Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Stamkos - yes, I always meant they missed the POs in year one, which to me showed that they weren’t a top team.
Colorado on the cusp of greatness? Well they were, but you couldn’t tell it by the POs. They had been a disappointment. And the expansion draft? You know they exposed Landeskog right?
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Why is the season after he signed relevant? We're dissecting Stamkos' choice of which contract to ink...
Stamkos only played 17 games that year they missed the PO's - by 1 pt.
Bishop got hurt on Dec 20 after starting 21 of the first 32 games (TBL was 9th in conf at the time). Vasi was 22 yo - he posted a 4-1-1 to close December, but lost his next 6 starts in Jan in regulation (Bishop came back in the midst of that and went 2-0-1). The platooned until TDL where they got Cernak for Bishop.
They actually went 12-2-3 from Feb 4 to March 14. Then Vasi got lit up three games in a row. And then they finished 8-1-1.
So they weren't actually a bad team - the January stretch and another bad stretch from mid-Nov to mid-Dec really killed them. And some growing pains from handing the reins to a 22 yo.
The next year they were back to G7 of ECF against the Caps who went on to win the cup. The year after that they had the best regular season since the '96 Red Wings...though they were swept by CBJ, they followed that up with 3 straight SCFs and at least 2 cups.
Excuse this tangent/rant, but it's just crazy when you dig into this TBL run. 81 playoff wins and counting over the last 8 years, despite winning 0 in two of those years. 2009-16 Blackhawks won 76; '96-'02 Red Wings won 83 (but each of them won at least 2 PO games each season).
As for COL, they had cruised through the first round in 5 or less for the previous 3 years (and again this year), then out in 7/7/6 in rd 2. G7 vs DAL went to OT; they lost G7 to SJ 3-2 (though COL's 2nd goal game with 51 seconds left). Perhaps not that impressive, but still much better than CGY's high water mark of rd 2 G5...
COL also exposed Donskoi (2x3.9M remaining) so they could keep Jost and O'Connor. As I said before, losing Donskoi and trading for Kuemper (1M retained) are two things that probably made it a bit easier for COL to sign Landeskog. The uncertainty from the ED probably played a big role in that situation coming down to the last minute; there is no similar pressure point here.