How far back in the past? Weren't the Isles about to straight up not make the playoffs before this scenario?All the geniuses who in the past said the Isles had no window are now saying the window is closing.
How far back in the past? How about 7/1/18? People mocking Dinosaur "The-Game-Has-Passed-Him-By" Lou for signing Martin, Leo, Lehner and Filppula and feeling bad that the Isles were going to have the worst record in the league. Then the Isles did better than the naysayers expected in the regular season and it was unsustainable goaltending, PDO, etc and they were never making the playoffs. Then they made the playoffs and it was "they'll get swept by Pittsburgh" who they proceeded to sweep. Then it was "last year was lucky, they'll fall back to earth this year". Now this year they were lucky and saved by COVID. And yeah they were one of the last 4 teams while 27 other teams were watching, but we shouldn't be happy because Lou sold the future and we have maybe 1 more year to try to win it all and then the window is slammed shut.How far back in the past? Weren't the Isles about to straight up not make the playoffs before this scenario?
What happened in the second round after Pittsburgh? Then this season; then really look at these bizarro-playoffs.How far back in the past? How about 7/1/18? People mocking Dinosaur "The-Game-Has-Passed-Him-By" Lou for signing Martin, Leo, Lehner and Filppula and feeling bad that the Isles were going to have the worst record in the league. Then the Isles did better than the naysayers expected in the regular season and it was unsustainable goaltending, PDO, etc and they were never making the playoffs. Then they made the playoffs and it was "they'll get swept by Pittsburgh" who they proceeded to sweep. Then it was "last year was lucky, they'll fall back to earth this year". Now this year they were lucky and saved by COVID. And yeah they were one of the last 4 teams while 27 other teams were watching, but we shouldn't be happy because Lou sold the future and we have maybe 1 more year to try to win it all and then the window is slammed shut.
To which I replied, "[a]ll the geniuses who in the past said the Isles had no window are now saying the window is closing". Does that make sense? I'm looking forward to next year's predictions.
The dunce cap implication was "why should I care about the predictions of people who have been wrong for 2 years with their previous predictions?". Not just wrong. Wildly wrong. Epic wrongness. You can nitpick about specific series results and what opposing player was suffering from a hangnail, but the big picture is that this was a franchise that was doomed because they hired the dinosaur Lou Lamiorello. He was mocked in the summer of 2018 for signing Martin and Komarov and others. The Isles were going to be picking top 3 in the draft. Those people have all been proven wrong. And I'm overly confident in pointing out that they were wrong? Yeah, dunces, sorry.What happened in the second round after Pittsburgh? Then this season; then really look at these bizarro-playoffs.
Honestly, i thought the Pens sucked last playoffs, this year wasn't a surprise for the Pens performance. Then they got beat handily by an actual good team *playing up to its potential.
This year, they beat the panthers...okay. They beat the Caps who were atrocious, and honestly last year as well (they were wildly inconsistent at best. Roughly half of that series they were as bad as they were all this series. They've been overrated on paper). The Flyers were a way better team than the caps this season and playoffs, but were way under performing already against the Habs which everybody pointed out. The Flyers playing "pretty well" the second half almost came back. Then, again, they play and actually good team actually playing at least 70% of their 'on paper' potential and were beaten pretty badly statistically.
Honestly, all of that is not to say I agree with people who say the team is built poorly. They certainly have 2/3 of the game down. But yea, in a normal year their window probably isnt open until they ad at least one more legit scorer, but ideally a solid top 6 and a depth guy forward or two.
My main point is just the whole dunce cap implication is a little overly confident.
Specific results? Nitpicking? I described *at least* like 80% of the time that has passed since that good/high PDO regular season ended heading into those playoffs, including context (which i edited too late judging by your quote. )The dunce cap implication was "why should I care about the predictions of people who have been wrong for 2 years with their previous predictions?". Not just wrong. Wildly wrong. Epic wrongness. You can nitpick about specific series results and what opposing player was suffering from a hangnail, but the big picture is that this was a franchise that was doomed because they hired the dinosaur Lou Lamiorello. He was mocked in the summer of 2018 for signing Martin and Komarov and others. The Isles were going to be picking top 3 in the draft. Those people have all been proven wrong. And I'm overly confident in pointing out that they were wrong? Yeah, dunces, sorry.
I think maybe we're talking about different things. They didn't win the Stanley Cup, so the build is incomplete (and objectively the roster isn't quite there yet). My original post was merely pointing out the irony of people, in a thread evaluating Lou Lam's job, talking about the window closing when virtually everyone 2 years ago was saying this was a lottery team for the foreseeable future and there was no window. Those people were objectively wrong. Do you disagree?Specific results? Nitpicking? I described *at least* like 80% of the time that has passed since that good/high PDO regular season ended heading into those playoffs, including context (which i edited too late judging by your quote. )
"wildly wrong" is a huge stretch was kind of my point. Again, i disagree that the teams build strategy is bad, but rather think that the teams build is incomplete. Who knows what happens this post season with them potentially adding those assets; but until that next regular season starts, and until they finish it better than this past regular season (proportionally to any roster additions as well) or repeat this past season, nobody's claims are "clearly" anything.
The vast majority of GM's in the NHL are going to have a lot of work. The cap is stagnant. Being a good team as the Isles are to be one of the last 4 teams standing this year in the playoffs means you probably have good players to sign. That's a good thing, having no good players to sign would mean you are not a very good team.I am gonna love to see how Lou is going to sign Barzal and all the remaining RFA's and UFA's with only 8 mil of cap space left...this is gonna be fun to watch..go Lou...put the GM of the year award to work