2016 Stanley Cup Final: San Jose Sharks VS Pittsburgh Penguins

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Dion

Oiler fans up in arms

Originally Posted by April Ethereal
Justin Schultz is about to win a Cup before Taylor Hall.

Life just isn't fair.

Fitting username for an Oilers fan.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by AC

UFAs:
Matt Cullen,
Kevin Porter,
Tom Sestito,
Kael Mouillierat,
Ben Lovejoy,
Jeff Zatkoff.

RFAs:
Beau Bennett,
Justin Schultz.

Do they move on from Bennet? Goota think they might do so.

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by Dion

Oiler fans up in arms

Originally Posted by April Ethereal
Justin Schultz is about to win a Cup before Taylor Hall.

Life just isn't fair.

Yes. Yes it is.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Har-Calgary

You're right, and that makes way more sense. No way any Canadian media members voted for the guy they ran out of Toronto.

4 guys from Pittsburgh

4 guys from SJ

Bob Mckenzie
Pierre LeBrun
Eric Duhatschek
Elliot Friedman
Kevin Allen
Someone from NBC but damn if i can remember who (McGuire maybe)

and 5 others make up the voting block.

nationality really has no basis in it.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

The Penguins badly outplayed the Sharks and were unlucky to have not closed out the series in four or five. There are too many good teams in the West, and SJ will be on the bubble once again next year.

Sharks are better than you're giving them credit for. If they are a bubble playoff team then Flames are in big trouble.

I believe this series makes it clearer the balance of power is shifting and all the great teams are not in the west necessarily.

Agree the Sharks were badly outplayed but they didn't fluke their way to the finals.

[jschick88]

Oh man. If you want a good chuckle, read Steve Simmons timeline on twitter.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Originally Posted by jschick88

Oh man. If you want a good chuckle, read Steve Simmons timeline on twitter.

Dude has one of the weirdest smiles i've ever seen:

Spoiler!

[keratosis]

He's poopin.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Sharks are better than you're giving them credit for. If they are a bubble playoff team then Flames are in big trouble...

Why would you say that? The Flames are already arguably in the same tier as the Sharks, and unlike SJ their most important players are all still quite young. I won't be the least bit surprised to see SJ out and Calgary in next year.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Why would you say that? The Flames are already arguably in the same tier as the Sharks, and unlike SJ their most important players are all still quite young. I won't be the least bit surprised to see SJ out and Calgary in next year.

I am with you that Flames are younger and hopefully on a better trajectory than the Sharks. But I don't see them on the same tier. At all.

We'll see what a new coach and goalie can do.

[Poe969]

The Sharks were bad. Jones was the reason they went anywhere and he would have carried most teams this year. If the sharks had Ramo in net thy don't make the playoffs.

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Why would you say that? The Flames are already arguably in the same tier as the Sharks, and unlike SJ their most important players are all still quite young. I won't be the least bit surprised to see SJ out and Calgary in next year.

Flames are in the same tier as the Sharks? The team that just lost in the Stanley Cup Finals? Okay then....

Sharks were definitely the second best team in the finals but to say that they fluked their way there is a bit much. I don't see how you can see they are in the same tier.

[JiriHrdina]

The Sharks are in a weird spot. They just came within 2 wins of winning the cup, but if you were placing bets on who gets to the Final next year would anyone take San Jose?
This was their chance.
That large thud is that window slamming firmly shut on that core.

[Machiavelli]

Goaltending alone puts the Sharks on a higher tier than the Flames

[Har-Calgary]

Originally Posted by transplant99

4 guys from Pittsburgh

4 guys from SJ

Bob Mckenzie
Pierre LeBrun
Eric Duhatschek
Elliot Friedman
Kevin Allen
Someone from NBC but damn if i can remember who (McGuire maybe)

and 5 others make up the voting block.

nationality really has no basis in it.

Ok so maybe it wasn't nationality biased but there was def bias IMO. You guys all think Crosby deserved it over Kessel? Like seriously Kessel had 6 pts in each previous series and had 4 in the finals. Him and his line were consistently the most dangerous line for them all playoffs, ppl talk a lot about Crosby's defensive play, but he was on the ice for a lot of goals against, some being his direct missed assignment. Even after today's +2 game he still finished a -2 I believe. Kessel is a +5. Crosby doesn't kill penalties, Sullivan himself said hos go-to guys he puts out there when the other team has the goalie pulled is Cullen/Bonino/Hagz, also their top PK forwards. When Kessel had that monster game to put em up 3-1 in the series, everyone including TSN had Kessel pinned as the Conn Smythe, Crosby did enough today to offset that? I would say Letang and Crosby were their best players today, but neither did enough to offset Kessel. Just my opinion but I don't really see how after watching the pens all playoffs, anyone can think that there was a player more valuable than Phil.

[JiriHrdina]

Crosby's all around game is not something you can measure with stats.

[dammage79]

Grats to the Pens. Difference to me still in this series was experience. You could tell who's been to the dance before, the leadership core of the Pens displayed this fully.

The thing with the parity in the league is that if you put the quality level of a guy like Jones or Murray in the Flames net, they'd be right in the fight as well.

SJ came out of the toughest matchups in their run to get to the finals. The Pens had a walk for two series' at least. But they knew when to button up because of that experience I mentioned.

One more thing I think is that PITT had the matchup in goaltending. Jones was a serious Conn Smythe candidate for good reason, but Murray matched him up very well.

I'm glad the season is over and we can finally see the Flames plan unfold to move forward next season. I'm excited to see what they do.

[Canuck-Hater]

Originally Posted by 2macinnis2

Thanks for coming out Sharks. You won't be in the playoffs next year.

And neither will Pittsburgh.

[JiriHrdina]

^Hot take!

[blender]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

The Penguins badly outplayed the Sharks and were unlucky to have not closed out the series in four or five. There are too many good teams in the West, and SJ will be on the bubble once again next year.

No doubt the Pens were the better team, but they struggled early in the season, looking like a bad team, and every playoff team in the west could be a bubble team given the parity in the conference. San Jose is a good hockey team and will be again next year.