Easy Stanley Cup win for Tampa?

Sugi21

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Dec 7, 2016
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Sergachev is dynamite.

What a steal for Johnathon "LeFlamme" Drouin.
it’s a real steal now since Drouin forgot how to play hockey once he left Tampa! If JD could be a consistent 60+ point player would have been a good hockey trade
 

DFC

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Sep 26, 2013
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I'm not sure what would have been a tougher path really. We beat the best regular season team and we exorcised two demons (CBJ and Trotz), both of whom were teams that beat tough teams.
 

PaulD

Time for a new GM !
Feb 4, 2016
28,751
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it’s a real steal now since Drouin forgot how to play hockey once he left Tampa! If JD could be a consistent 60+ point player would have been a good hockey trade
Some of us knew it was a steal the day thectraxe was made.

That week Marc Bergevin dumped Markov, Sergachev, Radulov .......replaced them with Drouin and Alzner.
And got trashed for it from day one.
 

TomasHertlsRooster

Don’t say eye test when you mean points
May 14, 2012
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Tampa played the President's Trophy winner in the first round. Their road may be relatively easy due to the strength of their other 3 opponents, but I wouldn't call it "easy" as a whole.

If you want to talk about easy paths, talk about Vegas. They had far and away the easiest path to the Stanley Cup Finals that I had ever seen. If we rank every team by standings, Vegas played the 23rd ranked team in the first round, 17th in the second round, and 10th in the third round. And they lost in 5 in the Conference Finals.
 
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notDatsyuk

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Jul 20, 2018
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No way Tampa plays like this for the whole series.

It is just the first game.
Tampa just played effectively three games in three nights, then had one day off before playing a team that had four days rest.

Dallas is better offensively than the Isles, but not as good defensively.

Looks like Tampa is kicking it into gear now.
 
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meatwad4343

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Apr 19, 2018
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Tampa just played effectively three games in three nights, then had one day off before playing a team that had four days rest.

Dallas is better offensively than the Isles, but not as good defensively.

Looks like Tampa is kicking it into gear now.
that rest advantage for Game 1 is the only reason Tampa isn't going for a sweep in game 4. This is over in 5, stars are over matched.
 

bobholly39

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Mar 10, 2013
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that rest advantage for Game 1 is the only reason Tampa isn't going for a sweep in game 4. This is over in 5, stars are over matched.

Stars are overmatched and I think Tampa will win but Stars is the last team you want to count out. It's absolutely insane how many times in the past 12 months they appeared dead in the water only to bounce back and lead division, or eliminate Calgary, Colorado, Vegas...I wouldn't discount them just yet.
 

TT1

Registered User
May 31, 2013
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hehe

this is what a team with 4 elite players at different positions looks like, and they're coming into their prime

Kucherov (W)
Point (C)
Hedman (D)
Vasilevski (G)

Must be nice to pay elite players cheap, Hedman @ 7.875M a season is a joke. Imagine if Stamkos was playing?
 
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Five Alarm Fire

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this is what a team with 4 elite players at different positions looks like, and they're coming into their prime

Kucherov (W)
Point (C)
Hedman (D)
Vasilevski (G)

Must be nice to pay elite players cheap, Hedman @ 7.875M a season is a joke. Imagine if Stamkos was playing?

Hedman can have all of Stamkos' money. He deserves it.
 

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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They faced the best team in the regular season and won the series in five.

Other than that, they've played solid enough teams. Who exactly is the third best team in the Atlantic? It could be TOR or FLA, but those teams never win shit in the playoffs (hurts to say that as a Leafs fan). I have no faith that TOR could have beaten TB in a playoff series this year.

Teams like the Capitals and Penguins have struggled in the playoffs the last couple of years. The Flyers are on the rise but were not good in the playoffs and wouldn't have been any harder than the Isles to beat in round three. It could be a match-up thing, but CAR has lost to BOS in five games or fewer in the playoffs two years in a row whereas Tampa has beaten BOS in five in the playoffs in two of the last three years.

If the Caps had actually given a f*** and tried, they might have presented the Lightning with a bigger challenge than any of the ones they faced (based on the 2018 series and recent regular season contests between the teams).

As for DAL: I already made a thread about how their run felt "strange" to me. The team is good but has never felt like a true contender for the Cup to me. But teams have faced worse teams in the SCF.
 

Hoek

Legendary Poster A
May 12, 2003
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Yeah the Caps still scare a bit as they're a tough matchup. However their coaching took a serious hit when Trotz left so I think we could've prevailed anyway.
 

notDatsyuk

Registered User
Jul 20, 2018
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They faced the best team in the regular season and won the series in five.

Other than that, they've played solid enough teams. Who exactly is the third best team in the Atlantic? It could be TOR or FLA, but those teams never win shit in the playoffs (hurts to say that as a Leafs fan). I have no faith that TOR could have beaten TB in a playoff series this year.

Teams like the Capitals and Penguins have struggled in the playoffs the last couple of years. The Flyers are on the rise but were not good in the playoffs and wouldn't have been any harder than the Isles to beat in round three. It could be a match-up thing, but CAR has lost to BOS in five games or fewer in the playoffs two years in a row whereas Tampa has beaten BOS in five in the playoffs in two of the last three years.

If the Caps had actually given a f*** and tried, they might have presented the Lightning with a bigger challenge than any of the ones they faced (based on the 2018 series and recent regular season contests between the teams).

As for DAL: I already made a thread about how their run felt "strange" to me. The team is good but has never felt like a true contender for the Cup to me. But teams have faced worse teams in the SCF.
Agreed. Unless something drastic happens tonight, the East final was likely their hardest series.
 

Hatter of the Beach

I’m the real hero
Jun 26, 2017
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Vasi gets injured and it's bye bye Cup. It's going to be a tough series. I think Vegas is "safer" off, as they have the depth (especially in the net). Isles are a bit shaky/uneven to win it. Same with Dallas.

It's probably Vegas vs. Tampa in the final. If Vasi is healthy, it will be a 7 game deal. Otherwise Vegas.
Edit: Didn't see the date of the posts.

Odd take considering Tampa is winning against the team that beat Vegas with ease.

On paper Tampa has significantly better high end forwards than Vegas, slightly better depth up front, a better defense top to bottom, and a great goaltender. I really don't see much of a reason to think Vegas would do any better than Dallas, especially because there record was inflated by playing in the worst (by far) division in hockey this year, getting essentially a free round in Chicago, and the West being weak in general this year.

Boston was better than any team Vegas faced in the playoffs and Tampa breezed past them in 5, without a star forward who would instantly be Vegas's best player should he switch teams. He's 4th, arguably 5th on Tampa.

There is no sane argument that Vegas would beat Tampa outside of the usual 10-20% chance of a hot goalie that can happen in any NHL series.
 
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Alan Wake

It's not a loop, it's a spiral.
Dec 14, 2017
4,148
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hehe

this is what a team with 4 elite players at different positions looks like, and they're coming into their prime

Kucherov (W)
Point (C)
Hedman (D)
Vasilevski (G)

Must be nice to pay elite players cheap, Hedman @ 7.875M a season is a joke. Imagine if Stamkos was playing?
People will be giggling, because we will have to structure our cap space even further, due to Vasi's extension kicking in, and Sergachev needing a big time pay grade. Hope we trade TJ and Killorn and Sergachev takes the bridge deal every star player has taken.

If he doesn't, then I guess he gets Drouin'd.
 

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How many of you hope for Dallas to win the next game not because you would support Dallas but because you don't want hockey to end yet?
 

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