Playoff All-Star Teams

[jigglysquishy]

Vasilevsky is putting together quite the NHL resume. 2 1st AS, 2 3rd AS. Conn Smythe and Vezina.

In my mind, best goalie post Lundqvist and arguably best post Brodeur goalie.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Not sure what the stats say...but Hedman wasn't that dominant to me, he was good, not great. He out-performed most of the relevant d-men here, thus the second-team nod. But McDonagh really stepped up. For a guy that basically quit playing offense in his 30's, he stepped up in a big way offensively (he was positively robbed of an all-time great goal vs the Isles too, which is too bad). I liked his transition game and his regroup game better than Hedman's at times actually. Obviously, he was much better defensively than Hedman - by, in my opinion, a huge margin...

But even with the puck, McDonagh's simple game was really useful in transition for a transition offense team. Not that Hedman didn't make a thousand good plays himself, but I thought Hedman sort of took the game for granted at times, holding on to the puck and trying to make a complex play in a simple situation...I felt he turned it over more often, especially near each blueline...I don't know, there's probably an element of expectation in this and, frankly, that's a little bit what the playoffs are all about...who is beating expectation and who is shrinking. So there's an element here that I'll admit...

I just thought all the details of McDonagh's game were more consistently better than Hedman's, his defensive game, his whole NZ game (by a lot), even puck retrievals - which should be a huge advantage for Hedman - really may well have been better handled by McDonagh overall...I was surprised...but I thought he was brilliant.

Now, Hedman looked hurt and that's fair enough...but I'm all about McD this playoff.

totally agree, mcd was the best player in the finals

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Love what McDonagh brought, but Pietrangelo was Vegas' best player by a freaking mile. Depends on how you weigh a disappointing CF team versus a Cup winning team to balance it out, but I don't think I'd have a problem with Pietrangelo there.

Take Toffoli of the contenders list. 0 points, -8 or something in the Final? No way, no matter how good he was leading up to it. Suzuki was the Habs best forward, and I feel like they deserve representation by virtue of being a finalist.

toffoli had two great point blank chances to tie it in the last minute and double clutched both times instead of just letting it fly

he must have been injured

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

First-Team:

F: Point, Kucherov, Killorn
D: McDonagh, Pietrangelo
G: Vasilevskiy

Second-Team:
F: Suzuki, MacKinnon, Caufield
D: Theodore, Hedman
G: Price

HM: Pastrnak, Coleman, McAvoy, Fleury

not killorn's fault he got hurt in the finals, but i think missing almost the whole finals swaps him with suzuki.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I also considered that and would accept it without protest. It was a tough juxtaposition of Suzuki being alone on his team in terms of organic, dynamic offense creation excepting a 5'6" rookie against Killorn, who has to be a man on every shift, fight through all the testosterone lost from playing with Stamkos every shift...

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Killorn, who has to be a man on every shift, fight through all the testosterone lost from playing with Stamkos every shift...

i LOLed

i was happy for him. longtime dirty work guy that they would have paid to go away if only they could have coming up with a big big playoffs... must have felt good. was also sad for him that he got hurt

 

[ContrarianGoaltender]

What am I missing with Alex Killorn? He had only 3 even strength points in the final 3 rounds combined, and 2 of them came in the 8-0 game. He also had a secondary assist on a shorthanded goal that was scored while he was already on the bench.

Over those three final rounds, Killorn ranked just 13th on Tampa in even strength scoring while putting up a -3, joining Stamkos (-2) as the only Tampa players ending up in the red over that stretch.

It seems to me you'd have to give Killorn an awful lot of credit for his first round scoring against Florida's goaltending carousel and his participation on Tampa's killer power play to even have him in the discussion here. Do we actually think that Killorn's production as the 5th best player on Tampa's 1st PP unit was more valuable than, say, Phil Danault averaging 2:46 SH TOI on a 92% PK? Danault also scored 3 even strength points in the final 3 rounds, and he was better defensively against way tougher competition. That doesn't mean that I necessarily think that Danault was one of the top 6 forwards in the playoffs, but it seems very doubtful to me that we can't find at least six guys who contributed more than Killorn in the 2021 postseason.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Sure, go for it...I'm just going by feel...I'm not looking up PK time...

The only point of contention I really even care to make is that now all spots on the power play are created equally. But that's not a conversation for this thread...it's entirely plausible that you can name six better forwards in these playoffs, I couldn't, and here we are...

 

[MXD]

Vasilevski was definitely (more) beateable (than he was beaten) vs. Montreal. The CS really, really flatters him. Not a strong CS, though it'S not like he was a bad pick amongst realistic choices.

FWIW, I would've loved to see McDonagh get the Conn Smythe.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Vasilevski was definitely (more) beateable (than he was beaten) vs. Montreal. The CS really, really flatters him. Not a strong CS, though it'S not like he was a bad pick amongst realistic choices.

FWIW, I would've loved to see McDonagh get the Conn Smythe.

vasi reminded me a lot of 2011 tim thomas, tbh

i kinda feel like kucherov should have won the conn smythe. the finals was such a cakewalk that they should have given it to the best player of the first three rounds, à la sakic in 1996, even if he didn't blow anyone away in the finals.

on second thought, price might have been the best player of the first three rounds, but realistically you can't win a conn smythe if you lose in five

 

[MXD]

vasi reminded me a lot of 2011 tim thomas, tbh

i kinda feel like kucherov should have won the conn smythe. the finals was such a cakewalk that they should have given it to the best player of the first three rounds, à la sakic in 1996, even if he didn't blow anyone away in the finals.

on second thought, price might have been the best player of the first three rounds, but realistically you can't win a conn smythe if you lose in five

More like, can't win the CS after his showing in the first two games.

 

[Michael Farkas]

vasi reminded me a lot of 2011 tim thomas, tbh

Ok, I haven't posted here in probably six months...if I'm not welcomed back, that's fine, but just say it to my face...don't pull this ^ kind of stuff, pal...

The difference is, of course, that Vasy gave up about 2 (?) bad goals in the entire playoffs and Thomas gave up 208,000...

Thomas had no stand out skater performance (they were too busy diving along the goal line to block empty net rebound chances probably), whereas Vasy faced two on his own team...

Vasy, like Quick, locks doors. Thomas opens them.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Ok, I haven't posted here in probably six months...if I'm not welcomed back, that's fine, but just say it to my face...don't pull this ^ kind of stuff, pal...

The difference is, of course, that Vasy gave up about 2 (?) bad goals in the entire playoffs and Thomas gave up 208,000...

Thomas had no stand out skater performance (they were too busy diving along the goal line to block empty net rebound chances probably), whereas Vasy faced two on his own team...

Vasy, like Quick, locks doors. Thomas opens them.

lol i just meant in the finals, where he stood there letting shots hit him in the chest behind a team that absolutely dominated the other team in the patch of ice in front of the net

nice to see you again mf

 

[ted2019]

First-Team:

F: Point, Kucherov, Suzuki
D: McDonagh, Pietrangelo
G: Vasilevskiy

Second-Team:
F: Killorn, MacKinnon, Caufield
D: Theodore, Hedman
G: Price

Who would've thought that Steven Stamkos would be considered below Cole Caufield at the start of the playoffs?

 

[ted2019]

Ok, I haven't posted here in probably six months...if I'm not welcomed back, that's fine, but just say it to my face...don't pull this ^ kind of stuff, pal...

The difference is, of course, that Vasy gave up about 2 (?) bad goals in the entire playoffs and Thomas gave up 208,000...

Thomas had no stand out skater performance (they were too busy diving along the goal line to block empty net rebound chances probably), whereas Vasy faced two on his own team...

Vasy, like Quick, locks doors. Thomas opens them.

Use Twitter every once in a while. I like reading about your reports.

 

[The Macho King]

First-Team:

F: Point, Kucherov, Suzuki
D: McDonagh, Pietrangelo
G: Vasilevskiy

Second-Team:
F: Killorn, MacKinnon, Caufield
D: Theodore, Hedman
G: Price

Who would've thought that Steven Stamkos would be considered below Cole Caufield at the start of the playoffs?

*Raises Hand*

Stamkos sucks in the playoffs. It's not just a narrative - he really isn't good.

 

[Michael Farkas]

He's - by a mile now - the worst playoff player of this generation...you can't find him on the rink most of the time, it's horrific.

 

[ted2019]

He's - by a mile now - the worst playoff player of this generation...you can't find him on the rink most of the time, it's horrific.

He still wasn't horrible. He had 18 points in 23 games.

 

[Michael Farkas]

No, yeah, he finally didn't complete embarrass himself...but that's a flattering point total by double. He's a passenger, and he doesn't even get shotgun...

 

[The Macho King]

He still wasn't horrible. He had 18 points in 23 games.

He's a PP threat (and the PP was not converting in the Finals). Even then, his shot isn't the same as it used to be.

And the Cirelli line was fine defensively (although for heavy defensive usage Stamkos was pulled off the line). I don't know - he was like... sixth or seventh in average ice time for forwards despite the top PP regularly playing 90+ seconds? He is what he is. 18 points in 23 games when the guy you spend most of your point-scoring time with had 32 in 23 isn't particularly impressive.

Is what it is. I've long stopped being disappointed by it. We have Kucherov, Point, Hedman, Gourde, and Killorn which significantly elevate their game in the playoffs so it doesn't drag the team down right now.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

The forwards this year seem easy: MacKinnon, McDavid, Kucherov
HM: Zibanejad, Draisaitl, Rantanen, Landeskog, Palat

Defense: Makar for sure, probably Hedman as the second
HM: Fox, Toews

Goalie: Between Shesterkin and Vasilevskiy, leaning towards the latter

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i can't find the old playoff all-star team thread, but if someone knows where it is, could you please bump it and then could a mod please merge them?

who would it be this year?

palat - either mcdavid or draisaitl - kucherov
makar - hedman
shesterkin

what do ppl think? tbh i was on a super busy work trip so i missed almost the entire finals

 

[JackSlater]

Palat McDavid Kucherov
Makar Hedman
Vasilevskiy

Other than Landeskog and Shesterkin having arguments the rest seems pretty clear cut.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Link for mod to merge: Playoff All-Star Teams

 

[silkyjohnson50]

I don’t really see a case for there being a “McDavid or Draisaitl” with all due respect. McDavid was clearly the better player in at least 75% of their games.