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Matangama wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 8:09 am
T.C. wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:39 am boy is maroon going to be a chirp machine to our boys. congrats to him for keeping a spot on the team. i didn't watch any of the games - did he play? was he effective?
He looked even chubbier than before, even slower and a little more lumbering than before......but he played great and was extremely effective all through the playoffs. Huge piece of them winning - Lightning had a totally different attitude this year, and I’m guessing Maroon had a lot to do with that. Bogosian and Schenn also played well when they got the chance. But Maroon? “Chubby but effective” lives on!
That sums it up pretty well. He was responsible for the second goal, breaking up a mid-air pass in the neutral zone that started an odd man rush. He played primarily with Blake Coleman 5 on 5, who can fly, and on the second PP unit. He remains very effective in front of the net and along the boards in the O-zone. Like with Coleman and with Thomas in STL, when paired with someone that can skate well enough to make up for his lack of speed, he's an asset. I don't know what his next contract looks like or where it will be, but his ride continues.
...but whatever, the Blues won the Cup!!!!!

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Dave's a mess wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 9:32 am

Good for him. He was always a great guy in the locker room by all accounts. Things went so wrong with the Rangers, it's nice to see him get rewarded. He's going to have a big ass raise staring at him in a week and a half.
Take that Trotz, take that Rangers, take that whoever else he's pissed off at. Shatty stands tall!!!!!!

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So ok, I’ll acknowledge that the lack of travel would help guys. But the flip side of that is that the players have been stuck in an Edmonton hotel room for 2 fucking months, most of them without family, and without much in the way of a social life. So the physical benefit of the no travel thing basically offsets the mental toll from the whole bubble thing. I call those two things a draw. Winning the Cup any year, under any circumstances, is hard as fuck.

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Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:30 pm
CaptSMRT wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:13 pm I am sick of people with their stupid hot takes to get clicks.

Wheres the lie tho?
the lie is that he is making it sound like 'regular' playoff hockey is more difficult than the 'bubble' hockey we just watched. IMHO, you cannot compare; both have their difficulties both on and off the ice, mentally and physically. It it tougher to play in another team's building with fans roaring? Possibly. Is it also difficult to win without that fan support? Possibly. IMHO, the 'lie' is that he is trying to * and minimize the Lightning's Stanley Cup win.

I don't think their journey to win the Cup was more or less hard than previous years. It was different and had it's own unique difficulties for the players. And honestly, I cannot think of anything truly positive for the players that was a real benefit that outweighed the negatives. You can say they didn't travel, but yet they did travel...and were then stuck in a 60 day groundhog day scenario with very limited personal interaction with the outside world. There were no opposing fans, yet there were no supportive fans either.
"Do Only Good Everyday"

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Matangama wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:31 pm So ok, I’ll acknowledge that the lack of travel would help guys. But the flip side of that is that the players have been stuck in an Edmonton hotel room for 2 fucking months, most of them without family, and without much in the way of a social life. So the physical benefit of the no travel thing basically offsets the mental toll from the whole bubble thing. I call those two things a draw. Winning the Cup any year, under any circumstances, is hard as fuck.
Agreed, being in a hotel room for 2 months can get old, but lets not pretend that aren't amazingly accommodated. They aren't at the Red Roof Inn(no offense if you work there).

Second. How much of a social life are players really having during the playoffs?

Also, they had an entire round against a team in a normal season that wouldn't have even qualified for the playoffs.

I agree, it is hard, it's never going to be easy to win the cup. But he's not wrong that you can't really compare the two.

I just don't see his take as that outlandish, but I've been calling the whole thing a sham from the jump.
Just a Russian propaganda account

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Dread, I mentioned the mental aspect because of those stories about bubble life. I don’t feel sorry for millionaires stuck in nice hotels, but it sounds like a lot of things were promised in advance that never happened. So for the teams that made it to the Finals, I’m guessing boredom was pretty substantial.

As many on here have suggested, supply the boys with “hookers and blow“ and you could do bubble hockey indefinitely!

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Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:41 pm
Matangama wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:31 pm So ok, I’ll acknowledge that the lack of travel would help guys. But the flip side of that is that the players have been stuck in an Edmonton hotel room for 2 fucking months, most of them without family, and without much in the way of a social life. So the physical benefit of the no travel thing basically offsets the mental toll from the whole bubble thing. I call those two things a draw. Winning the Cup any year, under any circumstances, is hard as fuck.
Agreed, being in a hotel room for 2 months can get old, but lets not pretend that aren't amazingly accommodated. They aren't at the Red Roof Inn(no offense if you work there).

Second. How much of a social life are players really having during the playoffs?

Also, they had an entire round against a team in a normal season that wouldn't have even qualified for the playoffs.

I agree, it is hard, it's never going to be easy to win the cup. But he's not wrong that you can't really compare the two.

I just don't see his take as that outlandish, but I've been calling the whole thing a sham from the jump.
I used to have takes on the bubble hockey Cup, but I've shifted firmly into the "who cares" camp. Tampa won, and that is a very reasonable result. Kinda sucks for them that they couldn't have their friends/family on the ice with them, but whatever, they get their bonuses and their names on the Cup. Some say this was a bs tournament, others that it was the hardest ever to win...who cares. Everybody played by the same rules, Tampa won and asterisks are dumb. Onto the nextone.
...but whatever, the Blues won the Cup!!!!!

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Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:41 pm I agree, it is hard, it's never going to be easy to win the cup. But he's not wrong that you can't really compare the two.

I just don't see his take as that outlandish, but I've been calling the whole thing a sham from the jump.
i don't know who that guy is, but DPW is spot on. it's possible that if the season played out, tampa had a great shot. but there is zero comparison between the two. whatever the hell this just was, good on them, but there will be an asterisk.

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T.C. wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 4:09 pm
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:41 pm I agree, it is hard, it's never going to be easy to win the cup. But he's not wrong that you can't really compare the two.

I just don't see his take as that outlandish, but I've been calling the whole thing a sham from the jump.
i don't know who that guy is, but DPW is spot on. it's possible that if the season played out, tampa had a great shot. but there is zero comparison between the two. whatever the hell this just was, good on them, but there will be an asterisk.
You didn't watch the games though, did you TC? Not trying to be argumentative, but most of the those who are in the "*" camp seem to be those who didn't watch any of the games, either because their team was out or because they didn't like the setup from the get go, which is of course anyone's right.

As TB is a fav team of mine, once the Blues were out I was still vested so I watched probably 90% or more of their games...all from the start of the EC Final and on. And what I saw was playoff hockey. Yeah, as we discussed during the Blues games, the atmosphere was weird with a 'neutral ice' that wasn't fully neutral and no fans. But the hockey...it was tough hitting, tough fighting, tough scoring: playoff hockey. If you were to somehow manipulate fans out of our Cup run last year or fans in to the Lightning Cup run this year, you would see ZERO difference in the hockey play. And that is what matters the most to me, and why for me and I think the majority of who watched the games, the talk of an * is silly. JMO.
"Do Only Good Everyday"

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bradleygt89 wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 11:34 pm
T.C. wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 4:09 pm
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:41 pm I agree, it is hard, it's never going to be easy to win the cup. But he's not wrong that you can't really compare the two.

I just don't see his take as that outlandish, but I've been calling the whole thing a sham from the jump.
i don't know who that guy is, but DPW is spot on. it's possible that if the season played out, tampa had a great shot. but there is zero comparison between the two. whatever the hell this just was, good on them, but there will be an asterisk.
You didn't watch the games though, did you TC? Not trying to be argumentative, but most of the those who are in the "*" camp seem to be those who didn't watch any of the games, either because their team was out or because they didn't like the setup from the get go, which is of course anyone's right.

As TB is a fav team of mine, once the Blues were out I was still vested so I watched probably 90% or more of their games...all from the start of the EC Final and on. And what I saw was playoff hockey. Yeah, as we discussed during the Blues games, the atmosphere was weird with a 'neutral ice' that wasn't fully neutral and no fans. But the hockey...it was tough hitting, tough fighting, tough scoring: playoff hockey. If you were to somehow manipulate fans out of our Cup run last year or fans in to the Lightning Cup run this year, you would see ZERO difference in the hockey play. And that is what matters the most to me, and why for me and I think the majority of who watched the games, the talk of an * is silly. JMO.
This was definitely playoff hockey. I think the chances this would of been the Finals anyway are pretty high. Outside of the Islanders making an unexpected run, the outcomes pretty much followed suit IMO.

Now the question is, does Binner and last years Blues take out this years Tampa? Would of been awfully tough. Plus Maroon would be worn out :lol:

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BillP, I think about last year and all the different things that happened along the way to the Blues winning the Cup. Would the Blues have beaten Tampa last year, a team that won 62 games in the regular season? Hey, doesn’t matter......they get swept in the first round by Columbus! Would the Blues have beaten Vegas in the conference finals? Hey, doesn’t matter......a phantom major penalty leads to a miracle comeback in Game 7 and we play San Jose instead! Sometimes it’s just fate. Of course this franchise had 50+ years of fate working against us, so we were due!

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CaptSMRT wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 3:52 pm
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:30 pm
CaptSMRT wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:13 pm I am sick of people with their stupid hot takes to get clicks.

Wheres the lie tho?
Nobody gets to pick the circumstances...the players who wanted it played hard and won. The only reason why this guy is talking shit is to get traffic....fuck him.
HE'S AN ATTENTION WHORE!!
Just a Russian propaganda account

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CaptSMRT wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:13 pm I am sick of people with their stupid hot takes to get clicks.

I will say for the people who say that this may be the most difficult championship to have ever won is totally full of shit. Everybody played under the same set of rules, so I have no problem with it. But for those who claim that this may have been the most difficult trophy to win under all the conditions is full of shit. Yeah, everyone came back healed up after a 4 month layoff and this was the toughest of them all--------get the fuck out. Just sayin.................

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BillP. wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:18 am
CaptSMRT wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:13 pm I am sick of people with their stupid hot takes to get clicks.

I will say for the people who say that this may be the most difficult championship to have ever won is totally full of shit. Everybody played under the same set of rules, so I have no problem with it. But for those who claim that this may have been the most difficult trophy to win under all the conditions is full of shit. Yeah, everyone came back healed up after a 4 month layoff and this was the toughest of them all--------get the fuck out. Just sayin.................
I think their point is that these guys were cooped up in the same hotel room and cutoff from their friends and families along with the rest of the outside world for 2 months. I'm not saying it's the correct take (the correct take is "who cares, this is a dumb argument"), but if you argue against it you should at least know what the argument is.
...but whatever, the Blues won the Cup!!!!!

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bradleygt89 wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 11:34 pm
T.C. wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 4:09 pm
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:41 pm I agree, it is hard, it's never going to be easy to win the cup. But he's not wrong that you can't really compare the two.

I just don't see his take as that outlandish, but I've been calling the whole thing a sham from the jump.
i don't know who that guy is, but DPW is spot on. it's possible that if the season played out, tampa had a great shot. but there is zero comparison between the two. whatever the hell this just was, good on them, but there will be an asterisk.
You didn't watch the games though, did you TC? Not trying to be argumentative, but most of the those who are in the "*" camp seem to be those who didn't watch any of the games, either because their team was out or because they didn't like the setup from the get go, which is of course anyone's right.

As TB is a fav team of mine, once the Blues were out I was still vested so I watched probably 90% or more of their games...all from the start of the EC Final and on. And what I saw was playoff hockey. Yeah, as we discussed during the Blues games, the atmosphere was weird with a 'neutral ice' that wasn't fully neutral and no fans. But the hockey...it was tough hitting, tough fighting, tough scoring: playoff hockey. If you were to somehow manipulate fans out of our Cup run last year or fans in to the Lightning Cup run this year, you would see ZERO difference in the hockey play. And that is what matters the most to me, and why for me and I think the majority of who watched the games, the talk of an * is silly. JMO.
this is a fair point. i'd say i didn't watch because it just wasn't the same. allow me to present an analogy that i can relate to: think of a hockey team as a band. if a band is playing through a set list in their rehearsal space, even if they invite a couple other "rival" bands to hang out and watch, it is completely different in energy, feel, presentation, nerves, intensity, etc., than playing in front of an arena full of fans. i'm sure what was presented was clinically good hockey, but it simply did not account for the impact of an opposing (or home) arena full of fans on the players and game (and the refs). so it just felt like an exhibition, and i couldn't muster up any "give a fuck" when i tried watching, barely even for the blues.

maybe it's just me. and that's fine. i'm glad some people enjoyed it. hopefully it generated some needed revenue for the league.

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T.C. wrote: Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:40 am
bradleygt89 wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 11:34 pm
T.C. wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 4:09 pm

i don't know who that guy is, but DPW is spot on. it's possible that if the season played out, tampa had a great shot. but there is zero comparison between the two. whatever the hell this just was, good on them, but there will be an asterisk.
You didn't watch the games though, did you TC? Not trying to be argumentative, but most of the those who are in the "*" camp seem to be those who didn't watch any of the games, either because their team was out or because they didn't like the setup from the get go, which is of course anyone's right.

As TB is a fav team of mine, once the Blues were out I was still vested so I watched probably 90% or more of their games...all from the start of the EC Final and on. And what I saw was playoff hockey. Yeah, as we discussed during the Blues games, the atmosphere was weird with a 'neutral ice' that wasn't fully neutral and no fans. But the hockey...it was tough hitting, tough fighting, tough scoring: playoff hockey. If you were to somehow manipulate fans out of our Cup run last year or fans in to the Lightning Cup run this year, you would see ZERO difference in the hockey play. And that is what matters the most to me, and why for me and I think the majority of who watched the games, the talk of an * is silly. JMO.
this is a fair point. i'd say i didn't watch because it just wasn't the same. allow me to present an analogy that i can relate to: think of a hockey team as a band. if a band is playing through a set list in their rehearsal space, even if they invite a couple other "rival" bands to hang out and watch, it is completely different in energy, feel, presentation, nerves, intensity, etc., than playing in front of an arena full of fans. i'm sure what was presented was clinically good hockey, but it simply did not account for the impact of an opposing (or home) arena full of fans on the players and game (and the refs). so it just felt like an exhibition, and i couldn't muster up any "give a fuck" when i tried watching, barely even for the blues.

maybe it's just me. and that's fine. i'm glad some people enjoyed it. hopefully it generated some needed revenue for the league.
I don't think it actually made them any money, but rather avoided having to refund their TV partners huge amounts. They were lucky in that this happened with the regular season nearly finished. They're going to take it on the chin next year with as few as 0 and a maximum of "not many" fans in the stands in most arenas next year, so they're going to have to get creative. We might have seen our last game for a long time...almost certainly the last game of calendar year 2020.
...but whatever, the Blues won the Cup!!!!!

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For me, it was a just a summer tournament . They should have called it The Covid-19 Cup, or something. It didn't have the basis if a full NHL season structuring it. Nobody knows if the teams that were in it would have been there at the end of the full regular season. A lot of things that factor into it were different... injuries that had time to heal ... loss of momentum.... It's an * to me. JMHO