NHL Playoff Discussion Thread

[Ming]

Chicago has a good young team. It's been 13 years since they have made the second round. Win or lose, this is a great experience for the kids. The future finally looks bright for the Blackhawks.

[Asher]

I think last year (or the year before) I predicted to -Jrabbit that they'd miss the playoffs last year, make them this year, then win the cup next year...

[Asher]

I'm still kind of impressed the Flames lasted 6 games considering the injury issues.

Phaneuf had broken ribs, missed Game 6.
Sarich was playing on a fractured foot.
Langkow was playing with one broken hand and one very bruised hand, neither fully functional.
Regehr was out the entire series with a knee injury.
Bourque missed some games, but even when he did return his ankle was still not healed.

Those are all major Calgary components, too.

[Garth Vader]

So far I've got 12 points in the Poly Pick-Em, with the possibility for 16 if the Caps and Devils hold home ice tonight. Only one I got wrong, I got wroooooong: Blues over Canucks.

You are tied for second with Jrabbit, Kontiki is in the lead with 13.

[Kontiki]

I'm still surprised a good number of people picked St. Louis over Vancouver, and even more so that anyone picked Columbus over Detroit (or Montreal over Boston, but I realize those were just homer picks).

San Jose, though.

[Guynemer]

I can't believe anyone picked San Jose over Anaheim!

Seriously, people! They're the freaking Sharks! When have they ever come through in the clutch?

[Supr49er]

I'm still surprised a good number of people picked St. Louis over Vancouver, and even more so that anyone picked Columbus over Detroit (or Montreal over Boston, but I realize those were just homer picks).

San Jose, though.

I can't believe anyone picked San Jose over Anaheim!

Seriously, people! They're the freaking Sharks! When have they ever come through in the clutch?

Every Freakin' year. New Coach, same result. New players, same result.
But I'll get sucked in again next year.

[Asher]

I'm still surprised a good number of people picked St. Louis over Vancouver

St Louis WAS the hottest team in the league for the last half of the season, and Vancouver is a ****ing awful team to cheer for with douchebags abounding. No one likes Vancouver, St Louis was hot --> people picking St Louis.

[Kontiki]

Vancouver wasn't far behind St. Louis in terms of being hot (and they were hot right at the end), they have a much better goalie and St. Louis is a young, playoff inexperienced team. Unless Vancouver pulled a Calgary, they should have won. The sweep was pretty surprising, but the series win was not.

[Kontiki]

I can't believe anyone picked San Jose over Anaheim!

Seriously, people! They're the freaking Sharks! When have they ever come through in the clutch?

San Jose is usually good for a round or two, but obviously not a Cup contender. This year was just extra bad.

[Asher]

Vancouver wasn't far behind St. Louis in terms of being hot (and they were hot right at the end), they have a much better goalie and St. Louis is a young, playoff inexperienced team. Unless Vancouver pulled a Calgary, they should have won. The sweep was pretty surprising, but the series win was not.

I don't agree, because I've seen Vancouver (this season) look like the worst team in the league by a country mile at times. They're also a team with a history of playoff suckiness.

You also overstate the difference in goalies going into the playoffs. "Much better"?

Chris Mason: .916 sv%, 2.41 GAA, 6 shutouts.
Luongo: .920 sv%, 2.34 GAA, 9 shutouts.

Luongo had the edge, but to say he was "much better" is a stretch.

Regarding playoff experience, Vancouver isn't much better. In fact, the core players for Vancouver's offense were notorious for never showing up in the playoffs.

[Kontiki]

Colour me shocked that you would disagree when it comes to the Canucks.

BTW, Kesler has just been nominated for the Selke. I seem to recall Asher claiming that Langkow brought "...A LOT [emphasis his] more than Kesler to the table, though. He's one of the best two-way forwards in the league."

[Asher]

Kesler has had a good season, to be sure. But he's overrated. It's an undeserving nomination. The guy is +8 on a team with Luongo in net, for christ sake.

In the playoffs, he wasn't even a plus player (EV) in a series where Vancouver swept 4-0!

Langkow -- PLAYING WITH 1 BROKEN HAND AND 1 SEVERELY BRUISED HAND -- was a +4 on a team that lost the series 4-2.

This isn't even counting the fact that Luongo was far better than Kiprusoff was in the playoffs.

[Kontiki]

Sadly, the Selke isn't determined on the basis of a single stat in one playoff series. Here's some regular season stats, though:

(Kesler - Langkow)
Takeaways: 74 - 43
Hits: 72 - 44
Blocked Shots: 70 - 30
Giveways: 30 - 46
Faceoffs won: 54% - 47%

[Asher]

The first two of those are throwaway stats that vary wildly from venue to venue, season to season. Langkow had over 75 takeaways last year, sans Selke nomination, IIRC (or it may've been 07).

And yes, Langkow's faceoffs have been abysmal since his hand injury. They've been in the 30% range since then, which kind of hurts the stats.

I'm not saying Langkow deserved a Selke this year, but he's widely known as one of the best two-way players in the game when he's healthy and he was a better two-way player than Kesler even with two less-than-fully-functional hands in the playoffs.

I'm just stating I don't agree with Kesler's nomination, even though he did have a good season. You can cite the controversial and inconsistent stats like takeaways all you want (and even irrelevant ones, like hits -- WTF), but they don't make a Selke.
Block shots is another ridiculous metric, because that's more to do with coaching style than anything else. Keenan drills into the Flames forwards to never block shots, Vigneault encourages it. Lo and behold, the Canucks have far more forwards with far more blocked shots than the Flames do.