Philly and Pitt would actually have to play some Defense....
What astounded me before the playoffs was Pittsburgh was so unanimously selected to win the Cup. I kept asking myself "How? Without defense?"
The Pitt/Philly series was highly entertaining, but whatever it was, it sure the hell was not playoff hockey. It was an absolute caricature, a farce, almost a joke being played on the league itself.
And they are doing it again, picking Pittsburgh again to win the Cup. Amazing...they can pile up the points during the regular season, but they aren't going to get far in the East once the playoffs start.
I haven't read all 5 pages so forgive me if its been said...
I actually think a lockout will help more team's chances then hinder, thusly hurting the kings chances of repeating. Longer off season means guys won't rush coming back from off season surgery. less chance to get injured prior to playoffs. shorter season isn't as grueling as an 82 game gauntlet so players will be fresher.
I haven't read all 5 pages so forgive me if its been said...
I actually think a lockout will help more team's chances then hinder, thusly hurting the kings chances of repeating. Longer off season means guys won't rush coming back from off season surgery. less chance to get injured prior to playoffs. shorter season isn't as grueling as an 82 game gauntlet so players will be fresher.
Could be an interesting playoffs.
Why wouldn't the same things apply for the Kings that do for every other team? I mean a longer lay off gives the Kings players the same amount of time as everyone else to be all healed up (we have only JQ who had minor surgery to heal up this off season) and rested.
The Kings haven't had a laziness issue at all for the past few seasons. We have had injury problems but those have already been addressed at this point. I think all things will go the same for us as it will everyone.
What astounded me before the playoffs was Pittsburgh was so unanimously selected to win the Cup. I kept asking myself "How? Without defense?"
The Pitt/Philly series was highly entertaining, but whatever it was, it sure the hell was not playoff hockey. It was an absolute caricature, a farce, almost a joke being played on the league itself.
And they are doing it again, picking Pittsburgh again to win the Cup. Amazing...they can pile up the points during the regular season, but they aren't going to get far in the East once the playoffs start.
Again.
You must have had a cristal ball to think that Pitt would be that horrible on defense. They had the best PK in the league comibg into the playoffs and MAF was playing relativly good before the playoffs. Bryzgalov iirc was on a hot streak coming into the playoffs and Philly's defense wasn't bad during the reg. season. Nobody could predict this happening or at least not as bad as how it actually went.
You must have had a cristal ball to think that Pitt would be that horrible on defense. They had the best PK in the league comibg into the playoffs and MAF was playing relativly good before the playoffs. Bryzgalov iirc was on a hot streak coming into the playoffs and Philly's defense wasn't bad during the reg. season. Nobody could predict this happening or at least not as bad as how it actually went.
No, I don't have a "cristal" (sic) ball, but what I do have is a pair of eyes, and in watching their games, my impression was that Pittsburgh's defense was mediocre all year. If you want to see it in writing, I posted a link...they ranked 17th in a league of 30 in GA/G.
The PK is a specialty area, and doesn't necessarily reflect overall team defense. Pittsburgh clearly demonstrates this, ranking 3rd in penalty kills and 17th in team defense. It means their 5-on-5 defense was even worse then their 17th ranking would indicate.
Defense wins championships (and a little bit of offense helps too). If you try to score as many goals as possible to beat a team that will score a lot of goals on you, you don't stand a chance. Hence, Pitt out in round 1 and Philly out in round 2 after that.
I don't see them repeating either way, I think they make it to the West final.
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Exhibit A as to how hockey doesn't matter on ESPN:
Last night an ESPN program was discussing how the Detroit Pistons needed a hero citing the heroes on the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions and no mention of the Detroit Red Wings. All this despite the Red Wings probably being the most succesful team in Detroit right now.
I think a delayed start to the season increases their chances. The hangover is real. The more time to forget about last season and build the hunger/strength, the better.
It wont happen. Mainly cause it doesn't. Threads like this pop of every year and fans of teams continually delude themselves into thinking it'll happen again. It wont. Just stop it. I remember when the Phillies won in '08 and they added Cliff Lee while only losing Burrell. Did they win the next year? Nope. Remeber what happened after Boston won? "Boston is the new dynasty." Nope. And this goes way back as far as I can remember.
It wont happen. Mainly cause it doesn't. Threads like this pop of every year and fans of teams continually delude themselves into thinking it'll happen again. It wont. Just stop it. I remember when the Phillies won in '08 and they added Cliff Lee while only losing Burrell. Did they win the next year? Nope. Remeber what happened after Boston won? "Boston is the new dynasty." Nope. And this goes way back as far as I can remember.
I haven't seen anyone from the Kings "deluding themselves' by saying that we will repeat. I have seen several of us argue that it is possible in that we have our full roster returning along with the additions of Kyle Clifford, Simon Gagne and the benefit of a full season under DSutter. We also will see players like Voynov, King and Nolan all of which played at best a half a season last year be able to finish their rookie seasons at the very least.
Nobody is deluding themselves into thinking that we are going to win the cup, only that we have a shot at it and the reasons why we think so.
The Blackhawks won the cup and then lost allot of talent. They didn't repeat because of it.
The Pens did the same thing though not as drastically.
Same with the Ducks.
There are 3 good reasons why each of those teams didn't repeat. Of course meeting superior competition has to be considered as a factor as do injuries but the point is that there are reasons that may not apply to the Kings situation as to why each of these individual teams were incapable of repeating.
Some of these factors may indeed keep the Kings from doing the same but it isn't simply a given that since it has happened yet since 2004 that it won't happen again. That is just plain simple minded excuse making and isn't even remotely logical.
The Kings are returning their entire roster from last season plus an actual healthy 2nd line LW in Gagne up front and our D was among the best in the game all last season. We aren't a lock to win anything but there is room for a little bit of optimism that we can make the playoffs again and that if we do we might have another shot at the grand prize.
it may be slim but it isn't impossible, not at all.
Reading the whole "3 out of 4 teams had injuries" argument always entertains me. Right before the Vancouver series, when folks were aware that Sedin was hurt, all I heard around here was, "LOLZ Kings are going to get swept with or without Sedin", "Canucks in 4 or 5", etc. Even after Game 1... "Kings fans are in for a rude awakening", "You guys sure seem overconfident. Canucks in 5 anyway."
It's easy to use the injury excuse after the fact, but let's not forget that the Sedin injury didn't stop everyone from straight up laughing at the thought of the Kings beating Vancouver. But of course after the series, it was because Sedin was out. Riiiight.
It wont happen. Mainly cause it doesn't. Threads like this pop of every year and fans of teams continually delude themselves into thinking it'll happen again. It wont. Just stop it. I remember when the Phillies won in '08 and they added Cliff Lee while only losing Burrell. Did they win the next year? Nope. Remeber what happened after Boston won? "Boston is the new dynasty." Nope. And this goes way back as far as I can remember.
Reading the whole "3 out of 4 teams had injuries" argument always entertains me. Right before the Vancouver series, when folks were aware that Sedin was hurt, all I heard around here was, "LOLZ Kings are going to get swept with or without Sedin", "Canucks in 4 or 5", etc. Even after Game 1... "Kings fans are in for a rude awakening", "You guys sure seem overconfident. Canucks in 5 anyway."
It's easy to use the injury excuse after the fact, but let's not forget that the Sedin injury didn't stop everyone from straight up laughing at the thought of the Kings beating Vancouver. But of course after the series, it was because Sedin was out. Riiiight.
I was under the impression that was possibly the most up in the air series that people were predicting. Vancouver still had the mentally fragile label and the Kings were an upstart 8th seed who had been in playoff mode for probably half the season.
I was under the impression that was possibly the most up in the air series that people were predicting. Vancouver still had the mentally fragile label and the Kings were an upstart 8th seed who had been in playoff mode for probably half the season.
You are remembering it wrong.
You two are talking two different things.
You are correct in that TV analysts were in that mode. But Bilikan29 is also right, I do remember those quotes by Vancouver fans here on HF Boards.
But I would say those particular Vancouver fans here were just posturing as fans of their team...a number of Vancouver fans were also very worried at having to face a surging Kings team.
I was under the impression that was possibly the most up in the air series that people were predicting. Vancouver still had the mentally fragile label and the Kings were an upstart 8th seed who had been in playoff mode for probably half the season.
You are remembering it wrong.
A number of Canucks fans here were predicting they would sweep LA
I was under the impression that was possibly the most up in the air series that people were predicting. Vancouver still had the mentally fragile label and the Kings were an upstart 8th seed who had been in playoff mode for probably half the season.
You are remembering it wrong.
No, he's not remembering wrong. Here you go. 32% of the vote said Canucks in 5. That thread and every iteration of it leading up to the series is a graveyard of dead crow. But the second post in the thread by a Nucks fan nails it.
No, he's not remembering wrong. Here you go. 32% of the vote said Canucks in 5. That thread and every iteration of it leading up to the series is a graveyard of dead crow. But the second post in the thread by a Nucks fan nails it.
32% said Canucks in 6, but I see your point.
I do remember a lot of discussion regarding the Kings with the chance at an upset. And I wouldn't use Canucks fans as an example considering any fan of a team is going to be super biased in favor of said team.
