NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[StCapps]

Ovechkin is the leader of the team, he's the Captain, it all falls on him, saying that Ovechkin "is being let down by his team", is an indictment of Ovechkin's leadership or lack there of, in of itself.

Team game. Team Leader can't do it all by himself, if the rest the team doesn't show up. You are a complete idiot if you think a team losing a series is always the Captain's fault, teams do not always follow the example set by their leadership, and to pretend that they do is fucking ridiculous.

Just because Crosby is kicking ass doesn't mean that Ovechkin sucks because he isn't playing as well as Crosby, that's not how it works.

[Smitty-48]

The Pens show up for Crosby, because Crosby leads the way, Ovechkin doesn't, simple as that, if the Pens weren't showing up, Crosby would lead them, he would drag them into the fight, whereas Ovechkin, he just sits at the back of the bus, as if this is somebody else's team, not his.

[StCapps]

The Pens show up for Crosby, because Crosby leads the way, Ovechkin doesn't, simple as that, if the Pens weren't showing up, Crosby would lead them, he would drag them into the fight, whereas Ovechkin, he just sits at the back of the bus, as if this is somebody else's team, not his.

The Pens show up for Crosby because they are better team than The Caps trying to show up for Ovechkin. Putting that all on the team leader is just dumb, go home you're drunk. Leadership is not as important in hockey as you surmise, and support from depth players is way more important than you surmise.

You treat this series as if it's some sort of one-on-one clash between Crosby and Ovechkin, just like media, but that isn't actually the story of this series, AT ALL. The more these fools keep trying to make that the story of this series, the more they prove that their knowledge of hockey could stand to see some serious improvement. If your big takeaway from this series is that Crosby is better than Ovechkin and that's why the Pens are winning, god help you.

[Smitty-48]

The Pens are a bunch of no-names; Kunackle, Cole, Sheary, Rust, Guentzel, Bonino, it's no all star team, the Caps are more stocked than the Pens, the Pens are missing their number one D and they're still dominating the field, the Caps not only have their full D, their number six D is Kevin Shattenkirk, the Caps have Justin Williams, Mr. Overtime himself, the Caps have a Vezina finalist in net who you claim to be one of the best, the Caps are the ones who are stocked, and they always are, but they never come together as a team, and there's only one constant, they always go out and load up with the best complimentary players available, but they can't get a new Captain.

[StCapps]

The Pens are a bunch of no-names; Kunackle, Cole, Sheary, Rust, Guentzel, Bonino, it's no all star team, the Caps are more stocked than the Pens, the Pens are missing their number one D and they're still dominating the field, the Caps not only have their full D, their number six D is Kevin Shattenkirk, the Caps have Justin Williams, Mr. Overtime himself, the Caps have a Vezina finalist in net who you claim to be one of the best, the Caps are the ones who are stocked, and they always are, but they never come together as a team, and there's only one constant, they always go out and load up with the best complimentary players available, but they can't get a new Captain.

Yet the Captain shows up and the depth takes a snooze. Must be the Captain's fault, not the depth for playing like shit. Next level idiocy, right here.

I see Malkin and Kessel showing up, I don't see Kuznetsov showing up.
Yet Malkin and Kessel must be showing up because Crosby is a great leader and Kuznetsov must not be showing up because Ovechkin is floating out there. Can't be Kuznetsov's fault, or Braden Holtby's fault, or the defense standing around letting Crosby score unmolested, or Barry Trotz fault for not having his team prepared to raise their game for the playoffs.

Nope it's the fault of the guy who is playing better than anyone else on the team, that's whose fault it really is.

[Smitty-48]

He doesn't show up where it counts, Ovechkin is one dimensional, he floats around looking for his big shot, he'll hustle for a few shifts, then he goes back to sleep, your whole matra about "Ovechkin is showing up" is a falsehood, he's supposedly the "most dominant goal scorer of his generation", and yet who is the playoff goal scoring leader? Some nobody who just happens to be playing on Crosby's wing, you really think Guentzel would be leading the playoffs in scoring, if he was playing with Ovechkin? Yeah right.

[StCapps]

He doesn't show up where it counts, Ovechkin is one dimensional, he floats around looking for his big shot, he'll hustle for a few shifts, then he goes back to sleep, your whole matra about "Ovechkin is showing up" is a falsehood, he's supposedly the "most dominant goal scorer of his generation", and yet who is the playoff goal scoring leader? Some nobody who just happens to be playing on Crosby's wing, you really think Guentzel would be leading the playoffs in scoring, if he was playing with Ovechkin? Yeah right.

Ovechkin is showing up, just because he isn't playing as good as Crosby right now, that doesn't mean he sucks. If that were true everyone would suck, including Conor McDavid and Jonathan Toews. So why you are attacking Ovechkin as if he's to blame for not playing as well as Crosby right now and the Caps losing the series is on him? It's a team sport dude, you seem to think this is basketball, not hockey, and hence you overvalue the contribution of the best player on a team to that teams overall success.

[Smitty-48]

Ovechkin has four goals in eight games, JG Pageau had four goals in one game, Auston Matthews has four goals in the playoffs, and he's been golfing for two weeks, Ovechkin is the Big Goal Scorer, who can't score in the playoffs, happens every year, and once that goes away, the rest of the Caps can't make up the difference, Ovechkin doesn't make other players around him better, he's a one trick pony, who can't do his trick, once somebody puts a body on him, he was mostly shut down by Nazem Kadri in the last series, and Nazem Kadri ain't no Bob Gainey, it's easy to shut the Caps down, you just put somebody on OV, and he can't score, since that's his only real trick, and the Caps are so reliant on it, so goes the Caps, every single year.

Meanwhile, you can throw any old meatsack on Sidney Crosby's wing, and suddenly that guy is leading playoffs in scoring, this is why you biuld a team from the middle out, start with the franchise center, wingers, no matter how good, are actually a dime a dozen.

[StCapps]

Ovechkin has four goals in eight games, JG Pageau had four goals in one game, Auston Matthews has four goals in the playoffs, and he's been golfing for two weeks, Ovechkin is the Big Goal Scorer, who can't score in the playoffs, happens every year, and once that goes away, the rest of the Caps can't make up the difference, Ovechkin doesn't make othr players around him better, he's a one trick pony, who can't do his trick, once somebody puts a body on him, he was mostly shut down by Nazem Kadri in the last series, and Nazem Kadri ain't no Bob Gainey, it's easy to shut the Caps down, you just put somebody on OV, and he can't score, since that's his only real trick, and the Caps are so reliant on it, so goes the Caps, every single year.

Ovechkin has gotten away from the one-dimensional game. He isn't just a scorer anymore, he's made some great fucking passes these playoffs, his vision has improved by leaps and bounds. You are living in the past. The rest of the team not scoring isn't Ovechkin's fault, he's been the best Capital on the ice all playoffs, him and Justin Williams seem to be the only guys on the team who are actually trying.

Ovechkin is the factor that is the least to blame for Washington's playoff troubles this year, so how you are trying to spin this into being the biggest factor is baffling to me. You must be trolling.

[Smitty-48]

Ovechkin has gotten away from the one-dimensional game. He isn't just a scorer anymore, he's made some great fucking passes, his vision has improved by leaps and bounds. You are living in the past.

Orly? To go along with his 4 goals, OV has a grand total of 2 assists. Malkin has 10. Crosby has 7. Kessel has 7.