OT: Around the NHL: non-Pens playoff talk

[TimmyD]

Because NHL fans are mega mad about Kucherov sitting out for the full year, and I like to see those people get mad about things they were whining about

You don’t think it’s reasonable or people to be upset at the Lighting for committing blatant cap circumvention and not getting punished for it?

 

[BHD]

I'd call a timeout if I were Cooper. Just to slow the Cats down.

 

[Gurglesons]

God damn I can not wait to watch Huberdeau and McDavid in the olympics.

 

[Empoleon8771]

This legitimately may be the best series in the entire playoffs and it's only round 1.

Shame these two teams have never played each other before this year.

 

[canadianguy77]

Looks like there’s a new powerhouse in the state of Florida.

 

[TimmyD]

Man would Huberdeau look great with Sid or Geno

 

[bathroomSTAAL]

You don’t think it’s reasonable or people to be upset at the Lighting for committing blatant cap circumvention and not getting punished for it?

It's not blatant cap circumvention because there's literally no rule against it

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Who the f*** is Owen Tippett and why is he slaying the Lightning?

 

[BHD]

Why would you ever root for the Lightning? They got the cup. They dead now.

They said it on The Athletic podcast the other day, Lightning fans are the only people who should be rooting against the Panthers.

 

[canadianguy77]

Who the f*** is Owen Tippett and why is he slaying the Lightning?

He’s not exactly coming from nowhere. Kid has a good pedigree

 

[Empoleon8771]

You don’t think it’s reasonable or people to be upset at the Lighting for committing blatant cap circumvention and not getting punished for it?

It's not blatant cap circumvention because there's literally no rule against it

^^what they said.

The whining about the Lightning keeping Tyler Johnson by keeping Kucherov on LTIR is ridiculous from hockey fans.

 

[bathroomSTAAL]

This legitimately may be the best series in the entire playoffs and it's only round 1.

Shame these two teams have never played each other before this year.

I dunno, there's a lot of juicy matchups down the road. COL/VGK, COL/Minnesota, Leafs/Oilers. Should be a good playoffs.

But yeah this game rules

 

[Andy99]

3 goals is totally acceptable for a playoff game. Allowing 4 to an anemic Islanders side is not. That's why we lost.

We shouldn't be aiming to win games 5-4 at this stage, and giving them as many grade A looks as we did.

I don't think offense is going to be our problem this year, if we get eliminated. If the Islanders can't shut us down then why will other teams be able to?

agree that 3 goals should be enough...but finishing has been an overall problem in our PO losses...1.91 goals per game average in the POs over the last three seasons

 

[BHD]

I agree with Bouch, the game management has been good so far.

 

[Gurglesons]

Lightning are letting Cats play their game. Not really a smart move here.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I dunno, there's a lot of juicy matchups down the road. COL/VGK, COL/Minnesota, Leafs/Oilers. Should be a good playoffs.

But yeah this game rules

Vegas-Colorado and Toronto-Edmonton are both going to be epis, and I think those are still safe bets to happen. Even with Vegas losing tonight, I don't see Talbot playing well enough to eliminate the Knights.

 

[Kristopher Letang]

Bring back the QC Nordiques. This is the type of rivalery the league needs.

10/10 hockey.

 

[bathroomSTAAL]

The other thing is like, they didn't fake Kucherov's injury. He had f***ing hip surgery! That's a big deal. So he took an extra month to heal? So what

 

[TimmyD]

It's not blatant cap circumvention because there's literally no rule against it

It’s not against the rules to keep a player who isn’t really hurt on LTIR to intentionally free up cap space to keep certain guys on the roster and to trade for one of the best defensemen available at the deadline?

 

[Empoleon8771]

I always found it odd when some fans would insist hockey in the south wouldn't work. No, hockey in the south with no rivals wouldn't work. But hockey in the south with rivalries? That can absolutely work.

The Tampa-Florida series is obvious, but imagine Vegas playing a good Anaheim or LA team. Or imagine how good a Dallas-Houston matchup would be if Houston got a team. The issue is that some southern teams have had shit owners/management, not that hockey wouldn't work in the south.

 

[Beau Knows]

It's not blatant cap circumvention because there's literally no rule against it

It's cap avoidance not cap evasion

 

[bathroomSTAAL]

It’s not against the rules to put a player who isn’t really hurt on LTIR to intentionally free up cap space to keep certain guys on the roster and to trade for one of the best defensemen available at the deadline?

Did he not have hip surgery? I honestly don't know. I thought he did

 

[AuroraBorealis]

agree that 3 goals should be enough...but finishing has been an overall problem in our PO losses...1.91 goals per game average in the POs over the last three seasons

Sure but we live in the now. And the now says the Isles are giving up way too many chances to hold us off, game after game.

The playoffs were supposed to be their defensive calling card right? Trotz's domain, right? They can't seem to do it.

If the Isles win this series it'll be because of shit like today, not because they can lock us down. Our finishing isn't gonna matter much if there's frequent giveaways like what Matheson did in OT.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Bring back the QC Nordiques. This is the type of rivalery the league needs.

10/10 hockey.

If the NHL moved the Sabres to Quebec and the Coyotes to Houston, I feel like the divisions would fall into place really nicely with some awesome divisions. You could even have an entirely Canadian division with doing that.

 

[TimmyD]

Did he not have hip surgery? I honestly don't know. I thought he did

He did have surgery, so I edited my post to say keep instead of put. Also his surgery was similar to Brayden Points and Point didn’t miss the entire regular season last year. Kucherov was easily healthy way before now and they kept him on IR to circumvent the cap.