[PST] Second Round: Washington (1st Metropolitan) vs Pittsburgh (2nd Metropolitan)

[Jason14h]

When has a team ever "blown it up" ? Fans love to say it but it has never happened

No I don't think Washington will trade Ovy, Holtby and Backstrom

[nik-]

We talked about how much Elliott cost himself this year, but how much has Shattenkirk cost himself since he was traded to the Caps. He's not been very good. Definitely not 7 million a year good imo.

[FireGilbert]

Originally Posted by guuar

MAF is putting up solid numbers playing on a TOP 3 team. He is also desperate thinking he still has a shot to force them to trade Murray.

Very productive scouting game for the Flames.

Holtby: #1 Choke under playoff pressure goalie.
Grubauer: Clear #2 backup quality goalie. CANT step up when given the chance to be the man.
Fleury: Penguins artificially inflate trade value by playing him against TWO of the leagues worst statistical playoff teams. Any team will regret giving more than a 3rd round pick for him.
Murray: Flames clear choice for #1 goalie of the future. Penguins are resting him until the ECF when they play a team capable of beating them.

Murray never was injured. They knew to get the right value for either goalie teams needed him to step up. There was no risk playing columbus. They wont put Murray in unless they fall behind in a series.

Huh? This is the strangest thing I have read on CP today ahead of the draft lottery conspiracy and your next post.

Holtby is one of the best goalies in the game and I would take him on the Flames in a second. Unfortunately the Caps would never get rid of him. Yes, Grubauer was not great in relief however I'd like to think Flames management would not judge a goalie based on one period.

The Fleury/Murray stuff is just silly and Murray didn't even play so I'm not sure how you scouted him... You seriously think the Pens are showcasing Fleury by playing him against the 1st and 4th best teams in the league? It's simple really, Murray was going to play but was injured. Fleury has taken the starters role and ran with it so there has been no reason to go back to Murray. The fact that this increases Fleury's trade value is just an added benefit.

[Tsawwassen]

6 at 2


Pittsburgh leads the series 2-0.
http://scores.nbcsports.com/nhl/recap.asp?g=2017042923&home=23&vis=16&final=true
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/penguins-capitals-game-2-recap-1.4092378
http://sportsstats.cbc.ca/hockey/nhl-boxscores.aspx?page=/data/nhl/results/2016-2017/recap113863.html

[guuar]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Huh? This is the strangest thing I have read on CP today ahead of the draft lottery conspiracy and your next post.

Holtby is one of the best goalies in the game and I would take him on the Flames in a second. Unfortunately the Caps would never get rid of him. Yes, Grubauer was not great in relief however I'd like to think Flames management would not judge a goalie based on one period.

The Fleury/Murray stuff is just silly and Murray didn't even play so I'm not sure how you scouted him... You seriously think the Pens are showcasing Fleury by playing him against the 1st and 4th best teams in the league? It's simple really, Murray was going to play but was injured. Fleury has taken the starters role and ran with it so there has been no reason to go back to Murray. The fact that this increases Fleury's trade value is just an added benefit.

1st and 4th best teams in regular season?

And.......

29th and 30th best teams in playoffs...

Yes any excuse to play Fleury is in their interest. He wins you a Stanley Cup Championship and you are in a position to acquire a massive amount of prospects and picks.

Holtby is a good goalie. No doubt. Again, he chokes every year in the playoffs. I don't care if you get 82 shutouts in the regular season. If you can't stop a beach ball in the playoffs you are not a good goalie nor are you worth a huge contract.

Grubauer showed what he is capable of or in this case NOT.

Regular season he almost always played against weaker teams and shocking almost half of his starts were played on the front half of double headers against teams that were not playoff teams.

This is not the kind of goalie you drool over when you want your team to compete for a Stanley Cup.

You want that goalie that will go balls deep and turns you into a championship caliber team.

The only goalie that fits that criteria is Murray.

Holtby is an absolute joke. Vezina quality goalie that can't even get to the SCF. Holtby isn't anything special until he proves he can win more than a president's trophy.

[AT77]

Originally Posted by guuar

1st and 4th best teams in regular season?

And.......

29th and 30th best teams in playoffs...

Yes any excuse to play Fleury is in their interest. He wins you a Stanley Cup Championship and you are in a position to acquire a massive amount of prospects and picks.

Holtby is a good goalie. No doubt. Again, he chokes every year in the playoffs. I don't care if you get 82 shutouts in the regular season. If you can't stop a beach ball in the playoffs you are not a good goalie nor are you worth a huge contract.

Grubauer showed what he is capable of or in this case NOT.

Regular season he almost always played against weaker teams and shocking almost half of his starts were played on the front half of double headers against teams that were not playoff teams.

This is not the kind of goalie you drool over when you want your team to compete for a Stanley Cup.

You want that goalie that will go balls deep and turns you into a championship caliber team.

The only goalie that fits that criteria is Murray.

Holtby is an absolute joke. Vezina quality goalie that can't even get to the SCF. Holtby isn't anything special until he proves he can win more than a president's trophy.

Are you kidding? Have you even watched Holtby in the playoffs? Or are you just thinking what you're saying is correct because Washington hasn't made it out of the second round? The problem has been their offense, not Holtby. He has been almost lights out, but barely received any goal support in the past. Here are his previous playoffs stats so you can become more informed before you start stating an opinion that is absolutely incorrect.

11-12: 14 Games Played, 30 Goals Against, 1.95 GAA, .935 Save Percentage
12-13: 7 Games Played, 16 Goals Against, 2.22 GAA, .922 Save Percentage
14-15: 13 Games Played, 23 Goals Against, 1.71 GAA, .944 Save Percentage
15-16: 12 Games Played, 21 Goals Against, 1.72 GAA, .942 Save Percentage

Those are incredible numbers. Please tell me where Holtby has "choked"? Please tell me where he is an "absolutely joke"? Please tell me where he isn't "anything special"? Do you expect him to have a playoff stat line of 16 Games Played, 16-0, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 Save Percentage, 16 Shut Outs?

[dash_pinched]

Could be the t-shirt of this year's playoffs...

[Roof-Daddy]

Holtby is terrible. Can never get the job done in the playoffs. Just like Price.

Either of those teams would be smart just to trade them far far away ASAP.

Somewhere FAR away like Calgary.

[vilzeh]

Originally Posted by guuar

1st and 4th best teams in regular season?

And.......

29th and 30th best teams in playoffs...

Yes any excuse to play Fleury is in their interest. He wins you a Stanley Cup Championship and you are in a position to acquire a massive amount of prospects and picks.

Holtby is a good goalie. No doubt. Again, he chokes every year in the playoffs. I don't care if you get 82 shutouts in the regular season. If you can't stop a beach ball in the playoffs you are not a good goalie nor are you worth a huge contract.

Grubauer showed what he is capable of or in this case NOT.

Regular season he almost always played against weaker teams and shocking almost half of his starts were played on the front half of double headers against teams that were not playoff teams.

This is not the kind of goalie you drool over when you want your team to compete for a Stanley Cup.

You want that goalie that will go balls deep and turns you into a championship caliber team.

The only goalie that fits that criteria is Murray.

Holtby is an absolute joke. Vezina quality goalie that can't even get to the SCF. Holtby isn't anything special until he proves he can win more than a president's trophy.

You're an absolute joke.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Holtby is terrible. Can never get the job done in the playoffs. Just like Price.

Either of those teams would be smart just to trade them far far away ASAP.

Somewhere FAR away like Calgary.

You wouldn't want to see Holtby or Price in a Flames uniform? Oops I misread your post thought you said "far away from Calgary".

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by zamler

You wouldn't want to see Holtby or Price in a Flames uniform? Oops I misread your post thought you said "far away from Calgary".

Re-read the last line of the post you quoted.
Edit: Nice ninja edit!

[zamler]

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

Re-read the last line of the post you quoted.
Edit: Nice ninja edit!

I missed the sarcasm, good sarcasm. I'd love to see Price or Holtby in Calgary, hell yes.

Anyway on this series I am amazed by two thing, Fleury playing excellent hockey and the Caps lack of....mojo if you will. I shouldn't be surprised given history but I still am I thought the Caps would at least bring the level of play they did last year against Pittsburgh.

Still would not be surprised to see this series go 7 games.

[CroFlames]

Caps have life. Hate to see Crosby go down though.

[Geeoff]

Crosby's at the point where the next concussion could be the last time we see him in the NHL.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

Crosby's at the point where the next concussion could be the last time we see him in the NHL.

This is what, #3 or 4? That's already bad, and I really fear for the long-term repercussions

[bax]

Did anyone catch the Rossi article about the caps? He flat out accuses them of planning to injure Crosby during their closed door players meeting. He calls them liars, calls Trotz a loser, blames Ovechkin and Niskanen and think Ovi should miss the rest of the post season.

I can't believe how unprofessional that was.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by bax

Did anyone catch the Rossi article about the caps? He flat out accuses them of planning to injure Crosby during their closed door players meeting. He calls them liars, calls Trotz a loser, blames Ovechkin and Niskanen and think Ovi should miss the rest of the post season.

I can't believe how unprofessional that was.

His comments in post game talk with Trotz going after Ovechkin were awkward too.

I liked Trotz response "Was there a penalty? Were Kunitz and Malkins predatory hits hockey plays?"

Then Rossi keeps going on about Oveckin.

What a loser.

[united]

The best part of last night was Rossi absolutely losing his mind. First in the press conference with Barry Trotz, then his tweets/article calling for Niskanen to be suspended for the rest of the second round and Ovechkin for the rest of the playoffs and accusing the Capitals of drawing up plans to injure Crosby on a whiteboard, and finally the videos he posted on his twitter account - incredible - like amateur wrestling promotion bad.

The fact that guy is issued media credentials and also gets to vote on NHL awards is insane.

Edit: Wrestling-style idiocy is posted on his apparent other account, @upgruv

[robaur]

This is the reason why the NHL is considered to be a 2nd tier league. It's their inability to protect their players that makes them look terrible, especially their top players.

They need suspensions in the range of 10-15 games as a major deterrent and $100k fines. The max fine in the NHL is like 2-4k or something. It's a joke.

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by robaur

This is the reason why the NHL is considered to be a 2nd tier league. It's their inability to protect their players that makes them look terrible, especially their top players.

They need suspensions in the range of 10-15 games as a major deterrent and $100k fines. The max fine in the NHL is like 2-4k or something. It's a joke.

Lol.... Who considers it a second tier league? And what is the league supposed to do in a situation like this?