If tampa makes it past the second round, then their coach will win the award. If pheonix makes it to the cup final, then their coach will win it. If the devils win the cup, then maybe, just maybe their coach will win it.

Neither Tampa's nor Pheonix's turnarounds have been anywhere as dramatic as New Jersey's. Both those teams were bad last season and are good this. New Jersey was literally the worst team in the league for half this season - and basically two weeks after they rehire Lemaire they start winning 90% of their games (against the top teams, too).

 

Nothing points to good coaching quite like that does.

Anyone who actually watches hockey though would realize that new jersey have been cup contenders for years. This year, they aquire kovalchuk, and more or less 'give up/don't try'. Now that they change their coach, they magically start to win? Meh, even if new jersey makes the playoffs, they'll still be either doomed to washington or doomed to philly (both teams being 2 of my picks to advance past round 1).

Meh, even if new jersey makes the playoffs, they'll still be either doomed to washington or doomed to philly (both teams being 2 of my picks to advance past round 1).

 

Neither of which team has managed to assail their goaltending issues, either ... :unsure:

We'll see. I don't buy that they 'gave up' at all.

Really yguy, really? They suddenly get one of the best, if not the best forwards in the nhl, and go from 2nd overall in the east to last, and you blame coaching for it? Any team with jersey's goaltending/forwards would be in the playoffs, coaching not really making any sort of difference. If jersey makes the playoffs, then they'll have to compete with washington's consistancy, and/or philly's 'dynasty-like' team. Can jersey beat that? Not at this time, maybe in a few years.

Yes, I blame coaching for it, because basically the very minute they get a new coach all of a sudden things turn around. Having a good player doesn't guarantee success (not to mention Parise was out since almost the very beginning this year).

leafs is setting up the nation for some major heartbreak. show a ray of hope here and there but they're still not gonna make the playoffs

leafs is setting up the nation for some major heartbreak. show a ray of hope here and there but they're still not gonna make the playoffs

Gotta agree. Loss to Islanders was when I realized that but loss to tampa was the nail in the coffin.

 

Still, always nice to watch them win a game anyway.

Meh, the leafs always do this though. They make a 'slight playoff run', then fail horribly. They're like the sabres w/o ryan miller.

lol if NJ makes the 8th seed i will put money on them to beat wash/philly if the odds are good enough. bobrovsky is crazy inconsistent. boucher isn't that much better. and washington also has young goalies

Washington's goalies have been scarily consistant though, and even with jersey having brodeur/kovalchuk/parise/langenbrunner, they're still lacking the ability to shut down ovechkin, something that will ultimately cost them should they score the 8th seed. If they face philly though, then they have a shot, albeit not a good one. The only way they can stop philly is if they can take care of pronger/shut him down. If they can, then they'll lose to washington in the 2nd round.

Washington's goalies have been scarily consistant though, and even with jersey having brodeur/kovalchuk/parise/langenbrunner, they're still lacking the ability to shut down ovechkin, something that will ultimately cost them should they score the 8th seed. If they face philly though, then they have a shot, albeit not a good one. The only way they can stop philly is if they can take care of pronger/shut him down. If they can, then they'll lose to washington in the 2nd round.

Firstly - they traded Langenbrunner to dallas.

Secondly - they're one of the best defensive teams in the league. If anyone can shut down ovechkin, they can (although he hasn't really been an offensive factor).

Thirdly - you don't "shut down" pronger.

Thought I'd weigh in in this last page...

 

New Jersey paid too much for Kovalchuk. There's no way around it. When they were forced to start without a full line-up due to cap restrictions (as they did at the very beginning of the season), someone in management [cabbage] the bed. Glad to see they're turning it around and I'm pulling for them to grab 8th.

 

Toronto... Is anyone surprised? They're by far the most over-scrutinized team in the NHL. Every season the big debate arises over whether or not they'll make the playoffs. I've given up caring whether or not they do. I'd rather have NJ make it so I won't have to be lambasted with coverage about how the Leafs finally made the playoffs. If NJ makes it (which would be much more impressive than Toronto) they'll maybe mention it for the first round and that's it. If the Leafs make it, we're all going to be hearing about it for the next season...

 

Now for a little west coast... Vancouver clinched the Northwest with 10 games to go. Fourth division title in five years. They got dealt another difficult injury to deal with; Malhotra getting a puck to the face. Thankfully they'll be able to "take it easy" into the post-season. Reports saying Edler should be back during the playoffs, along with some other of the missing d-men. Good thing Vancouver has the most depth in the NHL. Now that Luongo has sorted his game out and Schnieder's playing like a beast, I'm really looking forward to the post-season.

 

Interesting fact: Every time a Canadian city has hosted an Olympics, that city won the cup the following year. Montreal '78, Calgary '89... Vancouver '11?

All the Leafs hate I don't get. I'm not a leaf fan just for the record.

 

Jersey did not overpay for Kovalchuk. A bad start to the year, but I have no doubt he will be able to score 35+ and 80+ pts average over the next several seasons. What's his cap hit again? Like 6m? That's not overpaid. Even if he plays at 80-90% the way he was playing lately, it's still very worth it. Overpaid is Gomez.

 

Out west, Minny pretty much shot themselves in the foot on this road trip. Kinda disappointed, but hopefully they can get off to a better start next year and push for the playoffs. I believe some playoff hockey will do Minny alot of good. Not that they have trouble selling out, it's pretty much the Hockey central in America. Oilers are just... don't see them winning much, if any at all down this stretch. Injuries to Hall, Hemsky, Gagner, now Horcoff and of course Whitney and Peckham. Pretty devastating.

 

Gl to Canucks though, as much as I hate them, they are looking pretty darn good.

Thought I'd weigh in in this last page...

 

New Jersey paid too much for Kovalchuk. There's no way around it. When they were forced to start without a full line-up due to cap restrictions (as they did at the very beginning of the season), someone in management [cabbage] the bed. Glad to see they're turning it around and I'm pulling for them to grab 8th.

 

Toronto... Is anyone surprised? They're by far the most over-scrutinized team in the NHL. Every season the big debate arises over whether or not they'll make the playoffs. I've given up caring whether or not they do. I'd rather have NJ make it so I won't have to be lambasted with coverage about how the Leafs finally made the playoffs. If NJ makes it (which would be much more impressive than Toronto) they'll maybe mention it for the first round and that's it. If the Leafs make it, we're all going to be hearing about it for the next season...

 

Now for a little west coast... Vancouver clinched the Northwest with 10 games to go. Fourth division title in five years. They got dealt another difficult injury to deal with; Malhotra getting a puck to the face. Thankfully they'll be able to "take it easy" into the post-season. Reports saying Edler should be back during the playoffs, along with some other of the missing d-men. Good thing Vancouver has the most depth in the NHL. Now that Luongo has sorted his game out and Schnieder's playing like a beast, I'm really looking forward to the post-season.

 

Interesting fact: Every time a Canadian city has hosted an Olympics, that city won the cup the following year. Montreal '78, Calgary '89... Vancouver '11?

 

Cool, never knew that. I agree, Vancouver looks beastly this year.

 

 

All the Leafs hate I don't get. I'm not a leaf fan just for the record.

 

Jersey did not overpay for Kovalchuk. A bad start to the year, but I have no doubt he will be able to score 35+ and 80+ pts average over the next several seasons. What's his cap hit again? Like 6m? That's not overpaid. Even if he plays at 80-90% the way he was playing lately, it's still very worth it. Overpaid is Gomez.

 

Out west, Minny pretty much shot themselves in the foot on this road trip. Kinda disappointed, but hopefully they can get off to a better start next year and push for the playoffs. I believe some playoff hockey will do Minny alot of good. Not that they have trouble selling out, it's pretty much the Hockey central in America. Oilers are just... don't see them winning much, if any at all down this stretch. Injuries to Hall, Hemsky, Gagner, now Horcoff and of course Whitney and Peckham. Pretty devastating.

 

Gl to Canucks though, as much as I hate them, they are looking pretty darn good.

 

Sorry, but Jersey did overpay for Kovalchuk. You can't look at just his cap hit - although he is a good player.

Jersey overpaid huge for kovalchuk....and your 'he's getting paid 6m this year' fact is wrong. In all actuality, he's getting paid 10m this year, which is huuuuuuge strain on the 'meagre' cap. An even more interesting fact: the last 3 times that a team has won their conference back to back, they've gone on to win the cup in the 2nd of the 'back' years...well, all except washington has (jersey, detroit, pittsburgh)

He's getting paid 10m, but what shows up in the end is a 6m cap hit, and that's what counts, because he will play out his contract. Over the next several years, I expect Kovalchuk to regain the point per game and at least a 0.5 goal/game ratio.

you can't pull a contract like kovy anymore. that's the last one of that kind. which i'm kinda glad because burke never offers those kind of contracts.

 

gonna be interesting how they're gonna deal with parise

Also curious to see what the lightning offer stamkos, and what what burke offers shenn/reimer

If stamkos doesn't get traded off, then he'll easily make 6-7m per season. Shenn maybe 2.4m, reimer maybe 1.3? Kovy's best years were in atlanta...period. Now that he's on another team/overhyped, he's never going to really be what he was a few years ago. Parise's gonna definitely be traded, due to the fact that the devils can't keep brodeur/kovy/him on the same team (cap space doesn't really allow for it). Expect parise to be anaheim/florida bound. As for the leafs, it seems that every year they play they fit the stereotype of the fat kid in gym class. They fail, they complain, and they overobsess about their losses, but everyone's glad to see them at least try.

I'd see schenn making more - I think he's going to be looking at a 9mil 3 year deal at least.

 

I think kovalchuk will recapture what he did in atlanta - but I also think that paying someone 10mil is too much short of sidney crosby.

 

Pretty sure TB will resign stamkos - couple of deadline moves freed up funds probably just for that purpose.

Schenn the only player in the league with 150 blocked shots and 200 hits. That's damn good for a 3rd year defenceman.

 

I love players like that, which is why I got a Clutterbuck jersey, and it got here yesterday!!!! Woohoo, too bad Minny lost and now has <5% chance to make the playoffs.

Schenn is a great D. That's why I think he can command a lot of money...

 

But I like gunnarsson's play recently - once Jake Gardiner is ready to play in the NHL I think toronto's D-core is good to go. Hopefully Komisarek can improve though, but I think he's good enough to be a #6 D.

Overall though, schenn is still a semi-weak scorer. And the facts are that scoring=monay! Kovalchuk's contract in general was pretty wasteful, if you consider how cheap everyone else is. For 10m per season, you could get a lecavalier and a mike greene, or 2 top 6 forwards. 10m just for kovalchuk though? I'd rather turn that 10m into pennies, and make a lifesize recreation of the entire tml franchise.

Overall though, schenn is still a semi-weak scorer. And the facts are that scoring=monay! Kovalchuk's contract in general was pretty wasteful, if you consider how cheap everyone else is. For 10m per season, you could get a lecavalier and a mike greene, or 2 top 6 forwards. 10m just for kovalchuk though? I'd rather turn that 10m into pennies, and make a lifesize recreation of the entire tml franchise.

.....are you just trolling now? Your posts on this thread have made less and less sense with each occurrence.

 

Schenn's a terrible scorer - that's not his job. He's a stay at home defencemen - an excellent one. That's worth quite a lot of money.