An Islander - Habs final is inevitable

[miscs75]

Absolutely preposterous. The notion that guys like McDavid don't get calls is just pure nonsense.

The problem is, when you have guys who are as other worldly as McDavid go down, people think it must be only because something illegal happened. Guys like McDavid get calls go their way all the damn time.

This notion that the league is in favor of an "anything goes style of hockey" is absurd.

MAYBE, just MAYBE building your roster "with huge portions of their cap dedicated to star players" is the wrong way to go about building a team because it takes more than just a few players to win a championship.

I thought using $40m of your cap on 4 guys was the winning recipe. Boy was I wrong.

 

[JTToilinginToronto]

The NHL is such a joke of a league if these two teams make the finals.

Agreed.

It should really be a good team like the New York Rangers or Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

[Classicnamesup]

This is the ideal outcome, let's hope.

 

[Zeeker]

I like seeing stars win championships. The NHL needs to cater their product to allow their stars to have success in the playoffs, not cater their product to allow players like Matt Martin to be relevant in the NHL.

I’m rooting for Montreal though. They have a fun team.

Matt Martin with his top shelf backhand snipe last night? It was Crosby-esque

 

[CanadienShark]

The NHL is such a joke of a league if these two teams make the finals.

Care to explain?

 

[Summer Rose]

At the rate these jinx threads are being posted, there will no final because it’ll get canceled due to COVID.

 

[Lolonegoal]

Is no superstars, four lines of hustle the new recipe?

Uh hello, Montreal have Corey Perry and Eric Stall

 

[miscs75]

Matt Martin with his top shelf backhand snipe last night? It was Crosby-esque

Someone’s gotta show Fat Pat that even big guys can score goals in between throwing out body checks.

 

[metalan2]

The Lightning were the most penalized team in the regular season, the Isles third least.

The narrative that the Isles succeed with clutch, grab and trapping is false. If the NHL was consistent as you suggest, the Isles in“likelihood” should be receiving more PowerPlays than Tampa in this series

The point is the Isles are a team that can get away with taking a massive amount of penalties because the league caters to grinding, clutch and grab type teams. The Isles are routinely outshot by 10-20 and are dominated in possession most of the time as well. This should correlate to the Isles being one of the most penalized teams, not the least.

 

[kevsh]

How should the NHL "Cater" to teams with star players while simultaneously keeping the product genuine and legitimate?

What about the current system is unfair to any team no longer playing? What exactly is the league doing to keep teams like the Canadiens and Islanders playing?

Not calling obstruction.

Now I'm not saying the NHL is specifically doing this to let the Isles and Habs win, it's been a problem for years.

When they really clamped down on it - a decade or more ago? Time flies - skaters had almost unimpeded routes to chase down a puck. It led to a quicker game and I believe was a big part of the Pens/Red Wings back-to-back final appearances: They were clearly the two most skilled teams in the league those seasons.

But like any rule implementation as the months and years wore on the refs stopped calling it. I think this entire season I saw it called five times. Honestly, I've actually called out times during this year's playoffs numerous times when a d-man blocking a forward would have been called in years past.

Now a forward chasing a dump-in is routinely on the losing end of bumper cars with a forward and two d-men to get to a puck. No wonder teams with big bodies on the blue line are beating out fast, skilled forwards - the forwards can't get around them to chase the puck and deking the Weber's and Hedman's of the league is a low-percentage option.

 

[authentic]

Not calling obstruction.

Now I'm not saying the NHL is specifically doing this to let the Isles and Habs win, it's been a problem for years.

When they really clamped down on it - a decade or more ago? Time flies - skaters had almost unimpeded routes to chase down a puck. It led to a quicker game and I believe was a big part of the Pens/Red Wings back-to-back final appearances: They were clearly the two most skilled teams in the league those seasons.

But like any rule implementation as the months and years wore on the refs stopped calling it. I think this entire season I saw it called five times. Honestly, I've actually called out times during this year's playoffs numerous times when a d-man blocking a forward would have been called in years past.

Now a forward chasing a dump-in is routinely on the losing end of bumper cars with a forward and two d-men to get to a puck. No wonder teams with big bodies on the blue line are beating out fast, skilled forwards - the forwards can't get around them to chase the puck and deking the Weber's and Hedman's of the league is a low-percentage option.

I may be remembering incorrectly but I'm pretty sure those Pens and Detroit games were full of obstruction, but then again probably not quite as bad as today. The playoffs have pretty much always been like this.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Not calling obstruction.

Now I'm not saying the NHL is specifically doing this to let the Isles and Habs win, it's been a problem for years.

When they really clamped down on it - a decade or more ago? Time flies - skaters had almost unimpeded routes to chase down a puck. It led to a quicker game and I believe was a big part of the Pens/Red Wings back-to-back final appearances: They were clearly the two most skilled teams in the league those seasons.

But like any rule implementation as the months and years wore on the refs stopped calling it. I think this entire season I saw it called five times. Honestly, I've actually called out times during this year's playoffs numerous times when a d-man blocking a forward would have been called in years past.

Now a forward chasing a dump-in is routinely on the losing end of bumper cars with a forward and two d-men to get to a puck. No wonder teams with big bodies on the blue line are beating out fast, skilled forwards - the forwards can't get around them to chase the puck and deking the Weber's and Hedman's of the league is a low-percentage option.

...dunno if you're aware, but no team in the NHL has run more interference/obstruction this Playoffs than Vegas, the ONLY team out of the four left you didn't mention here...

 

[Habz4Evr]

Uh hello, Montreal have Corey Perry and Eric Stall

......And they still have a shot at the Cup.

 

[robertocarlos]

Is no superstars, four lines of hustle the new recipe?

"You no go there. Illegal"!

 

[FerrisRox]

Is no superstars, four lines of hustle the new recipe?

Carey Price is quite obviously a superstar.

 

[FerrisRox]

People saying that the habs only win because of Carey is not the insult they think it is..

The truly funny part is the people that are saying that are often the same people that will tell you that Price is either grossly overrated or way over the hill.

 

[Axe Man]

Bring it on. One of those teams will end their cup drought. It will be great for the game.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Habs in 6!

 

[CupHolders]

The point is the Isles are a team that can get away with taking a massive amount of penalties because the league caters to grinding, clutch and grab type teams. The Isles are routinely outshot by 10-20 and are dominated in possession most of the time as well. This should correlate to the Isles being one of the most penalized teams, not the least.

I understand this point. My point is that it’s ignorant, misinformed and the ones making it have not taken the time to verify anything beyond relying on the false narrative… big gritty team, must mean they grab and punch a lot!

Even you have built a supposition in how the Isles play because of correlative data. Steve Valiquette, former goaltender, current analyst, involved with Clear-Sight Analytics has been known to say something to the effect of… “that the analytics/numbers are just one piece of understanding the game, and ultimately it should lead to verifying through observation (eye-test). Basically, analytics should tell you what and where to look, not make a final closed judgment.

You are essentially building an argument that the analytics suggest the Isles lack skill to succeed, therefore you deduce based on analytics that it must mean the Isles are committing heavy obstruction to compensate. But two points on this…

1) Have you, or anyone else who suggest this actually observed the Isles to see if in fact they are? Most seem to not, and just double down on existing analytical models to justify your viewpoint?

Maybe the Isles are an opportunity to question if those models can or need to be adjusted. They have adjusted over the years and will continue to do so because they are not perfected.

2) Do you really believe a team that relies heavily on obstruction, can actually hide obstruction based penalties well enough to the tune of third least penalized team? Think about that, the Isles have mastered some super-sleuthing way of hiding all of these holding, hooking and interference penalties that they were only the third most penalized team?

Here, read this instead of following the existing lazy narratives that abound on the Isles:

Six examples that explain how the Islanders find success - Sportsnet.ca

 

[Chardo]

If these Islanders played in Manhattan, they'd be the darlings of the league with tons of praise for their multiple stars.

 

[miscs75]

If these Islanders played in Manhattan, they'd be the darlings of the league with tons of praise for their multiple stars.

They tried the five boros thing and all they got was the worst arena in sports history with a massive blind spot and an idiot who tried everything in his power to ruin the experience for a hockey game.

 

[FourRings]

I like seeing stars win championships. The NHL needs to cater their product to allow their stars to have success in the playoffs, not cater their product to allow players like Matt Martin to be relevant in the NHL.

I’m rooting for Montreal though. They have a fun team.

You should ‘cater’ to no one. Best team wins.

 

[Bondurant]

They tried the five boros thing and all they got was the worst arena in sports history with a massive blind spot and an idiot who tried everything in his power to ruin the experience for a hockey game.

Barclay's is an odd arena to boot. Newer arena but it still feels like a dungeon inside. I was there once for Iron Maiden. Went to the Nets/Isles team store and there was one piece of Isles merch. It was quite clear Brooklyn was not interested but there was an Isles bar nearby.

 

[miscs75]

Barclay's is an odd arena to boot. Newer arena but it still feels like a dungeon inside. I was there once for Iron Maiden. Went to the Nets/Isles team store and there was one piece of Isles merch. It was quite clear Brooklyn was not interested but there was an Isles bar nearby.

The arena was designed with concerts in mind and was a mess from the start. Even with Islanders games, the merchandise was a fraction of what the Nets have. As for the neighborhood, it’s not the best of places to walk if you’re going more then avout 3 blocks away to park your car. Not the best of decisions from the development to the end of the arena design. They tried to see if they could move the scoreboard over to center it and Barclays said piss off.

 

[kohorevolution]

Is no superstars, four lines of hustle the new recipe?

Pretty much Vegas’ formula as well.