Math

It seemed like the Kings reeeeeaaaally didn't want to get the Stars. On the other hand, it felt like Vegas was targeting Dallas as they completely let it go against the awful Ducks. Given the bad record in the regular season, the Golden Knights was my least favorite team I wanted to face in the first round. But I guess if you have the ambitious objective to go for a deep run, you should be capable to beat anyone... 

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The Jets have the Avalanche's number. I don't trust Colorado: Georgiev has been awful, Makar is the best Dman but outside of him there's a huge hole, they rely too much on their top-6 to win games with their offense. I'm surprised the Jets made it that far despite their coach. I'll go with the relative upset:

Jets in 6.

Utah Hockey Club ! Go for it !

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The Leafs are more talented while the Bruins still have blatant holes in their C spine. Should be a close one but the Bruins seems to be the logical oucome. Because the Leafs.

Bruins in 6.

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Ok, It's almost a coin flip for every category. Just because Florida will have the advantage of the last line-up change with 1 minute remaining of a tied game #7 with a face-off on the offensive zone, I'm going with the kittens.

Florida in 7.

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Without the addition of Guentzel, I'd honestly have gone with the upset. The Isles' goalies have a slight edge despite Sorokin having a so-so season. Carolina is much more talented bit I have the feeling that the Islanders might create them some problems with their old-school boring defensive system. 

Hurricanes in 7.

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The most debalanced series I'd say. I wanted to put a Caps logo maybe on the special teams just because of Ovi but I think the difference is too big. The Caps will still avoid the sweep with one of those win where they put everything on the ice.

Rangers in 5.

42 minutes ago, Icechipper said:

How about them Salt Lake City Golden Eagles......

 

Photo of former UND player Cary Eades, now GM of Fargo Force of USHL

Honestly, this is close... But they said Utah will be retained and Golden Eagles would lead to have two goldens in the League. Maybe just Eagles...? On a personal note and more than ever, I'm advocating to punt Meruelo on Pluto, to force any potential Arizona expansion to start from scratch and let Utah keep the Coyotes branding.

Those vintage covers with the damn Cooper helmets are priceless.

On 4/16/2024 at 10:56 PM, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

Some have suggested just leaving the Coyotes name, due to Utah being a habitat for actual yotes.
But, I also thought I read that whomever is selling the team is KEEPING the Coyotes name, so maybe that really isn't an option.

Utah WinniJets? LOL...

And that's what baffles me. Meruelo proved that he was a classless worthless piece of trash and the League would still give him the opportunity to be the front-runner for another expansion, not to mention that Bettman gave him $1 billion to take ownership?!  That's the same recipe that will lead to another failure.

I still think that this market can be successful with good ownership that actually cares. But with the condition that you start from scratch with another name/brand, and strictly not with this scúmbag owner. Let Utah use the Coyotes name and Kachina jersey with this simple message to Meruelo: ╭∩╮(°.°)╭∩╮

Classy, until the very end...

Really sad for Detroit, they did the job with two fantastic comebacks against Montréal. When Perron tied it with like 4 seconds remaining it was like a Stanley Cup celebration but when they knew Washington won the game, the last Kane SO winner was like a funeral. The horrible losing streak they had earlier in the season killed them.

39 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

Well since the prospective owner of the Coyotes owns a basketball team that makes no sense (Utah Jazz) why not the Utah Vikings?

The Utah Dolphins would get my vote.

More seriously, I'm high on Utah Jizz.

I remember back at the time about how proud the NHL was about finally finding the first ever hispanic owner of a franchise and how they were thrilled to give the chance on someone coming from a minority and why this was so hot and will give a magnificient example and stuff... Yeop, that same owner who has been kicked out of his arena because he didn't pay the rent, the guy who failed to win his referendum that would have secured the fate of the team in Arizona, the same dude who threw some other bling-bling arena project and again, the same guy who didn't pay the hotel bills, apparently.

There's no smoke without fire, the NHL screwed up on another field here. We don't chose the best candidate because of his origin or his skin and eyes colors. Usually the best one should be chosen because he's the most competent for the position. Period. And Bettman is completely responsible for this fiasco. And now that owner would eventually get another shot on an expansion franchise there?!? I think the story is not over, and it will never be... 

The NHL made it clear that the current Delta Center in SLC is only a temporary solution and that a new arena should be built there. So if it fails, Salt Lake could move to a large market without an NHL team like Arizona... 

Utah Hockey Team.

At least keep the Kachina jerseys. Those are awesome.

To make it work on a so-called non traditional market, you have to be top notch in terms of marketing the game while putting the best possible product. I still think the Phoenix area can be successful: the market is big, there are already a lot of pro-sports team, but terrible management and ownership has been killing this franchise softly and slowly. At a certain point, that level of mediocrity becomes part of the DNA and you can't revert it. Having the League running it with the head deeply dug in the sand didn't help either. Moving outside downtown PHX to freakin' Glendale was the first or numerous epic mistakes that have been made.

I've seen a interesting segment on sports marketing and business led by Ray Lalonde who is an expert in that field. He evaluates the chance of having SLC in the League next year at 80%.

So basically, it's toast for Phoenix...

Ok so if I understand correctly, The League would first buy the franchise at around $1 billion before the Ryan Smith group gets it for $1.2-ish billion. In 2023, the Coyotes franchise had a value estimated to $500M approximately. So by buying it at a much higher prize, the League attempts to put the board of governors on its side in giving owners some $$$ from the selling.

On the other hand, some guarantees are given to Meruelo to build his new arena without any timeline anymore while removing the gun on his head which would lead to another expansion in the Phoenix arena, and confirming that the League still doesn't -- and won't give up that market. That's somehow clever. What bugs me is why would the Ryan Smith group pay even more for an existing franchise, except the fact that it would get it right now. Still, nothing's done and there are many hurdles to jump over. 

Having the Caps sneaking into the playoffs would be a big surprise. Kuemper completely melted down but the emergence of Lindgren and McMichael is huge. If they qualify, Carbery should be in the Jack-Adams discussion. 

I've just checked the penalty boxscore of the Devils-Rangers game, it's a very good work.

On 3/25/2024 at 3:56 PM, pilldoc said:

does that mean I get the upset win

I have to admit, I freaked a bit when I saw you sneaking in. The score is misleading, you were still sniffing my heels before the week-end and it remained pretty close in every category. That was a great match-up with tremendous performances of both Luukkonen and Georgiev lol.

That was the NHL boxscore after the first period of the Canucks-Stars game. Hintz is a wizard.

Well, it's play-off time. I unexpectedly finished first and as a fellow Stars fan, the table is perfectly set for the traditional play-off choke lol.

Good success to anyone, let's get it on !

Yeah, nothing against Gretzky but let's be honest: having a SV% above .800 and a GAA under 5.00 was putting you into the world-class elite goaltender back in the 1980s. And Gretzky didn't have to go through three lock-outs and a pandemic.

That being said, TVA Sports metioned an interesting stat. After 548 NHL games, Matthews has more goals than Ovechkin. So if Ovechkin fails, I'll definitely have an eye on Auston for that record.