***Official 2015 NHL Playoff Thread***

[fsanford]

Honestly, they're a formidable team, but we'll see how it shakes out. I hope the Hawks keep winning, but it would be good for the NHL if the East keeps getting stronger. The West is brutal.

East D cores do not compare to the West. Below are some interesting stats for the last few cup champs.
Bottom line, strong defensive teams win the Cup.


Here is an interesting stat for you:

3rd O - 5th D

10-11 Boston
8th O - 3rd D

11-12 Los Angeles
29th O - 2nd D

12-13 Chicago
2nd O - 1st D

13-14 Los Angeles
25th O - 1st D


14-15
Chicago 16th O - 1st D

 

[ZJohnson]

This young man should not be forgotten. RIP CR!! This one is for you!

 

[BigJCy]

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

Congrats. Nice to see someone in the United Center can win a championship.

 

[ZJohnson]

Congrats. Nice to see someone in the United Center can win a championship.

6 and 6

 

[ZJohnson]

Already the new background on Fb

 

[tm3308]

Bet ya it's the Bolts. Chi and Bos have MAJOR cap issues and TBL has EVERYONE back.

Based on what I've read, I don't think the Hawks are going to suffer nearly as much as what the national media keeps saying. They've been treating this whole postseason like a eulogy, but most of the key pieces will be back. And it's not like there isn't a good crop of young players ready to step up just like the guys like Shaw and Saad have done after the Hawks had to let Byflugien, Ladd, etc. go.

As long as that core is there with Q and there's a steady stream of good young guns filling key roles on the checking lines, the Hawks aren't going anywhere.

 

[boone7247]

This is from one of my best friends porch...Oh to be in ChiCity tonite....

I am 1000% certain your best friends porch isn't Wrigley field. That is the Cubby Bear at clark and addison, and that is the view from a top Wrigley.

That said it would be awesome if it was his porch cause then his name would be Ricketts and he could get us all in Wrigley for a huge cup party!

 

[BigJCy]

 

[mapnerd]

Until the Kings win it next year.:smile: It's their turn right?

No offense to you, but I hope it's anybody but the ******* Kings.

 

[Clonefan94]

I've met John McDonough a couple of times, he goes to the same butcher I do. I see him in there a couple of times a year and the owner of the shop has a picture with him and John holding the cup from 2013 on the meat counter. Hopefully I see him in there this week and can work out a deal to get a picture with the cup.

 

[chuckd4735]

The previous two Cups were pretty sweet to win, but clinching it in Chicago made the other two boring.

 

[cowgirl836]

Please oh please keep Shaw. Sharpie is as good as gone and so is Bicks but you have to keep Shawzy.

Husband has been saying Sharp will be gone and that makes me sad because he is fine to look at with his little Patrick Dempsey look going on. Though I noticed Saad this year. Boy has some nice eyes. Then husband showed a pic without his playoff beard and I felt like a perv. He looked so young.

 

[BigJCy]

This week's SI (at least regionally I would suspect):

 

[tm3308]

Please oh please keep Shaw. Sharpie is as good as gone and so is Bicks but you have to keep Shawzy.

Going into the playoffs, the guys I felt they really needed to keep were (obviously) the core of Toews/Kane/Keith/Hossa, and then Saad, Crawford and Hjalmarsson, and just about everyone else was expendable to a degree (although I wish they could all stay). But Shaw's performance in the playoffs was spectacular (if it weren't for Keith, I'd probably have pegged Shaw or Versteeg for the Conn Smythe; both of those guys made a ton of great plays on both ends that went mostly unnoticed because Keith was going all Superman), and he's played his way into that group that has to stay, IMO.

 

[Clonefan94]

Going into the playoffs, the guys I felt they really needed to keep were (obviously) the core of Toews/Kane/Keith/Hossa, and then Saad, Crawford and Hjalmarsson, and just about everyone else was expendable to a degree (although I wish they could all stay). But Shaw's performance in the playoffs was spectacular (if it weren't for Keith, I'd probably have pegged Shaw or Versteeg for the Conn Smythe; both of those guys made a ton of great plays on both ends that went mostly unnoticed because Keith was going all Superman), and he's played his way into that group that has to stay, IMO.

I've never really paid attention to NHL contracts, but I really wonder what the difference in money is for some of these guys that switch teams, or if it's even allowed to take less money than you are worth. I guess I could see if you are grossly underpaid or getting some ridiculous contract from some other team. For me though, it would be tough to leave the Blackhawks knowing what they've been able to accomplish over the last 6 years. I mean very realistically, they could have been looking at 4 Cups in six years if not for a bad bounce last year against LA. Anyways, knowing my career isn't going to last forever and already being a millionaire, I'd do just about everything reasonable to stay with the Blackhawks. Other than Hossa, their core is still pretty young.

 

[ZJohnson]

I am 1000% certain your best friends porch isn't Wrigley field. That is the Cubby Bear at clark and addison, and that is the view from a top Wrigley.

That said it would be awesome if it was his porch cause then his name would be Ricketts and he could get us all in Wrigley for a huge cup party!

Yeah...the ***** clearly stole the pic. I was drunk and didn't look into it...my bad.

 

[BigJCy]

 

[tm3308]

I've never really paid attention to NHL contracts, but I really wonder what the difference in money is for some of these guys that switch teams, or if it's even allowed to take less money than you are worth. I guess I could see if you are grossly underpaid or getting some ridiculous contract from some other team. For me though, it would be tough to leave the Blackhawks knowing what they've been able to accomplish over the last 6 years. I mean very realistically, they could have been looking at 4 Cups in six years if not for a bad bounce last year against LA. Anyways, knowing my career isn't going to last forever and already being a millionaire, I'd do just about everything reasonable to stay with the Blackhawks. Other than Hossa, their core is still pretty young.

I'm not sure what kind of restructuring they can do (I also don't know as much about NHL deals as I do with other sports). The NHL does have at least some say over contracts (the Ilya Kovalchuk deal a few years ago being an example; Hossa and Keith's deals are both similar, but not quite as backloaded), but I don't think they can stop a player from accepting less money to stay with his team, even if it's a deal that grossly underpays the player.

The good thing is that Teravainen is still young and cheap for a little while, and they might be able to give Saad a longer deal for less money than he could be worth in a couple years (Montreal got burned by P.K. Subban like that; he was willing to sign a 5-year deal for 25 million, but they went with a bridge contract for two years and then his value skyrocketed and they had to give him a megadeal to keep him).

I could see Sharp working to restructure since, by the time his deal is up, he's not going to get another big deal because of his age and he might want to stick around to win another title or two before he hangs it up.

 

[fsanford]

No offense to you, but I hope it's anybody but the ******* Kings.

No offense taken, but they still have a strong core, and lead the league in puck possession, just gotta get the Goals against back down to more normal levels the Kings are accustomed too.
Plus they just beat the crap out of teams in the playoff's.

This Hawks/Lightning series really lacked hard hits, and it was still low scoring.