Rite of Spring 2018-“What happens in the playoffs stays in the playoffs”

[JerseyJimmy]

5 minutes ago, RaginRonic said:

And, as a fan of all 7 teams here in Canada equally, I don't appreciate being used, disrespected, or crapped on for not wanting anything to do with anything the league wants that doesn't have Canada go first.

 

After seeing nothing but Old Glory forced down my throat for 25 years, I think the taste of it sucks.

 

You're a fan of all seven Canadian teams equally? So the Flames-Oilers rivalry means nothing to you, then? Nothing wrong with rooting for the Leafs and Habs?

 

I'm an American who would love nothing more than to see this country collapse under the weight of its own hubris, and I'll be the first to tell you there's no conspiracy keeping Canadian teams from the Cup. It's their fault for banging their heads against the wall for the vast majority of the past quarter-century.

[Sport]

That guy shows up every year when the last Canadian team is eliminated to conspiracize how the league is rigged against the Canadian teams. Nevermind that Edmonton had 4 lottery wins in 6 years, Toronto got Auston Matthews instead of his hometown Coyotes, who Bettman would've rigged the draft for if he was rigging drafts, that Canadian born players 9 times out of 10 don't sign free agent deals with Canadian teams, or the last relocation was from a huge American market to a small Canadian city. Nevermind all of that. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

13 minutes ago, OnWis97 said:

When I was a kid and Jordan started being Jordan, a lot of people wearing Bulls gear would claim they liked the Bulls before Jordan even got there (at least 9 out of 10 were lying).

 

It'll be a difficult claim for non-local fans ofr the VGN.  "I liked them when they were bad" isn't going to be a thing.

 

I remember that same phenomenon, but more with the Cowboys and Packers. To the Packers fans' credit, though, a lot of those people have stayed fans of the team. Having two generational QBs one right after another will do that, I suppose. Weird how all of those diehard Bulls fans were able to move on so quickly in 99.

[crashcarson15]

1 hour ago, DC in Da House w/o a Doubt said:

Honest question: Why didn't the Blue Jackets just protect William Karlsson in the expansion draft?  Was he supposed to be this good?  Or is this somewhat unexpected.  If he was supposed to be this good, I find it hard to believe that Columbus has 7 forwards they wanted to keep over him.

 

Same question for [insert good Vegas player] and [team he played for last season]

Jackets were forced to protect Dubinsky, Foligno and Hartnell because of NMCs. They opted to protect Atkinson, Jenner, Saad and Wennberg (all of which were better options than Karlsson).

 

In hindsight, they should've just bought Hartnell out before the expansion lists were submitted, which would've let them protect Anderson, too. But at the end of the day, I think they still would've made a deal with Vegas for them to not take Korpisalo -- maybe with Anderson off the board, it would've been a third instead of a second (keep in mind the first was for VGK to take the Clarkson contract), but a deal still would've been done for Vegas to take Calvert or Karlsson.

 

They had 8 forwards worth keeping/they had to keep and only really had the leverage to keep 7 of them.

[RaginRonic]

28 minutes ago, Jimmy Lethal said:

 

You're a fan of all seven Canadian teams equally? So the Flames-Oilers rivalry means nothing to you, then? Nothing wrong with rooting for the Leafs and Habs?

 

I'm an American who would love nothing more than to see this country collapse under the weight of its own hubris, and I'll be the first to tell you there's no conspiracy keeping Canadian teams from the Cup. It's their fault for banging their heads against the wall for the vast majority of the past quarter-century.

 

It's called 'hedging one's bets', especially around the playoffs.

 

I wouldn't care which one won, just as long as they could win the playoffs, and use that win to oust Gary from power, and replace the Board of Governors(which to me is corrupt as hell) with a 7 or 9 member tribunal to run the league. So that way, roster equalization happened across the NHL, even if it means someone like Crosby's no longer signed exclusively to Pittsburgh, and is signed to the league instead.

 

> = P

[JerseyJimmy]

4 minutes ago, RaginRonic said:

I wouldn't care which one won, just as long as they could win the playoffs, and use that win to oust Gary from power, and replace the Board of Governors(which to me is corrupt as hell) with a 7 or 9 member tribunal to run the league. So that way, roster equalization happened across the NHL, even if it means someone like Crosby's no longer signed exclusively to Pittsburgh, and is signed to the league instead.

 

So... you're advocating for talent communism? I think the NBA is a much higher priority if that's your goal, but okay.

[Lights Out]

16 hours ago, rams80 said:

 

What did they do to earn MAF falling into their lap again?

You mean the same MAF who had lost his starting job in Pittsburgh? Let's not pretend like Bettman had personally gifted them prime Roy or prime Brodeur.

[Lights Out]

3 hours ago, McCarthy said:

What everyone thought in October is irrelevant.

 

It's absolutely relevant when people are now acting like their success was predictable because "Bettman rigged it for them." If there was any truth to the narrative that Bettman gifted Vegas a ready-made title contender, it would have been obvious in October.

 

For the record, I find it funny that everyone's blaming Bettman. Knowing his track record of ineptitude, the fact that Vegas doesn't suck is proof positive that he wasn't "rigging" anything.

[Dynasty]

I don't think I like either Washington or Tampa Bay's chances in the Cup Final. The Capitals don't (and almost never) have a strong enough mentality when it comes to playoff games and when I see the Lightning, I have flashbacks of 2015.

 

Las Vegas is going to make history, and we must accept it.

[BeerGuyJordan]

14 hours ago, Crabcake47 said:

Were the expansion rules lax? Yes. A team full of the ninth-best players gives you great depth, and adding on a Cup-winning goaltender would be something any team would try to do.

Nobody just protected their top nine/eight and called it a day. Most split their exemptions between veteran players and prospects.

 

Vegas got more than a couple 2nd-line players, and not all of them were because teams were trying to unload salaries. Nashville would have loved to protect Neal, but opted for a prospect, instead. They even tried to make a deal for Vegas to take someone else, but Vegas wanted too much, according to Poile.

[LakeShow24]

2 hours ago, DG_Now said:

I just ordered a Vegas Golden Knights hat, so I'm an idiot and the NHL has succeeded.

 

 

I'm thinking of getting one in Vegas early July.

[ElwoodCuse]

19 minutes ago, Dolphins Dynasty said:

I don't think I like either Washington or Tampa Bay's chances in the Cup Final. The Capitals don't (and almost never) have a strong enough mentality when it comes to playoff games and when I see the Lightning, I have flashbacks of 2015.

 

Las Vegas is going to make history, and we must accept it.

 

Marc Andre Fleury, who had a sub-.900 SV% for the playoff years 2010-2015, has a higher SV% right now than Pekka Rinne did through 3 rounds last year. Yeah, that's sustainable

[Sport]

1 hour ago, Lights Out said:

 

It's absolutely relevant when people are now acting like their success was predictable because "Bettman rigged it for them." If there was any truth to the narrative that Bettman gifted Vegas a ready-made title contender, it would have been obvious in October.

 

For one, it was obvious in October. It was clear before the season even started that they were going to play the best roster any expansion team has ever been given and ten games in I knew we had a problem. People picked them to finish last or miss the playoffs because it was the safe pick, not because they actually thought the team sucked. No, nobody thought they'd make it to the final, but that they're there now proves they were given a roster that was built too readied.

 

For two, nobody's saying Bettman rigged it for them. We're saying Bettman accidentally disrupted competitive integrity.

 

Quote

 

For the record, I find it funny that everyone's blaming Bettman. Knowing his track record of ineptitude, the fact that Vegas doesn't suck is proof positive that he wasn't "rigging" anything.

 

On the contrary. Again, not saying he rigged anything and there's no conspiracy at play. The generous expansion rules were established out in the open and if you were me last summer you were saying "why do they get a better draw than the last round of expansion?" Bettman's goal was never to get the Knights to the final. His goal was to avoid another Atlanta Thrashers situation and then severely over-corrected and accidentally overshot that by about a million, which is actually right in line with Bettman's track record of ineptitude. 

[Morgan33]

3 hours ago, DG_Now said:

I just ordered a Vegas Golden Knights hat, so I'm an idiot and the NHL has succeeded.

 

I bought an authentic jersey for my collection back in November, simply because I thought it looked great.  I never would have dreamed this team would be playing for the cup and subsequently reducing the NHL to a laughingstock.  Now I can't even look at the damn thing.

[FlyEaglesFly76]

well i gotta admit, i thought this would be a trainwreck and i was wrong. I'm starting to wonder if the Golden Knights will be the better LV team than the Raiders when they move, lol

[twi]

A big part of the expansion draft that’s being unaccounted for here is that it was the first time the existing teams had to make a protected list with considerations other than talent. Previous expansion drafts didn’t have the added variables of no trade/movement clauses and the salary cap. 

 

The histronics going on here over what is supposed to be entertainment or a hobby is insane. It’s the new “worst look evar!!!!” we get whenever a team rebrands. 

[Alex Houston]

5 hours ago, FGM13 said:

As an Oilers fan, it’s extremely frustrating to see a team just waltz into a Stanley Cup Final in the their first year when my team has been punching itself in the face for twelve years.

 

As a Canadian hockey fan who wants hockey to succeed and believes that the best way to do that is to put teams in hockey-mad markets, it’s frustrating to see this horrible idea for a hockey team get an advantage in the expansion draft that no other team has gotten.

 

As a sports fan, though? I do have to admit I kinda am okay with this run. Sure they shouldn’t exist in the first place and their team is more stacked than any other expansion team in history, but the fact remains that they’re still vastly overperforming their expectations and true-talent level, they’re playing exciting, fast-paced hockey with unreal goaltending, the story has been fantastic, and they do seem to have created some real hockey fans in Las Vegas, at least for the time being.

 

Is it dumb that there’s a team in Vegas? Sure. Should they be as good as they are? Probably not. Are they capturing the minds of sports fans in a way that no hockey team has in a while? Sure seems like it! Am I finding it fun? Hell yeah I am.

 

Let people enjoy things, FFS.

 

Let me ask you this: Considering your team has one of the greatest dynasties in the sport, is that any consolation to you and other Oiler fans when people try to talk trash about how crummy Edmonton has been for the most part in the last decade or so? I'd imagine being able to trump past accomplishments still overrides a lack of none, even if they were the ghosts of Messier past. 

[Crabcake]

2 hours ago, Morgo said:

 

I bought an authentic jersey for my collection back in November, simply because I thought it looked great.  I never would have dreamed this team would be playing for the cup and subsequently reducing the NHL to a laughingstock.  Now I can't even look at the damn thing.

Debates aside, Vegas’ jerseys are beautiful. Clean, not too busy, with a unique yet harmonious color scheme. 9/10

[The_Admiral]

17 minutes ago, Alex Houston said:

 

Let me ask you this: Considering your team has one of the greatest dynasties in the sport, is that any consolation to you and other Oiler fans when people try to talk trash about how crummy Edmonton has been for the most part in the last decade or so? I'd imagine being able to trump past accomplishments still overrides a lack of none, even if they were the ghosts of Messier past. 

 

Not an Oilers fan but I'll run my big fat mouth anyway: I think hockey fandom has developed an enormous recency bias that has some merit but is fast getting out of control. Oilers and Islanders fans can crow about their dynasties, but all I would have to say to that is that they won their championships when the NHL had 5'8" dudes in rollerblading kneepads playing goalie and otherwise unemployable chain-smoking mental defectives rounding out the bottom lines/pairings, so those Cups don't count. The Habs won most of their championships in a crooked league that was allegedly funneling the entirety of Quebec to the Habs' farm system (it wasn't quite like this but it sounds good), so those don't count either. And don't even get me started on the Maple Leafs. You can even flirt with throwing out the Devils' Cups as ill-gotten because they ran a neutral zone trap under the illegal two-line pass and free rein of goaltenders in the corners, all while Scott Stevens set out to murder people on the ice and everyone thought it was okay. I know all this because I've done all of those myself, a lot.

 

The NHL has indeed exploded in terms of its available talent pool, the physical fitness of said talent, the drugs to aid in that fitness, the equipment they use, goaltending technique, rule changes intended toward rewarding finesse (and occasionally they actually work that way), and so on. And that's all to say nothing of the documentation of the game: that washed-out, smeary standard-definition videotape of hockey looks like it may as well have been unearthed from an archaeological dig, and the league wasn't even good at keeping comprehensive statistics until like 1998. People were already figuring out how to honk off to internet porn, but they couldn't clock Brett Hull's ice time? So there are fair criticisms one can make about the legitimacy of the pre-pick-a-year-any-year NHL, but they come at the cost of acknowledging any sort of continuity between yesterday's game and today's, and when you don't have that continuity behind your game, you're arena football. And as some Franklin-Covey self-help douchebag might say, today is tomorrow's yesterday: are people going to belittle and diminish what Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane, Bergeron, and Stamkos achieved? Probably. And won't we feel like idiots for having cared so much about something so disposable?

 

So no, I don't think Oilers fans can point to the '80s much anymore. I don't know to what extent anyone can point to anything. I'm even starting to feel like the Blackhawks' achievements are yesterday's news and ready to be forgotten and denigrated as somehow compromised (I'm sure part of this pressure is from the Kane truthers). Topic for another day that I thought about broaching in the "Is This The Golden Age Of All Sports Ever" thread: I've never had less fun talking about sports online in my entire life.

[ElwoodCuse]

"the NHL let Montreal have first dibs on all the French players" is hockey's "the 1972 Dolphins all get together to have champagne when the last unbeaten team loses"

 

however, much like the NFL only "counts" Super Bowls, the NHL shouldn't count Stanley Cups before 1967-68