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Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by barbogast (Post 17112892)

But to say these players were some type of rejects from their former teams seems wildly inaccurate. I know as a closely following Caps fan, it was apparent right from the start that we were gonna lose a player that we really didn’t want to lose.

Some of the players were rejects, and even if some weren't they may have felt that way - contributing to the chip-on-the-shoulder attitude that I feel has helped them get to where they are.

But you're right, they aren't scrubs. But they also aren't some all-star roster whose trip to the Finals was booked the day after the expansion draft. I think it's fair to say they were a decent roster that was certainly better than other expansion teams of the past, but that also wasn't expected to get anywhere near this point. And that's not just because of the history of NHL expansion teams (which seems like a point that keeps getting brought up here), it's because, simply, their initial roster just didn't look that good... at least leading up to puck drop opening night.

Whoops, I promised a few posts ago to stop. Silly me.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

On a lighter note, all of the Knights success has been fun to watch through the eyes of my hockey-obsessed 5 year old who absolutely loves his "Goldies":
"Number 18 James Neal" (yes, for some reason he always has to say the number before the name, but just with Neal)
"Wild Bill"
"Fleury" (the concept of two first names seems so completely foreign to my son that he just omits saying them completely)
"Johnafan Marchessault" (he can't say "Marc-Andre" but he has no trouble perfectly pronouncing "Marchessault". Go figure.)
^ Are all household names in our home. I can't help but think of all the other kids in Vegas and surrounding areas who HAVEN'T grown up in hockey families getting caught up in all the fun surrounding the Knights and falling in love with a sport they may never have been exposed to otherwise.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

The only thing I'm mad about with the Golden Knights is it took them one day to find a goalie while it's been taking the Flyers more than two decades.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Ugh. Please lord let them win tonight.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

I'm already drinking.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Me too. Gonna go out of my way tonight to ensure that by the end I’m at least partially intoxicated :lol

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

I pray if the Caps lose we get epic drunk Brohan melts

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

In one way Tampa winning tonight would be just fine- I’ve never been less interested in a series than Vegas-Tampa Bay so i wouldn’t spend any more of the 4months of non-winter in this city in front of the television.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by aeroshady (Post 17112840)

Of course I am and would to all of this. Sorry Tim, but you can't possibly relate to this. You are a privlidged hockey fan in that you root for one of the best run and most successful franchises in history. How many cups have the Wings won that you remember? 4? That is crazy.

I would rather miss the playoffs for 9 of 10 years and win the cup the year we made it anyday over making in 9 out of 10 years and coming up short every time.

So again, YES, I am jealous of Vegas and their success in the FIRST year of their existance. It DOES bother me that they will never know what it is like to lose because their only year of being a team they won it all. I don't think it is right that a first year team can win the Cup right away because I do feel that it was at the rest of the leagues expense. Other teams had to basically pay Vegas to beat them in the form of assets. I don't agree with that being a possibility.

Just my opinion and obviously one not everyone will share. That is totally cool too. I just want to explain that we come from different perspectives being fans of different teams though. Being a Caps fan or Rangers fan is mosty a test in how much pain and heartache one can continuosly put up with and keep coming back for more. Being a Wings fan (historically as I know things have not been great recently) has meant constant competeting and winning Stanley Cups. There is no way to compare the two different backgrounds we come from.

I would even bet that if the Rangers had won 2 or 3 cups in the past 15-20 years I would have a completely different perspective and take on this. However, they didn't, and I am frustrated that Vegas will (probably) get to taste a title and see the cup before I do. I can't change or help the way I feel on this. To me it just feels wrong and a bit cheap.

Edit: There are great things about Vegas winning it all too as I have stated. I am really happy for that city after what went down in October. I am also really happy MAF.

I knew it would come back to my team having won. Almost posted something then. So lets talk Tigers then. From 2005-2015 the Tigers went to 2 world series and a couple ACLS's but never won and then Houston (who missed the playoffs every year that the Tigers were doing that) won it later year with one of the Tigers best players. Am I jealous? No. I wish they would have won sure but I'm not giving up a bunch of good years just for one championship if it meant the rest of the years no playoffs. The Tigers didn't get it done and Houston was able to. Not everyone's gonna win. Only 7 teams have won Cups since 2005 so 22 other teams have done the same as Rangers. And you act like the Rangers were no good in any of these years. 3 trips to the ECF's or beyond out of 4 years isn't nothing. They didn't get it done, it blows, but some teams didn't get that close. It was tough enough to win a Cup before now it's even tougher as the league grows.

Be happy missing the playoffs 9 out of 10 years? I call BS on that. You say that now without a Cup but that's the grass is always greener. I don't think the 10 Canes fans are sitting around toasting the Cup from 2006 after missing the playoffs 9 straight years now. 7 years from now if the Wings keep missing the playoffs I'm not gonna sit back and say "Well at least we got that Cup back in 08 when I was 25 and now I'm 42.

Jealous of the team that got to start from scratch. That's comparing apples to oranges, imo. A brand new team vs a team that played last year and had salary and players. Success at the expense at the rest of the league? I guess but that's just what expansion is. The league is expanding no way around that so not sure any other real option. Maybe the other NHL teams should have done better at making deals or protecting players. McPhee fleeced a few teams. The Wild sent Alex Tuch to VGK so the Wild would take Haula. How'd that work out for the Wild?

I also want to point out I'm a Lions fan and even I wouldn't take missing the playoffs 9 out of 10 years for just one super bowl win. I want to be as competitive as possible and if it wins a championship great, if not, rebuild and try again. To me that's like saying I'll take one out of this world sexual experience and never again instead of some good, average and below average sex that I have quite a bit of. But hey that's me...I like sex. lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by barbogast (Post 17112892)

I think there’s a lot of really good points being made, but overall my heart’s gotta go with Greg on this one. It feels like too much of an overcorrection.

I’ll be the first to admit that some of it is jealousy. It frustrates me to no end that my team finally got over their stupid second round hump only to seemingly choke away the next round in a fashion only they could, while meanwhile Vegas goes 12-3 in their first 15 playoff games ever.

I think Greg’s point that we had no real basis to say one way or the other whether the Knights would be good is a fair one. History says expansion teams are bad year one, but this isn’t an expansion team like we’ve ever seen.

Of course the players selected were not all stars, but that’s not to say Vegas wasn’t given a ridiculously good pool to choose from. It’s easy to say the GM’s should’ve done better at protecting, but it seems many GM’s were forced into unpleasant decisions that inevitably left quality players exposed. I know for the Caps it was essentially going to be either Wilson, Schmidt, or Grubauer. I can’t blame the Caps for protecting Wilson, as he’s beginning to develop into a real power forward (the guy’s got great hands, he needs to tone down the recklessness, but he’s far more than just a goon). Everyone who closely follows the Caps knew exactly how good Nate Schmidt’s year was going to be. And as it turns out, Grubauer finished the season as one of the hottest goalies in the league. So there wasn’t really a good option, and a tremendously valuable piece was gonna go. Perhaps this wasn’t the case for as many teams as I think, I didn’t follow it crazy closely, but it seems like several teams got forced into exposing a legitimate piece.

I should be clear, the players on the ice deserve a ton of credit for producing the results that they have. They earned it. No doubt.

But to say these players were some type of rejects from their former teams seems wildly inaccurate. I know as a closely following Caps fan, it was apparent right from the start that we were gonna lose a player that we really didn’t want to lose.

I think the NHL isn’t wrong for not wanting another Atlanta Thrashers. But this is too much, too fast. How can they expect a Seattle fan base to stick if they can’t produce even somewhat similar results in year one? I’m not even sure yet that Vegas’s own fan base is really in it for the long haul. What happens if they crash back to earth next year?

What's too fast though? Who's to say how good a team can be how fast? Even with a better expansion draft in their favor, VGK has exceed EVERYONE'S expectations. I don't really think it's an over-correction because in pure #'s the difference between the old expansion rules and new isn't much. 9 forwards protected before, 7 now. 5 D before, 3 now. Would going in between to like 8 fwds etc made a difference? I think part of it is the talent is better in the league than it used to be and then your point about players have to producing on the ice. You're right they are not an allstar team and not an expansion team but based off the roster on open day, no one expected this team to do this. Anyone pick Haula to score 55 pts after 26 last year? Karlsson to score 43 goals after 19 last year? How about Reilly Smith? Scored 37 pts last year, 60 this year. If these players produced like they did in 16-17, they aren't making the playoffs. Talent doesn't = much in the NHL. Wings would have won in 09 if it did, Caps would at least been in the finals in 2010. Everything worked out so perfectly for this team. And that's why I don't think anyone should assume Seattle will do the same thing in 2 years. Vegas had a GM with a great game plan and a coach who was able to make it work and the players listened. Except for Tomas Tatar, he's got a nice view from the press box. And think about how crazy that is. If Tatar was taken in the expansion draft he would have been one of the headliners with Neal and MAF and he's only played in 3-4 playoff games.

And are any of you really jealous of how they built the team or just jealous that they are having success? Those are two different things. If they were knocked out in round 1 would anyone be complaining? It would have been the same team but I doubt anyone is jealous. I wouldn't be upset at the Knights I'd be upset at my team for not being able to get it done. Caps and Rangers both have had better teams than this Vegas team over the years. It's not VGK's fault. They didn't knock out any of those teams.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fonzz41 (Post 17112855)

Fleury and I are the same age and he will be playing for his FOURTH Stanley Cup.

Excuse me while I go reevaluate my life.

Dude, you've had 4 wives to take care of. You've been busy.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.MikeD (Post 17113117)

Too slow to edit: sorry barbs, I actually do hope the capS pull it off

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

*In before the ‘OMG caps play warehouse woo’s?!?’*

The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

There were the WOOs! Hadn’t heard them yet this postseason.

Edit: My wife HATES the woo intro, and she just gave me this deadpan eye roll when she heard that just now. :lol

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

No penalties for the Lightning since 7:08 of the 2nd period of game 4.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

:lol :lol :lol at Verizon center busting out the Stone Cold music

Fuck that got me amped :lol

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Vasilevskiy is a goddamn brick wall. And fuck that no call on the Ovi hit.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

I’m convinced the Lightning pull a Gilmore, stab all the Caps players on the ice with their skate and they won’t call a penalty

6 periods now with out a penalty? I’m sure that seems legit

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

I don’t love that the Caps couldn’t crack the goalie there

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

One of the Lightning defensemen had a death grip on Oshie's stick right in front of the goal late in the 1st, no call. This is ridiculous.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

This has been an absurdly entertaining game.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

REALLY not loving that the Caps can’t crack the goalie

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

This game is going to be won on some bullshit puck luck or deflection goal. And that worries me.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Whole lotta charging going on this game.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

I’m on the road in the middle of Nebraska somewhere and I just watched Oshie’s PP goal. What a play!!

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Cardiac Caps, welcome back to the playoffs.

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Lightning starting to heat up. Let’s see how good Holtby is

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradshaw06 (Post 17113260)

Whole lotta charging going on this game.

We’ll just pay for it later

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Wow, unbelievable play to set up that goal

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

Stephenson’s hustle to prevent that icing though! Yes!

Re: The NHL Thread (Hot takes! Caps still 1n!)

70 in net keeping the Caps alive