ECF: Florida Panthers (A3) vs Carolina Hurricanes (M3) - PANTHERS WIN 4-1

[Locke]

As I recall, in Chucky's case, yes he is a St. Louis boy but his family spent their off-seasons in Florida and have a family home there, so he was very comfortable in Florida.

I dont believe the taxes were brought up, that may have just been a bonus.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Potentially 6 straight cups played in Florida.
8 straight played in Alberta (83-90).

Are those the longest single-state/province streaks in sports? I can’t imagine that happens a lot. Maybe with the Mets and Yankees? I don’t remember the Mets ever being good (other than recently), but I didn't pay much attention when I was younger. Twins vs Braves was the first time I really got excited about baseball.

Probably not consecutive like you listed but California from 06-15 played 4 finals.

Pennsylvania mostly on the backs of the Pens have been to 6 since 08 I believe.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Locke

As I recall, in Chucky's case, yes he is a St. Louis boy but his family spent their off-seasons in Florida and have a family home there, so he was very comfortable in Florida.

I dont believe the taxes were brought up, that may have just been a bonus.

His dad was building a house.

His list of teams included tax havens like St. Louis, Vegas, Carolina, Florida, Tampa and Dallas.

I don’t know. If you look the history of those teams leading up to his trade taxes is t what sticks out to me.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Do you really think he signed because of taxes ?

"at a lower rate"

100% he was willing to sign for less money because of taxes...there were obviously other factors to signing there.

[PepsiFree]

I don’t know if this was mentioned, but speaking of Marchand, the conditions of the “conditional 2nd” have been met as of game 2 of this series, so that pick has become a 1st in 27/28, which may be timed nicely for a possible Florida downturn.

Still a good deal. But now a much better one for Boston than it seemed.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by dino7c

"at a lower rate"

100% he was willing to sign for less money because of taxes...there were obviously other factors.

I think taxes is a lot lower on the difference makers. They have tools that agents have talked about to lower taxes for players. If anything calgary has the Edwards advantage just use his accountant if you want to avoid paying taxes.

You also know players pay tax in every state and province they play in.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

I think taxes is a lot lower on the difference makers. They have tools that agents have talked about to lower taxes for players. If anything calgary has the Edwards advantage just use his accountant if you want to avoid paying taxes.

You also know players pay tax in every state and province they play in.

Its too nice out to argue with you lol

Everyone and their dog knows some teams get better contracts because of taxes and geography. Florida doesn't have some amazing owner, he is actually a pretty TERRIBLE human being. They have a market that doesn't really care when they suck, great weather, low taxes. They have certainly made good moves but have a pretty large advantage.

4 of the last 5 cup champs and 7 of the last 10 cup finalists are from tax free states (hopefully 2 of 2 this season)

Anyone who doesn't admit these are major factors when building a team isn't worth debating. Taxes will be a big discussion in the next CBA

[FanIn80]

Maurice on Mikkola:

“His straightaway speed is incredible,” Maurice said. “When we signed him, I talked to two coaches about him, and that was kind of a thing, you know, the kind of agility of the eyes. (His former teams) played completely different games than we played.

“And then he gets here and he’s up the ice all the time, and we enjoy that on the video the next day, showing his rush attempts. But it’s a straight-line speed, it’s incredible.”

“He’s found his place,” Maurice said. “That’s a guy, a credit to really how this team is built. Bill Zito and his staff, he asked us to watch a video of him when he was in St. Louis. So, before he even went to New York, they were on him. They do a really good job here, exceptional job of finding players that fit the way we play, and this, our game is built for him. He’s been great.”

Marchand on Mikkola:

“I love 'Meeks'. He's a great teammate, very fun to be around. He doesn't take anything too serious, a guy you can laugh with,” teammate Brad Marchand said. “He's one of those guys that impacts the game a lot more than what he gets credit for, a lot more than what shows up on the stat sheet. Just a force for our team.”

“I really did not like playing against him; he was really hard to play against, very physical and in your face,” Marchand said. “It's not often you get a guy with that size that can skate as well as he does. He closes extremely fast. Just playing against him he's always in your face, he's always right there, you don't have any time and space and he goes through you.”

Zito on Mikkola:

“I didn't know him, but Marcus was telling me this guy has the character, humility, in tandem with a compete tenacity to be just a wonderful teammate, and he’s been all that and more,” Zito told NHL.com last week. “He has a good sense of humor. He's gracious, he plays, he competes like a son of a gun. And then that same guy, like so many of our guys, away from the ice, is as kind and as thoughtful a teammate as you can imagine.”

https://www.nhl.com/news/niko-mikkol...at-stanley-cup

[CliffFletcher]

Different positions, but Klapka ticks a lot of the same boxes as Mikkola.

[Locke]

Mikkola simply needs a large horn and a quick trip to the Swiss Alps...its his safe-space.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Its too nice out to argue with you lol

Everyone and their dog knows some teams get better contracts because of taxes and geography. Florida doesn't have some amazing owner, he is actually a pretty TERRIBLE human being. They have a market that doesn't really care when they suck, great weather, low taxes. They have certainly made good moves but have a pretty large advantage.

4 of the last 5 cup champs and 7 of the last 10 cup finalists are from tax free states (hopefully 2 of 2 this season)

Anyone who doesn't admit these are major factors when building a team isn't worth debating. Taxes will be a big discussion in the next CBA

Hi dino7c. Great weather for sure. If you’re not busy come help install my lights and fire pit table as my hand is not 100%.

Can you please tell me what taxes have to do with drafting Barkov and Ekblad? What about trading for the Sam’s and Verhagee. Getting Forsling off waivers. Getting signed to contracts that have all allowed them stay competitive and go out and get Seth Jones or Giroux previously. How about Marchand do you think he went to Florida for taxes and weather for 3 months ?

What about Tampa ? What role did it play in drafting Point and Kucherov and Vas? Hedman and on and on. We got hunter smith tho.

Dallas had no stars until they grabbed Rantanen with a significant package traded for him.

Maybe drafting, developing not rushing things along and trading picks away plays a bigger role. Singing players to fair contracts and not driving them to free agency so they can walk. Weird concept n

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Hi dino7c. Great weather for sure. If you’re not busy come help install my lights and fire pit table as my hand is not 100%.

Can you please tell me what taxes have to do with drafting Barkov and Ekblad? What about trading for the Sam’s and Verhagee. Getting Forsling off waivers. Getting signed to contracts that have all allowed them stay competitive and go out and get Seth Jones or Giroux previously. How about Marchand do you think he went to Florida for taxes and weather for 3 months ?

What about Tampa ? What role did it play in drafting Point and Kucherov and Vas? Hedman and on and on. We got hunter smith tho.

Dallas had no stars until they grabbed Rantanen with a significant package traded for him.

Maybe drafting, developing not rushing things along and trading picks away plays a bigger role. Singing players to fair contracts and not driving them to free agency so they can walk. Weird concept n

I would say part of this is what their take-home pay is vs other spots, but there are other places to play with similar types of incentives, and accountants that can make that all pretty much even put anyways.

But the rest of what you said is spot on. Most players want to win #1, especially those who are going to be making big bank regardless of where they go. The fact that there are places that can win and also have great lifestyle amenities is icing on the cake. I think it's pretty ideal to play in a place that can pack the stadium when you're good, but not give a crap when you're bad, and who wouldn't want to work on the beach vs the tundra? It's not hard to figure out.

[dino7c]

Its not that complicated...lower taxes and better weather are a compeditive advantage. Also makes it easier and cheaper to re-sign players. That advantage makes it easier to build a good team. Yes having a good team is another plus but you got there in the first plays thanks IN PART to those advantages.

Its also easier to suck for 2 decades like the Panthers did when and draft high when nobody cares. You used to be able to trade losing lottery tickets for game tickets lol.

Not sure what the debate is, all I said is that it was easier to be a GM in such a market...its not really debatable at all. If it was a videogame it would be the easy mode. Thats not to say you can't win on hard its just more complicated.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Hey all, was in Europe this whole last week. I managed to watch game 7 against the leafs on the plane, but I knew I was likely not going to be able to watch this series because of the time difference.

Looks like I didn't miss much. Panthers seem to own the 'Canes in the playoffs. These teams are very, very similar in many ways, but the Panthers have the edge in their top skill players, the edge in goal, and the edge in physical play. That's the weird thing about the playoffs. Even if you have just a slight edge, it looks like you're much better than the other team. The differences are mostly razor thin, and yet if you have the right differences, you can beat a lot of teams.

Game 4 tonight. This series is likely all but over, but I am curious to see if Carolina can at least break this streak of ECF losses. If nothing else, they have to win at least one game in the series to change the narrative.

[FanIn80]

Florida needs to close this out tonight. I don’t like the thought of what could happen if CAR finally gets a win. The momentum from that and being back in their building for game five… I could see them going on a tear.

[Icon]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Florida needs to close this out tonight. I don’t like the thought of what could happen if CAR finally gets a win. The momentum from that and being back in their building for game five… I could see them going on a tear.

Plus Florida closing out the series gives them more injury recovery time.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Icon

Plus Florida closing out the series gives them more injury recovery time.

Yes, absolutely.

[PepsiFree]

Nothing I have seen from Carolina suggests they’re a momentum swing away from anything.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Nothing I have seen from Carolina suggests they’re a momentum swing away from anything.

Anaheim fans probably said the same thing about us while we were losing 29 straight games in their building. Then we finally beat them and we’re 9-0 there since.

90% of a streak is mental.

[WideReceiver]

It’s 91.72%. I read the study.