Quote:
Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan
I never said otherwise, was just commenting on how bad team defense was in the 80's. It wasn't great hockey. Entertaining, absolutely. But bad defense led to inflated scoring. Along with average goaltenders wearing much smaller pads than today.
I think you're selling Crawford a bit short here, he's not garbage he's pretty good. Tampa had no problems scoring all season long on goalies with similar padding. And I also disagree that a Hawks defense with players like Keith and Seabrook among others wasn't/isn't good. They probably have the best top 3 or 4 in the league.
I agree about the padding though, it's a little much. If they are going to tinker with anything it should start there.
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Those players on the Hawks D are undeniably awesome. But their D is bad after the top 3 and you could see at time TB was getting to them for it. These had to be some tired guys. And for times in that series, TB was absolutely serving them their lunch (like the end of game 4). Keith and Seabrook and Hjalmarson are great but they are human, and playing that many minutes definitely showed as the opposition got a lot of great looks.