Washington, Pittsburgh, Toronto, battle of big fives

[Iapyi]

Letang is better than Carlson, so to see him set equal to Rielly doesn't make much sense to me. 1 bad year for Letang where he missed all of his summer training due to an injury doesn't erase the previous years of excellence, especially considering how dominant he looks this year. Toronto shouldn't even be in this conversation, Tampa Bay would be a better team to mention here.

Dunno why the leafs get to be part of any conversation after 9 games, and considering the other 2 teams have won the cup the last 3 years.

If you wan to be fair, they should be:
Caps, Pens, Hawks, Bruins (all recent cup winners)
Or how about TBL?

Well then start a thread. Posters have the right to list any team they want in these kind of threads, bit surprised not everyone knows that. Now that is what's fair.

 

[Maestro84]

Given their pedigrees:
Pittsburgh




Washington











Toronto (the Leafs are ultra-talented but c'mon it's only been like 8 games into the season whereas the other two teams combined to win the last 3 Stanley Cups)

 

[mad4comp]

ROFL @ the people saying "Letang is back..." Uh... yea brah, but Carlson never left.

 

[supsens]

Question on Tavares. I am not tryn to hurt any feelings or cause a battle. I have never seen him play all that much I have only watched 4 of his games this year but washington and the blues seemed to lean on him/bully him and he vanished. Is this a thing or did he just have off nights?

 

[BigEezyE22]

ROFL @ the people saying "Letang is back..." Uh... yea brah, but Carlson never left.

Well since you used "brah" I guess there's no arguing with you.

That said, Carlson only showed up about 2 years ago.

 

[Chips]

The leafs may very well become the best, but they haven’t been for a full season yet

Caps = Pens. Maybe the edge to the Caps if you consider how many games lost to injury

Then the leafs down here.



All we have right now is last seasons performances + 9 games this year... The Leafs haven’t done anything yet. Personally I didn’t even know Reilly was more than just a pretty good offensive dman before this year (in fairness as a Caps fan I never thought Carlson has Norris worthy performance until last season. He’s still hot tho)


**Holtby has been way more consistently great than Andersson too. He’s definitely had some playoff performances worse than others, but I’ve never agreed with the amount of blame he got for Caps eliminations... the defense in front of him was horrible those years, major positional lapses especially on Orpiks part, and Alzner was overrated, Orlov and Schmidt only VERY recently came into their own. Then there was Gleason and other really bad 7th defensemen


Holtby isn’t a god, yet his numbers are still great. And of course the offense always dried up, he shouldn’t take blame for not keeping the score against less than 3 every single game, with the skaters bleeding quality chances in front of him.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

ROFL @ the people saying "Letang is back..." Uh... yea brah, but Carlson never left.

Is this for real?

Carlson was struggling last season in his own end, especially when paired with Orpik.

He struggled the season before as well, and really had an up and down year partly because of injuries just like Letang this past season.

Lots of Caps fans were talking about how Nisky was becoming the better player that season.

But we’ll pretend he never struggled because he never left some place only you know about...

 

[Riddum]

The best part about this red hot bad take is that Toronto has more hits than Pittsburgh and more blocked shots than either of the other two

What part about "per game" don't you understand?

 

[TOGuy14]

What part about "per game" don't you understand?

Meh. Unless you are Brian Burke levels of dumb I would never trade goals per game for hits per game. Leafs tried that in the past with McLaren, Orr and the crew and all that got us was the first overall pick

 

[Riddum]

How about we look at the 5 games before that... Maybe including the game against... I dunno, Washington?

I did. In 9 games, the only team they out-hit was Ottawa. OTT 27 - TOR 30

And we all know how import physicality is.

 

[Nizdizzle]

I did. In 9 games, the only team they out-hit was Ottawa. OTT 27 - TOR 30

And we all know how import physicality is.

Yet, the Leafs won the majority of those games.

 

[Riddum]

Meh. Unless you are Brian Burke levels of dumb I would never trade goals per game for hits per game. Leafs tried that in the past with McLaren, Orr and the crew and all that got us was the first overall pick

I'm not saying they need plugs like the Orr and Martin of this world but they could use a couple of more guys who aren't afraid to give/Take a hit and battle along the board.

For example, a Paul Byron type of guy. A dude with grit, speed and enough talent to put up 20 goals.

 

[4thTierSport]

C's really aren't that close. Either one of the caps C would be 3rd ih Pitt. And yeah, Holtby finally showed up in the 2nd round after 3 tries, so I guess you can cling to that a bit.

Still doesn’t mean the center position isn’t close. Also, funny how the Pens got bounced once MAF wasn’t there to bail them out. Not to mention how Holtby ranks close to the top of every playoff stat.

 

[Syckle78]

Letang looks like his dominant self again, which despite silly HF myths, means he’s playing insane two way hockey. He’s extremely good in his own end and has been for years, despite struggling some last season coming off neck surgery.

This honestly should be about top pairs though, because Letang and Dumo are looking like the best pair in hockey right now.

Still trying to pass off Letang as good defensively after all these years? Well that's just precious.

 

[LegendaryNumber5]

Is it April yet?

 

[Ryan Michaels]

Washington
Pittsburgh
|
|
|
v
Leafs
(until they make it past the first round of the playoffs)

This is silly, I mean its fine to have the Leafs third and to cite playoff success but don't do the whole "they're not in the same league" thing, it has a very good chance to make you look like an idiot.

Things change in a hurry. I guess the Jets were chopped liver last season even as they dominated for most of the year and were a clear cup favorite? And yeah I'm aware some people said "win a round first" to Jets fans last year but that's just further proof of what a stupid argument it is.

I mean the Penguins went from not winning a round in an eternity to the cup finals in 07/08, the Capitals went from chokers to cup winners...I could go on but why would I? This is a lazy argument, you know it, I know it, everyone else knows it, but take your likes for dumping on the Leafs and be on your way. I mean 27 people liked this post, they looked at and said "yeah this is a good argument, I feel strongly about", no anti-Leafs bias my ***.

 

[Pengwins]

Pens 5 over the Caps easily

 

[BigEezyE22]

Still doesn’t mean the center position isn’t close. Also, funny how the Pens got bounced once MAF wasn’t there to bail them out. Not to mention how Holtby ranks close to the top of every playoff stat.

Murray had no trouble knocking off the Caps in '16.

Holtby is so high bc he gets to inflate his numbers in the 1st round against number 1 seeds prior to last year. He was far from impressive against the Pens in 16 and 17.

Funny how the Pens got bounced after 2 cups worth of fatigue and Malkin "skating" on 1 leg. Those things don't count, though.

 

[trick9]

Incredible how someone still thinks Letang is a good defensive player. Even his own coach doesn't think so.

He gets easy zone starts and still manages to bleed goals against on a top team.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

Well then start a thread. Posters have the right to list any team they want in these kind of threads, bit surprised not everyone knows that. Now that is what's fair.

Only if there wasn’t a new Leafa thread every hour, and all variations of the same thing.

I have nothing against the Leafs. I think it’s exciting where they are, but I guess I expected more humility from their fans, especially after their long drought.

I know I have gone totally off topic :/.

 

[Iapyi]

Only if there wasn’t a new Leafa thread every hour, and all variations of the same thing.

I have nothing against the Leafs. I think it’s exciting where they are, but I guess I expected more humility from their fans, especially after their long drought.

I know I have gone totally off topic :/.

Why care if there is a new thread every hour? Are you somehow obligated to enter them?

As for humility the Leaf Hate on this board is so overboard why are you not more concerned about that?

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Still trying to pass off Letang as good defensively after all these years? Well that's just precious.

Incredible how someone still thinks Letang is a good defensive player. Even his own coach doesn't think so.

He gets easy zone starts and still manages to bleed goals against on a top team.

Ya, these are straight up lies by people who don’t know what they are watching. It’s why this lame myth is still pushed on these boards.

Letang has been a shutdown blueliner for years who is extremely good in his own end. He plays some of the toughest minutes of any blueliner in the league. But I guess you guys know more than a coach who won b2b cups though. I wonder why Sullivan gives him the toughest matchups, uses him on his top PK pairing, and puts him out to defend in the most crucial moments of close games....

It’s a mystery. Well, a mystery for people who have no clue what they are watching.

 

[Foots]

Murray had no trouble knocking off the Caps in '16.

Holtby is so high bc he gets to inflate his numbers in the 1st round against number 1 seeds prior to last year. He was far from impressive against the Pens in 16 and 17.

Funny how the Pens got bounced after 2 cups worth of fatigue and Malkin "skating" on 1 leg. Those things don't count, though.

Excuses

 

[22Brad Park]

Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Bäckström, Carlson, Holtby
VS
Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Letang, Murray
VS
Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Rielly, Anderssen

Who wins?

Not Toronto because Matthews was invisable in playoffs when games were way tighter.

 

[kuzy92]

Wait...the best W is "debatable?". Ovechkin is better than Kessel and Marner. I mean, come ON.

Even with the homer glasses on. Thats like me saying its debatable between Kuznetsov and Malkin. Kuzy is great...but he's not Malkin. Same for Kessel...but he's not Ovechkin

He definitely isn't Malkin at this point but Kuzy is just beginning to scratch the surface of how great he can be. If you watch a Caps game all the way through it is easy to see that Kuzy just stands out from the other skaters on the ice. When he is feeling it he is on a different level.