NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[SilverEagle]

Backstrom has 3+5, Williams has 3+3, Oshie has 3+9, Johansson has 2+3, everybody on the Caps is scoring to their pace, except Ovechkin, the depth has actually shown up, they're the only ones who have showed up, the only other guy who hasn't shown up, is Kuzetzov, surprise-surprise; another Russian Prima Donna.

The Caps did the Pens a big favour taking Ovechkin in the draft, they could have had Malkin instead; whoops. The Caps picked the shitty Russian, the Pens got the real first overall pick that year.

Yes they did! A huge favor and in return they kick the Caps ass in the playoffs every chance they get! Wingers are great but you can get them cheap. A franchise Center is huge and the Pens have had two for over a decade.

[StCapps]

Backstrom has 3+5, Williams has 3+3, Oshie has 3+9, Johansson has 2+3, everybody on the Caps is scoring to their pace, except Ovechkin, the depth has actually shown up, they're the only ones who have showed up, the only other guy who hasn't shown up, is Kuzetzov, surprise-surprise; another Russian Prima Donna.

Meh Backstrom might have more points but he's not playing as good as Ovechkin. Johansson isn't playing better than Ovechkin either. Williams and Oshie aren't enough to compete with the depth the Pens are throwing at them, not even close. Ovechkin may have had a slow start in the Leafs series in the scoring department, but his all around game has been strong all along and he has 3 points in 2 games against the Pens.

It's the depth, defense and goaltending that are fucking the Capitals right in the ass the most in the playoffs, and they just so happen to be the most important factors when it comes to playoffs success, who could have seen that coming?


You overrate the importance of a team's wunderwaffen my friend.

[Smitty-48]

You overrate the importance of a team's wunderwaffen my friend.

No I don't, they're more important than ever in fact, because in the Cap era, if you take away the Wunderwaffen, and all the teams are basically the same.

[StCapps]

No I don't, they're more important than ever in fact, because in the Cap era, if you take away the Wunderwaffen, and all the teams are basically the same.

Well they are more important than ever thanks to the salary cap, but still not more important than goaltending, defense and depth in the playoffs, but they have closed the gap a little bit. In the regular season it's the most important factor, but come playoff time when all the top teams have at a least a solid wunderwaffen, it becomes a lot less important and the other factors take over prominence. The wunderwaffen is still quite important, but let's not oversell it.

[Smitty-48]

Goaltending is not that important anymore, you can win the Cup with three or four Wundewaffen, two centers, a winger, and a number one D, with merely adequate goaltending, Montreal has Carey Price, but no Centres, so the Leafs are actually closer to the Cup right now, by Auston Matthews alone.

Defensive depth is not that important neither, only the top 4 D matters, who is the bottom paring for Nashville? Who cares? Nobody has defensive depth, so it doesn't matter, after the top 4 D, all the teams are basically the same.

[StCapps]

Goaltending is not that important anymore, you can win the Cup with three or four Wundewaffen, two centers, a winger, and a number one D, with merely adequate goaltending, Montreal has Carey Price, but no Centres, so the Leafs are actually closer to the Cup right now, by Auston Matthews alone.

If by merely adequate goaltending, you mean you don't need a star, just a dude who gets hot down the stretch or makes some real timely saves then sure. You can't win with shitty goaltending though, absolutely cannot. You can win with merely adequate Wunderwaffen too if the rest of your team is rock solid in other areas, not one thing is the key to victory, but that said goaltending is still the most important factor.

[Smitty-48]

Goaltending is not that important anymore, you can win the Cup with three or four Wundewaffen, two centers, a winger, and a number one D, with merely adequate goaltending, Montreal has Carey Price, but no Centres, so the Leafs are actually closer to the Cup right now, by Auston Matthews alone.

If by merely adequate goaltending, you mean you don't need a star, just a dude who gets hot down the stretch or makes some real timely saves then sure. You can't win with shitty goaltending though, absolutely cannot.

You can win with a shitty goaltender, who is just being well insulated, Niemi, Crawford, Gigere, Thomas, you yourself have declared Holtby to be a star and Fleury to be a liability, and yet here we are, with Fleury putting on a clinic, and Holtby getting pulled.

[StCapps]

You can win with a shitty goaltender, who is just being well insulated, Niemi, Crawford, Gigere, Thomas, you yourself have declared Holtby to be a star and Fleury to be a liability, and yet we are, with Fleury putting on a clinic, and Holtby getting pulled.

Giguerre played lights out for the Ducks, he was otherworldly, probably the single best example of a hot goalie with a shit team carrying said shit team to the Cup final.

Crawford never played shitty in net when the Hawks won the cup, the years they won the cup were years where he had his best years in the playoffs, and made real timely saves, especially down the stretch. Hardly a coincidence.

Thomas got hot for the Bruins, and Niemi played pretty good the year the Hawks won with him too.

Goaltending was still massive factor even in your cherry picked examples, just shows how far off the mark you are with this line of commentary. Even the 80's Oilers had Grant Fuhr and that's the best example of wunderwaffen carrying a team in the playoffs that you could ever think of. More goalies have carried their teams to a Stanley Cup than wunderwaffens who have carried their team to a Stanley Cup, this is pretty obvious.

[Smitty-48]

Guigere was all Neidermayer and Pronger, Niemi and Crawford was all Keith and Seabrook, Thomas was all Chara and Seidenberg, take those top D-parings away, and none of those goalies can stop a beachball.

Guigere comes to the Leafs and he is quickly exposed as being a fraud, Niemi is the worst goaltender in the league, the year after Boston won the Cup, they couldn't give Tim Thomas away. Crawford showed his true colours this year, with the big guns for Chicago just not showing up.

[StCapps]

Guigere was all Neidermayer and Pronger, Niemi and Crawford was all Keith and Seabrook, Thomas was all Chara and Seidenberg, take those top D-parings away, and none of those goalies can stop a beachball.

Neidermeyer and Pronger, Keith and Seabrook. That's defense, not wunderwaffen, you are making my point for me. Even the best wunderwaffens get bailed out by defense, goaltending and depth in order to win the cup, that's a fact.

Goalie, Defense and Depth > Wunderwaffen