Tampa Bay: Are we witnessing the best roster in the cap era?

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We played them last night and they are good but I saw some cracks in their foundation showing. I think the Oilers could beat them in a 7 game series.

Uhh the oilers got plain old outclassed and dominated.

We're talking president trophy winners vs non playoff team here.

 

[RegularSznAllStars]

We will see. The talk of injuries needs to be eased down though. Teams who have let in less goals have also had serious injury problems on their defensive side of the game and still maintained it.

Where I see an issue is the Lightning have let in 4+ goals in over 11 games. So in even more than 1 in every 4 games they let 4 or more goals in.

Score effect. Up by a bunch and pull off the gas. Also, Domingue is responsible for a bunch of those.

 

[Rschmitz]

We will see. The talk of injuries needs to be eased down though. Teams who have let in less goals have also had serious injury problems on their defensive side of the game and still maintained it.

Where I see an issue is the Lightning have let in 4+ goals in over 11 games. So in even more than 1 in every 4 games they let 4 or more goals in.

Why are you asking if you don't like the candid replies you get back? It's the easiest answer. Vasy has a 2.39 GAA, and over the course of 37 games that equates to only 88 goals, best in the league. Losing a Vezina finalist goalie for half the year and replacing him with a .904 save percentage backup goalie might be an issue that other teams have not had to overcome.

 

[Caroline Says ll]

Why are you asking if you don't like the candid replies you get back? It's the easiest answer. Vasy has a 2.39 GAA, and over the course of 37 games that equates to only 88 goals, best in the league. Losing a Vezina finalist goalie for half the year and replacing him with a .904 save percentage backup goalie might be an issue that other teams have not had to overcome.

I do not like the injury excuse as some sort of end all be all answer. It can be flipped in the same means if every team that has less goals against also had less injuries, their stats would also vastly improve.

You can blame AVs injury and Domingue, but Tampa last season had 30+ games at allowing more than 4 goals.

This is a thread about them being the best roster in the cap era. I am pointing out that this roster allows a lot of high goals against games over a season and a half. I would suggest the reasons given of high offence leads to goals against and relaxing with a cushion and taking the foot off the gas does not point towards the best roster in the cap era.

 

[JoVel]

I think everyone who has followed Tampa knows how big of a blow out GAA took when Vasy went down. We were still able to win games but Domingue forced us to score 4 or 5 to have any chance of winning. With Vasy in net for most of those games I can confidently say that we would've allowed at least about 10-15 goals less during that 14 game span.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

We will see. The talk of injuries needs to be eased down though. Teams who have let in less goals have also had serious injury problems on their defensive side of the game and still maintained it.

Where I see an issue is the Lightning have let in 4+ goals in over 11 games. So in even more than 1 in every 4 games they let 4 or more goals in.

Good thing we average 4+ goals per game.
Only team that comes close is 09-10 caps. 3.88 gpg). We are averaging exactly the same GA as that team (2.84 gapg), which were defeated by Halak, a good example that no team is unbeatable, though that caps team didn't have a goalie as good as Vasi.

We play a very offensive style of hockey.
We are bound to get scored more than Nashville or Minnesota. Not worried about it.

 

[DFC]

We will see. The talk of injuries needs to be eased down though. Teams who have let in less goals have also had serious injury problems on their defensive side of the game and still maintained it.

Where I see an issue is the Lightning have let in 4+ goals in over 11 games. So in even more than 1 in every 4 games they let 4 or more goals in.

It was a mixture of injuries and coaching. With McDonagh, more than the injury, I think it was a new system and a hectic schedule, so he didn't gel right away. It's pretty common with rental defensemen. I don't even know if rental defensemen are a good idea in general anymore. Anyway, what's clear is we didn't have anything close to the current version of McDonagh in our line-up last year. And Rick Bowness, our D coach, has been fired and replaced by Todd Richards, who corrected our offense/PP previously, and now is correcting our D/PK.

As for those 4+ goal games, you have to keep in mind Vasilevskiy was injured for 16(?) games, and Louis Domingue was a hot mess for about a 6 game stretch, despite getting wins. One of those games we played Eddie Pasquale in what will likely be his only ever NHL start. I think it's actually a testament to how good the team is playing that we got through that stretch above .500, let alone in 1st place. I don't think anybody believes we can go deep if Vasy gets hurt, but if you count the games where Vasy gave up 4 goals, you're gonna get a much smaller number.

But the one thing nobody is talking about when comparing the current Lightning team to the teams we saw in the last several years is: Steven Stamkos. He's back. People can say what they want about his 86 points last year, but it was NOT a good year for him over all, and he looked like a 60 point player who happened to have the best winger in the game next to him. This year, Steven Stamkos is legit back. And I've been one of his biggest critics on this site for years. But it's like he's given up on being a two-way playmaker, and is now just back to shooting the puck, while playing a solid, responsible game, which ironically even makes him a better playmaker (because he doesn't telegraph passes anymore). He looks like a monster right now. This is a weapon we HAVE NOT HAD since 2013. I can't stress that enough.

 

[Caroline Says ll]

Good thing we average 4+ goals per game.
Only team that comes close is 09-10 caps. 3.88 gpg). We are averaging exactly the same GA as that team (2.84 gapg), which were defeated by Halak, a good example that no team is unbeatable, though that caps team didn't have a goalie as good as Vasi.

We play a very offensive style of hockey.
We are bound to get scored more than Nashville or Minnesota. Not worried about it.

I can honestly say there is far too much sensitivity in this thread about a mild form of critique of this team.

The basis for this thread is that essentially Tampa has the greatest roster in almost twenty years. I disagree because they although they score a lot they also allow a lot. I would also be critical of a team that allows very little but also scores too little.

Your team has flaws just as every other team this season and last season has and had.

I am not saying they are a bad team.

 

[JoVel]

I disagree because they although they score a lot they also allow a lot.

As said before, our defense is a lot better than last year. We'd be top 3 in GA is not for Domingue crapping the bed when Vasy got hurt.

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

Getting to at least the 7th game of the third round every time they make the playoffs = "can't get it done" even though that's way more than the Caps ever did before they finally got it done...

If thats your definition, so be it?

 

[Pi]

As said before, our defense is a lot better than last year. We'd be top 3 in GA is not for Domingue crapping the bed when Vasy got hurt.

Yeah. Domingue's stats are terrible but he still got carried for so many wins.

 

[DFC]

I can honestly say there is far too much sensitivity in this thread about a mild form of critique of this team.

The basis for this thread is that essentially Tampa has the greatest roster in almost twenty years. I disagree because they although they score a lot they also allow a lot. I would also be critical of a team that allows very little but also scores too little.

Your team has flaws just as every other team this season and last season has and had.

I am not saying they are a bad team.

We have a flawed back-up goalie for sure. But Vasy is 7th in GAA, so I think it's safe to say, so long as he's healthy, we don't give up a whole lot of goals. There's a reason we have the biggest goal differential in the league by a wide margin. It would easily have been bigger had Vasy not been injured. I don't see a logical argument against that considering the difference between the two goalies' numbers.

 

[Rschmitz]

I can honestly say there is far too much sensitivity in this thread about a mild form of critique of this team.

It's just rebuttal

I am not saying they are a bad team.

 

[Bolt32]

Yeah. Domingue's stats are terrible but he still got carried for so many wins.

At the end of the day, you just want your backup regardless of your team to perform well enough to give you a chance to win. If you look at our record with him in net you can see clearly he has. With that said though, the difference between Domingue and Vasi can't be stated enough. It's a Donald Trump Bigly difference between the two.

 

[newfy]

So short version is you cant

Maybe not, I'm not going to take the time to go back 8 years and list 60 dmen because a Hawks fan wants me to. You think a 2 goal 17 point guy is a top pairing D? Im not gonna take the time to really argue if he was top 60 or not, a 17 point guy isnt a legit top pairing player. He wasnt a top pairing player on that team either and theres plenty of teams who have won the cup recently that have just as good number 3 dmen.

 

[Pi]

At the end of the day, you just want your backup regardless of your team to perform well enough to give you a chance to win. If you look at our record with him in net you can see clearly he has. With that said though, the difference between Domingue and Vasi can't be stated enough. It's a Donald Trump Bigly difference between the two.

Yeah. Tampa's offense can carry Vesa Toskala at the moment.

Having a guy like Vasy who is a game changer AND scoring like crazy makes for a really tough team to beat.

Last year felt like the Capitals year after they beat the Pens but this year feels like Tampa's if they are healthy.

I'm praying that Vasy and Point do not take discounts lol. The Lightning are already too damn good.

 

[Bolt32]

Yeah. Tampa's offense can carry Vesa Toskala at the moment.

Having a guy like Vasy who is a game changer AND scoring like crazy makes for a really tough team to beat.

Last year felt like the Capitals year after they beat the Pens but this year feels like Tampa's if they are healthy.

I'm praying that Vasy and Point do not take discounts lol. The Lightning are already too damn good.

I have a weird feeling the discounts was the Yzerman effect honestly. I hope to god that isn't the case. My pitch to Vasi would be "We always believed in you (He was shocked we used a 1st on him, and was estatic when we did.) we want you to play your whole career here, with your good friend Kucherov." to try and get him to come down on his demands a bit. Then hope to god he bites.

 

[Caroline Says ll]

It's just rebuttal

There is not much to rebutt. Last season Tampa was midtier in goals against. This year they are there too so far. We will see if that changes with health. But at this point without anything conclusive showing it so I cannot see how they can be seen as the best roster ever since the cap era begun.

 

[Rschmitz]

There is not much to rebutt. Last season Tampa was midtier in goals against. This year they are there too so far. We will see if that changes with health. But at this point without anything conclusive showing it so I cannot see how they can be seen as the best roster ever since the cap era begun.

They can't, we aren't even half way through the season.

 

[JoVel]

At the end of the day, you just want your backup regardless of your team to perform well enough to give you a chance to win. If you look at our record with him in net you can see clearly he has. With that said though, the difference between Domingue and Vasi can't be stated enough. It's a Donald Trump Bigly difference between the two.

We're probably the only team in the league that would've been able to win with Dom in the net.

 

[Sky04]

Yah they're absolutely stacked right now. Hope point asks for like 11 million.

Man people are seriously going to be upset when they see Point's next contract. I for one, can't wait for all the whining.

 

[kuzy92]

Good thing we average 4+ goals per game.
Only team that comes close is 09-10 caps. 3.88 gpg). We are averaging exactly the same GA as that team (2.84 gapg), which were defeated by Halak, a good example that no team is unbeatable, though that caps team didn't have a goalie as good as Vasi.

We play a very offensive style of hockey.
We are bound to get scored more than Nashville or Minnesota. Not worried about it.

What happens when a team comes around in the playoffs that locks down the ice and suffocates that Lightning attack??

 

[Vasilevskiy]

What happens when a team comes around in the playoffs that locks down the ice and suffocates that Lightning attack??

And we almost win that series

 

[kuzy92]

And we almost win that series

You can thank Vasi for that.. 5 on 5 wasn’t really close. .

 

[Pi]

I have a weird feeling the discounts was the Yzerman effect honestly. I hope to god that isn't the case. My pitch to Vasi would be "We always believed in you (He was shocked we used a 1st on him, and was estatic when we did.) we want you to play your whole career here, with your good friend Kucherov." to try and get him to come down on his demands a bit. Then hope to god he bites.

The Lightning are a good team. I can see Vasy taking a bit of a discount.

Not sure if Point will take a bridge seeing Marner, Laine, Aho, Rantanen etc making big money. That will be the tougher negotiation IMO.