Anaheim was the better team. Nashville was the better team in that series.
It should also be noted that Anaheim played that series w/o their number one goaltender.
The Ducks were ravaged by injuries all year. Not just Hiller at the end.
Your other questions?
SJ was the better team. Ana matched up against them well and was the better team in that series.
I don't know about all that...by your logic then, you'd probably say Vancouver was the better team than Boston...but Boston won the championship because they matched up better?? Just because a team is better on paper...doesn't mean theyre the better team. Keyword here is TEAM. This takes into account matchups and etc. When two teams play eachother and one wins out, that gives you a better idea of who the better team actually is, rather than comparing standings and pointing out that because of the fact one team finished in a higher spot than the other (albeit a very, very small margin) it makes one team better than the other. Since Championships are won by the BEST team, by your logic, the championship should be given to the Presidents Trophy winner...(which I wouldn't mind...that means the Sharks would have one championship and the Ducks would have none) hehehe
EDIT: As for the Nashville/Anaheim reference, I agree...I think it could have been a different outcome if the Ducks had Hiller. But the fact that you said SJ was the better team that year they lost to Anaheim in the playoffs, is making me question you. Even though I'm still PO'd about that series, if you're the better team, there's no way you lose 4 out of 6 games in the playoffs. If another team is able to outsmart/outplay/outmatch you in a playoff series, then I'm sorry you are not the better team. In this case, as much I hate admitting it, the Ducks were the better team as opposed to SJ...
Last edited by masterofallxix: 08-18-2011 at 06:17 PM.
The truth isn't misleading. It's where they finished the season and Anaheim had much worse injury woes than the Kings.
In this instance, it is. When you make a statement like team X finished in position X while team why finished in position Y, you're making it to ephasize the disparity in positions. The problem is that you don't typically see a 1 point difference with a 3 ranking difference, so ephasizing the disparity is misleading.
If your point was Anaheim was better than LA because they finished higher in the standings, then simply saying it just like that is the more accurate way to get your point across.
Are you a writer for the Sports Forecaster magazine?
nope its just that the Canucks lost some depth on defence and there offense kinda got exposed, we could talk goaltending but at the same time we'll be witnessing more Schneider during the season.
nope its just that the Canucks lost some depth on defence and there offense kinda got exposed, we could talk goaltending but at the same time we'll be witnessing more Schneider during the season.
But the Canucks still play in the NW, and chances are they are the only playoff team in that division. Yes, Calgary, Colorado, Minnesota, even Edmonton could battle for the playoffs, all the other divisions have legitimate contenders. That's a huge reason why in my opinion they'll win the West again.
But the Canucks still play in the NW, and chances are they are the only playoff team in that division. Yes, Calgary, Colorado, Minnesota, even Edmonton could battle for the playoffs, all the other divisions have legitimate contenders. That's a huge reason why in my opinion they'll win the West again.
I guess but the Sharks, Kings and Hawks will be dominating as well...nevermind the northwest.
But the Canucks still play in the NW, and chances are they are the only playoff team in that division. Yes, Calgary, Colorado, Minnesota, even Edmonton could battle for the playoffs, all the other divisions have legitimate contenders. That's a huge reason why in my opinion they'll win the West again.
but will the NW be as weak as last season? Minny definitely upgraded, Calgary we can flip a coin on, very experienced club still. Colorado will improve, highly touted offense, nixe addition in goal. Edmonton improving by the season.
Fact is though, LA didn't have a better team. Regardless of how close it was, Anaheim finished ahead and the better team finishes ahead after an 82 game season.
Anaheim also faced exponentially more adversity and finished aheadan which is a sign of the better team.
Washington finished ahead of Boston, who was better? One regular season point certainly doesn't mean a team is the better team. And both Anaheim and LA had some major injuries to deal with, so I don't buy that argument either. You still have to show how I was vastly underrating the Ducks.
The Ducks lost Getzlaf for part of the season too. Injuries are part of the game.
You mention "best player". I would rather lose my number 1 center than my number one goalie.
If I had the backup goalie that Anaheim did, I'd hope the same.
Basically anything can happen if certain players get injured, assuming EVERY Player thats a Question mark Health wise right now end up Healthy, and all teams are playing at 100% for most of the season, this is how I rank them:
1. San Jose
2. Vancouver
3. Detroit
4. LA Kings
5. St Louis*
6. Anaheim*
7. Colorado*
8. Chicago
9. Nashville
10. Columbus
11. Minnesota
12. Calgary
13. Edmonton
14. Dallas
15. Phoenix
*- Teams with a * next to them are the Biggest Question Marks in the top 8 IMO, like I said earlier if all teams are 100% I think these are the best teams.
St Louis had alot of injuries last year and if they start off with injuries again, they can go from IMO a top 2 team in the Central, to a 11-13 rank team!
Anaheim's biggest Question Mark is Hiller, if he plays they will make playoffs and be a good team that can do damage in the playoffs, if Hiller cant play, they could find themselves on the outside looking in come Mid April in 9th Place!
The Biggest question mark filled team of all and my favorite team has to be the Avalanche, last year at January they were a top 5 team in the West, then they lost Fleishmann to a Freak Injury, Quincey to Shoulder Injury, Stewart to the Broken hand and eventual trading, Stastny wasnt playing at 100% for a week or two, Galliardi injured his wrist for a seccond time, and Foresbergs comeback failed! All of a sudden we had guys like Kevin Porter and Brandon Yip playing top 6 Minutes. We Had absolutely TERRIBLE Goaltending in Elliot and Budaj! This year we should have 5 x better Goaltending in Varly and Giguere, who if Healthy will both be very good Goalies likely with .915 Sv% or better, our Goalies Sv% last year was .895. Defensively we've basically replaced Foote with Jan Hejda, a Good Shut Down Dman kinda like Foote in his day, we have a Healthy Quincey back, Ryan Obyrne can now play bottom pairing minutes, and therefore be even more effective, Shane Obrien can play bottom 6 well to, and another big ? is how well Elliot or Barrie can play to replace Liles, our D will also be alot better then last year! Then we also add Landeskog, Mueller, and Kobasew to our offense, and only losing Fleishmann! All positions for the Avs improved, as long as they stay healthy, we should be a playoff contender! Even if Only Varly stays healthy we wont be in the basement this year probably around 9-12, but if all healthy I see 6-9!!
For anyone that reads the wall of Post, what do you think!!!!
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but will the NW be as weak as last season? Minny definitely upgraded, Calgary we can flip a coin on, very experienced club still. Colorado will improve, highly touted offense, nixe addition in goal. Edmonton improving by the season.
It might be stronger, but still arguably the weakest division in the league, and definitely weakest in the West. I don't think Minny improved, more of a sideways move. Calgary, yes flip an coin, Colorado I think will surprise people this year but that still means fighting for 8th. Edmonton has (hopefully) improved but many still have pegged for a bottom 5 finish.
Each other division has 3 probably playoff participants, either Det, Chi, Nash (and Col and St. Louis have improved) or SJ, LA, and Anaheim. With the amount of intradivision games against lesser quality teams give Van a huge advantage in my eyes for the #1 seed.
Fact is though, LA didn't have a better team. Regardless of how close it was, Anaheim finished ahead and the better team finishes ahead after an 82 game season.
Anaheim also faced exponentially more adversity and finished aheadan which is a sign of the better team.
sharks finish 1st and 2nd all the time, remember when the hawks won it? the sharks were 1 and chi 2, and chi was clearly the better team
For anyone that reads the wall of Post, what do you think!!!!
I think you are dillusional if you think the Av's will make the playoffs. I will bet you anything they won't. Varlamov could not even keep the starting job on a stacked Caps team. I think it is a safe bet the Av's will be bottom 3 in the Conference again.
I think you are dillusional if you think the Av's will make the playoffs. I will bet you anything they won't. Varlamov could not even keep the starting job on a stacked Caps team. I think it is a safe bet the Av's will be bottom 3 in the Conference again.
Any reason for that assumption? Varly couldn't hold down the starting job for the caps because of injury. If as it states in his post everyone stays relatively healthy for every team than that concern is negated. In which case you have an extremely impressive young goalie who's used to facing a lot of shots on an offensively minded team and who steps up in big moments. I mean the biggest difference between last seasons avs and the avs of the season before was the Goalie play, as Anderson got incredibly butthurt and distracted when he couldn't get a 4 year deal from the Avs in the offseason, and that the injuries stacked up striping the avs of all but 2 top 9 wingers by season's end. If they stay healthy there's no reason not to think the Avs won't at least be in that group of 6-12 teams battling for the final playoff spots and at that point they've got a good shot to be playing playoff hockey again as a Varly/Giguere pairing behind this much improved defense and one of the higher scoring offenses in the league can certainly make the playoffs.
First time posting here hope im doing it right! Anyways heres how I think it will look in the west.
1. Vancouver
2. San Jose
3. Chicago
4: Detroit
5: Los Angeles
6: Anaheim
7: Nashville
8: Columbus
9: Edmonton
10: Minnesota
11: Colorado
12: St. Louis
13: Calgary
14: Dallas
15: Phoenix
Sorry if I put your team too low. Let me know what you think or who I should move around.
Any reason for that assumption? Varly couldn't hold down the starting job for the caps because of injury. If as it states in his post everyone stays relatively healthy for every team than that concern is negated. In which case you have an extremely impressive young goalie who's used to facing a lot of shots on an offensively minded team and who steps up in big moments. I mean the biggest difference between last seasons avs and the avs of the season before was the Goalie play, as Anderson got incredibly butthurt and distracted when he couldn't get a 4 year deal from the Avs in the offseason, and that the injuries stacked up striping the avs of all but 2 top 9 wingers by season's end. If they stay healthy there's no reason not to think the Avs won't at least be in that group of 6-12 teams battling for the final playoff spots and at that point they've got a good shot to be playing playoff hockey again as a Varly/Giguere pairing behind this much improved defense and one of the higher scoring offenses in the league can certainly make the playoffs.
Come up with excuses all you want for last season's suckery, but I don't buy that your goaltending is much better than last years. Varlamov is made of glass, and Giguere is well past his expiry date.
And I really don't understand why Aves fans get so mad that people have them as a bad team this year. They were a bad team last year and didn't improve much. 2 + 2 = 4
First time posting here hope im doing it right! Anyways heres how I think it will look in the west.
1. Vancouver
2. San Jose
3. Chicago
4: Detroit
5: Los Angeles
6: Anaheim
7: Nashville
8: Columbus
9: Edmonton
10: Minnesota
11: Colorado
12: St. Louis
13: Calgary
14: Dallas
15: Phoenix
Sorry if I put your team too low. Let me know what you think or who I should move around.
Pretty nice job Wolf... I have the same 8 teams who clinch playoff spot. Not in the same order but pretty similar.
1. LA Kings
2. Vancouver Canucks
3. Chicago Blackhawks
4. San Jose Sharks
5. Detroit Red Wings
6. Anaheim Ducks
7. Nashville Predators
8. St. Louis Blues
9. Minnesota Wild
10. Calgary Flames
11. Colorado Avalanche
12. Columbus Blue Jackets
13. Edmonton Oilers
14. Dallas Stars
15. Phoenix Coyotes
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