NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[StCapps]

The Superweapon can be at any position, the Superweapon can be a goalie, but in this day and age of no obstruction allowed, the Superweapon Goalie is no longer the center of gravity it once was, you don't need a Roy, or a Brodeur, or a Hasek, or a Price, you can get away with adequate goaltending, so long as you have two Superweapons up the middle, and at least one on the back end. If you have the top two Franchise Centres, and at least one, although preferably two Franchise Defencemen, presto, you're a Cup Contender, even with a mediocre goaltender.

Never said you needed Roy, Brodeur, Hasek, or Price, just a hot goalie, or at least one who can make the big saves when they matter. Crawford on top of his game and making timely saves is certainly enough if you got the rest of the team to back it up, for instance. Grant Fuhr didn't need to be lights out for the 80's Oilers to win the cup either, just make some clutch saves in close games.

The rest of the team is interchangeable, Lars Eller to Nick Bonino, Justin Williams to Kris Kunitz; dime a dozen, you can get those sorts of players at any time, for a second round pick.

There are only so many second round picks you can trade away. They might be a dime a dozen, but if you don't have a good dozen it can get tricky when you run into other teams who do and the rest of their team isn't slacking. Obviously I'm not suggesting one should waste resources overpaying their depth players when they are dime a dozen, that's something the Leafs would do, I'm just saying.

I could take Carey Price and all the depth players off of Pittsburg and swap them out for the guys on the Leafs, wouldn't change a thing, but with Matthews, Nylander, Marner, and just one more Superweapon on the back end, presto; Cup Contenders, just like that, even with Freddie Can't Stop a Beachball Andersen in net.

Adding Price and more forward depth would be of little help, because your defense is so trash. The leafs biggest problems are they don't yet have a franchise defensemen and they lack defensive depth. A star goalie and extra forward depth certainly won't save them from those issues, I agree. That's not because forward depth and goaltending aren't important in the playoffs though, it's because the Leafs getting help in those areas wouldn't improve the team as much because they have bigger holes in other areas that need addressing far more.

[Smitty-48]

Going forward, I like the Leafs defence better than Washington's, Rielly is better than Carlson, Gardiner is better than Niskanen, Zaitsev is better than Orlov, Alzner is leaving, but he's going to be the new David Clarkson Contract; a vaslty overpaid Polak, Orpik was way less effective than Hunwick, and I wouldn't trade Connor Carrick for a $7 million Shattenkirk.

The Leafs will shore up their back end, but are starting with a better puck moving core than Washington, the Washington D is actually slow and not able to move the puck up to the forwards effectively, Washington is going to have to rebuild after this year, their window is closing, and they don't have much down in Hershey, they don't even have a top defensive prospect, Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen are better than any of the D prospects they have down in Hershey, and they are cap locked as far as salary goes, they are at $72.9 right now, can't afford to keep Shattenkirk nor Alzner, and with no D men to come up from the minors to replace them, Washington is going to be very thin on the back end.

[StCapps]

Going forward, I like the Leafs defence better than Washington's, Rielly is better than Carlson, Gardiner is better than Niskanen, Zaitsev is better than Orlov, Alzner is leaving, but he's going to be the new David Clarkson Contract; a vaslty overpaid Polak, Orpik was way less effective than Hunwick, and I wouldn't trade Connor Carrick for a $7 million Shattenkirk.

The Leafs will shore up their back end, but are starting with a better puck moving core than Washington, the Washington D is actually slow and not able to move the puck up to the forwards effectively, Washington is going to have to rebuild after this year, their window is closing, and they don't have much down in Hershey, they don't even have a top defensive prospect, Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen are better than any of the D prospects they have down in Hershey, and they are cap locked as far as salary goes, they are at $72.9 right now, can't afford to keep Shattenkirk nor Alzner, and with no D men to come up from the minors to replace them, Washington is going to be very thin on the back end.

Yeah, I'm with you. They are just too fucking slow, on the back end. Time to blow up the whole thing and rebuild, trade the whole wunderwaffen for a real top end franchise center, a franchise puck moving defensemen. They'll be forced to do it eventually, might as well do it now and get something back for all those assets on paper.

[Smitty-48]

Crazy at it sounds to hear me say it, but Washington could really use Jake Gardiner right about now, sure, he goes for a skate in his own end from time to time, but the reality is, he drove the play from the back end for the Leafs all year.

John Carlson; 9+28=37, played only 72 games, finished at +10; on the P-Trophy winners with a Vezina Holtby in net.

Jake Gardiner; 9+34=43, palyed all 82 games, at +24; on a team of posession challenged rookies with Freddie Can't Stop a Beachball Andersen in net.

The Leafs Number Three Defenceman, is acually better than Washington's Number One.

Washington may have more defensive depth, but their top three is not better than the Leafs, and it's not better than what a Letang free Pittsburg can throw together neither, and that's coming back to haunt them now, because they're not moving the puck, and they're not fast enough to keep up with the Pittsburg Wunderwaffen, just like they weren't with the Leafs Wunderwaffen, Billy Nylander was backing that Washington D off, before they even got to Kessel.

They surrender the zone, they back off in the face of pace, and then they have trouble with the heavy shifts, they end up chasing in their own end, so if Ovechkin doesn't shoot the lights out and just score them out of trouble, Washington is actually fucked, because the reality is, defensively, they're actually not very good. Cue Ovechkin going for a choke, sayonara Washington, again.

[StCapps]

Lots of depth on defense but no true franchise defensemen and absolutely no speed, that's just ends up wasting the depth, especially against faster teams. God are they slow, not only that but they just stand around and watch the puck at the moment exacerbating the issue even further. Wouldn't be surprised if they get swept at this rate.

[Smitty-48]

The only thing that can save them now, is Ovechkin just suddenly coming off his float, and shooting the lights out, getting red hot and staying red hot for four straight games, but good luck with that. 4+2 in 8 = another year, another playoff slump, *cough*choke*cough*

[StCapps]

The only thing that can save them now, is Ovechkin just suddenly coming off his float, and shooting the lights out, getting red hot and staying red hot for four straight games, but good luck with that. 4+2 in 8 = another year, another playoff slump, *cough*choke*cough*

OV is playing much better than his playoff point totals indicate, but if they are going to win he's got to keep stepping his game up on the scoring end for sure. Kuznetsov most of all has to get off his ass, and so does Backstrom. They need all three to get going or they are boned, I don't think two of three will be enough, and even in that case, with the way Holtby is playing right now, they still might only be able to steal a game or two in all likelihood.

[Smitty-48]

When you're saying things like "he's doing other things well, but he's just not scoring", about your ten million dollar goal scoring winger, who is the Franchise and Captain, that's the same as saying that he is choking, in of itself.

If the team wasn't built around a ten million dollar franchise goal scoring winger, might not be such a problem, but since it is, and he's choking again; diferent year, same problem.

[StCapps]

When you're saying things like "he's doing other things well, but he's just not scoring", about your $10 million goal scoring winger, who is the Franchise and Captain, that's the same as saying that he is choking, in of itself.

Don't agree. He's changing his game to be more well rounded, and is succeeding far more than I could have ever imagined but two years ago. To not give him dap for that would be a crime. He's playing with great energy and he's not missing the net or the pass often enough to signify him actually choking. He's been the best Cap on the ice so far this playoffs from what I've seen, with the exception of Oshie, OV isn't the problem. Not that they couldn't use him playing even better, of course they could.

I just don't get this knee jerk reaction of the media to automatically blame Ovechkin when the team clearly has far bigger problems right now, especially against the Pens. Ovechkin has 3 points in 2 games against the Pens, so he has already stepped up his scoring rate from the Leafs series when he only had 3 points in 6 games. Ovechkin only looks bad when comparing his play to Crosby or Malkin in this series, but he's actually playing pretty well, despite the rest of his team aside from Oshie and Williams crapping the bed.

*cough* Kuznetsov *cough*

[Smitty-48]

You can give him all the Not Scoring Daps you please, I don't give daps to wingers, for not scoring, if I'm handing out daps up in here, they're going to Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, and Guentzel, 1st-4th in playoff scoring, 1.43 to 1.86 PPG, as opposed Ochokeskin, who's 19th at 0.75 PPG, way behind Oshie and Backstrom, who are the only guys scoring for Washington right now, putting to bed the idea that somehow it's not Ovechkin dragging them down.