Who has the most to prove these playoffs?

[Czechboy]

It's not just these last 3 years though, it's about the last (nearly) decade that McDavid has been the best player in the league, with just a WCF sweep to show for it - how can you say there is no pressure on the Oilers? You have potentially a top 5 player of all time at the peak of his powers who has never even made a Stanley Cup Final (Also somehow has 0 division titles), and you're acting like there is no pressure?

I answered the Oil to the pool question. I have no idea where you are getting that I'm acting like there is no pressure on the Oilers. What I said was that the failures are not on McDavid. They are on the poorly constructed team around him. You could replace McDavid with any player you want in the NHL the last decade.. the Oilers were not winning a cup. Team sport.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Matthews. Not close. This is his time to put the team on his back with his goal scoring and say “hop on and let me take you far”

 

[notbias]

Well that’s false lol, and not even close to true.

It is true.

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

Go take a look... they get scored on a lot.

 

[Golden_Jet]

It is true.

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

Go take a look... they get scored on a lot.

Ohh ok you said 3 years not 4 years, not that it matters.
Now do goals for, McDavid second best.
Now do goal differential, McDavid 8th best.

Obviously leafs aren’t at the top of GA , they don’t play enough games.
goal differential worse for Matthew’s than McDavid.

Give you credit for cherry picking and being disengenious though.

 

[_habsfan9]

following an amazing season with maybe 70 goals , Matthews to me has to be the guy who has the most pressure to put up similar goals in tight games.

If Matthews can put up 13+ goals the sky is the limit for the leafs.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Player: There's no other answer than Mitch Marner IMO

Team: Leafs is the obvious answer, but Edmonton is the runner-up

 

[Fatass]

Leafs
Oilers
Canes
Bruins
Rangers

Imo these are all clubs that will regress so winning now is a must.

 

[geebster]

To me the answer is pretty clearly the Oilers or any team thats relatively new to the top of the standings and hasnt had playoff success or experience yet like the Jets.

I dont have the Leafs in there because they have already proven themselves in the playoffs...and by that I mean theyve proven they arent a playoff contender. They easily have the most to DISPROVE though. There is already a strong narrative and more than enough kicks at the can to suggest their top guys arent playoff performers. If Matthews scores in the playoffs at or above the rate he does in the season that wont be him proving hes been a playoff performer all along, thatd be him becoming one for the first time. It wouldnt undo the game 7s where he didnt even attempt a shot for half the game, etc, but itd go towards a new narrative for him and the team if he did.

I would consider them getting past the 2nd round and being competitive in the ECF or SCF as not some vindication of the last 5 or 6 chokes but rather a new era for them.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

Leafs
Oilers
Canes
Rangers
Dallas

 

[notbias]

Ohh ok you said 3 years not 4 years, not that it matters.
Now do goals for, McDavid second best.
Now do goal differential, McDavid 8th best.

Obviously leafs aren’t at the top of GA , they don’t play enough games.
goal differential worse for Matthew’s than McDavid.

Give you credit for cherry picking and being disengenious though.

GA is important... you can just do GF%, Matthews, and Marner are ahead of McDavid and Drai is barely 50%.

It is 3 years, the 4th year hasn't happened yet.

This isn't hard to grasp.

McDavid has good numbers, but he is also getting scored on a lot.

You think if they were putting up close to 2 ppg they'd have done more than get swept in the 3rd round...

There is a reason Edmonton has not done any damage in the playoffs and it isn't to do with a lack of scoring.

 

[Jason316]

1.Oilers
2. Bruins
3. Canes
4. Stars
5. Rangers

Leafs nobody excepts them to beat Florida or Boston

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Team wise

Leafs
Canucks
Rangers
Canes

 

[Czechboy]

Lol..,Oilers winning against the kings or Calgary really isn’t a good flex.

It isn't a flex.. it's a stat that shows we are top 6 in playoffs in the last three years. We are also guaranteed at least 4 more games this season.. playoffs 4 years in a row is rare air. Go ahead and name all the teams that have done it with us.

It's technically 5 years in a row depending on your view on the covid qualifying round. But I'll wait for the answer to how many teams have made the playoffs 4 years in a row...

 

[rfournier103]

Maple Leafs.
Oilers.
Maple Leafs.
Rangers.
Maple Leafs.

 

[Gjman2019]

Hellebuyck

I feel like for all the hype he gets i need to see more...........Not saying he hasn't had his good nights in the playoffs over the years but over all i'm just not that impressed with him in the playoffs so far.......

 

[Goose]

Because if you want to be known as one of if not the greatest of all time, it’s not fair, but you have to do it yourself sometimes

Imagine you’re a sales guy on a team of 20 people and you sell 180% of the company quota. You sell more than any other salesperson on earth.

Your company is competing for #1 position in your market, but keeps coming up a bit short.

Now, in spite of the fact that you’ve done more as a sales guy than any other salesperson on the entire planet, the peanut gallery - people who couldn’t sell a bottle of water to a man dying of thirst in the desert - blames you for not carrying your entire company to the number one position.

That’s pretty much what you’re saying.

 

[Canucks LB]

Imagine you’re a sales guy on a team of 20 people and you sell 180% of the company quota. You sell more than any other salesperson on earth.

Your company is competing for #1 position in your market, but keeps coming up a bit short.

Now, in spite of the fact that you’ve done more as a sales guy than any other salesperson on the entire planet, the peanut gallery - people who couldn’t sell a bottle of water to a man dying of thirst in the desert - blames you for not carrying your entire company to the number one position.

That’s pretty much what you’re saying.

How did you come up with this?

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

Leafs are proven pretenders.

They either exit early...which just validates further their well-established pretenderhood...or they go on a Cinderella run and an outlier season.

Either way, they prove nothing.

 

[Rowlet]

Team wise

Leafs
Canucks
Rangers
Canes

This has always seemed weird, to me, having a lot to prove means the teams who haven't been able to get over the hill, specifically teams like the Canes, Leafs, and Oilers.

The Canucks were supposed to be a lottery team, if anything they probably have very little pressure, they weren't even supposed to be here, much less winning their division.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

This has always seemed weird, to me, having a lot to prove means the teams who haven't been able to get over the hill, specifically teams like the Canes, Leafs, and Oilers.

The Canucks were supposed to be a lottery team, if anything they probably have very little pressure, they weren't even supposed to be here, much less winning their division.

Combination of big Canada market. Spent a lot of money on players recently. Made a splashy Lindholm trade.

 

[notbias]

Leafs are proven pretenders.

They either exit early...which just validates further their well-established pretenderhood...or they go on a Cinderella run and an outlier season.

Either way, they prove nothing.

Is this how you feel about Florida? Was last year their Cinderella run?

Curious how you feel about Colorado exiting the second round once... Cinderella run?

Assuming no since you are a known Leafs hater, but most teams don't make multiple runs... the playoffs are hard.

Colorado for example is one of the best teams in the league and gets bounced in the second round nearly every year, they had one year where things came together for them and then went back to the norm.

This isn't because they are bad (they are a top 5 team nearly every year), it is because the playoffs are really hard and hockey is a very unpredictable sport.

It is weird to have built-in excuses already... Toronto is playing one of the best teams in the first round, it is likely they won't get past Florida, so why not just make a prediction instead of coming up with excuses already?

 

[Mr Positive]

Oiler fan saying Oilers.

Maybe we have another year to play with but this year and next is make or break for the team. If Drai or McDavid leave its basically rebuild time. If we do win it all, and these players stay, then the window stays open another decade

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

Is this how you feel about Florida? Was last year their Cinderella run?

Curious how you feel about Colorado exiting the second round once... Cinderella run?

Assuming no since you are a known Leafs hater, but most teams don't make multiple runs... the playoffs are hard.

Colorado for example is one of the best teams in the league and gets bounced in the second round nearly every year, they had one year where things came together for them and then went back to the norm.

This isn't because they are bad (they are a top 5 team nearly every year), it is because the playoffs are really hard and hockey is a very unpredictable sport.

It is weird to have built-in excuses already... Toronto is playing one of the best teams in the first round, it is likely they won't get past Florida, so why not just make a prediction instead of coming up with excuses already?

Both Florida and Colorado previously validated their contender credentials by recently winning the President's Trophy.

 

[Czechboy]

View attachment 851604

McDavid at least makes up for it with more production...

So guys that didn't play playoff games wouldn't be on this, right? Pretty short list of guys that have played this many playoff games which is my point. I'd also blame Ceci and nurse for the goals against since they were in the top D pair and got exposed.

 

[notbias]

So guys that didn't play playoff games wouldn't be on this, right? Pretty short list of guys that have played this many playoff games which is my point. I'd also blame Ceci and nurse for the goals against since they were in the top D pair and got exposed.

There are guys who have played almost double... I'd say the GF% of Drai is way more concerning...

McDavid is tied for 67th in GP and 2nd in GA at ES... Drai is tied for 67th in GP and is 1st...

Not sure you can just blame the two D for how bad those two are defensively.

Like I said, McDavid helps his line produce a lot more than Drai, so his numbers aren't so bad... but that is a lot of goals to give up in not that many games...

Drai gets scored on 1.3 times per game and McDavid at 1.2