will still be superstars, and I'll still be watching, regardless of where the teams are situated because I'm a fan of the sport, and not the business.

 

[Machinehead]

It feels to me like two different things are being debated in this thread.

Forgive me for putting words in your mouth, but it feels as though Machinehead is arguing about optics and the effect on the general public. The average person pays more attention to the big names and big teams so having Tampa play Pittsburgh or whoever will draw a larger audience which is good for the league in general (from a publicity/monetary perspective).

The majority of others seem to be arguing about personal entertainment. As a fan of the game in general, I am hugely entertained by what I'm seeing. I live in Vancouver. I cant wait to watch Colombus play Toronto or Boston in the second round. Are as many people in north America going to watch the later rounds? Probably not. But on a personal level, on an individual enjoyment level, why do I care? It doesn't affect me one way or another if the rest of the world is tuning in to see the games.

At the end of the day, I dont care how many people tune in. There will always be a market for hockey. And if we take it to the extreme, the league contracts because theres a loss of interest in NA, well so what? There will still be a league, there will still be superstars, and I'll still be watching, regardless of where the teams are situated because I'm a fan of the sport, and not the business.

Optics is part of it, yes, but I'm also f***ing bored.

 

[Reality Check]

There's some truth to that, but it goes back to my other point: when the two best teams in the league are out here looking like ECHL teams, it's not a good thing.

I'm not saying I want the same teams to win year after year, but for a league to function, you need to have great teams, and teams that just participate. The NHL simply doesn't have that. It's a vanilla league.

People come in droves to watch great teams. They always have and they always will. When great teams play great teams, that's when moments are made. When lesser teams beat great teams, that's also memorable.

That's not what's happening here. What we have here is lesser teams exposing top seeds as flaccid garbage. There's nothing even approaching great in this NHL. There's 31 meh teams.

A team that tied the wins record just proved themselves to be completely soulless. If you're entertained by that, that's your prerogative, but to me it puts up in bold letters how trash the NHL is.

Some will proudly proclaim parity. The rest of us are just seeing mediocrity.

It's probably only going to get worse this year because god knows the NHL has no idea how to encourage personality and promote players. Much less the league itself.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

I love hockey

 

[Magic Mittens]

I like seeing different teams, unless it's my team do well every year. So I'm liking this year so far

 

[HockeyFan100]

But when you have no expectations at all, storylines fall apart.

I guess some folks still have some element of surprise, and that's why they enjoy it. That's fine. Enjoyment from any form of entertainment is subjective. For me personally, I lost that long ago with the NHL.

Not once when Columbus was destroying Tampa did I think "this is amazing." I thought "welp, here's the NHL doing NHL things again."

Flames and Lightning were the best regular season teams so they deserve to be in the finals!!1!!1

Doesn't matter how good you are, if you don't show up to play in the postseason, you're gonna get sent home early. Simple as that. And both top teams legitimately got outplayed, it's not like they got Halak'd or anything. It had nothing to do with "NHL doing NHL things"