Ongoing NHL Thread Part IV - A New Hope

[esls79]

So the Lightning have like 116 points right now. The Kings and their AHL affiliate in Ontario have 108 points combined. If the Kings keep this up and pass the Sens at the bottom, they will have the fewest points in the NHL and their AHL affiliate will have the fewest points in the AHL. That is difficult to accomplish, much more difficult than winning a President's Trophy or Stanley Cup I'd imagine.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

Yes, but the better team wins more frequently in the NFL. Which is why the top teams in football and basketball have a winning percentage in the 80-90% range and the best teams in sports like baseball or hockey win around 60% of their games. Football and basketball are better built for playoffs if the goal is rewarding the best team because the outcomes of the games/series more consistently (but not without exceptions) are won by the better team overall. Additionally, football goes an extra step by allowing the top 4 teams a bye in the first round of the playoffs to reward their season achievements.

I remember for years in the Post Michael Wilbon calling the Stanley Cup playoffs simply "goalie," because of the enormity of the effect a hot goalie can have on winning it all. That's an oversimplification... but he's not totally wrong either.

Well - for players perhaps having the best regular season record might mean something & be something to be proud of overall. However - speaking as a Caps fan - I felt absolutely nothing special after they won this cup twice & were ousted in the 2nd rd by the Pens. At that pt IMO they could take that cup and throw it in the ocean (again not to take anything away from the players' accomplishments).

 

[SoCalWizFan]

So the Lightning have like 116 points right now. The Kings and their AHL affiliate in Ontario have 108 points combined. If the Kings keep this up and pass the Sens at the bottom, they will have the fewest points in the NHL and their AHL affiliate will have the fewest points in the AHL. That is difficult to accomplish, much more difficult than winning a President's Trophy or Stanley Cup I'd imagine.

On par with both the Lions & Browns going 0-16 - almost as hard as going 16-0.

 

[elocomotive]

He nose his role.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

So the Lightning have like 116 points right now. The Kings and their AHL affiliate in Ontario have 108 points combined. If the Kings keep this up and pass the Sens at the bottom, they will have the fewest points in the NHL and their AHL affiliate will have the fewest points in the AHL. That is difficult to accomplish, much more difficult than winning a President's Trophy or Stanley Cup I'd imagine.

Yeah but they have Drew Doughty and all his millions of intangibles.

Intangibles >>>>>>>>>> points. AINEC.

 

[dash]

Playoffs? Playoffs? Are you kidding me, playoffs?

 

[BGDave]

Well - for players perhaps having the best regular season record might mean something & be something to be proud of overall. However - speaking as a Caps fan - I felt absolutely nothing special after they won this cup twice & were ousted in the 2nd rd by the Pens. At that pt IMO they could take that cup and throw it in the ocean (again not to take anything away from the players' accomplishments).

As a Leafs fan, I completely agree. No one is chanting "1963" which is the last time Toronto finished first in the regular season standings.

 

[dare2be]

As a Leafs fan, I completely agree. No one is chanting "1963" which is the last time Toronto finished first in the regular season standings.

 

[obxyankeefan]

I agree that the setup for disappointment goes along with the President's Trophy since the likelihood of any team winning the Cup really isn't more than say 25-30% even as the favorite. So with higher expectations as the best team, yeah, there is more room for disappointment.

But that said, I disagree that it means nothing. In fact, I think it's a huge accomplishment and I'm proud of our President's Trophies, division titles, etc. The emphasizing of the Cup over ALL ELSE is a little out of whack. It's certainly the most sought thing, but for example in the Premiership, the season title IS the championship. And honestly, the LARGER sample is the truer test of how good a team is. Tampa Bay is undoubtedly the best team in the NHL this year. That should be celebrated. But they may not win the Cup, and the narrative will become something that may not be very accurate. A "fatal flaw" will be delved into over something that may be nothing more than a small sample size or the fact that they don't match up with one particular team who is, in truth, not as good as them on the whole.

The Caps team of last year was undoubtedly not one of their best teams of the past decade. This whole narrative that played out about how OV learned what was so important was an absolute and total crock of shit. You could have applied that oversimplified narrative to 2009 or 2010 teams, sure. But they've played pretty great hockey for a long time. You get enough bites at the apple playing at that level and you're bound to get through at some point. And given that hot streaks and puck luck play a factor in hockey FAR more than any other sport, from the perspective of finalizing who the best team really is, the Stanley Cup is probably the least reliable measuring stick of the best team in all of professional sports.

The NBA and NFL almost ALWAYS reward one of the best 2-3 teams with the championship. Baseball doesn't even let many teams in the mix to begin with. Hockey playoffs are the best because of the exciting possibilities. But this also should be a reason in support of season accomplishments being valued more. I don't even think the "conference trophies" should be in the playoffs, that should be decided in the season. It's the Stanley Cup playoffs, not the Wales/Campbell/Stanley Cup playoffs. You can disagree with this, but it's absolutely correct in that the playoffs reward a season designation to a playoff format. That doesn't make any sense.

All of this doesn't mean the playoffs aren't awesome. It's how American sports are run. The seven-game series grew from a time in baseball when the two leagues didn't play each other so they needed a series to decide it. It has evolved from there. It's capitalistic both in it's revenue generation and in the winner-take-all mentality it creates.

All of this is to say, the President's Trophy and other season accomplishments should mean more than they do, and perhaps the Stanley Cup should mean a little less.

(thanks for helping me get my brain going this morning )

Plus Holtby is a sieve and Ovechkin choked until last year.

Spoiler

Of course if we go with that it means Crosby choked last year

 

[BGDave]

Meaning the Cup is everything. Its all that matters. The regular season "championship" is irrelevant. No one cares that the Leafs last led the NHL regular season standing in 1963, but boy oh boy, as we suffer through yet another disappointing season, the "1967" chants sting.

 

[esls79]

Meaning the Cup is everything. Its all that matters. The regular season "championship" is irrelevant. No one cares that the Leafs last led the NHL regular season standing in 1963, but boy oh boy, as we suffer through yet another disappointing season, the "1967" chants sting.

You've got to get with the times. Everybody is brainwashed by the biased media to think it's the Cup or nothing. That's fake news, there is more to life than a Cup. Like say your team winning the President's Trophy and you firing up a celebratory dart and shotgunning a celebratory beer. Wait a minute, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, at least Holtby is a sieve and he won a Cup so not all hope is lost.

In summation, plan the parade.

 

[dare2be]

Meaning the Cup is everything. Its all that matters. The regular season "championship" is irrelevant. No one cares that the Leafs last led the NHL regular season standing in 1963, but boy oh boy, as we suffer through yet another disappointing season, the "1967" chants sting.

No. I was thinking about whether to start a 1963 chant.

 

[elocomotive]

The intensity in this Caps-Bolts game is great.

I like that this Lightning squad is still a team that can’t match us physically.

Caps down 3-2 but I think the guys in red win this one.

 

[dash]

No. I was thinking about whether to start a 1963 chant.

If one side of the arena does '19' and the other side does '63' it would work the best.

 

[ktg8trgrl]

Bolts are up 4-3 with 3 minutes left to go in the 2nd.. LET'S GO BOLTS!!!

 

[ktg8trgrl]

The intensity in this Caps-Bolts game is great.

I like that this Lightning squad is still a team that can’t match us physically.

Caps down 3-2 but I think the guys in red win this one.

 

[elocomotive]

Combined shots and hits at this point...

Caps 78
Bolts 36

Scared not at all of this team in the playoffs.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Combined shots and hits at this point...

Caps 78
Bolts 36

Scared not at all of this team in the playoffs.

 

[elocomotive]

Nah, nothing to lose this year. And Tampa is a real team of pussies. Skill no doubt. But a team of fancy lads. When Jakub Vrana says, ‘ya I’ll have a go,’ you aren’t intimidating anyone.

Vasilevsky was fantastic tonight though. Credit where it’s due.

 

[Gopherfan84]

I remember for years in the Post Michael Wilbon calling the Stanley Cup playoffs simply "goalie," because of the enormity of the effect a hot goalie can have on winning it all. That's an oversimplification... but he's not totally wrong either.

I remember back about 15 years ago, Giguere (I may have spelled that wrong, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now) almost single-handedly carried the Ducks to the Cup. He deservedly won the Conn Smythe even though the Devils lifted the Stanley Cup that year.