The 2007 Stanley Cup Finals

[packwingfn 0]

Speaking of Rob...

[Guest]

They got Rob Niedermayer in a trade from Calgary, I think.

Ok, then three.

 

Makes my point ring further.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

I don't think the Ducks were lucky Detroit and SJ faced each other. Ducks pretty much had the Sharks number all season. You can say the regular season means nothing, but I don't know what SJ could do differently to beat Anaheim, Fatigue didn't beat Detroit. Giguere is integral, though. By nature I prefer smaller, speedier teams and the Ducks obviously aren't that, but it's more than luck that Burke did what he did.

 

edit - I let this paragraph sit for 20 minutes before posting, and now King says it much better. Well.

[CanadianChris 0]

They don't have it tonight. Emery doesn't look sharp at all, and the skaters look as out of sync as they have all series, with the exception of Game 3.

[packwingfn 0]

Nice setup pass by Schaefer!

[JustJoe2k5 0]

My guess is Spezza won't be back in Ottawa next season.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Doesn't get much worse than that. Ottawa had dominated this period and you let THAT happen?

[packwingfn 0]

LOL That is embarassing.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Crowd should start a "Let's Go Phillips!" chant.

[bob_barron 0]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

Awesome.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Somebody must be piping in that "Emery" chant.

[packwingfn 0]

I just think that goal ruins what could have been a hot finish. With a 2 goal lead now, Anaheim should crack down going into the 3rd while Ottawa has lost any momentum they had. This sucks

[JustJoe2k5 0]

It's not over just yet.

[packwingfn 0]

Ok so that gives Ottawa the momentum back......Gotta love hockey.

 

Good hard work there by Alredsson

[packwingfn 0]

LOL god damn

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Anaheim won't let Ottawa have much of a heartbeat.

[Red Baron 0]

To perfect their team, they need a fourth defenceman. Between Beaucheman and O'Donnell is a huge gap, especially if Neidermyer and or Pronger gets hurt.

[CanadianChris 0]

Hopefully Phillips is allowed to forget that play over time, and not become another Steve Smith.

 

I can't believe Volchenkov tipped that last one past his own goalie, either. At any other point in the playoffs, he blocks that shot. He's gotten way off his game in the finals.

[Nightwing 0]

First off, they don't have much in the way of home grown talent. I mean, Penner, Perry, and Getzlaf are the only ones I can think of.

First off, I don't think it matters whether or not your talent is homegrown, if they're as good as they are. Secondly, Andy McDonald and Chris Kunitz are products of the Ducks system, as is Ilya Bryzgalov. Third, Sami Pahlsson, J.S Giguere, and Francois Beauchemin got their big breaks with the Ducks. Clearly their management knows how to dig the bottom of the trash can and come up with the right players on a consistent basis. Also, you forget that they mortgaged younger talent in order to get Chris Pronger, so obviously they do not have a lot of homegrown players on their team. Who the fuck cares.

 

Well, I'll give you the fact that Ducks Scouting is good enough to pick up a lot of 'throw away' players and make the most of them. Can't dispute that one bit. I was just saying that if they really want a dynasty, the fact that they don't have many homegrown prospects might hurt them down the line when the current roster begins to get too old. I suppose you can continue to pick up throwaway players (Since it's worked well enough so far), but I personally like having those prospects. To me, it's less risky, but that's just my opinion.

 

You also showed that you know nothing about Ilya Bryzgalov when you stated that Bryzgalov is just a good goalie. Clearly you have not had a peek at his statistics. If he was a #1 goalie, he would be one of the top 10 goalies in the league, with little doubt left in my mind. Also, rolling 4 lines is overrated as shit. You need two scoring lines. A checking line. And one line that can go out there and goon shit up. I think the Ducks will have all of those things for a while.

 

Oh God. No offense, but Bryzgalov doesn't seem to me to be anything more than Evgeni Nabakov with a different name. I'm not saying that he can't win games, but he doesn't seem like he has 'it' like Giguere definitely has. Nabakov is always a good-great goalie, but comes up short in the end. I get the same feeling from Bryzgalov. Top 10 in the League? Sure, maybe. But I wouldn't sacrifice it for the Playoff Aura that Giguere has.

 

I've seen his stats. Frankly, I'm not impressed. He has a good GA, but that translated to 10-8-6 season. I saw him play during the season, and during his playoff run. If you put him in for Giguere, I don't see him being the game-saver that J.S. was, and has needed to be more than once in these playoffs. He's a Nabakov: He'll have a good season, he'll perform okay-good in the playoffs, but he'll fall short. He's not the dominating goalie that Giguere is, and I think that'll be trouble if you are talking about a dynasty.

 

And while you don't need to roll 4 lines (Because not every championship team does), I don't see them being deep enough to get a dynasty. You have Teemu Selanne providing a great deal of the 'Oomph' behind that offense, and if he goes (And I think he'll be the one to go), you are losing 94 points of offense, half of which are goals (He's nearly double the next closest contender). Maybe Getzlaf can step up, because he's shown himself to be a great player, but you can't tell me that they have fulfilled everything. They have one scoring line and one 'sort of scoring' line. Most of the fire power comes from the first defensive pairing (Who have the #3 and #5 spots on the points list, and Pronger probably would have been higher if he had played more games). If you want a Dynasty, you'd better getting a little more out of your top two lines, especially when the biggest offensive force on the team comes from a pair of defensemen who are 32 and 34 years old.

 

The Ducks have four fuckin' free agent signings on their team. Selanne, McDonald and the Neidermayers. Let me give you a history lesson.

 

Teemu Selanne had ties to the Ducks

Andy McDonald was a free agent out of college that nobody made a big effort to grab.

Rob Neidermayer got Scott Neidermayer to the team.

 

That is not "getting lucky in free agency". That is showing three players that you have faith in them, and one of them being related to another good player that just so happened to want to be around family.

 

Oh Christ, you completely misinterpret what I said.

 

I was referencing the fact that since they had, as you put it, mortgaged most of their prospects on Chris Pronger, they'd have to find people to replace Teemu Selanne and others who might drop off the team. I wasn't talking about the current team, but the future. The reason I used the Red Wings as an example is because they've lost most of their bigger stars from their original two cups in the 90s, but have built their teams up with solid players they've picked up through scouting and such (And I pay attention to their team the most, admittedly). I don't think they're a dynasty team either, but they've managed to bridge and miss out on 'rebuilding periods' because of this. You have to get them from somewhere, since they don't just appear out of nowhere. Can you get them from trades? Yes, but do they really have anyone valuable to trade that isn't already integral to their system?

 

You swung for the fences with that monologue earlier and hit an infield fly. Welcome to thesmartmarks.com.

 

Ooooooookay buddy. I never said they wouldn't be good. But they aren't a dynasty team. They aren't so beyond the rest of the Western Conference that they will just push their way through to the Cup every year. I mentioned franchises like Detroit, Colorado, and New Jersey, who came close in their better moments, but didn't make it.

 

Perhaps you should have noticed I was talking about the future, not the current state of the Ducks. Not only that, I wasn't saying the Ducks weren't great, but that I have trouble calling them a future 'Dynasty'. Get it right next time.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

So I guess Chris Phillips will be banned from coming back to Ottawa.

[packwingfn 0]

I cant believe that the Ducks only have 12 shots and the Senators have 8 shots.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

That's the seventh fucking broken stick this period by my count.

 

I just got home from a 14-hour work day, but let me see if I get this straight (from what I've deduced from posts here and drunken text messages): Ottawa is being outplayed, but Phillips and Volchenkov both scored on Emery?

[Red Baron 0]

Pretty much.

 

Wow. This series is utterly forgettable considering the whole playoffs was fucking awesome.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Well fuck.

[Nightwing 0]

Well, the best team show themselves here. Anaheim played solid hockey for most of the playoffs, and when they didn't J.S. Giguere keep them in it. Kudos to them for getting their first Cup after their disappointment 4 years ago.

 

Edit: Ouch, that hurts.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Vermette gets a penalty shot. This is undeniably their last chance.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Well fuck.

[Guest]

Shoot me.

 

I will never hear the end of this.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Is an OaO StarOcean thread in order?

[Red Baron 0]

I'll give them a month before the fans forget there was hockey around.