The official NHL playoff thread

May 11, 2017, 12:16 AM

May 11, 2017, 12:44 AM

Flashlightboy

Nice use of all the Legos your mom bought you.

May 11, 2017, 12:59 AM

pens68

Got to love playing the Caps in game seven!

May 11, 2017, 05:52 AM

SgtGold

Well THAT sucked!

At least now I can relax when I watch the rest of the games.

Nashville. It's all about Nashville........

May 11, 2017, 05:53 AM

lastmanstanding

The Predators and Ducks and the Pens and Senators.
Ok I'm officially uninterested now!

May 11, 2017, 06:35 AM

daikyu

A tough series but a great win by the Pens.

Fleury is the Pens playoff MVP up to this point. I hope he keeps it up.

Considering they are down their #1 defenseman and have not played with their #1 goalie the Pens are playing with a ton of heart. I just hope they have something left to play against the Sens.

May 11, 2017, 06:42 AM

Expat

Missed the game between Oilers and Ducks. Damn. I'm looking for the Senators and Predators in the final!

May 11, 2017, 07:14 AM

Palm

Caps fans, do you guys have any more chances or was this it? With it not happening this year do you have realistic hope for the future? (Not trying to rub it in as I wish you guys had won, just curious).

May 11, 2017, 10:55 AM

steelcityfishanddive

I was offshore the last couple days so I didn't get to see the Pens pull it out. I couldn't wait until we got back in to get cell service to see if they pulled it off. I like our chances against the Senators.

LET'S GO PENS!

May 11, 2017, 02:25 PM

mrbill345

quote:
Originally posted by Palm:
Caps fans, do you guys have any more chances or was this it? With it not happening this year do you have realistic hope for the future? (Not trying to rub it in as I wish you guys had won, just curious).

The off season will be interesting throughout the NHL considering the expansion draft, free agency, and GM's making moves with those & salary caps in mind.

Caps Unrestricted Free Agents: Oshie, Williams, Winnik, Alzner, & Shattenkirk. Restricted Free Agents: Kuznetsov, Burakovsky, Connolly, Orlov, Schmidt, & Grubauer.

I won't even try to figure out the expansion draft possibilities - it gives me a headache. At most teams can only lose 1 player.

Even the Pens will most likely have some big roster changes. UFA's: Kunitz, Bonino, Cullen, Daley, Street, Hainsey, Ruhwedel, & Gaunce. RFA's: Sundqvist, Sheary, Archibald, Schultz, & Dumoulin. Fleury won't return, but it unclear what the Pens will get in return.

Cap & salary info from capfriendly.com
Some interesting free agents will be available July 1st.

May 11, 2017, 02:49 PM

Flashlightboy

So what's the greatest sports rivalary?

The Caps and the second round of the NHL playoffs is what others are saying.

Caps fans need to realize that Mr. Elminin8ted isn't going to be a force, like a center, to propel the team forward and as a winger, he's more about his limited score chances than anchoring a line.

Ovech is more about Ovech than carrying the team.

May 11, 2017, 04:43 PM

Skins2881

quote:
Originally posted by Palm:
Caps fans, do you guys have any more chances or was this it? With it not happening this year do you have realistic hope for the future? (Not trying to rub it in as I wish you guys had won, just curious).

Not with this team. It is possible Ovi or Backstrom is gone, but very unlikely. Shattenkirk and Williams are likely to be gone. I hope they can keep Ohsie. It won't be the same team next year, I am sure of that.

Ovi, I don't know what to make of that guy, he's good at hitting people and scoring goals but doesn't lift the other players around him. If he was a real man he'd walk into Trotz's office and tell him to give the 'C' to someone else, it just doesn't work with him. Don't get me wrong I love Ovi, he's just not a Captain in my mind.

It will be beginning of a different era next season. There is no way they can sign all their UFAs and make one more go at it. It really sucks, best team in hockey two years straight and we can't get past the second round.

I hope to see Ohsie & Alzner resigned. Orlov, Schmidt, Kuzy should all be resigned as RFAs.

Then there's Las Vegas.

Sad times for Caps fans, it's the end of a era.

May 11, 2017, 05:05 PM

agony

I have a feeling Oshie's gonna walk. Hell, I would.

This series was the nail in the coffin for Ovi's career. He has never won anything in the media-created rivalry between him and Crosby.

I heard on the radio that prior to the series, Ovi would leave practice early. He's really in it for himself and only himself. The biggest mistake the Caps franchise ever made was putting the C on his jersey.

I truly feel sorry for Caps fans, but I don't know what Washington can do other than lay low for the next four years until they can run out Ovi's contract. At 32, what team wants him and his inflated salary?

Oshie deserves to be on another team.

May 11, 2017, 05:26 PM

chellim1

quote:
Oshie deserves to be on another team.

Blues fans agree!

May 11, 2017, 05:41 PM

mrbill345

Skins2881 & other Caps fans have you seen this Twitter rant by Slava Malamud? He's a Russian sportswriter. I've never heard of him. Darren Draeger pointed this rant out.

I'm interested in your opinions since I've never heard of the guy.

quote:
1/ #Caps problems extend beyond a bad def pair, an underperforming goalie. The failure is endemic and systematic. It’s the result of choices

2/ fanboy owner Leonsis made in 2004 when he decided his business model would be not building a winner but servicing a marketable megastar.

3/ There’s nothing wrong with building a team around a star, but it has to be the right kind of star. Ovi just isn’t the “win first” type.

4/ I’ve known Ovi since he was 17. Kid was born with a silverware set in his mouth. Always told he is the greatest, teammates must be worthy

5/ but his demands on himself stay the same. He’s not the bloodied inspirational leader. He is the tousled-hair sexy charismatic ruffian.

6/ Yes, he’s the NHL’s favorite stripper who’s been giving the hockey world a lap dance for 13 years. Sorry, but the length of your erection

7/ hockey world, is unhealthy by now. You need to face the truth: the Caps personality-cult culture is counterproductive to winning the cup.

8/ Fueled by innumerable fanboy blogs and media whipped into terrified subservience by CapsPR, the culture feeds on self, kills all dissent,

9/ and spurns all criticism. You know, Caps fans, that despite all the issues Oates and Hunter had, your main problem w/ them was trying to

10/ turn Ovi into a man of the system. You hate that. You want your boy toy wild and free. Everyone wants this of Ovi, even RUS coaches.

11/ Compare this to Crosby who will take any role on CAN w/o complaint. You call 87 a whiner, but who whined the loudest during the lockout,

12/ threatening to stay in the KHL? Who whines now, threatening to leave the league to get an Olympic trinket? While Leonsis bends over

13/ backwards to satisfy all his ridiculous demands. This is a guy who looks out for himself and his public image (Wild and Sexy Rebel,

14/ Patriot of Motherland). His only interest in the Cup is how his reflection will look in it. Problem is, Leonsis has the same priorities.

15/ He has dissolved himself and the team in Ovechkin’s 13-year-long marketing campaign. It worked out great financially. The price to pay

16/ is being humiliated every year by real winners. Congrats, Caps, you've sold lots of t-shirts. Congrats, Caps fans, you've been had.

17/ Oh, and that sound you’ve just heard is your window of opportunity slamming shut. I hope this wild ride on the Charisma Train was fun.

18/ Rant out. Enjoy your Redskins mini camp.

May 11, 2017, 05:53 PM

LS1 GTO

I suspect the Ducks/Predator game is going to be rather "physical."

May 11, 2017, 06:16 PM

Skins2881

quote:
Originally posted by chellim1:
quote:
Oshie deserves to be on another team.

Blues fans agree!

Shut your mouth!

**

As for mrbill's twitter thing. I think there's some truth to it. Ted L. is a fan as well as owner and has marketed the team well. I like him, I like the Rock the Red Era, but I also I miss cheap seats at US Air Arena/Caps Centre. Ovi is a great player, just not the core of a team in my mind. I don't even think he wants to be, I think he wants to go out and play and that is it, hard hits and great SOG. If not for his cap numbers, I liked him on 2nd/3rd line as a scorer with less a role. Not going to happen though, he sells seats and jerseys.

May 11, 2017, 06:28 PM

Skins2881

Thanks for the temp avatar chellim.

May 11, 2017, 07:23 PM

C-Dubs

As the Preds AHL team is a half hour away in Milwaukee, I feel an obligation to root for them in the West now.
But it surely won't be easy after the ass-kicking they gave my Hawks.

I don't like anyone in the East.

Just hope I can live to see the day where it's a Hawks/Redwings final series

May 13, 2017, 10:36 AM

Expat

Nice win on the road for the Predators last night.

I dislike Perry, but would love him on my team...I am amazed he laid down in front of the game winning shot as he did; that could have been a career ender.