Yeah, by all means just keep on misquoting and exaggerating what I said.
Whatever it takes to divert from the truth of what Casanova said eh
Nothing new here folks.
It kills me to watch history rewritten so badly a little more than a year after it happened.
Kessel was a one-dimensional player, Malkin sucked, Murray was really good but sheltered, HBK had the easiest minutes, Letang faded.
Oh but Crosby, he was a defensive god, he was their best player every night bla bla bla.
Well he wasn't their best player every night in 2016, his defense game is highly over-rated and the fact remains that he disappeared in their toughest series of the playoffs.
That if not for HBK and Murray, the Caps roll over the Pens in 5 games or less and we're debating whether or not the Boston Conf Final is still the worst playoff series of Sid's career.
Yes, Kessel should have won the '16 Smythe.
Why? Simple, he lead the team in scoring, was their most consistent performer and most importantly, he picked up the slack when Crosby and Malkin were crapping the bed.
Yeah, by all means just keep on misquoting and exaggerating what I said.
Whatever it takes to divert from the truth of what Casanova said eh
Nothing new here folks.
It kills me to watch history rewritten so badly a little more than a year after it happened.
Kessel was a one-dimensional player, Malkin sucked, Murray was really good but sheltered, HBK had the easiest minutes, Letang faded.
Oh but Crosby, he was a defensive god, he was their best player every night bla bla bla.
Well he wasn't their best player every night in 2016, his defense game is highly over-rated and the fact remains that he disappeared in their toughest series of the playoffs.
That if not for HBK and Murray, the Caps roll over the Pens in 5 games or less and we're debating whether or not the Boston Conf Final is still the worst playoff series of Sid's career.
Yes, Kessel should have won the '16 Smythe.
Why? Simple, he lead the team in scoring, was their most consistent performer and most importantly, he picked up the slack when Crosby and Malkin were crapping the bed.
I find it funny that somebody who hates Crosby/Penguins so much claims to have vast knowledge of a playoff run that he most likely did not watch all of. You're not a Pens fan, so I ask, did you really watch every second of every game?
Here are facts from a person who watched every second of every game:
Kessel wasn't even the most well rounded player on this line. Hell, he was 3rd, behind Bonino and Hagelin. And why?
Bonino scored at a good rate, had more clutch moments, in big games, and actually plays good, and sometimes great defense. Hagelin, same thing. Plenty of scoring, incredible speed that opened that line up against 2nd and 3rd pairings and he was used extensively on the PK. There is more to hockey than just scoring. If you don't realize that or acknowledge it, there is nothing that will sway your mind in any directions.
And your points about Kessel focus on his point totals specifically, which just proves my point entirely.
He had a whopping 3 more then the next closest person. I already outlined in this thread how many times players with fewer points (by much bigger margins btw) won the Smythe over higher scoring players. So, you overrate a singular entity of the game.
The fact is Kessel is one of, if not the weakest defensive player on the Penguins. He doesn't do much along the boards, and is almost exclusively a perimeter player, especially defensively.
Last year Crosby had 21 takeaways. Kessel 10. Crosby had 32 hits. Kessel 9.
Anyone watching any of their hockey games can see the vast difference, ability, and usage as defensive players between the 2. Those types of numbers bear that out. Crosby was also great in the dot. Kessel doesn't take face offs.
Crosby's vastly overrated on defense? Ok, you're not going to come off that nonsense, but I ask you how did the Thornton-Pavelksi line do in the finals? They went head to head vs Crosby's line. Crosby is rated as he should be defensively. He's somebody who's starting to get Selke recognition because over the past 2-3 years specifically he's taken on a much larger role, 200 foot wise and is performing well. He's not Patrice Bergeron, and never will be. But
he is vastly more important defensively than somebody like Phil Kessel.
Crosby was poor in the Washington series. No doubt. But acting like a 2nd round series performance should qualify/disqualify somebody from contention is absurd. I'm sure there are many Conn Smythe winners who had a series where they were less than stellar.
And you claiming revisionist history regarding the other players bolded is more nonsense.
Matt Murray was good, not great. And he wasn't sheltered? Just another reason I KNOW you didn't watch all the games, because if you did, you'd know the Pens were out shot, i believe TWICE, all playoffs long. Now, if you want to fast forward to 2017? Yeah, Murray was fantastic, because of the lack of skill on D, and the fact that he was routinely facing 30+ shots a game. That wasn't the case in 2016.
Kris Letang did fade, which is not surprising. He was playing a hard 29 minutes a night. Ask any reputable Pens fan here, or others who actually watched the ECF and Finals. Folks like MXD have said as much and I know he's not a Pens fan.
And HBK did have the easier match ups. Again, teams weren't sending out Carlson, Hedman, and Vlasic against HBK. Go back and watch. See for yourself.
At the end of the day, it was a weaker Conn Smythe for Sid. Nobody, even Penguins diehards should claim otherwise. But saying is was some sort of highway robbery is nonsense. There was nobody on Pittsburgh who vastly stood out from the rest.
