Stanley Cup Final: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens

[L K]

I can?t wait for some stupid GM to give Tampa two top 6 forwards and a defense prospect for Tyler Johnson for no reason to let them keep their stupid team together

 

[rjd]

I can?t wait for some stupid GM to give Tampa two top 6 forwards and a defense prospect for Tyler Johnson for no reason to let them keep their stupid team together

Hope it's not the Leafs.

 

[TheMightyOdin]

Montreal can fly home in their pumpkin now.

 

[ZBBM]

Just came in here to post the Habs are complete utter garbage and will miss the playoffs next season

Now now, let us be gracious.  Even though their team fell just short, I am sure Habs fans will cherish this magical post-season forever.  The many thrilling victories they posted, the iron discipline with which they played, and above all the honor and respect they embodied are a new, fitting chapter to the legend that is the Montreal Canadiens.  Then too, consider that their goalie has gained valuable experience from this admittedly disappointing, one might even say heart-breaking, outcome in the final, and next year, being one year older and wiser, perhaps he will use this defeat to continue to hone his craft and get this world-belov?d team back into a position where they can compete for the sacred chalice again.  And finally, to all of us who laughed at the Habs GM, well I guess he showed US who is boss.  Indeed, I think it was a Canadiens legend, Ken Dryden ? as intellectual a man as ever who donned a Habs sweater ? who once summed things up, using the universal language of mathematics, in a simple equation:

2 = 31

 

[Nik]

Well, I guess I'm glad that the cap circumventing Florida team that nobody can replicate without wildly underpaying their stars beat the garbage mediocre team that didn't have any stars and counterpunched their way past more entertaining teams.

Truly, this was the perfect cup final for all you dingdongs who cheered on the owners during the last two CBAs. Parity, yay!

 

[4EVRLEAFAN]

Just came in here to post the Habs are complete utter garbage and will miss the playoffs next season

Now now, let us be gracious.  Even though their team fell just short, I am sure Habs fans will cherish this magical post-season forever.  The many thrilling victories they posted, the iron discipline with which they played, and above all the honor and respect they embodied are a new, fitting chapter to the legend that is the Montreal Canadiens.  Then too, consider that their goalie has gained valuable experience from this admittedly disappointing, one might even say heart-breaking, outcome in the final, and next year, being one year older and wiser, perhaps he will use this defeat to continue to hone his craft and get this world-belov?d team back into a position where they can compete for the sacred chalice again.  And finally, to all of us who laughed at the Habs GM, well I guess he showed US who is boss.  Indeed, I think it was a Canadiens legend, Ken Dryden ? as intellectual a man as ever who donned a Habs sweater ? who once summed things up, using the universal language of mathematics, in a simple equation:

2 = 31

Gracious my rear end, this is hockey. The Habs SUCK!!!  ;D

 

[Nik]

It really is wild to me how many members of the hockey press, in their never ending attempts to try to get people to like the sport, are presenting the Kucherov thing as some adversity the Lightning had to overcome and not a huge advantage they had in terms of how good they were for the playoffs.

 

[ZBBM]

Well, I guess I'm glad that the cap circumventing Florida team that nobody can replicate without wildly underpaying their stars beat the garbage mediocre team that didn't have any stars and counterpunched their way past more entertaining teams.

Truly, this was the perfect cup final for all you dingdongs who cheered on the owners during the last two CBAs. Parity, yay!

I don't think anything will change so long as Bettman hangs on, but they really need to order the refs to call the playoffs the same way they do the regular season.  Parity ought to imply consistency in how the game is ruled, not a marching order to neutralize talent differences.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1412994891496493058

 

[rjd]

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1412994891496493058

How many other sports have a press conference with a shirtless player that seems half in the bag?  Like usually it's right after the win so you avoid this, isn't it?  Or have I not been paying as much attention?

 

[bustaheims]

I don't think anything will change so long as Bettman hangs on, but they really need to order the refs to call the playoffs the same way they do the regular season.  Parity ought to imply consistency in how the game is ruled, not a marching order to neutralize talent differences.

Inconsistent officiating standards is definitely a contributing factor, but it's only part of the story. The way the NHL negotiated the cap has a much larger impact. Without any mechanisms to make it easier for teams to retain talent (like the various exception/designations available in the NFL and the NBA), the difference between middle of the pack teams and top teams is narrowing, and, in a playoff series, with everything else that changes from the regular season to the playoffs, it's not a surprise we've seen an uptick in Cinderella runs in the cap era.

 

[L K]

It really is wild to me how many members of the hockey press, in their never ending attempts to try to get people to like the sport, are presenting the Kucherov thing as some adversity the Lightning had to overcome and not a huge advantage they had in terms of how good they were for the playoffs.

Yeah....Kucherov adversity would be he gets injured on Game 1 of the season and you play without him all year.    They got to stack their team with his injury.  He skated for two bloody months before the playoffs.

They have 85M in committed money right now for 11 forwards, 5 defensemen and 1 goaltender.  Woe is them.  Let's ignore the 7.5M in LTIR from Gaborik and Nilsson because they were never going to play for the team.  They were still 9.5M in the plus with Kucherov all year.

Tampa's open night roster:

Forwards: Cirelli, Coleman, Goodrow, Gourde, Joseph, Killorn, Maroon, Palat, Point, Stamkos, Stephens, Volkov

Defense: Cernak, Foote, Hedman, McDonagh, Ruuta, Sergachev

Goalie: Vasilevskiy, McElhinney

Scratched: Borgman, Nieves

9.5M alone forces them give up some combination of:

Cirelli (4.8M) + Johnson (5M)

or Killorn + Johnson + Coleman (and then add a league minimum guy)

Oh and then Steven Stamkos went on LTIR April 8 that let them add David Savard while he came back for Game 1 of the playoffs.

How anyone thinks Tampa overcame anything is deluding themselves because they got the benefit of Kucherov's cap hit to keep their team stacked.

 

[Nik]

Beyond all that, it's crazy how many people won't even acknowledge that the way it all just worked out for Tampa was to their advantage.

I'm not dragging them for it, everyone tries to game the system. But to pretend like they weren't artificially better than everyone else is just stupid.

 

[Bill_Berg]

The NHL is all about who can circumvent the rules better, both on and off the ice. Yay.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1412994891496493058

How many other sports have a press conference with a shirtless player that seems half in the bag?  Like usually it's right after the win so you avoid this, isn't it?  Or have I not been paying as much attention?

This is so great.

 

[Bender]

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1414710204596428805?s=19

At least it didn't get dropped in the Rideau Canal?