NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[SuburbanFarmer]

Fuck everybody.

/hockey season.

[StCapps]

The Pens depth always steps up though, Connor Sheary and Bryan Rust, who the hell are those guys? They Pens, like every other team, have a supporting cast, everybody has one of those, that ain't no thang, but on the Pens, they have Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, and what that actually does, is make their role players believe, beleive that anything is possible, and that goes straight to their legs, the Pens are the best team in the league, when it comes to squeezing more for less out of their depth.

If the depth, defense and goaltending can't step up when the big boys go silent, that's all irrelevant. You are just assuming that if one line goes silent, another line will pick up the slack, but what if all three go silent? They won't have the defense and the goaltending to keep winning, that's what. All Wundewaffens have their ups and downs, if a team winning is dependent on long stretches of ups and very few downs being experienced by their wunderwaffen, then that wunderwaffen carrying a team all the way to winning a Stabley Cup is extremely unlikely, which is probably why it has never happened.

[Smitty-48]

If Pittsburg only had one line, then "going silent" might be an issue, but that's actually the issue for all the other teams, if Erik Karlsson goes cold on Ottawa, if Rick Nash doesn't score for the Rangers, if Alex Ovechkin can't get his shot from the off wing half boards, they will all be shut down, same thing with the teams from the West, there's only three teams in the league which have three lines which can kill you, the Lightning, the Leafs, and the Pens, and the Pens, are the only one left, and their three lines, are the best of the best.

[StCapps]

If Pittsburg only had one line, then "going silent" might be an issue, but that's actually the issue for all the other teams, if Erik Karlsson goes cold on Ottawa, if Rick Nash doesn't score for the Rangers, if Alex Ovechkin can't get his shot from the off wing half boards, they will all be shut down, same thing with the teams from the West, there's only three teams in the League which have three lines which can kill you, the Lightning, the Leafs, and the Pens, and the Pens, are the only one left, and their three lines, are the best of the best.

I've seen teams with three lines get shut down before, all the damn time. Just because they are harder to shut down than teams with one line doesn't mean they can't get shut down. I've seen Crosby and Malkin disappear in the playoffs before for long stretches, and even at the same time, so why the fuck can't that happen again while Kessel is playing like shit?

It can easily happen and if it does, the Pens have no answer other than hoping their best players snap out of it. That can easily be a recipe for losing a series that they easily could have won, and it's why I have so little faith in the Pittsburgh Penguins. This would hardly be the first time their wunderwaffen has gone cold and their goaltending cost them the series, it happens pretty much every fucking time they lose in the playoffs, and the current iteration of the team is no way insulated simply because they added Phil Kessel, get real.

[Smitty-48]

If Pittsburg only had one line, then "going silent" might be an issue, but that's actually the issue for all the other teams, if Erik Karlsson goes cold on Ottawa, if Rick Nash doesn't score for the Rangers, if Alex Ovechkin can't get his shot from the off wing half boards, they will all be shut down, same thing with the teams from the West, there's only three teams in the League which have three lines which can kill you, the Lightning, the Leafs, and the Pens, and the Pens, are the only one left, and their three lines, are the best of the best.

I've seen teams with three lines get shut down before, all the damn time. Just because they are harder to shut down than teams with one line doesn't mean they can't get shut down. I've seen Crosby and Malkin disappear in the playoffs before for long stretches, why the fuck can't that happen again while Kessel is playing like shit?

Anything can happen, Erik Karlsson could go all world Conn Smythe and win the Cup for Ottawa, but structurally, the Pens have the most formidable line-up, because Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, is like having three Erik Karlsson's, when all the other teams only have one, or not even one.

It's all going to come down to scoring when the games get tight, and Pittsburg has the best player in the world for that, plus two spares.

When you have that much firepower of that high quality, you could just throw Tristan Jarry in net, the goalie won't be the deciding factor.

[StCapps]

Anything can happen, Erik Karlsson could go all world Conn Smythe and win the Cup for Ottawa, but structurally, the Pens have the most formidable line-up, because Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, is like having three Erik Karlsson's, when all the other teams only have one, or not even one.

It's all going to come down to scoring when the games get tight, and Pittsburg has the best player in the world for that, plus two spares.

The Pens may have the most formidable lineup, but that doesn't mean they will win the Cup when their goaltending and defense are so trash. On paper they should be the favorites, but anyone who has seen Marc Andre Fleury in the playoffs and knows how important Letang is to their chances of winning knows that on paper doesn't mean jack shit.

Goaltending > Defense > Depth Scoring > Wunderwaffen
A team who is built on the least important factor when it comes to playoff success is not as scary as they look on paper.

[Smitty-48]

Anything can happen, Erik Karlsson could go all world Conn Smythe and win the Cup for Ottawa, but structurally, the Pens have the most formidable line-up, because Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, is like having three Erik Karlsson's, when all the other teams only have one, or not even one.

It's all going to come down to scoring when the games get tight, and Pittsburg has the best player in the world for that, plus two spares.

The Pens may have the most formidable lineup, but that doesn't mean they will win the Cup when their goaltending and defense are so trash.

Well, I don't see anybody in their path, who is any better, the Hawks were the team where you would say "if you don't have Letang, you can't beat the Hawks", but since the Hawks are out, and all the teams remaining are pretty mediocre, just as if not more flawed than the Pens, with no Sidney Crosby, the Pens actually still have a good chance of making the stretch, even without Letang.

I'm not guaranteeing anything, I would have just written off the Pens when Letang went down, but after the Hawks went out, all they basically have to do, is beat the Caps, and then its pretty much clear sailing from there, and after seeing the Caps against the extremely flawed Leafs, I think the Caps are very beatable.

[StCapps]

You don't need to be better to win, you just have to catch the Pens when they aren't firing on all cylinders, and that isn't that hard. I think it more likely that a lesser team beats them, than the Pens winning the cup. When it comes to cup favorites, they are about as weak as they come.

[Smitty-48]

Yeah, so? You don't think the Pens will win, big whoop. You're welcome to your opinion, but you don't have to repeat it over and over for twenty pages, we heard you the first time.

[StCapps]

Yeah, so? You don't think the Pens will win, big whoop. You're welcome to your opinion, but you don't have to repeat it over and over for twenty pages, we heard you the first time.

You don't have to repeat how awesome Crosby, Malkin and Kessel are for 20 pages. We heard you the first time.