yave1964 Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 As of now the top two teams in the league, Tampa and Calgary have both been knocked out, and not only that we are looking at: Stars and Hurricanes the other two wildcard teams have legit shots at taking their own series. 3 seeds St. Louis, Toronto and Vegas all have 3-2 series leads with two chances to close out their individual series. It is possible, EXTREMELY so that by next week the highest ranked team left in the playoffs is the 2 seed New York Islanders with all the number ones at home as well as the other three number twos. My question is simple, Why? Why now? What has changed? Dont get me wrong, there have always been upsets, as a Wings fan I still get angry when someone mentions Arturs Irbe as he stole the first round from us in 1994 and Pronger did so in 2006, the undermanned Kings did it to us in 2001, but lets face facts the reason they sting even today is the Wings were the better team in every single one of those fiascos and we lost the series more than the bad guys won them, they were exceptions, not the rule, but now it seems to have switched, no series is safe, anyteam that makes the playoffs with the right breaks can beat any other. It is not like the NBA where you know that unless the same 4 teams are in the conference finals every year it means the fix is in. A certain parity is to be expected but man this is getting crazy. The rock bottom causes IMHO Salary cap created parity is the biggie. Look at the Stars/Preds series, the Stars scratched their way into the playoffs with a week or so to go, the Preds won the division but when you look at them, the Stars only finished 7 points behind the Preds. Same with the Hurricanes who as a wildcard were 5 points behind division winning Capitals. The difference between good and very good is closer than ever. Home ice/last change doesn't matter as much as it used to, in fact that pendulum has been slowly turning closer to even during the regular season more and more, in decades past a bad team at home could upset a good team on the road with a certain regularity but that has changed. teams dont fear other teams barns as much as they used to. And? That is all I have does anyone have any thoughts as to rock bottom causes for how/why there are so many upsets this year? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 36 minutes ago, yave1964 said: Why? Why now? What has changed? A lot of it has to do with the fact that these teams have been in playoff from fighting for their playoff lives a few weeks before the season started. It's hard to get in the playoffs and just flip a switch....it look like the Predators will be the next big team to fall. Down 4-2 and the Stars are trying to get back to Dallas to close this thing out. Canes have even things up with the Champs and it will help a lot to get Svechnikov back and try and steal one in Washington. Caps are getting close to being bounce and now they will be without Oshie....we'll see depends on which Mrazek shows up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 1 hour ago, yave1964 said: My question is simple, Why? Why now? What has changed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, yave1964 said: A certain parity is to be expected but man this is getting crazy. If the Vox article is true, it's 53% luck in the NHL (by far the highest of all the team sports) meaning that luck is winning out over skill. Some see that as a good thing (the lottery like nature of the playoffs) but I see it as a bad thing when the most skilled team isn't winning any longer. That means the Stanley Cup winner is no different than a draft lottery winner. They didn't "earn" the Cup, they lucked their way into it. It's fluke over intent. It's not a demonstration of superior play. In many ways, the President's Trophy is more valuable than the Stanley Cup... because the best team actually wins it. I don't mind SOME luck in each sport. That's what makes it fun. We don't want it to be TOO predictable. However, when luck overrides skill I think that's a negative. (Or to put it more accurately: When the most skilled team can't display their skill over lucky bounces that their opponent's receive, that's bad.) Edited April 20, 2019 by WordsOfWisdom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 1 hour ago, yave1964 said: Salary cap created parity is the biggie. This of course is perhaps the biggest reason of all. The drawbacks of parity are: there are NO good teams, only mediocre teams. Everyone is average. Nobody is a favourite to win anything. Tampa's ~130 points today are roughly equivalent to a team from the 1990's getting 90 points. Tampa was a slightly better than average mediocre team... but they would be absolutely destroyed by the Red Wings of 1995-96 because Tampa has one good line and that Red Wings team had four good lines. It's no comparison really. The depth of stacked teams from the past is far greater than any team can muster today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClusterChuck Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 (edited) Good thing and bad thing with these upsets. It only strengthens the idea of "Just get in". Yes, Anything can happen and we're seeing it in mass amount. I always look for a few early upsets but this goes beyond. Bad thing is that it strengthens the "Just get in". For teams like the Wild who make a living of it, Will only encourage them to continue to 'tweak' things while not calling it a rebuild. The Wild need still more than tweaks to join the "Why not us" crowd. Edited April 20, 2019 by ClusterChuck 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 @yave1964 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 4 hours ago, OccamsRazor said: A lot of it has to do with the fact that these teams have been in playoff from fighting for their playoff lives a few weeks before the season started. It's hard to get in the playoffs and just flip a switch....it look like the Predators will be the next big team to fall. Down 4-2 and the Stars are trying to get back to Dallas to close this thing out. Canes have even things up with the Champs and it will help a lot to get Svechnikov back and try and steal one in Washington. Caps are getting close to being bounce and now they will be without Oshie....we'll see depends on which Mrazek shows up. Great point, one I meant to bring up and it slipped off my list. The Canes/CBJ and Habs were in a three team dogfight until the last few days of the season, every game for weeks was hyper critical. Columbus caught fire at the end winning 7 of their final 8 gaining confidence and the old and new meshed. As you mentioned, fighting for the playoffs was like being in the playoffs in a lot of respects. Dallas and Colorado had to hold off the 'Yotes and Hawks down the stretch as well. On the other hand, the Flames, Capitals and Lightning all more or less had the divisions wrapped up with little to play for, Nashville didn't win their division until the last day of the season but frankly injuries to some of their heavy style players has crippled them a bit as Dallas has gotten healthy. I think this postseason is going to change the thinking of a lot of GM's going forward, more teams are going to follow the Columbus model, especially if they happen to win at least another series, and a lot of teams at the top are going to look at Tampa and Calgary who did little or nothing at the deadline out of fear of screwing up the chemistry and they will be more aggressive as well instead of just sitting back and letting potential opponents close the gap talent wise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davethehammer Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 (edited) 102nd season . its a new beginning. and its entertainment sports, fixed anyway Edited April 25, 2019 by davethehammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Not always the most talented team wins. It's still who wants it the most... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davethehammer Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 On 4/25/2019 at 3:46 AM, OccamsRazor said: Not always the most talented team wins. It's still who wants it the most... you are like the 20 millionth person to say that. So dont take it personal and I'm not talking about you, when i say.. thats just a silly sports cliche that doesnt mean/explain anything, or answer anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 8 hours ago, davethehammer said: you are like the 20 millionth person to say that. So dont take it personal and I'm not talking about you, when i say.. thats just a silly sports cliche that doesnt mean/explain anything, or answer anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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