2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs General Discussion

[Soedy]

View attachment 718080

I get Blues vibes from this.

 

[Forceberg]

What is a torn Lebron?

That‘s the injury when you got hit with a James.

 

[Grigowski]

In any case, not much they could do to replace Landy and fix the 2C at the trade deadline in such a short period of time.

They knew since december, that this team has a glaring hole on 2C. Just for the records. They were not caught by suprise on anything.

Neither with Landy, nor with that hole on our 2nd line and depth-situation. They just decided to play it conservative again.

What´s done is done and the season is over. But MacFarland better get his shit together this summer.

 

[henchman21]

They knew since december, that this team has a glaring hole on 2C. Just for the records. They were not caught by suprise on anything.

Neither with Landy, nor with that hole on our 2nd line and depth-situation. They just decided to play it conservative again.

What´s done is done and the season is over. But MacFarland better get his shit together this summer.

They knew since Kadri signed with Calgary. Once they lost that bidding, they had the hole. It was even brought up in camp that it was a void and they'd try different names there. The Avs simply chose not to pay the price for a 2C.

 

[the_fan]

They knew since december, that this team has a glaring hole on 2C. Just for the records. They were not caught by suprise on anything.

Neither with Landy, nor with that hole on our 2nd line and depth-situation. They just decided to play it conservative again.

What´s done is done and the season is over. But MacFarland better get his shit together this summer.

2C alone wasn’t gonna be enough. They wouldn’t be able to replace Landy, the Nuke situation, Manson being hurt too, they couldn’t fix all those problem at the deadline. Not to mention the bottom 6 depth. This are all off season things to fix

 

[AvBuff]

2C alone wasn’t gonna be enough. They wouldn’t be able to replace Landy, the Nuke situation, Manson being hurt too, they couldn’t fix all those problem at the deadline. Not to mention the bottom 6 depth. This are all off season things to fix

Exactly. You can't LTIR/TDL your way past an injury-riddled line-up. The Avs management has NEVER been conservative. They've always been willing to wheel and deal to win - look at what they gave up to get Kadri, Lehky, Kemper, Sturm, Manson, Burakovsky et al. That attitude goes back to the Lacroix years. It worked.

What the Avs management is NOT is stupid. The organization is running out of draft capital and prospects to deal and what was left at the TDL wasn't worth the outlay when the injuries are figured in. Teams were no longer willing to give up value for prospects. Teams wanted Byrum in return. Could McSakic have done more? Sure. But it wasn't going to get them to the Cup.

Throw in the Nuke situation and this is the year where you go as far as you can with what you've got and regroup for next year.

It's hard enough to repeat. It's impossible when half the line up in injured. This simply wasn't the year to go all in. Period. Get off McSakics back. They won a freaking Cup because they know what they're doing. Ask Edmonton and Toronto - they'd trade for our organization tomorrow.

 

[Mighty Makar]

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Yeah, but i think we can put the theory that our management "didn´t know" to sleep. They knew.
That's what I wanted to say.



We allready have our 2C... And you know his name....

Someone needs to create a picture of JTC in Walter White's hat.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

They knew since Kadri signed with Calgary. Once they lost that bidding, they had the hole. It was even brought up in camp that it was a void and they'd try different names there. The Avs simply chose not to pay the price for a 2C.

I kind of view it like they took a bigger picture outlook this past season. The had little ammunition, the team was a walking ICU ward. I feel they decided it was best to save up for the off-season and try to get something better than *checks notes* Kevin Hayes.

To be absolutely honest, about halfway through the season when it felt like the wheels were just about to fall off, I was beginning to entertain the idea of what we could get for JTC and ERod at the deadline in the back of my mind.

 

[henchman21]

I kind of view it like they took a bigger picture outlook this past season. The had little ammunition, the team was a walking ICU ward. I feel they decided it was best to save up for the off-season and try to get something better than *checks notes* Kevin Hayes.

That might have been the thought in Feb, but I wouldn't say it was the though in August.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[henchman21]

Walsh's hissyfit continues and unsurprisingly, he's inaccurate.

 

[UnkleKraker]

Exactly. You can't LTIR/TDL your way past an injury-riddled line-up. The Avs management has NEVER been conservative. They've always been willing to wheel and deal to win - look at what they gave up to get Kadri, Lehky, Kemper, Sturm, Manson, Burakovsky et al. That attitude goes back to the Lacroix years. It worked.

What the Avs management is NOT is stupid. The organization is running out of draft capital and prospects to deal and what was left at the TDL wasn't worth the outlay when the injuries are figured in. Teams were no longer willing to give up value for prospects. Teams wanted Byrum in return. Could McSakic have done more? Sure. But it wasn't going to get them to the Cup.

Throw in the Nuke situation and this is the year where you go as far as you can with what you've got and regroup for next year.

It's hard enough to repeat. It's impossible when half the line up in injured. This simply wasn't the year to go all in. Period. Get off McSakics back. They won a freaking Cup because they know what they're doing. Ask Edmonton and Toronto - they'd trade for our organization tomorrow.

I agree fully. I think the FO saw the writing on the wall. Add in the ridiculous prices and I imagine they lightly kicked a few tires and rightfully passed.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

I agree fully. I think the FO saw the writing on the wall. Add in the ridiculous prices and I imagine they lightly kicked a few tires and rightfully passed.

I also believe that was the case. The FO didn't have the luxury at the TDL to know what would happen in the playoffs 2-3 months down the road. They made their decision with what they knew at the time. At the TDL they probably had a good idea they wouldn't have Landy for the playoffs and that Nuke was playing injured. Nuke was very inconsistent in his play at the time. They also most likely knew Nuke had issues off the ice. Just like everybody here on these boards they were looking at the East and most likely believed there were very little chances they could beat the team coming out of the East. Nobody could have predicted Florida would be that team.

Yeah people will say that you never know what can happen once you are in the playoffs. However if you already know those things about Landy and Nuke do you still go all in with very little chances of winning and mortgage the future or go into the playoffs with what you have at the TDL, keep your assets and see what happens but live to fight the next couple of years after? In hindsight it is hard to believe that even with a 2C but without Landy and Nuke that they would have beat VGK. Looks to me that the FO were right in their decision.

 

[BaconNater]

Looking back on the Playoffs it's still bizarre how underwhelming Pat Kane was in New York. It was like really hyped before the trade happened then just fizzled

 

[dahrougem2]

Looking back on the Playoffs it's still bizarre how underwhelming Pat Kane was in New York. It was like really hyped before the trade happened then just fizzled

Based on the hip resurfacing I'd guess he was playing hurt all season.

 

[AvBuff]

What the FO did to create the 2022 Avs team was a masterstroke in creating a deep, fast team while not playing LTIR games with the cap. The 2022 Avs might be the best team top-to-bottom the NHL has seen (and will see) in a few years. That team was stacked and McSakic took a lot of pride in the fact that they put it together without LTIR cap alchemy.

But in the cap era, it's impossible to keep a team like that together in identical form. Add in the injuries and there just wasn't enough marginal return in throwing whatever remaining draft picks/players/prospects they had at a team that wasn't healthy enough to make a serious repeat run - even with help.

That said, I think McSakic are looking at Vegas and taking notes. Vegas has always taken a pretty ruthless approach to winning - there isn't a corner they won't cut, a bridge they won't burn and a rule they won't bend to its absolute limit to win. Ask Fleury. Wow, Mark Stone is Lazarus! Amazing!

I think maybe Vegas/Avs is the new Avs/Red Wings for the next few years. Great. I don't think the VGKs are going away. McSakic knows that and I think the off-season moves will reflect that fact.

 

[ASmileyFace]

Looking back on the Playoffs it's still bizarre how underwhelming Pat Kane was in New York. It was like really hyped before the trade happened then just fizzled

I really thought the Rangers were going to make more noise. I bought into the east coast hype machine, they were supposed to beat up on the inexperienced NJ team and be the main challenge to Boston on the way to the cup.

The East shitting the bed after this season of having so many "dominant" teams makes me chuckle a bit.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

To be honest, if they still had a bunch of assets, I think they may have tried to do more at the deadline. But I think the dwindling assets made them decide to delay to the off-season and try to get a better fix.

Again, I think this decision came about after the season began and after the it appeared the wheels were about to fall off in the middle of the season. I understand the hope of Newhook, but neither he nor JTC should really have been an option. The only real internal option was Rantanen and for whatever reason either he or Bednar or both simply do NOT want that to happen. I suspect Mikko drives that and I don't really blame him. He's a RW, possibly the best in the NHL right now, why mess with a good thing, eh?

 

[The Moops]

I also believe that was the case. The FO didn't have the luxury at the TDL to know what would happen in the playoffs 2-3 months down the road. They made their decision with what they knew at the time. At the TDL they probably had a good idea they wouldn't have Landy for the playoffs and that Nuke was playing injured. Nuke was very inconsistent in his play at the time. They also most likely knew Nuke had issues off the ice. Just like everybody here on these boards they were looking at the East and most likely believed there were very little chances they could beat the team coming out of the East. Nobody could have predicted Florida would be that team.

Yeah people will say that you never know what can happen once you are in the playoffs. However if you already know those things about Landy and Nuke do you still go all in with very little chances of winning and mortgage the future or go into the playoffs with what you have at the TDL, keep your assets and see what happens but live to fight the next couple of years after? In hindsight it is hard to believe that even with a 2C but without Landy and Nuke that they would have beat VGK. Looks to me that the FO were right in their decision.

Loser mentality tbh. We have a finite window, all of our first rounders, $12M available in LTIR, and the last year of MacK's window.

Prices weren't even that wild (Hayes, JVR, Domi, Henrique were all available and wouldn't have been crazy). You really have no idea what's going to happen in the playoffs, I mean you just said that nobody predicted Florida.

CMac doing nothing was never okay. 12 million in LTIR and what do we have to show for it? I can't wait for the draft and get NewNewJost! Going to be so worth it to trade him away in 6 years after they squander all his value away while he asks out.

Honestly the way MacK and Rants were playing last year might never happen again. We took career years from those guys and flushed the toilet with Lars "2 goals for a 2nd" Eller. Honestly embarrassing.

If you really think CMac knew we weren't going to win, why the f*** did he waste our dwindling trade capital to get someone like Eller? It's okay to admit it was a failure on his part. He had all season to secure a 2C and didn't.

At least some of the eastern teams that went to bat at the TDL can keep their heads high because they went for it and didn't just throw the towel on the season. How many fans of those teams really hated going all in at the deadline and regret it?

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Loser mentality tbh. We have a finite window, all of our first rounders, $12M available in LTIR, and the last year of MacK's window.

Prices weren't even that wild (Hayes, JVR, Domi, Henrique were all available and wouldn't have been crazy). You really have no idea what's going to happen in the playoffs, I mean you just said that nobody predicted Florida.

CMac doing nothing was never okay. 12 million in LTIR and what do we have to show for it? I can't wait for the draft and get NewNewJost! Going to be so worth it to trade him away in 6 years after they squander all his value away while he asks out.

Honestly the way MacK and Rants were playing last year might never happen again. We took career years from those guys and flushed the toilet with Lars "2 goals for a 2nd" Eller. Honestly embarrassing.

If you really think CMac knew we weren't going to win, why the f*** did he waste our dwindling trade capital to get someone like Eller? It's okay to admit it was a failure on his part. He had all season to secure a 2C and didn't.

At least some of the eastern teams that went to bat at the TDL can keep their heads high because they went for it and didn't just throw the towel on the season. How many fans of those teams really hated going all in at the deadline and regret it?

I don't think any of those guys you mentioned would have made much of a difference without Landy and Nuke at 75% against any of the teams that were supposed to win the East or even VGK for that matter. Remember that CMac didn't know at the time Florida was going to make it to the end.

You can call it a "loser mentality" all you want but with the inconsistent season the Avs had had until the TDL they made their decision and it looks like it was the right one IMO. Maybe the Eastern teams can keep their head high like you said but they were not in the Avs' position. They all had more assets to use and most of them were healthy or at least healthier.

Anyway I don't think any side will change the other's mind on what happened at the TDL. So agree to disagree.

 

[Metallo]

So the ratings for the final game were 2.7M. So much for growing the game, great job Gary!

 

[lionsDen]

Moving from California to a very small town, well two, one on either side of the Columbia river, in Central Washington State in the early 90s got me into hockey.

The larger of the two towns had a league, and eventually the Wenatchee Wild were born out of them building an arena quite a bit before Seattle got a team. Really all the state needed was an NHL team to complete the cycle if you will.

One of my best friends got invited to the USA hockey camp in the late 90s as a defender. For whatever reason he really didn't see it as a future. I was so jealous because I really never got the chance to learn to skate young. Roller hockey was popular for obvious reasons in California, but there were no facilities, and they were closing from what my mother remembers.

Gretzky got there a touch too late, lol.

I worked for a while up in northern Washington in a speck of a town called danville. Loved thencolumia river

 

[Sea Eagles]

Can I go onto the Vegas forum and say their weekly rent is due, and that their landlord plans on moving back in within 12 months, so please make plans?

 

[MacKaRant]

Can I go onto the Vegas forum and say their weekly rent is due, and that their landlord plans on moving back in within 12 months, so please make plans?

Not to rain on your parade, but they have the same number of Cups that we do in the last 20 years. Maybe a Habs fan could say something like this back in the day, but I just don't see it for us at the current juncture.