Which teams benefit the most from a shortened season?
With the end of the lockout looming and a shortened season around the corner. It got me thinking about teams that always seem to start off really well for about half a season and then fall off the face of the earth, and then there are teams that are garbage and then come spring, play a ridiculous game of catch up only to miss the playoffs by a point as the 9th seed.
So given that the sample size this year will be much smaller, which teams do you think will do well enough for the short amount of time to make the playoffs that normally wouldn't be considered a playoff team given a regular 82 game schedule?
The Oilers? Their entire top-6 are all playing either in the AHL or in Europe. Yak has been keeping busy playing against Men and really good boys. Schultz has been showing signs of excellence so far. Dubnyk's performance in the spengler cup was pretty good, possibly suggesting that he's not very rusty. Plus a shortened season would play well for the likes of Smyth and Horcoff.
And as much as I hate to admit it, probably Minny.
The Flyers should do well, if only for the fact that they would have less time to injure themselves, and fewer games = greater chance for a goalie hot streak to last a good portion of the season.
Many of the teams that had long runs last year like the Rangers or even Kings again. Maybe a team like Boston who had a long run the year before.
Don't think it will benefit the Devils. Brodeur's goaltending isn't as hot as it is late in the year, during the beginning of the season. Don't think he'll fall apart, but I'm not sure he will be able to steal us games like he did later in the regular season, and a few times in the playoffs. It all comes down to not having a good forward to replace Parise, and not re signing Petr Sykora at the very least. I expect us to be in the playoffs in a low seed, but with a 48 game season who knows? We could be on the bubble like we were at the 48 game mark last year. Only this time maybe just outside of it.
Edmonton is a good one, also any team that had a deep playoff run certainly won't have the usual fatigue factor this year. Also teams with a good back-up. With such a condensed schedule having a guy who can play 15/48 games at a high level will be huge.
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This is like the 50th time this thread has started.
Flip the script. Who will hurt from the shortened season?
Vancouver had a terrible start last year, and if I recall correctly, had a bad start the year before as well.
Boston did too last year. Cup/Finals hangover, but after the first month both teams stayed at the top of their respective conferences until the season ended.
LA should have no Cup hangovers. The Devils like I said we could run into problems. No Finals hangover just that the team does not give me a whole lot of confidence right now. This team we got now could have been a division winner if we had the Brodeur of 06/07-07/08 cause those teams sucked offensively. Of course we would also be blown out in either the first or second round once we got to the playoffs like those years also.
Also teams with a good back-up. With such a condensed schedule having a guy who can play 15/48 games at a high level will be huge.
Interesting. I see it as more of a benefit for team's without a decent backup. The Flames, for example, can pretty much ride Kiprusoff for almost all of the games without worrying about the fatigue he normally faces playing 70+ games a season.
The Rangers.
After rolling 3 lines + 5D an entire season followed by 20 games in just 3 series ... their run was pretty brutal. Remember that 3OT game against the Caps? I think guys like McDonagh surely appreciate that kind of rest.
Plus, Gaborik won't miss any games or less games, I don't know about his status.
Interesting. I see it as more of a benefit for team's without a decent backup. The Flames, for example, can pretty much ride Kiprusoff for almost all of the games without worrying about the fatigue he normally faces playing 70+ games a season.
Well he's a Pens fan and they just signed Vokoun as a backup so ofc it's their advantage .
This thread pops up every now and then. Teams with older guys have advantage and poissble disadvantage, depending on schedule. If it's loose it's good for them as they won't be so wore down and can keep going for the whole 50 or so games.. But if it's tight, with lots of back to back games.. they could wore down just as easily as with normal schedule.
Teams with many players overseas would be in somewhat advantage, as the schedule isn't as hectic over there.
Gaborik was slated to miss the first half of the season with an injury. The Rangers will have him for a full 48 games it appears. Also, they'll likely avoid the mid-season slump that Lundqvist exhibits every season. Finally, Torts system won't drain the team so badly since they won't be going hard for 82 regular season games.
I'm sure a case can be made for pretty much every team...
Hate to say it, but the Rangers. The style they play is one that will wear a team down as the season goes on, plus Lundqvist always has a huge work load during the regular season. A shorter season would allow them to be rested for the playoffs more than usual.
This is like the 50th time this thread has started.
Flip the script. Who will hurt from the shortened season?
The shorter the season, the more it hurts the Hurricanes.
They just added two big pieces (J. Staal and Semin) to the core and will have virtually no time for them to gel with new linemates. They'll be in a sink-or-swim situation, especially Semin on his 1-year contract. Plus, Eric Staal is a notoriously slow starter and they just lost Ruutu for essentially the season.
I could honestly see them coming out 3-7 or something, and that's the end of our playoff hopes right there.
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