GDT: 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs (General Talk)

[22FUTON9]

Apparently Kotkaniemi and Caufield might not be in the lineup for game 1 according to the lines they had in practice? By no means am I the biggest fans of caufield or kotka but those choices are.... interesting.

 

[missionAvs]

Yep. I was also surprised that Tampa played a really dirty game.... Well, it worked for game 1... I´d still take the Panthers in 6.

I feel the same about the Bolts playing a bit dirty but I'm still rooting for them.

 

[GoNordiquesGo]

I get why people are pissed at the Kucherov thing, I really do, but they did nothing wrong according to the rule books.

If the NHL seriously cared, they would ensure that teams have to remain salary cap compliant in the playoffs, too. Otherwise, you have an over-the-cap-by-17-million Tampa Bay Lightning team to deal with lol.

If I understand the rules properly, that sentence is only true if you believe that Kucherov was not fit to play before the end of the season and happened to become fit to play before the first game of the playoffs. I.e. that his recovery from a year-long injury so happened to culminate within a 3 days window, just by fluke... taking into account the fact that the position of that 3 days window in time was delayed by the Covid situation affecting the NHL playoff calendar.

So, once again subject to my understanding of the rules, that is as blatant a manipulation and circonvention of the rules as there is, made worst by the fact that it was advertised before the season even began that this is exactly what was going to happen...

 

[Hennessy]

Forsberg in 2001/02. Sat out the entire regular season and came back like a beast to score 27 in the playoffs. Granted, without a cap then it wasn't controversial.

 

[Gatorbait19]

Felt great finally being back at live playoff hockey last night. My takeaways from my vantage point:

-I’m never one to blame the refs, but it seemed like they were working against the panthers all night. We couldn’t see the pad was pushed in from inside the arena on that goal, but it seemed like the penalty calling was horrendous and Tampa got the benefit of all the calls while the Cats got none.

-Panthers D pinched way too much. This was a constant throughout the game and led to a bunch of odd man rushes as well as the final goal.

-Tampa 1st PP unit was deadly and panthers have no shot at stopping them. Only way to stop that is stay outta the box.

-However, the biggest advantage I saw the panthers have was when they were 4 on 4 and it’s what helped the panthers win the 1st period. It felt like they were trying to force 4v4 in the 1st (which worked) but stopped after that.

-Bob is just completely unreliable and can’t be counted upon. You had to start him game 1 but it should be driedger’s net from now on.

-I’ve maintained the panthers have no shot in this series and that was re-affirmed last night. Panthers went toe-to-toe with the bolts and if they couldn’t win last night, they’re dead in the water. Only shot is if Driedger comes in and stands on his head.

 

[Miri]

Yep. I was also surprised that Tampa played a really dirty game.... Well, it worked for game 1... I´d still take the Panthers in 6.

Would you? Personally, i expect Tampa to advance, did even before this first game. Simply more play-off experience...and that 97million cap has to show somewhere
We shall see though. It should be good series, 2 offensively-minded teams. Not saying i would want Avs to face either Tampa or Florida now, but honestly, i would expect games against them to be more entertaining than games against Blues or if we make it further, possibly Vegas. You can bet, unless Avs will be on top of their game, those games are going to be grindy as f***, and if we get "outground", which is a possibility, as we are softer than both of them, we will lose.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

Dangerous and stupid by Bennett

And costly

And now he's gonna probably be suspended

 

[Grigowski]

And now he's gonna probably be suspended

Yup, would say 1 game.

But if Bennett gets the call, McDonagh should also for boarding Duclair earlier in the game.

 

[henchman21]

I feel the same about the Bolts playing a bit dirty but I'm still rooting for them.

They've always had that element (Gourde and Cernak walk the line and Kuch is a flat out dirty player), but it got ramped up after the Columbus sweep when they brought in Maroon, Goodrow, Schenn, and Coleman.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I get why people are pissed at the Kucherov thing, I really do, but they did nothing wrong according to the rule books.

Literally everyone else could've done this if they wanted. Just upset their FO wasn't smart enough to think of it. Also as I've said however many times, losing a top 5 player for an entire season is still a pretty big punishement.

 

[henchman21]

Literally everyone else could've done this if they wanted. Just upset their FO wasn't smart enough to think of it. Also as I've said however many times, losing a top 5 player for an entire season is still a pretty big punishement.

Tampa obviously timed Kuch's surgery to make the timing work, but he did need surgery and was out the whole season. I don't care about Kuch being out for the season because if it wasn't him, Stamkos would have had surgery (which he will probably have to have this offseason, so round 2 is coming). Any fix on that issue, will have unintended consequences... IE Avs used it for EJ and Frank this year that allowed them to spend over the cap and avoid bonus overages.

The move I think the NHL should try to shut down was that Toronto method of grabbing players on LTIR for the sole purpose of having LTIR room. Toronto did this in the past, but Tampa pushed it to a new level in specifically grabbing ~7.5m in cap room.

 

[Bender]

I can't wait to see who comes out of the NORTH DIVISION cuz' they'll be in for a nice spanking! lol

 

[dahrougem2]

I think the easiest fix is as I said, maintaining the salary cap in the playoffs. It doesn't make any sense to have a cap all season long but then once the playoffs hit, it disappears.

 

[Thepoolmaster]

Tampa obviously timed Kuch's surgery to make the timing work, but he did need surgery and was out the whole season. I don't care about Kuch being out for the season because if it wasn't him, Stamkos would have had surgery (which he will probably have to have this offseason, so round 2 is coming). Any fix on that issue, will have unintended consequences... IE Avs used it for EJ and Frank this year that allowed them to spend over the cap and avoid bonus overages.

The move I think the NHL should try to shut down was that Toronto method of grabbing players on LTIR for the sole purpose of having LTIR room. Toronto did this in the past, but Tampa pushed it to a new level in specifically grabbing ~7.5m in cap room.

Yup. I'm not too annoyed about the fact that Kucherov was out and they got him back and it allowed them to make it work. More that they were able to time it as perfectly as they were. Lightning fans always point to "but Seguin had the same surgery a month before and was ready a month before so he's obviously injured." Nobodies arguing he wasn't injured. Just that they waited the extra months so he'd be ready.

Agreed on buying cap space. In that same vein they are talking about Riley Nash joining the team for game 1. I actually think that's more unfair than what Tampa did. Trading for an injured player that you wouldn't have been able to otherwise to get around the cap for the playoffs.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

I don't find it that annoying. Sure Tampa sort of circumvented the cap later in the season as he probably was healthy weeks ago, and it allowed them to add at the deadline with both he and Stammer out, but they also didn’t have Kuch for the entire season. That's arguably one of the top 5 players in the league missing the whole season. I wouldn't call that exactly ideal. Plus, as others have pointed out, every team in the league could have done the same thing if they chose to.

 

[henchman21]

I think the easiest fix is as I said, maintaining the salary cap in the playoffs. It doesn't make any sense to have a cap all season long but then once the playoffs hit, it disappears.

The NHL doesn't want a situation where teams are forced to play shorthanded for a game just so they can have an emergency callup. They want the best possible product on the ice to showcase. They have the best postseason in all of sports, and technicalities causing the quality to drop goes against that. It is the easiest fix technically, but one the NHL has no appetite for... so likely the most difficult too.

I think changing the accrual of LTIR solves it (though will impact escrow). Just let teams accrue regardless of semantics tricks on rosters before/after., so basically all injuries are accruable LTIR. Along with that LTIR can only be accrued on players that were on the team prior to the injury.

 

[dahrougem2]

The NHL doesn't want a situation where teams are forced to play shorthanded for a game just so they can have an emergency callup. They want the best possible product on the ice to showcase. They have the best postseason in all of sports, and technicalities causing the quality to drop goes against that. It is the easiest fix technically, but one the NHL has no appetite for... so likely the most difficult too.

I think changing the accrual of LTIR solves it (though will impact escrow). Just let teams accrue regardless of semantics tricks on rosters before/after., so basically all injuries are accruable LTIR. Along with that LTIR can only be accrued on players that were on the team prior to the injury.

Or maybe even a system whereby a third party evaluates him and if he's "cleared" he must come off of LTIR immediately. I don't know how feasible that is, just spitballing ideas here but teams surely - right or wrong - can't be pleased about Kucherov being ready for the exact game 1 date.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Or maybe even a system whereby a third party evaluates him and if he's "cleared" he must come off of LTIR immediately. I don't know how feasible that is, just spitballing ideas here but teams surely - right or wrong - can't be pleased about Kucherov being ready for the exact game 1 date.

That is how it's done I'm pretty sure.

 

[dahrougem2]

That is how it's done I'm pretty sure.

Maybe technically but I don't think you'd have a single believer if you told me a third party only cleared Nikita Kucherov prior to game 1 of the playoffs and he looked as good as he did lol.

 

[henchman21]

Or maybe even a system whereby a third party evaluates him and if he's "cleared" he must come off of LTIR immediately. I don't know how feasible that is, just spitballing ideas here but teams surely - right or wrong - can't be pleased about Kucherov being ready for the exact game 1 date.

That is already in the system now... so either the abuse isn't happening or it doesn't stop the abuse. I'm sure plenty of teams will squawk at Kuch playing game 1, but Tampa isn't the only team to do this. It has been done in the past and will be done in the future. Since the cap has been implemented, teams have played games with LTIR.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[sethro109]

That really should have been more than a one game suspension. I can't remember the last time I saw a boarding with that much force behind it.

 

[henchman21]

That really should have been more than. A one game suspension. I can't remember the last time I say a boarding with that much force behind it.

Bennett only had about 35' to hold up and not board Coleman, not enough time or space to make a better decision.

 

[Avs_19]

It was a terrible hit and they’re lucky Coleman got right back up so Bennett deserves the suspension.

 

[GoNordiquesGo]

Tampa obviously timed Kuch's surgery to make the timing work, but he did need surgery and was out the whole season. I don't care about Kuch being out for the season because if it wasn't him, Stamkos would have had surgery (which he will probably have to have this offseason, so round 2 is coming). Any fix on that issue, will have unintended consequences... IE Avs used it for EJ and Frank this year that allowed them to spend over the cap and avoid bonus overages.

The move I think the NHL should try to shut down was that Toronto method of grabbing players on LTIR for the sole purpose of having LTIR room. Toronto did this in the past, but Tampa pushed it to a new level in specifically grabbing ~7.5m in cap room.

The problem is not using the LTIR to help a team replace a player who's not coming back, like the Avs did with EJ and Frank, it is to use it to add additional players on top of those players who are coming back magically for the playoffs. The league simply has to do proper due diligence on the health of players and have an independant medical board assess when a player is required to exit LTIR. Tampa would have thought twice before playing that game if they knew there was a real chance that they could be forced to add Kucherov to their cap a few weeks before the end of the season.

What's the rationale behind not having a cap for the playoff? The answer could be somewhere in there too...