NHL 2015 - The Quest For The Cup

[Dolfan in NYC 15,036]

Atlantic

1 Montreal vs. 4 Ottawa

2 Tampa Bay vs 3 Detroit

 

Metropolitan

1 New York (Manhattan) vs 4 Pittsburgh

2 Washington vs 3 New York (Uniondale)

 

Central

1 St Louis vs 4 Minnesota

2 Nashville vs 3 Chicago

 

Pacific

1 Anaheim vs 4 Winnipeg

2 Vancouver vs 3 Calgary

 

Games start Wednesday.

[The Man Known as Dan 3,606]

Is it odd I think the most dangerous team in the Pacific bracket is Winnipeg?

[Jiji 9,480]

Hey, should we do a straight up bracket for our playoff pick'em or do the traditional round by round set-up? There's no more reseeding, right? Meaning NCAA-like brackets are doable?

[pipGofern 489]

While I don't think anything short of #66 strapping on the skates one last time keeps the Pens from being one and done, I'm kinda glad they made the playoffs (despite how fun it was listening to Mark Madden lose his frickin' mind over the meltdown) only because they traded away their first rounder so it's not like they could've benefited from lottery shenanigans from Bettman anyway.

[odessasteps 12,760]

Hey, should we do a straight up bracket for our playoff pick'em or do the traditional round by round set-up? There's no more reseeding, right? Meaning NCAA-like brackets are doable?

Yahoo has a bracket challenge thing on their site, i believe.

[Niners Fan in CT 14,044]

Penguins in 6.

[RIPPA 31,555]

Penguins in 6.

Now you are actively trying to infuriate me

[Death From Above 4,444]

Boy, Chicago could sure come out looking smart after all if Kane can come back soon.

[Jiji 9,480]

I think the Central foursome is so gnarly, that whoever survives it will be so beat up they'll struggle against a likelier weaker team in the WCF. If Kane's healthy now, he won't be in a few weeks.

 

Can you imagine Winnipeg beating the Ducks and one of Winnipeg, Vancouver, or Calgary will be 4 wins away from the finals. lol, I love the new format.

 

Edit: should I start an nhl.com bracket challenge league for us? We can have bonus questions as per tradition to serve as tiebreakers.

[Charlie M. 1,849]

I would like to see if that cliche we throw around is actually true about "getting beat up." Seems like the strongest team in the West keeps making the final.

[Jiji 9,480]

2011 obviously. The entire backend was fucked, as were our three best forwards.

 

I created an NHL bracket challenge league. "Death Valley Driver" is the league name and "bacon" is the password. Bonus points if you get the reference!

[Death From Above 4,444]

I'm in. Of course I'm in.

[Jiji 9,480]

Eff yeah. Let me know if there's a problem joining.

 

The always excellent Justin Bourne has a great piece on how bonkers these playoffs could be. Right now I'm thinking the Blues beat the Habs in the finals but I wouldn't be surprised if it's something awesome and wacky like the Islanders beating the Jets in 7 games.

[Big Fresh 4,544]

I'm thinking the Blues beat the Habs in the finals

 

I always liked you.

[Dewar 2,270]

Went total homer with my bracket.

[Jiji 9,480]

 

I'm thinking the Blues beat the Habs in the finals

 

I always liked you.

I never win - it's a poisoned chalice. I've already changed my mind about the east.

 

Speaking of which, if you want some homework, there's a good article here which looks at advanced stats and playoff performances. Here are some of those advanced team stats.

[Big Fresh 4,544]

The Bleacher Report is predicting Blues over Tampa Bay in the finals.

God...... They can't let me down again this year. I just can't take it.

[elizium 1,915]

I'm unimaginative and went Rangers over Blues in mine. I have no handle on this year at all, though. The East alone, I could see any of the Rangers, Islanders, Lightning or Canadiens making it through. I also don't really have any upsets in the first round, but I don't think you could qualify anyone winning a series this year as an upset. As hot as Ottawa has been, would it be super surprising to see them knock off Montreal?

[odessasteps 12,760]

I picked tampa over stl, but id love a habs/jets all-canuck final.

[Jiji 9,480]

The Rangers and Habs have bad fancy stats. I originally had the Habs because Carey Price is fucking awesome but I'm not feeling them after looking at some numbahz. Winnipeg is surprisingly really good according to the fancy stats and I think a bunch of people, myself included, pick them to beat the Ducks.

 

And the whole nothing's really an upset is why this year's playoffs are going to rule hard. I would say the two favourites should be Chicago and St. Louis, but if they both lose in the first I wouldn't be all that shocked. Wild have been tearing it up and have a hot goat lender, similar to Ottawa in the East.

 

and because goat lender reminds me of Cherry calling Luongo an "escape goat," i must post the best gif on the internet:

 

 

Makes my day.

[Hoffman 279]

The Blues will find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  They always do.  I'm already prepared for it.

[elizium 1,915]

Yeah, but they're gonna do it when it most hurts this year.

 

Actually fuck, I don't know....can I enter 7 different ballots?

 

They've got to win one of these years, I mean, they've been a good team for pretty much all of the last 50 years.

[Jiji 9,480]

They had Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger on the same team at the same time. That shit wasn't fair. Demitra was also at his best during that era. I miss that guy.

[Death From Above 4,444]

One of the things that bugs me about the way the media treats the Red Wings is this myth they are spouting that Detroit's really long playoff streak is somehow unique in hockey history when in reality a team being in the midst of one has been the norm from the beginnings of expansion in '67. Obviously it was the norm before that in the 6-team NHL but there's no reason to care that much about those. Hell, Chicago, Boston, and St. Louis all had 20+ year runs going at one time and failed to win the Cup between them which is really pretty damn remarkable.

 

There's no reason to be dishonest with the audience about how great a streak like that is or what it represents in terms of the quality of a franchise and I really don't see what is gained by doing so. It's enough of an achievement to not require hyperbole, but sports media loves to make everything into "The Most Important Moment In The History Of Our Sport" even when telling the truth would still be amazing.

[Tabe 2,006]

The streaks Chicago, Boston, and St. Louis put together weren't even close to as successful as Detroit's. And Detroit's streak has spanned multiple lockouts and a salary cap.

Four Cups, two other Finals, a record 62 wins and the only team to make the playoffs every year in the cap era > St. Louis doing nothing of note for 20 straight years.