Around The NHL - The Craig Morgan Vacation Watch

[Matias Maccete]

I actually like quite a few Winnipeg players, and we have some Winnipeg residents who post insightful things here. Having said that...... f*** the Jets and most of all f*** Blake Wheeler!

 

[Tom Polakis]

Winnipeg is a ****hole! I'm glad that joke of a city gets to wittiness a sunbelt team win the conference title in their building.

"ClassLess" opinion, which I wholeheartedly agree with."

Some people say it's boring, but I love how the Knights play the team game to perfection.

 

[ClassLessCoyote]

Both the Jets fans and the Penguins fans are mad. I can see Jets fans being mad, but why Pittsburgh fans?

 

[Matias Maccete]

"ClassLess" opinion, which I wholeheartedly agree with."

Some people say it's boring, but I love how the Knights play the team game to perfection.

Who thinks the Knights are boring? They play fast aggressive hockey. It's very entertaining IMO.

 

[ClassLessCoyote]

Oh and Canada is now cupless for 25 years straight.

 

[RABBIT]

Sorry to our Jets fans that still hang out here. We still have love for y'all.

 

[XX]

f*** the Jets and Canada. Happy they got eliminated. Great team and some likable players but it's always fun to see people not rewarded for being obnoxious.

Who thinks the Knights are boring? They play fast aggressive hockey. It's very entertaining IMO.

They are playing 100% on momentum and the us-against-the-world mentality, like those early Tippett teams. Most of the players were given up by teams and they are taking it out on the league. It's fun to watch.

Winning a cup your first year in the league is being spoiled, though. And Tampa has done such a good job of building. If Ovechkin can't get his cup, I want Stevy Y to get his.

 

[IPreferPi]

They are playing 100% on momentum and the us-against-the-world mentality, like those early Tippett teams. Most of the players were given up by teams and they are taking it out on the league. It's fun to watch.

Winning a cup your first year in the league is being spoiled, though. And Tampa has done such a good job of building. If Ovechkin can't get his cup, I want Stevy Y to get his.

If Vegas wins four games in an SCF final over Washington or Tampa Bay, they aren't spoiled. They won the cup against all odds against talented, veteran playoff teams, i.e., they were deserving.

 

[XX]

If Vegas wins four games in an SCF final over Washington or Tampa Bay, they aren't spoiled. They won the cup against all odds against talented, veteran playoff teams, i.e., they were deserving.

I meant the fans, not the players. The players deserve all the credit in the world for their performances so far.

 

[MIGs Dog]

Consistent with my theory that generally you get what you pay for, Vegas cap hit exceeds the Coyotes by about $14 mil.

They have some very expensive UFAs to fill in the off season. Six players at roughly $23 mil.

 

[zz]

That Knights victory was cathartic. Wheeler lifting the cup would have been too much for me to take.

 

[azcanuck]

**** the Jets and Canada. Happy they got eliminated. Great team and some likable players but it's always fun to see people not rewarded for being obnoxious.



They are playing 100% on momentum and the us-against-the-world mentality, like those early Tippett teams. Most of the players were given up by teams and they are taking it out on the league. It's fun to watch.

Winning a cup your first year in the league is being spoiled, though. And Tampa has done such a good job of building. If Ovechkin can't get his cup, I want Stevy Y to get his.

do you mean momentum from the first puck drop in October?

Stevie Y has won Stanley cups and Olympic golds. He needs nothing.

I'm a Canadian very proud. Grow up 8 hours from Winnipeg. Was there many times to watch Gretz and company thrash the old Jets.
That being said I'm pulling all the way for Vegas. What a way to build a team and have something historic happen.
don't get the "boring" comments either about Vegas. They play an in your face style, all balls out every shift.
AND they have talent. Their top line can play in all circumstances.
Watching the final four now I realize just how far the Yotes are from the Cup. They play like a bunch of sissy's.

 

[azcanuck]

Consistent with my theory that generally you get what you pay for, Vegas cap hit exceeds the Coyotes by about $14 mil.

They have some very expensive UFAs to fill in the off season. Six players at roughly $23 mil.

well Vegas had to purchase players to fill a roster. They were some 20 million under the cap. Their projected cap hit is less then the Yotes.
There is no way one can say the Knights bought a successful team ala New York Yankee style.
Credit goes to McPhee in constructing a roster and Gallant in being an amazing coach.
If you look at the Knights they are built to win in the playoffs. They even added guys like Reaves knowing the sledding gets tougher in the playoffs. Not fighting. Just grinding down the opponent.
I like our Coyote GM . But his numbers way of doing things don't account much for heart.

 

[ParisSaintGermain]

VGK's gameplan is a timeline that progresses from intense forechecking to total Fleury as the game evolves.

Few games played so far, their series always finish before their future opponents'.

They should be dangerous right till the end and it should be an excellent Stanley Cup finals whoever they play against.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

I got into an argument with a guy from (of all places) Tennessee on social media who said that Vegas' success is the deathblow of the NHL's credibility. Down Goes Brown's Sean McIndoe wrote a column about how there is going to be significant backlash against Vegas for succeeding so wildly so quickly.

I can't wrap my head around this idea. I mean, yes, the expansion draft was a lot more generous than previous ones have been. But you still have to put the team together. You still have to get them to play together. You still need the right coaching to withstand the challenges of the season. You play 82 games to get to the playoffs - you aren't gifted a thing at the NHL level. And history is littered with the broken husks of so-called "all-star rosters" of teams that were built ostensibly to succeed that fell apart over those 82 games.

At one point, Vegas was icing their fourth-string goalie and still winning games. So I have to think they did a lot more right than just win big in the expansion draft. I just don't get the myopia from the traditional set... except when it comes from fans of franchises that are masters of stepping on their own junk.

 

[XX]

I got into an argument with a guy from (of all places) Tennessee on social media who said that Vegas' success is the deathblow of the NHL's credibility.

It's the opposite. It proves the NHL is full of life; that you can conjure a contender from the spare parts of other teams. It shows definitively that the league can expand without diluting the product and that there's untapped revenue out there and new fanbases to be minted. There is no argument for contraction anymore. Compare this against the NBA, a league where maybe six teams are relevant each year.

I would be full throttle right now trying to add Seattle, QC, Houston to the fold. The larger the league grows, the more stable it is, the more talent gets hoovered up from the euro leagues. A league with more teams makes the Coyotes more valuable and injects a significant amount of cash. Baseball and football both require bespoke facilities, and the NBA doesn't have the talent pool to expand right now. The door is wide open for the NHL.

 

[Neighborhood Coyote]

I also don't get how anyone can say the NHL gifted Vegas anything. They did have some nice expansion rules to work with... but even after their expansion draft, it's not like people were picking them to even make the playoffs.

However, That's probably because the players probably don't get enough credit, imo. As someone said above... they have a legit first line and it should have been easy enough to see before the season started. Got Neal (who had scored 30-40 goals before in this league.. easily 20+), Marchessault (Just came off of a 30 goal season), Karlsson (who it seemed everybody knew was going to be solid), and the list goes on for defense and of course MAF in goal. I'd love for the Yotes to have at least ONE 30 goal scorer on the team.

The Vegas front office did a fantastic job picking up the necessary pieces to not only build for the future, but be able to win every night. If people want to be mad, they should be mad at the teams who let some quality players go to Vegas ... or coaches (lookin at you Florida... how did you lose both Marchessault and Gallant?!). Would I have picked them to be in the Stanley Cup Finals? Nope. But it shouldn't have been such a huge surprise that they'd be good with the team they were able to put together.

 

[azcanuck]

It's the opposite. It proves the NHL is full of life; that you can conjure a contender from the spare parts of other teams. It shows definitively that the league can expand without diluting the product and that there's untapped revenue out there and new fanbases to be minted. There is no argument for contraction anymore. Compare this against the NBA, a league where maybe six teams are relevant each year.

I would be full throttle right now trying to add Seattle, QC, Houston to the fold. The larger the league grows, the more stable it is, the more talent gets hoovered up from the euro leagues. A league with more teams makes the Coyotes more valuable and injects a significant amount of cash. Baseball and football both require bespoke facilities, and the NBA doesn't have the talent pool to expand right now. The door is wide open for the NHL.

Oh my. LVK are a unique situation of great management and coaching. This has been underestimated. They have put together a team that is tougher to play then any in the league.Big and in your face.
I don't want the talent pool of the league further diluted. It's a dangerous situation to expand too much. I totally disagree.

 

[azcanuck]

Slap shot? No. Backhand shot? No. Great vision? No. Great passer? No. Solid defender? Hell no. He does have a nice smile. I'll give you that.

He has a heavy wrist shot which I would put near the top of the league.
He is a very fast strong skater.
He has parts of his game at the very elite level. he's not well rounded but he doesn't need to be.
he has a lot of Jeff Carter in him.

 

[XX]

Oh my. LVK are a unique situation of great management and coaching. This has been underestimated. They have put together a team that is tougher to play then any in the league.Big and in your face.
I don't want the talent pool of the league further diluted. It's a dangerous situation to expand too much. I totally disagree.

The talent pool wasn't depleted at all. That's the point. Hockey is rare in that you can now have teenagers these days go straight into the lineup and it arguably improves the product. There are plenty of tweeners out there that are exciting players like Marchessault that would be in the league with more teams.

And maybe if you dilute the talent pool enough a Canadian team might win the cup!

 

[azcanuck]

I also don't get how anyone can say the NHL gifted Vegas anything. They did have some nice expansion rules to work with... but even after their expansion draft, it's not like people were picking them to even make the playoffs.

However, That's probably because the players probably don't get enough credit, imo. As someone said above... they have a legit first line and it should have been easy enough to see before the season started. Got Neal (who had scored 30-40 goals before in this league.. easily 20+), Marchessault (Just came off of a 30 goal season), Karlsson (who it seemed everybody knew was going to be solid), and the list goes on for defense and of course MAF in goal. I'd love for the Yotes to have at least ONE 30 goal scorer on the team.

The Vegas front office did a fantastic job picking up the necessary pieces to not only build for the future, but be able to win every night. If people want to be mad, they should be mad at the teams who let some quality players go to Vegas ... or coaches (lookin at you Florida... how did you lose both Marchessault and Gallant?!). Would I have picked them to be in the Stanley Cup Finals? Nope. But it shouldn't have been such a huge surprise that they'd be good with the team they were able to put together.

Teams can learn something here and I hope the Yotes do.
You can just build a team based on the numbers a player can project.
A team has many moving parts and hockey is a sport where physical play and heart matter.
The Coyotes are far removed from what kind of team Vegas built.
I like your post .you make a lot of good points I agree with.

 

[azcanuck]

The talent pool wasn't depleted at all. That's the point. Hockey is rare in that you can now have teenagers these days go straight into the lineup and it arguably improves the product. There are plenty of tweeners out there that are exciting players like Marchessault that would be in the league with more teams.

And maybe if you dilute the talent pool enough a Canadian team might win the cup!

Canadians are still the best players in the world and make up most of the lineups of all NHL teams.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Canadians are still the best players in the world and make up most of the lineups of all NHL teams.

Canadians are the best players in the world at playing Canadian-style hockey.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Canadians are still the best players in the world and make up most of the lineups of all NHL teams.

This message is brought to you by Her Majesty's Royal Proud to be Canadian Campaign.

 

[zz]

Ovechkin has evolved into quite a leader. Great performance tonight. Knights / Caps would make a fantastic final.