2016 NHL Thread

Micky, I truly hate to but will disagree with you on goaltenders. Patrick Roy stole the cup in 1993 in Montreal, who had a so-so team but Roy was thief central. On the other hand, that was the rare exception bc otherwise , without a decent team, i doubt that can be repeated ever again. 

Weaker than you suspected? That team has proven that it can be one of the very best in the league when they play at their best. They went beastmode in the first quarter of the two last seasons starting with 12+ wins and no regular time losses, I watch every game and they were literally unbeatable at that point. Even during this series, they played far better than New York in most games, leading in possession time, shots, and average corsi. They played tight defensively but the Rangers capitalized on every little mistake from Montreal's defense, very opportunistic in contrast to the Habs. If Julien can establish the structure necessary to be consistent and give his players the drive to play at their full potential and if Bergevin can keep Radulov and add at least one good center, Montreal would be one hell of a team.

Impossible to dare trading Carey Price. He had a rough season coming back from that nasty injury and training all the way through the offseason to participate in the World Cup but I believe that guy more than anybody else in the league has the ability to make a team win by himself.

I totally get that. I don't even know why I'm taking it so easily myself. Maybe because I did my mourning after game 5, that OT loss was brutal.

Edited by Larkstongue41 - April 23 2017 at 20:11

tszirmay wrote: Micky, I truly hate to but will disagree with you on goaltenders. Patrick Roy stole the cup in 1993 in Montreal, who had a so-so team but Roy was thief central. On the other hand, that was the rare exception bc otherwise , without a decent team, i doubt that can be repeated ever again.

'93 huh... you got me there my friend.  The only thing I remember that year Thomas was drowning myself and my personal demons in bottles (cases in fact) of Jack Daniels in between fronting my band and somehow ending up on the Dean's list at Ok St.  Loved Oklahoma.. but the hockey coverage sucked

standing corrected.. but then again.. Price is and never has been Roy.

Not being attuned to the hate and rivalry.. how much is it going to hurt you guys to see the Leafs win cups.. perhaps multiple as Penguins and Capitals (and Rangers for that matter) are nearing the end of their team shelf lives as their stars start the downslide of their careers and their teams exit their Cup windows. 

Agree with much I am reading...far from a near collapse like years past... the Caps played a very good, even great, series once they adjusted to Toronto's speed (which may serve them well coming up against the Pens).. and they lost if they didn't.  Next year?  A new beast in the east.. that Toronto team impressed a lot of people.. myself included... youth, talent, size, skill, and speed to burn.


Edited by micky - April 24 2017 at 17:11

oh yeah..predictions...

completely blew the west.. with exception of my pick to come ou of the west. Missed the other 3.

Interestingly.. no game 7's in first round...  going with none in the 2nd.  Very definite favorites in these IMO.

yeah... but something I had overlooked until I read it today...

who is Toronto's GM...in charge of building that team.. something those other teams don't have..  he had already built one multiple cup winning decade plus long dynasty... more than capable of doing it there..  he sure has the parts with only needing to tighten up the talent on the blue line.

I was sort of curious how deep the rivalry ran between the fans and teams up there... obviously we have our own down here with the Pens. Of course we are always the ones getting our asses handed to us by them come playoff time.. so yeah it is probably a one sided rivalry ...reminds me of college where we HATED OU..  they whipped us every year.. and man how we hated it.. and them.. yet their feelings towards us...  nothing more than little puppies nipping at their ankles.

tszirmay wrote: Well Montreal and all those Stanley Cups has a little deeper history, obviously. Toronto represented the English crowd (Maurice Richard was almost viewed as a war hero against the conformist Toronto-led NHL) . The Bad Bruins remain the long time hated adversary. When the Nordiques were around, it was geographical and to an extent societal battle.  Toronto is a great city but it still struggles with things like fashion and culture , will never be the rebellious non-conformist sexy city Montreal was, is and will always be. Leafs GM is Lou Lamoriello, not exactly the dullest mind, eh? Great coach in Babcock and former star Shanahan as president. They will be good.

This despite having absorbed almost a half-million Montrealers between 76 and 81, which made Toronto come out of the XIXth C provincial town state of mind  into a modern XXIst C megametropolis...
I saw it happen with my very own eyes, but we still rushed out to Montreal every second w-e to party, booze, toke and get lais

(mmmmhhh!!!... those québécoise were for sure more promiscuous than our Torontonian ice cubes)

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Sill upset about the Habs being out, though... and between the Bruins (historically my second fave team after the Habs) and the Sens , I'm not unhappy for the Sens... And I can't believe those C&W Nashville hicks eliminating in four straifght the CBH . Happy to see the Oilers finally resurfacing though... After all if the Islanders did it last year, the Oilers were able to as well


Is that project to reimplant a QC franchise still on, btw??

With the Red Wings not making the playoffs this year for the first time in 26 years, we don't know what to do with ourselves here in "Hockeytown".  Me personally; I have moved on to baseball.