NHL Thread

[bob_barron]

What did I say?

[Lord of The Curry]

........

 

I quoted you in my previous post

[KGB]

What, Leaf fans are the only ones who use that cliche?

 

I absolutely could not picture Toronto in the playoffs, so it was easy to see that the Devils who had nothing left to play for in the reg. season (thus Clemmenson got the start over MAR-TAN BRO-DOOR), were going to lose to the Isles. Devils just had to tie it up with .8 secs left and then lose it in a shootout, but I didn't have a heart attack over it.

No point in the Leafs getting in just to be swept silly by the Sabres, except for MLSE to take a little playoff money and laugh all the way to the bank. Now that it's three years since they last made the postseason, maybe they'll start to think about firing that worthless GM - but I doubt it.

 

Oh yeah, I guess I'll be hopping on the Sharks & Pens (just for one round) bandwagon for the playoffs...

[CanadianGuitarist]

I'm disappointed beyond words that the Habs loss, and my subsequent Leafs' rooting, was for naught.

 

If there's one thing I'll complain about from that perspective: Two 5-on-3's in the third. That's bad.

Second: Who in the blue fuck calls a penalty in overtime, as happened today in the Meadowlands.

 

BUT! Neither Toronto nor Montreal deserved to be in the playoffs, and neither team was screwed out of the spring.

[Mike wanna be]

Who pokechecks in a shootout? Seriously, who pokechecks? Gutsy, gutsy move (even though I hear he does it all the time)

[Annabelle]

everyone has been playing with shootouts all year. people have prospered and suffered equally. complaining now is pathetic. the leafs are an awful team. the islanders are not. if dipietro was in net, i'd be sweating if i was a sabres fan.

[treble]

The Leafs aren't awful, they just aren't very good. The Isles are a whole one point better.

 

The Devils coming back, only to lose in a shootout was cruel, but it's the Leafs fault they missed out. Blowing that Buffalo game cost them the season.

[Annabelle]

come on, treble. the leafs are awful.. the only reason either the leafs or the canadiens had a sniff at the playoffs was because of dipietro going down & their losing streak that followed.

[treble]

I won't call them good, but they're not awful. Maybe we have different definitions of awful, but they had over 90 points, which isn't bad.

[Guest]

They're awful in net. Seriously, that's what wins you games. If you aren't solid in net, you aren't going to win anything.

 

Tampa Bay and Detroit were the only teams in the bottom 15 in SV% that made the playoffs. And they have really good offenses that beneifted from the unbalanced schedule, that let them face 3 non-playoff teams a total of 24 times. You wanna complain about something else, the Leafs have 3 short-handed goals. That's tied with Dallas for the worst in the league. Their PK was horrendous too.

 

That's why I hate seeing people blame things on the shootout. Get that extra short-handed goal. Kill a few more penalties.

 

That's what it comes down to. Blame the GM for not signing the right players and making the right trades to do those things. It's his fault. I wouldn't even blame Raycroft, JFJ was the idiot that traded Tuukka Rask to get him. He can't do any more than he did.

[treble]

The only blame I put on the shootout is that the Leafs are horrible at them, but that's their fault.

 

The Leafs PK was terrible, I've said that before. It would be ok for a game or two here and there, but when it was bad it was some of the worst I've ever seen.

 

And Raycroft isn't awful, he had some bad games that probably cost them a playoff spot, but the guy got shit on way too much.

[Guest]

Raycroft's save percentage is worse than any other goalie that played more than 55 games. And really, the worst of any goaltender that I would ever want on my team. Cujo played 54 games and had a SV% that was .02 worse. Raycroft's GAA would have been the worst of any starting playoff goaltender.

[CanadianChris]

I never would have pegged Raycroft as one of the worst goalies in the league, but his stats are stunningly bad when you look at them. I had thought that he faced way more shots than most goalies, thanks to Toronto's defence, but that's not even the case.

[treble]

Of course, you know more about hockey than me with your made-up Klingon words like GAA and SV%.

 

Anyway, I'm sticking by the guy. Maybe I just feel bad for him.

[Guest]

I like him too. I would take him on my team, because part of it could very well have been the defense. Also, it has to be remembered that the guy was coming off of a REALLY shitty season, and it took a while to get the guy's confidence back.

 

I like what Marc Crawford and Dean Lombardi have to say about the difference between playoff and non-playoff teams. They say that the difference is 2-5% in each category all the way through the organization. Whether it be the scouts, goaltending, talent on the ice, penalty kill, power play, training staff, etc. The playoff teams are the ones that are just a little bit better. Marginal, at that. For all we know, it could have been one call-up that wasn't made, that could have made the Leafs a playoff team. We'll never know though.

 

I'd give JFJ one more year. If it's any worse, send him out. If it's another 1 point miss of the playoffs, give him one last chance with the free agent class coming up in the 08 offseason, because it's stacked.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Or, it's like the Sabres' who built their team around speed more than anyone else, and got lucky with the rule changes.

[Guest]

They have better scouts and a better GM than a lot of teams too. They found some great players through the draft and various trades.

 

With the players that the Sabres possess, it was eventual that they were going to bust out.

[The Ghost of bps21]

I can't believe that we're about to dress a 4th line of Stafofrd-Connelly-Mair/Paille.

 

...

 

Good luck Isles.

 

...

 

2 of 4 banners done. 2 to go.

[Red Baron]

So now that a team has missed the playoffs due to the retarded shootout rule, does the NHL revisit it and add a 3 points for regulation wins rule? Since it's Toronto, I'm guessing no. If it was one of the darling American teams, then absolutely.

Toronto wouldn't be even close in coming to the playoffs as well because of that rule. They are almost as bad as the Islanders for scrounging up that extra point.

[Red Baron]

Highlight of the Isles/Devils game last night.

 

Parise goal. Wow!