Penguins vs. Maple Leafs - Mar. 2nd, 1:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[ZBBM]

Just watched Gin6.

My God, did Woll ingest Dramamine before the game? Talk about sloooooooow reactions.

The PIT goalie was just about as bad.

 

[L K]

There's a world where all 3 spend their entire careers in Toronto and finish 1-2-3 in franchise scoring. That'd be amazing, but also ultimately wouldn't matter in some way without that other thing.

I was born in the 80s. In my lifetime that I even have vague memories of they have won 12 playoff rounds, lost 19 playoff rounds, missed the playoffs 14 times in 33 years.

I need more than one playoff win out of this core but even a couple of deep conference final runs before they hang it up is enough for me. Obviously I want to experience a Cup win but the conference final runs are enough to enshrine Gilmour, Clark, Sundin etc in my treasured hall. A deep playoff run or two is the bench mark for me in a franchise that has won nothing since expansion

 

[cw]

There's a world where all 3 spend their entire careers in Toronto and finish 1-2-3 in franchise scoring. That'd be amazing, but also ultimately wouldn't matter in some way without that other thing.

Average length of a NHL career is 5 years.
32 teams.
If a good player lasts 15 years in the league and over that time, his team has average odds of winning a cup (which wouldn't be likely for a great player as his team would likely have better chances but ..) generically, there is over 62% chance that the 15 year player doesn't get his name on the Cup. If he belonged to a top contender every year (10% chance to win in a season - that is extreme as few if any since expansion enjoyed team odds like that for 15 years), there is a 20.5% chance that he doesn't get his name on a Cup. Reality is probably somewhere in between the two extremes.

Because of the growth of the league, more and more, we're going to see great players not win a Stanley Cup during their NHL career.

EDIT: for comparison, in the 6 team pre expansion NHL, generically, that 62% chance of not winning a Cup drops to 6.5%

 

[Ozzie]

I know we are missing Tanev but if the Leafs core doesn't sh*t the bed again in the playoffs I think defence is more of a priority. The trio of Myers, Benoit and Timmins don't impress me.

Out of those three for the playoffs..... I'm picking No. 2.

And they will need to play at least one of those three lads......even with an acquisition of a defenseman by the deadline or Hakanpaa playing.

 

[cabber24]

That Knies goal was amazing, willed that in.

Nylander didn't even shoot that OT goal hard he used Tavares' fly by screen and just placed it in the goalies blind spot caused by Tavares. Bieksa pointed this out one Saturday night this year. Nylander is lethal.

 

[herman]

That Knies goal was amazing, willed that in.

Nylander didn't even shoot that OT goal hard he used Tavares' fly by screen and just placed it in the goalies blind spot caused by Tavares. Bieksa pointed this out one Saturday night this year. Nylander is lethal.

Willy has a hard shot, but he doesn't use it all that often anymore; Matthews as well. They both rely on reading the goalie, a quick/deceptive release, and dialing down the power for an increase in accuracy. Effective shooters are using a goalie's anticipation from micro-details to their own advantage (e.g. Matthews looking corner and skipping it five-hole). This goal fooled Blomqvist because Willy was looking away from the net showing pass down to McCabe and had basically no load up with his legs (hence the casual appearance).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896298484413972613

Contrast with someone like... Pierre Engvall who is physically more gifted in many ways and has a very, very heavy shot, but doesn't score as much because he a) doesn't get to the slot too often, b) pretty much always shoots for power, and c) takes forever to load up the shot.