Running Stanley Cup Playoff Thread

Yes, but he had a very good season and almost won the Boston series by himself. You look at it as Price almost being run out of town, I look at it as Montreal keeping him over Halak. And I think he proved they made a smart decision with his play this season.

I don't know, I also really like big goaltenders that can move. If you remember, before the series even started I said the Bruins were going to face the weakest goalie they had faced in the playoffs...you pointed out Philly's goaltending was horrid, and were right, but I thought going in to the finals that Luongo was very, very beatable. And he was...especially in Boston and when it mattered most.

Back to what I said initially that got you all bent out of shape. Boston's defense was superior to Vancouver's in games 3-7. Luongo had a great game five, but the Bruins were a lot better defensively. I don't see how you could argue that...I thought they were better all the way up and down the pairings. And Boston's fourth line was the difference as well. It was a great series, but I think Boston proved to be a much deeper team with better defensemen.

 

This should tell you all you need to know about Luongo.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/canucks/2011-06-16-luongo-devastated_n.htm?csp=34

 

Vouncouver's defense is vastly overrated in their defensive ability. There's a reason Ehrhoff picked up the nickname "Error-hoff" in San Jose. It's a defense that all has big shots but struggles when a team can maintain long stretches of possession in its zone. Canucks fans wanted to run Bieksa out of town most of the year because of his inconsistency. It's an above average defense, but it's far from a great one.

Combine that with Vancouver's propensity to rely on players that get distracted when they're not the ones initiating the physical play, either turning to yapping, diving, stupid penalties or all three at once (Lapierre and Burrows as the premier examples) and Luongo's.... issues, and you've got a team that's going to be mercurial and as likely to fail as succeed in key moments.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they should "blow it up" because I think that's dumb in general - rebuilding from the ground up is more likely to fail than succeed unless you're drafting a Crosby, so it's much smarter to try and build around the pieces you do have provided you feel they'll be with your team for the next 4-5 years. But I think they have to take a hard look at some of the complimentary players on the 2-3 lines and the design of their defensive pairings. Luongo's inconsistency is also a huge issue, but given his contract, there's no getting away from that.

 

At no point this year were they trying to run Bieksa out. Hamhuis and him were there top pairing. The previous couple years, yes after he suffered two very bad injuries, he was very inconsistent We'll see what Erhoff gets as an unrestricted free agent. They led the league in goals and in goals against, won the presidents trophy and were one game away from winning a cup. Yet the collective brains on this board think they need huge changes. I honestly wonder how much hockey some of you watch outside your own teams. Of course they need a few changes but there are 28 other teams that would have traded positions with them this year.

Again, they don't have defensive superstars like Chicago, Nashville or a few other teams but please show me one with more depth. Philly, maybe but that is it.

 

I didn't want to start a new thread about this, but Lidstrom is back in Detroit with a one-year deal worth around $6 million. It helps that the cap was raised, at least for Detroit's sake as they might sign Jagr to a one-year deal for cheap or go after another defenseman.

 

It's easy to be the best defensive team in the league when you play four of the worst teams in the league a combined 24 games a year. No other team had as easy a path in the regular season.

 

I'll take an elite top pairing over depth at defense any day.

But meanwhile, the cap is now going to be $65 million, and more amazingly the floor will be $48 million. That's crazy.

 

Worse thing they could do is sign Jagr. Time to integrate a couple kids from Grand Rapids (possibly Cory Emmerton, or a couple others that names elude me right now).

As of right now, they only have four d-men (Lidstrom, Stuart, Kindl, and Kronwall) signed. If they bring in top prospect Brendan Smith, they need to sign one. (Salei and Ericsson are free agents).

 

Who is talking about huge changes? I said add a couple of enforcers, maybe some defensive depth and see what happens. I did say I don't know if Luongo can win a cup (meaning, can be the main reason Vancouver wins a cup), but they are stuck with him. No way do you blow a team with that much talent up...but they do need some leadership on that team. They could really use a guy that will call out the idiots when they flop and give up an odd-man rush or when they take a cheap, selfish penalty. Who on that team takes on a leadership role?

And your "I wonder how much hockey you guys actually watch" condescending comment is unnecessary. If you want to have a conversation we can all do that. If you want to think you are the smartest hockey fan in the room...great. Just keep it to yourself because, honestly, I don't care what you think about my or anyone else's hockey intelligence.

 

Moronic comment, the schedule is far more balanced than than you give it credit for, they play an extra 8 games against their division and they dominated the Pacific division which is the best division in hockey. That's some weak ass shit you are throwing against the wall. I thought your comeback would be how they play like the mid 90's devils and Stars. It keeps getting better from you.

 

So would I but when you can't have the elite, which few teams do you need the depth.

 

Wait, who are we talking about now? I'm confused. (With regards to a team in the Pacific and that being the best division or whatever)