2011-12 NHL Season

[NEW.ERA]

Yotes are probably going to lock up their first division title. Good for them, I can't hate the team. It's not their fault they've been put in this situation.

[BrySmalls]

New Jersey went 48-34 this season, with a little shootout inflation.

Florida will finish 38-44, with significant loser point inflation.

Yeah, sometimes life isn't fair.

However, life has a way of balancing out. In this case, Go Devils!

[Sodboy13]

Yotes are probably going to lock up their first division title. Good for them, I can't hate the team. It's not their fault they've been put in this situation.

Kinda want them to win the Cup now that the city has made it clear they're no longer wanted. That'll top New Jersey's parking lot parades.

Playing the Blackhawks will be a four-to-seven-game road trip for them, though.

[ninersdd]

Yotes are probably going to lock up their first division title. Good for them, I can't hate the team. It's not their fault they've been put in this situation.

The Yotes are my #2 team because they're from from AZ. If the Sharks can't win the division then it's cool if Phoenix does. With that said, it's still pathetic that the Sharks couldn't finish higher then them if that does happen.

[sportstar1212]

Stamkos nets #60!

[Kramerica Industries]

Stamkos nets #60, and a huge tip of my cap to the Winnipeg crowd for their ovation.

Awesome!

[NEW.ERA]

Yotes are probably going to lock up their first division title. Good for them, I can't hate the team. It's not their fault they've been put in this situation.

Kinda want them to win the Cup now that the city has made it clear they're no longer wanted. That'll top New Jersey's parking lot parades.

Playing the Blackhawks will be a four-to-seven-game road trip for them, though.

Same here.

I mean if Mike Smith can finally break the Bryzgalov trend of kicking ass in the Regular Season, and sucking in the Playoffs. They could probably meet up with St Louis or Nashville in the Western Conference Final. Traps I tell ya!! Sometimes they work.

But I find it hard to convince myself they'll be able to keep up with the offense that Hawks can bring, especially with Toews coming back.

Also congrats to Steven Stamkos! Would have been MVP if the Lightning were better this year.

[Still MIGHTY]

Yotes are probably going to lock up their first division title. Good for them, I can't hate the team. It's not their fault they've been put in this situation.

Kinda want them to win the Cup now that the city has made it clear they're no longer wanted. That'll top New Jersey's parking lot parades.

Playing the Blackhawks will be a four-to-seven-game road trip for them, though.

Same here.

I mean if Mike Smith can finally break the Bryzgalov trend of kicking ass in the Regular Season, and sucking in the Playoffs. They could probably meet up with St Louis or Nashville in the Western Conference Final. Traps I tell ya!! Sometimes they work.

But I find it hard to convince myself they'll be able to keep up with the offense that Hawks can bring, especially with Toews coming back.

Also congrats to Steven Stamkos! Would have been MVP if the Lightning were better this year.

I don't think they're going to have to keep up with the Hawks, because they'll be able to keep them down. Hawks went 1-2-1 against the Yotes, outshot them 133-94, but got outscored 13 to 9 and were shutout once in Phoenix. Don't forget how hot Mike Smith has been lately. His record as of late isn't necessarily a product of the system. Smith has been playing great. I have the Yotes beating the Blackhawks, home-ice disadvantage or not.

[Kramerica Industries]

I've always thought Mike Smith had what it takes to be a very good goaltender, even in his darkest days in Tampa.

He was the only bright spot on the horrendous '08-'09 team, until he suffered a concussion, tried to play through it, and ended up destroying his confidence for basically the rest of his time in the organization. I will say that, in limited duty late last season and in the ECF vs. Boston, he looked very good. Factor in his familiarity with Dave Tippett's system from their days in Dallas, and I won't say I expected Smitty to be this good, but I wasn't shocked that Smith wound up being a sufficiently adequate starter. I doubt he would've had the same success if he stayed in Tampa, given the significantly weaker defensive quality of the team and the fact that he was the classic "needs-change-of-scenery" type of person.

The Lightning traded Brad Richards for that guy since they were in salary cap hell. If he were always this good, I would venture as far as to say that trade would've been worth it. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20 and it didn't work out all that well. Ces't la vie.

[The_Admiral]

The Hawks can beat the house team if Toews is back and Bolland goes into his usual playoff gear. Our guys at their best are better hockey players than theirs. It's just a matter of Crawford mustering up something adequate and the refs calling some modicum of the obstruction the Coyotes rely heavily on.

Curious commentary on the CBC right now. They're saying how it's unfortunate for Stamkos that he scored 60 goals and still couldn't make the playoffs, but it's also unfortunate for Dwayne Roloson that this may be his final game in the NHL. That Stamkos can't make the playoffs with a 60-goal season is Dwayne Roloson's fault. You can only feel sorry for one.

EDIT: Jets tie it in the last minute

See?

[Kramerica Industries]

Mathieu Garon, a good backup but not starter on a defensively-poor team, still managed to go 23-18 in his decisions.

That really reflects how bad Dwayne Roloson was this season. I almost get the feeling that, if Garon had been in net for 55-60 starts, the Lightning would've stayed in contention longer then they did. Roloson really was that bad this year.

[Still MIGHTY]

The Hawks can beat the house team if Toews is back and Bolland goes into his usual playoff gear. Our guys at their best are better hockey players than theirs. It's just a matter of Crawford mustering up something adequate and the refs calling some modicum of the obstruction the Coyotes rely heavily on.

I don't disagree that on paper the Blackhawks have more talent and should be the better team. The Coyotes just play better as a team, and, almost by your own admission, have better goaltending. Goaltending, tight defense, and just overall better teamwork can win in this league.

And while I'm an admitted Coyotes apologist, I'm still a fan of another team and can look objectively at the Coyotes through the numerous games I attend in the season (often not even rooting for the Yotes) and watch on TV, and I just don't see this huge "reliance" on obstruction that you continue to harp on. I know you hate the Coyotes and Glendale, (Hell, I live here. I hate Glendale.) but they aren't this huge, trudging pile of sludge you make them out to be.

----

Carolina with a goal. 3-1 with 11:30 left. Let the countdown to the loser-point-earned division title commence!

[Kramerica Industries]

I would love to see Florida manage to lose in OT/SO.

They'd finish 4th overall in the division as far as W-L go, and I think it was pointed out that they would actually have the fewest ROW in the division. And that'd be the division winners!

[The_Admiral]

I don't disagree that on paper the Blackhawks have more talent and should be the better team. The Coyotes just play better as a team, and, almost by your own admission, have better goaltending. Goaltending, tight defense, and just overall better teamwork can win in this league.

And yet the Nashville/Phoenix model seems to lead to crapping out in the first round against elite talent. "Better teamwork" is a pretty nebulous concept that's just applied retroactively in lieu of anything readily quantifiable. "I dunno why they won. They had better teamwork!" Unless that's just another code for trapping?

They'd finish 4th overall in the division as far as W-L go, and I think it was pointed out that they would actually have the fewest ROW in the division. And that'd be the division winners!

They'll still tie for last.

[Still MIGHTY]

I don't disagree that on paper the Blackhawks have more talent and should be the better team. The Coyotes just play better as a team, and, almost by your own admission, have better goaltending. Goaltending, tight defense, and just overall better teamwork can win in this league.

And yet the Nashville/Phoenix model seems to lead to crapping out in the first round against elite talent. "Better teamwork" is a pretty nebulous concept that's just applied retroactively in lieu of anything readily quantifiable. "I dunno why they won. They had better teamwork!" Unless that's just another code for trapping?

Phoenix played a great seven game series with Detroit two years ago that they probably should have won, and the sweep the Red Wings last year could be blamed on a lot of other outside crap (namely that they should be in Winnipeg, not the Thrashers). Nashville beat a Ducks team that was better on paper last season and played a very tight six-game series with the Canucks. I wouldn't say either is "crapping out". And look, I'm not picking Phoenix to win the Stanley Cup (although, I'm leaning toward picking Nashville out of the West, because system/trap/whatever they still have the best defense and goaltending in the West.), but I think you're not giving them enough credit for just being good as a collective. In a series of one-on-one pickup games, yes the Hawks would win, but in team vs team, I've got the Yotes.

And yeah, I wish I had a better way to describe the "better teamwork" concept, but I just don't have the same copious, exorbitant, grandiose, and voluminous vocabulary as you.

-----

And looks like Florida is actually going to WIN a game in REGULATION and take the division title.

[The_Admiral]

Nashville has been doing the same thing for years and they've won one playoff round. There's some merit to the theory that, much like the Oakland A's, their crap doesn't work in the playoffs.

If the Hawks ramp it up for the playoffs, as they did last year after stumbling and floating through the regular season (which they did again), then they just might have a prayer of getting past the unbeatable Mike Smith. I hope they do; the thrill of being the team that knocks Phoenix out of the NHL forever would be too much.

[DarkJourney]

Go Devils. Take down those evil Panthers.

[Don]

So the Caps are...shipping up to Boston...

[TFoA]

And looks like Florida is actually going to WIN a game in REGULATION and take the division title.

LOL!!!! I was honestly hoping that the Canes would come back & send it to OT, but the Canes are awful this year and tonight was no exception. Anyways, congrats to the Panthers for pulling off one of the most impressive troll jobs since "Your 7-9 NFC West Champion Seattle Seahawks!" They more-than-likely won't pull off the upset like the Seahawks did, but the fact that it actually happened is enough.

Plus, seeing those rats get thrown on the ice again was actually pretty cool from a nostalgia standpoint.

[Seadragon76]

Playoff matchups are set in the East:

(8)Ottawa vs. (1)NY Rangers (I have a strange feeling that Ranger fans are not looking foward to this matchup since the Sens took three of four)

(5)Pittsburgh vs. (4)Philadelphia (If the series is anything like today's game, it'll be great)

(7)Washington vs. (2)Boston (Boston fans must have that same feeling Ranger fans are having)

(6)New Jersey vs. (3)Florida (Florida won the Southeast? Wow... I guess that must be similar to being the tallest midget in the room)