The NHL is as cynical and as disinterested in its own sport as any professional sports league iin the history of the world, but I don’t recall people complaining about this back the FIRST time the NHL had an wholly divisional playoff system. If anything, people fondly remember the Battles of Alberta and whatnot.
Unless you play a dead-balanced schedule, eliminate loser points, and just rank the playoff teams 1-to-16 and go from there, no playoff system will be completely “fair” in the sense you’re describing it.
I mean, does it suck for the Blue Jackets? Yeah, it does. But look, if they can’t win a single game in their opening series - after losing seven of their last ten regular season games - how good are they, really? Great team in 2016, but they’re above .500 in one of their last four calendar months. Maybe they’re not really all that good.
Ultimately the Stanley Cup champion will have to bear four teams and win sixteen games. Nobody gets an easy path. If Columbus is a legitimately good team they’ll be back next year.
Well then…let’s hope they keep him safe till Wednesday night!! My son just scored us some tickets.
I DO NOT expect the Wild to roll over and play dead but it would be GREAT to see the BLUES sweep it at home…We will be one section over from the Towel Guy.
It’s before my time, but I’ve heard people complaining in retrospect about how terrible the Norris division was. And while I’m sure Edmonton fans loved the format and neutral fans liked the epic series, Calgary fans probably have a different opinion about having to go through Gretzky every single year.
That’s all fair and valid, but notching their first ever Stanley Cup playoff series win would have been huge for the CBJ locally. Not that beating Ottawa would have been a foregone conclusion, by the way. I’m certain the CBJ would struggle to beat anyone right now.
Nothing would make me happier in regards to the NHL as for the Wild to end with the same number of postseason wins for the year as the Red Wings.
Being a Wings fan in Minnesota is almost as bad as being a Packers fan. They really don’t give a shit about the Timberwolves - I get off easy for the Bulls.
Holy shit Toronto. I never expected this. Keep it up boys. You’re playing phenomenally!
Brian Boyle, what a great last minute aquisition.
Kadri, channeling Doug Gilmour.
Kapenen, take that Kessel!!
Fun, fun, fun.
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Every team I had any interest in this year, since the Stars already fell on their heads, lost in OT last night. I give up. It’s baseball season now, and the Texas Rangers won 7-0 last night. I think I’m going to let hockey go for the year, as much as it hurts.
I do have to say that channel-hopping from a hockey game (wild, heart pounding excitement) to a baseball game is sort of like dropping a quaalude. But restful.
Orr maybe not. But he’s a greater player than Paul Coffey, I’ll absolutely agree with that. If Karlsson had played in the 1980s he’d have scored a hundred points every yea, and might well have won the “NHL Scoring Champion For People Not Named Gretzky” award.
In deciding who should win the Hart Trophy, there’s a rather obvious argument for Karlsson; there isn’t a player in the league whose absence would be worse for his team than Karlsson’s. If the Penguins don’t have Sidney Crosby they’d still be a damn good team. If the Senators don’t have Erik Karlsson they would have finished fourteenth.
Karlsson is allegedly hurt. That is difficult to comprehend, because it’s hard to believe how one could play more brilliantly. I don’t think Ottawa has one chance in thirty of winning the Stanley Cup - they are up on Boston but are not dominating them by any means, must face vastly superior opponents to get that far, and at the start of the playoffs could have been strongly argued to have been the worst of the 16 teams that made it - but God, I hope they do someday for this guy’s sake.
The Predators have been a joy to watch. They have held the Blackhawks scoreless in 8 of 9 periods plus an OT. Rinne, the goalie, was suppose to be the weak point and has been outstanding. He has as many points (2 assists) in the series as the Hawks have goals.
I don’t live in Nashville but have visited and been to a couple of their games. What a job by the franchise to adapt hockey to the community. Clinics and free skates to the youths. A country band behind the goal between periods. This season they sold out every game. This was a place where it was said hockey was doomed to fail. Listening to the crowd, they know their hockey. THAT’S how to build a franchise. The owners knew that a lot of northerners were moving to Nashville and they saw that a market was there. Then they developed and expanded it. The fans are great! If you want to travel with your team what better place to visit than Nashville? Yes, you will see a lot of opponents jerseys but it is all good competition.
It doesn’t hurt to have Carrie Underwood step in unscheduled and go full Preds fan by singing the national anthem, wear her husband Mike Fisher’s jersey, and paint her nails in team colors.
Go Predators! It’s nice to see a franchise do things right.