fletch

The Bruins appear to be the better team, IMO. I'm hoping for solid defensive zone structure and heroic goaltending from St Louis to eke out some low-scoring, one goal victories, hoping for Blues in 6.

Billboard 'End the Drought! 104 days since last Boston title' https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/bq5il4/no_wonder_people_hate_us/?utm_content=timestamp&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_name=58bed1f70d984c8590bbee0bc2b2112d&utm_source=embedly&utm_term=bq5il4 Eff Boston and their fans, let's go Blues

Stanley Cup Finals: Bruins vs Blues

That's what I was trying to do by the Henrique comparison... a 5.8 million cap hit seemed like a reasonable neighborhood. I tried to tweak the settings for just UFA, custom settings 6 million cap hit, 6 million AAV, length 5 years, Games and Points to match Kreider. List ended similar to similarity search for Henrique Brock Nelson 6 million Henrique 5.825 Silfverberg 5.25 Kyle Turris 6 Backlund 5.35 James Neal 5.75 Hornqvist 5.3 Atkinson 5.875 Radulov 6.25 Pavelski 6 van Riemsdyk 7 Dubinsky 5.85 Backes 6 Okposo 6 So if you're paying 6 million for Kreider, you're putting him in the same productivity class as this group of players.

https://www.capfriendly.com/comparables/chris-kreider-7229 Cap friendly comparables. Nyquist Palmeiri Hagelin Mike Hoffman Toffoli Eakin Reilly Smith Cap friendly comparables Adam Henrique AAV 5.8 https://www.capfriendly.com/comparables/adam-henrique-8750 Backlund Silverberg Brock Nelson Kyle Turris Hornqvist Brandon Dubinsky James Neal a few names skipped because signed in 2013-4 I just don't put Kreider in the Silverberg group. Are you giving him a bonus for being a long-time Ranger? I don't see what he brings to the team that is irreplaceable

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/23398103/ranking-brad-marchand-top-25-heel-moments On the eve of the Bruins-Blues final, I appreciate the effort taken to compile 25 of Brad Marchand's worst moments, including: 19. Slew-footing Derick Brassard (with video) So hard to reduce Brad Marchand's antics to a 25 worst, a true Herculean effort.

Perhaps in any given year there are 2 or 3 elite goaltenders that are demonstrably above their brethren. But compared to the 1960s I would argue that the larger pool of NHL goalies is much better given training, coaching, etc. Ken Dryden and Jacques Plante were likely a bigger edge over their contempories than Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur were over their contemporaries. And the gap is less still. Having the best goalie in the league is less of an advantage than it used to be. Binnington may not do anything the rest of his career, but this year he is good enough to put the Blues in position to win a cup. So if you've got x number of dollars for goaltending, having a 1A and 1B may be better than a 1 and cheap backup. The argument against this approach is Edmonton, who doesn't have a goalie on the roster that can win 16 games in the playoffs. So if you whiff on less expensive options, tough to compete in the playoffs.

1A-1B allows teams to ride the hot hand going into the playoffs. Bobrovsky was a stud, but Martin Jones was mediocre, so mixed bag from the true no. 1s http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?report=goaliesummary&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20182019&seasonTo=20182019&gameType=3&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=savePctg

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/26760836/the-big-winners-2019-nhl-playoffs-far Goaltender workload management 'It's no accident that this has been somewhat of a recurring theme for teams that have enjoyed playoff success of late. This postseason has been an extension of that, because it felt like we saw more 1A-1B tandems than ever before, and considering the largely positive results, it stands to reason that we'll only see more of it moving forward. Just look at how the teams that won at least one playoff round distributed their goalie starts throughout the regular season:' TEAM STARTER BACKUP Sharks 62 20 Blue Jackets61 21 Bruins 45 37 Stars 45 37 Islanders 43 39 Hurricanes 40 33 Avalanche 33 49 Blues 30 45

Panarin may be the name, but if we whiff on him we need to spend money on defense.

I was rooting for the Sharks and Pavelski and Thornton to get one more shot at a Cup. But St Louis is a great story. Hopefully will be an entertaining Stanley Cup Final.

Yeah, we would be crazy to take on the Callahan contract. Becoming less viable by the game.

Not reviewable, 4 on ice officials just missed the hand pass. What's the point of having instant replay if you can't remedy obvious missed calls?

And Logan Effing Couture. Just having an awesome playoff run.

Talk about stealing one on the road, Sharks in game 3. Rooting for the Sharks, but conflicted because Blues probably have a better chance at taking out the Bruins in SCF.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_England_Patriots_seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boston_Celtics_seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boston_Bruins_seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Boston_Red_Sox_seasons The Patriots ranged from awful to mediocre until Belichek took over in 2001. The Red Sox had the curse of the bambino until 2004 and were perennial bridesmaids. Between 1971 to 2010 the Bruins were perennial bridesmaids. The Celtics were the lone bright spot, but even they had a drought from 1987 to 2009. From the late 1970s until the Patriots Super Bowl there was building angst in Boston, especially in the 1980s with how lost all of the franchises looked (except for the Celtics, but they lost their way). Boston fans put themselves in the same category as Cleveland as far as tortured city fan bases.

remember when boston sports teams sucked? let’s have another decade of that soon

Game 3 almost a must win for the Canes to make this a series, otherwise this is probably over in 4 or 5 games. Change of venue always offers opportunity, but first 2 games in series weren't very encouraging for Carolina fans.

You're right Now, there is a 30 point difference... I was looking at Hagelin's early years, comparing production to Kreider at same age.

Have a look at Chris Kreider's stat line, and Carl Hagelin's stat line. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/k/kreidch01.html https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/h/hagelca01.html Carl Hagelin has a 4 million dollar per year cap hit. https://www.capfriendly.com/players/carl-hagelin How much more are you willing to pay for roughly ten more points per year? 5 million per year? 6 million per year? 7 million per year?

In NHL second chance bracket I went COL, DAL, CBJ, NYI, with DAL over CBJ in Stanley Cup Final. Most folks are going to go with Bruins or Islanders in East, Sharks or Blues in West so I went contrary. Banking on goaltending and team system of DAL and CBJ to fuel a surprising end to a surprising playoffs

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/apparently-the-regular-season-is-irrelevant-in-the-nhl/ article on how unusual this playoff season has been

Little things adding up. Soft first goal from Anderson. Defensive mistakes/turnovers in defensive zone on first two goals. Different year, same Leafs. Canada can turn its attention to curling until preseason CFL football, because hockey is done.

Vegas has Bruins, Sharks, and Capitals as slight home favorites >=50% chance to win but http://www.vegasinsider.com/nhl/odds/las-vegas/

Considering 3 of the 4 division winners have already lost and the Capitals are in a game 7... you would have done better picking all wild card teams in round one. That's how this first round has gone.