Who has the most to prove these playoffs?

[Czechboy]

There are guys who have played almost double... I'd say the GF% of Drai is way more concerning...

McDavid is tied for 67th in GP and 2nd in GA at ES... Drai is tied for 67th in GP and is 1st...

Not sure you can just blame the two D for how bad those two are defensively.

There are guys who have played almost double... I'd say the GF% of Drai is way more concerning...

McDavid is tied for 67th in GP and 2nd in GA at ES... Drai is tied for 67th in GP and is 1st...

Not sure you can just blame the two D for how bad those two are defensively.

If I were to list ten reasons that we lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champs two years in a row... McD and drai dont touch my top ten.
Our D, our GM, our lack of depth around them.

I'll put it another way.. I think Eichel and MacKinnon are amazing. Do you think if McDavid had their spot on their cup teams.. you think they don't win the cup?

Now reverse it.. replace McD on the oilers with Eichel or Mack... You think oilers win a cup the last two seasons?

 

[Golden_Jet]

GA is important... you can just do GF%, Matthews, and Marner are ahead of McDavid and Drai is barely 50%.

It is 3 years, the 4th year hasn't happened yet.

This isn't hard to grasp.

McDavid has good numbers, but he is also getting scored on a lot.

You think if they were putting up close to 2 ppg they'd have done more than get swept in the 3rd round...

There is a reason Edmonton has not done any damage in the playoffs and it isn't to do with a lack of scoring.

GA is important, goal differential more important.

 

[notbias]

GA is important, goal differential more important.

I agree... it's why Drai is worrisome and McDavid not as much...

If I were to list ten reasons that we lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champs two years in a row... McD and drai dont touch my top ten.
Our D, our GM, our lack of depth around them.

I'll put it another way.. I think Eichel and MacKinnon are amazing. Do you think if McDavid had their spot on their cup teams.. you think they don't win the cup?

Now reverse it.. replace McD on the oilers with Eichel or Mack... You think oilers win a cup the last two seasons?

No, but they may be better defensively

 

[Bruce Granville]

Leafs and Oilers. Anything less than the Cup won‘t do.

Oh, just like the Stars, Vegas, Ranger, Canes, Cats…

 

[SnowblindNYR]

In addition to the Leafs:

Rangers
Oilers
Hurricanes
Jets

In order IMO

Why the Rangers more than the Oilers and Hurricanes? The Oilers have the greatest player of our generation and no cups. And I hate to say but I bet if 100 people were polled on what team is better 60 people at least would say the Canes are better than the Rangers. And the Canes haven't even been past the second round. Plus they actually went big game hunting during the trade deadline.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Aside from the obvious Leafs/Oilers....I'd put the Rangers pretty high on the list. I still don't know if they are contenders or pretenders. Even with a Vezina-level Shesterkin, last year, they fell pretty short. And Shesterkin isn't having a good year and Quick seems to be running out of gas as the season concludes.

The East is going to be a chaotic mess, this year, and could benefit from the West beating themselves up, much like when the Penguins won their cup against Nashville. The Predators were so decimated by the time they got to the SCF, it was just too much.

Unless you're referring to the playoffs Shesterkin wasn't Vezina level last year.

 

[Ratbath]

View attachment 851601

Here are the last 3 years for playoff success.. those smashing the Oil (and McD) better be TB, Knights, Avs, Canes or Panther fans.lol

That’s all well and good but if you go to four years they’re tenth.

 

[Bobby9]

Oilers 100%



After a ridiculous amount of top 10 Draft pics over the last decade they’ve self appointed themselves the team to beat and Canadas team.



The players, the management and the fans have essentially been waiting for the players to put it all together over the last year and then Vancouver emerges out of nowhere and takes all attention away from the Oilers.



Talk about an existential crisis. Imagine thinking you’ll be the next Dynasty and never even winning a division and then being worse than the Leafs AND Canucks. Talk about a spiritual crisis for Oilers fans. They’re constantly seething and obsessed with the Canucks because the Canucks are what they wanted their team to be. A deep, well coached team with equal parts scoring, strong D and a Vezina calibre goalie. The jealousy flows through them.



People think Drai and McDavid look off. Maybe they are. I just think they’re over the Edmonton experience. If the Oilers don’t win it all they fans may be forced to watch McDavid and Drai win it elsewhere.



It’s a nightmare for Oilers fans.

 

[Czechboy]

That’s all well and good but if you go to four years they’re tenth.

Guaranteed 4 more playoff games real soon.

 

[wintersej]

Leafs
Oilers
Canes
Bruins
Rangers

Imo these are all clubs that will regress so winning now is a must.

See I think folks have the wrong read on the Bruins. This was the retool year to wait for the 4.5 million in Bergeron/Krejci overages to expire and the 7 million on Forbort and Gryz to expire. Marchand is old, but the rest of the team is very much not. This year is house money and next year they will have the cash to make some significant additions. Having a bag of cash can go badly, of course, but the Bruins aren't in some hopeless state.

??? or Heinen (28 years old today, UFA) - Zacha (26) - Pastrnak (27)
Marchand (35) - Coyle (31) - ??? or Debrusk (27, UFA) or Lysell (21)
Frederic (25) - Poitras (20) - Geekie (25)
Beecher (22) Boqvist (25) Brazeau (25)
Lauko (23)

Lindholm (30) McAvoy (26)
??? - Carlo (27)
Lorhei (23) Peeke (25)
Wotherspoon (26)

Swayman (25) or Ullmark (30), they will trade one...probably
Bussi (25)

About 18-20 million in space to fill the three bolded.

 

[syz]

The Hurricanes need to at least not go out and get goalied again this year. Potentially quite a bit of roster turnover set to occur there shortly as well iirc.

 

[insomniaddict]

Yep I'm gonna have to go with the Oilers too. They've been a great regular season team for way too long to not have reached the SC finals once within the McDavid era. They have solid enough roster to win the cup, but do they have the mental strength?

 

[GeoRox89]

How old was Lemieux when he won his cups?

How old was Ovi?

Ray Bourgue?

Joe Sakic?

Steve Y?

Matthews?

MacK?



Was Dionne 27 when he retired?

I’m with you on this and McDavid has plenty of time and is not the problem with the Oilers in the playoffs but:

25 and 26 - Lemieux
32 - Ovie
40 - Bourque
26 & 31 - Sakic
32, 33 & 37 - Yzerman (amusingly the only guy whose birthday comes before July)
26 - Mack

2.5 (half because of Sakic’s second) of these were strange choices for examples if the point was that not winning before turning 27 doesn’t mean McDavid never will. Well including 26 year old Matthews was also odd but dunking on the Leafs is always fun

 

[Czechboy]

I’m with you on this and McDavid has plenty of time and is not the problem with the Oilers in the playoffs but:

25 and 26 - Lemieux
32 - Ovie
40 - Bourque
26 & 31 - Sakic
32, 33 & 37 - Yzerman (amusingly the only guy whose birthday comes before July)
26 - Mack

2.5 (half because of Sakic’s second) of these were strange choices for examples if the point was that not winning before turning 27 doesn’t mean McDavid never will. Well including 26 year old Matthews was also odd but dunking on the Leafs is always fun

Thanks for giving me the ages!

Appreciate it. See your point about 2 5. I think Matthews is insanely good... And I definitely think he's not why leafs don't win cups either.

 

[Miro4Norris]

Oil
Leaf
Ranger
Hurricane

Matthews
McDavid
Jarry
Karlsson
Panarin
Barkov

 

[GeoRox89]

Thanks for giving me the ages!

Appreciate it. See your point about 2 5. I think Matthews is insanely good... And I definitely think he's not why leafs don't win cups either.

Funnily enough, I just figured you missed the second half of the year birthdays thought that Sakic and Mack were 27.

McDavid at 1.52 vs 1.53 is peak consistency. I’m not buying a .01 (.66%) increase as significant enough to constitute scoring more in the playoffs. Matthews going from 1.16 to 0.88 and 0.66 GPG to 0.44 is significant enough a drop to be a problem on a top heavy team. Matthews isn’t the only problem with the Leafs in the playoffs but that kind of production drop is one of their problems.

(Before anyone tries to turn that second paragraph into a Canadian fanbase pissing match thing, Avs fan and hate both teams but can still recognize McDavid is the best player in the game and Matthews is a generational goal scorer)

 

[Miro4Norris]

Thanks for giving me the ages!

Appreciate it. See your point about 2 5. I think Matthews is insanely good... And I definitely think he's not why leafs don't win cups either.

Matthews would be pacing to 36 goals and 72 points (0.88ppg, 50gp) in 82 games in playoffs. I can't remember him having any important big games either.

 

[Ghetty Green]

I feel like the pressure is off the Leafs. No one I know thinks their a legit threat. If they can win a round or two they should be ecstatic.

 

[Mr Positive]

Oilers 100%



After a ridiculous amount of top 10 Draft pics over the last decade they’ve self appointed themselves the team to beat and Canadas team.



The players, the management and the fans have essentially been waiting for the players to put it all together over the last year and then Vancouver emerges out of nowhere and takes all attention away from the Oilers.



Talk about an existential crisis. Imagine thinking you’ll be the next Dynasty and never even winning a division and then being worse than the Leafs AND Canucks. Talk about a spiritual crisis for Oilers fans. They’re constantly seething and obsessed with the Canucks because the Canucks are what they wanted their team to be. A deep, well coached team with equal parts scoring, strong D and a Vezina calibre goalie. The jealousy flows through them.



People think Drai and McDavid look off. Maybe they are. I just think they’re over the Edmonton experience. If the Oilers don’t win it all they fans may be forced to watch McDavid and Drai win it elsewhere.



It’s a nightmare for Oilers fans.

The nightmare was the first part of the regular season. Since then its been pretty good. We didn't win the division but we've been decent. The Bolts and Knights proved that regular season domination isn't a great indicator of a future cup winner

 

[57special]

As a Leafs fan, it’s hard to imagine anyone has more pressure on them than the Matthews/ Marner/ Tavares/ Nylander group, but there have to be others out there feeling the heat too.

Normally I'd agree, i mean why pay the big bucks for a 1st round exit, however, almost everyone realizes that they are going to up against one of the best teams in the league, while they are merely good.

I'd say EDM, and maybe CAR.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Hellebuyck needs to prove he's worth the big bucks as the best American goalie today. He hasn't been great the last few playoffs.

 

[Zalos]

I mean, it is cliché at this point, but Toronto of course. Until they get to a Cup Final, they will always be considered as disappointing.

 

[1specter]

Matthews would be pacing to 36 goals and 72 points (0.88ppg, 50gp) in 82 games in playoffs. I can't remember him having any important big games either.

Last playoffs Matthews drove the Leafs comeback in game 4 when they were down 4-1 and scored two goals late in the third. He also broke a 0-0 tie in a close game 6 (and was the best player in the game) which they eventually won in OT. Overall his playoff performances have been a mixed bag, but more often than not he's been the team's best player. Definitely sucked against Florida though.

Edit: oh look a virgin Oilers fan with a laugh react, how predictable

 

[eojsmada]

Unless you're referring to the playoffs Shesterkin wasn't Vezina level last year.

Yes...I was referring to the Playoffs.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Yes...I was referring to the Playoffs.

Well you compared it to this regular season and we don't know what he'll look like in the playoffs.