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Golden Knights (P1) vs. Capitals (M1)

CarltonTheBear said:
Vegas has really saved these finals. Imagine how boring they would have been if Winnipeg came out of the West.

Tampa/Winnipeg probably would have led to Harikiri at the NBC offices.
 
Nik the Trik said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Vegas has really saved these finals. Imagine how boring they would have been if Winnipeg came out of the West.

Tampa/Winnipeg probably would have led to Harikiri at the NBC offices.

It would have given them something to play on their Golf Channel.
 
TimKerr said:
So please expand on this. Are you upset that there is so much parity in the NHL? As opposed to the NBA where there same teams have been in the Finals the last 4 years and the same player has been in the Finals the last 8 years?
Now I am reading lots of complaints and anger at the NBA Finals that its the same teams again and it is boring.
But I think whether you have 3 or 4 top teams always, or a league of parity people are going to find a way to complain.
Personally, I think the best model is European soccer where relegation exists, but I digress.

I think there needs to be a balance between the two - and, I acknowledge that this is difficult to accomplish. I just think back to MLB in the late 90s/early 2000s, and, as a fan of a team in the AL East, I lost of lot of interest in the season - what was the point in getting too invested in the Jays when the Yankees or the Red Sox were inevitably going to win the division? But, at the same time, the playoffs in that era were excellent because the teams were so good. Right now, the NHL has swung too far towards the "every team has a chance" side of things, while the NBA, for instance, has swung too far towards the "watch these great teams duke it out in the playoffs."
 
bustaheims said:
I think there needs to be a balance between the two - and, I acknowledge that this is difficult to accomplish. I just think back to MLB in the late 90s/early 2000s, and, as a fan of a team in the AL East, I lost of lot of interest in the season - what was the point in getting too invested in the Jays when the Yankees or the Red Sox were inevitably going to win the division? But, at the same time, the playoffs in that era were excellent because the teams were so good. Right now, the NHL has swung too far towards the "every team has a chance" side of things, while the NBA, for instance, has swung too far towards the "watch these great teams duke it out in the playoffs."

I think this sort of speaks to the problem with the NHL's playoff format as well. Trying to rig things for divisional matchups to create rivalries can work, as busta points out some of those baseball playoffs were great because of the NYY/BOS rivalry, but it's hard to do that if you're going to have a lot of turnover in playoff teams from year to year.
 
Nik the Trik said:
I think this sort of speaks to the problem with the NHL's playoff format as well. Trying to rig things for divisional matchups to create rivalries can work, as busta points out some of those baseball playoffs were great because of the NYY/BOS rivalry, but it's hard to do that if you're going to have a lot of turnover in playoff teams from year to year.

Yeah. Good rivalries can't be manufactured - they have to develop from years of hard fought battles, like what happened with EDM & DAL. Being close geographically can help intensify a rivalry, but it doesn't create one.

Finding the right balance to keep the regular season interesting while keeping the playoffs as exciting as possible is tricky, and I don't think any major sports league truly has it right.
 
You know I didn't really care that much about Kuznetov's bird celebration before but after hearing about how so many people hate it (especially Cherry) he's basically become my favourite player. I hope he does it as he's skating to collect the Conn Smythe award.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
You know I didn't really care that much about Kuznetov's bird celebration before but after hearing about how so many people hate it (especially Cherry) he's basically become my favourite player. I hope he does it as he's skating to collect the Conn Smythe award.

Apparently he does it for his kid who thinks it's funny.
 
Zee said:
CarltonTheBear said:
You know I didn't really care that much about Kuznetov's bird celebration before but after hearing about how so many people hate it (especially Cherry) he's basically become my favourite player. I hope he does it as he's skating to collect the Conn Smythe award.

Apparently he does it for his kid who thinks it's funny.

Hockey might be worse than baseball when it comes to labelling players who actually try to enjoy the game and have fun. Who cares if he celebrates goals. Some fans/commentators seem to take this all too seriously. It is a game, played by grown men. Just enjoy the distraction from real life and stop taking it all too seriouslly
 
TimKerr said:
Hockey might be worse than baseball when it comes to labelling players who actually try to enjoy the game and have fun. Who cares if he celebrates goals. Some fans/commentators seem to take this all too seriously. It is a game, played by grown men. Just enjoy the distraction from real life and stop taking it all too seriouslly

Especially when it's an important goal. It's one thing to over-celebrate a goal that puts your team up by 5 or an empty net goal with like 2 seconds left in a fairly meaningless game, but, the 2nd goal in the middle of a big game? Go for it.
 
I heard the Caps are on the verge of winning a trophy.  I'm told it's an important trophy.  Not sure I can be bothered to watch myself, mind you.
 
There's some evidence that the initial Vegas enthusiasm has ebbed a bit as they've gotten knocked around some. Through four games the ratings averaged a 2.8 or virtually the same as last year.
 
Vegas fans booing Bettman is just...well, it's a stupid world full of stupid people.
 

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