Where's Negative Artic Nelly tonight.....

crying about blown leads after the OT loss to Boston...

4-0-2 in last 6 Nelly...!!!!!


- DoctorNHL

whats up stalker?

well... LA shouldn't have been 8th. bad coaching and couldn't score for half a year. Much better team than the standings suggested. I picked LA-Pitts final last year. Everybody said I was nuts and just hating canucks

not to mention Carter is a decent roster addition.
- Big_Lightnin

Lots of folks picked them to go to the Cup final before the season started... but after their start many fell off of them.. they have a good team.. and Quick was on fire...

He was on the top line.

I know he struggles against Boston, but he also eats the Sens alive. If we're going to pick and choose which splits to look at, why does it always have to be Boston?
- Leeman4Gilmour

so true. why do we only need to rely on kessel to score against boston in the first place? kadri has done great vs boston in his career against them, lupul has played good, still have jvr, grabo enjoys playing boston as well. so what if one guy cant score, but whose to say he won't set up lupul, bozak, phaneuf or franson on the pp like he has consistently this season?

I hope you are right. I would love to see Kessel succeed and hope he does if we make the playoffs.

I'm just saying, you cannot disregard the chance to get a young power forward Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah age is almost impossible unless you draft one or overpay for him when he's over 30 years old.
- Sheppy99

And that team is not quite the same big mean skilled team that they are now. They maybe had more offensive flair (plus stellar goaltending from Thomas), but they weren't the same team.
- lumlums

for sure.. but if we're talking about kessel's playoff performances.. it was with that team.

it's a tough comparison either way. a long time ago.. different teams. etc.

i'm just saying that 9 goals in 15 playoff games was in a different world. tough to bank on that project what kessel would do with this team in these playoffs.

um... they were 1st in the East the year before and 1st or 2nd that year... and Philly was pretty (frank)ing good - shouldn't have been down 3-0 in the first place.
- Big_Lightnin

They were 1st in Kessel's last year there. 6th the year after they traded him (and blew that series).

I'm not suggesting Kessel was the difference between 1st and 6th, but he was clearly a large part of their success.

Do they blow that 3-0 series lead if they can find just 1 more goal in any of the games they had a chance to close out the Flyers?

I hope you are right. I would love to see Kessel succeed and hope he does if we make the playoffs.

I'm just saying, you cannot disregard the chance to get a young power forward centerman right off the bat.

Most would agree that obtaining skillful wingers is a lot easier than acquiring young power forwards who are centermen

There was a whole article that basically said getting a franchise center men in this day and age is almost impossible unless you draft one or overpay for him when he's over 30 years old.
- Sheppy99

oh ya I was entering the trade argument... just the Kessel in the playoffs stuff.

Leafs aren't on Boston and Pitts level yet. Nobody would suggest they are. But they are playing like a 4-6 team more nights than not, and definitely the last 3 games.

I like what I am seeing vs what we have become used to.

gillis is the worst gm in the league now that howson is jobless. at this rate, they should fire him and replace him with JFJ.. just to take a step up.
- joel878

Wasn't Gillis the slimy agent that screwed over the oilers when he represented Michael Nylander back in hte day?

Doubt he was playing against the top defense pairings back then every night. Solid numbers though and I hope he does continue it.

All I'm saying is playoff games resemble Boston Bruins games most nights and you cannot tell me he's been successful on a regular basis against bigger and stronger teams physically.
- Sheppy99

This notion that as soon as the playoffs start, all teams start playing a tough, hard hitting game is a myth. Some games are wide-open firewagon hockey, some are defensive grinds, some are just flat out stinkers. 16 teams make the playoffs and they're all different. We watch playoff hockey every year and every year that myth is debunked. I'm not sure why it pops up again every spring.

Is he earning his 6 million dollar cap hit?

He's on pace for a prorated 53 points, which is - surprise! - exactly what he's always been.

And he's a -9, so it's not like his defense is exactly picking up the slack here.
- Leeman4Gilmour

i'm not going to argue..he's now the most overrated guy in the league, you said it!!!! I don't think you want to start comparing +/- do you?

He's in Carolina now...Cam Ward is down and they are stinking...we can start splashing stats..Kessel scores 30 to 40 percent of his goals on the PP...Staal would be lucky if he played pp in Pitts...you ride Kessel...I'll jump on Staal see who wins the next Stanley...good luck..I hope you win..as long as Kessel is still a leaf

if we want to splash stats...you say go!!!!

whats up stalker?
- Arctic_AARDVARK

Ha ha was wondering if you would show your face.... nice blown lead by the Cardiac Kids...


LUPUL

oh ya I was entering the trade argument... just the Kessel in the playoffs stuff.

Leafs aren't on Boston and Pitts level yet. Nobody would suggest they are. But they are playing like a 4-6 team more nights than not, and definitely the last 3 games.

I like what I am seeing vs what we have become used to.
- Big_Lightnin

I would lovvvvvvvvve to see Toronto finish 6th and Winnipeg 3rd.....

They were 1st in Kessel's last year there. 6th the year after they traded him (and blew that series).

I'm not suggesting Kessel was the difference between 1st and 6th, but he was clearly a large part of their success.

Do they blow that 3-0 series lead if they can find just 1 more goal in any of the games they had a chance to close out the Flyers?
- Leeman4Gilmour

I recall comments like "and this is where the Bruins miss Phil Kessel" from the colour guys during that series

Playoffs are a wild card... remember LA last year... cracked in as 8th seed.. and collected a big trophy from the ugliest douche bag in sports...
- DoctorNHL

just because LA won the cup as an 8th place team.. does not make the playoffs a wild card.

that's insanity. it happens once every so often? it's a rare thing. teams like boston and pittsburgh win the cup alot more often than teams like LA.

This notion that as soon as the playoffs start, all teams start playing a tough, hard hitting game is a myth. Some games are wide-open firewagon hockey, some are defensive grinds, some are just flat out stinkers. 16 teams make the playoffs and they're all different. We watch playoff hockey every year and every year that myth is debunked. I'm not sure why it pops up again every spring.
- Jeffmt

cause I haven't seen a playoff game in almost 10 years

well... LA shouldn't have been 8th. bad coaching and couldn't score for half a year. Much better team than the standings suggested. I picked LA-Pitts final last year. Everybody said I was nuts and just hating canucks

not to mention Carter is a decent roster addition.
- Big_Lightnin

You could also argue LA shouldn't have made it in.

The wheels had completely fallen off in LA before they brought in Sutter.

The Bruins weren't that great back in the day.

The year after we traded for Kessel, they dropped a 3-0 series lead to Philly and lost in the second round.
- Leeman4Gilmour

they weren't that great... but they were a guaranteed playoff team. which is more than we can say for any edition of the leafs kessel has played for since.. sans this one.

it's just tough to predict.

gillis is the worst gm in the league now that howson is jobless. at this rate, they should fire him and replace him with JFJ.. just to take a step up.
- joel878

Canucks fans are convinced they have piles of money to spend. They were discussing trading for Gaborik in one of their threads the other day. It basically went like "Ballard and Booth get bought out, Luongo traded for peanuts, that's basicaly $14M freed up. We can easily use that to make room for Gaborik." Then another one replied "We don't even need to get rid of Booth for that. He's a good player"

Lupul is awesome, should be made Captain. Reminds me of Gary Roberts, when he was a part of the Leafs.

Ha ha was wondering if you would show your face.... nice blown lead by the Cardiac Kids...


LUPUL

- DoctorNHL

yes the leafs did blow a lead.. But it woke them up. Lupul, who should be captain, showed that he's the best player on the ice tonight.

just because LA won the cup as an 8th place team.. does not make the playoffs a wild card.

that's insanity. it happens once every so often? it's a rare thing. teams like boston and pittsburgh win the cup alot more often than teams like LA.
- joel878

How many presidents trophy winners win a cup?

Lots of folks picked them to go to the Cup final before the season started... but after their start many fell off of them.. they have a good team.. and Quick was on fire...
- DoctorNHL

they better be good..they had about 10-15 years before that they finished behind the leafs...every year!!!! They should be a team of high 1st round draft picks

I recall comments like "and this is where the Bruins miss Phil Kessel" from the colour guys during that series
- Big_Lightnin

That series was nuts.

The B's needed one more win, and I think all the final four games went to OT. Wasn't that only like the second time in history a team has come back like that?

when super man goes to seep at night he wears Joffrey Lupul pajamas

Lots of folks picked them to go to the Cup final before the season started... but after their start many fell off of them.. they have a good team.. and Quick was on fire...
- DoctorNHL

Ya start of season for sure - which is why I said they shouldn't have been 8th, or rather weren't a typical "8th seed winning cup". Too good on paper.

coaching change was huge too.

For playoff pool I picked LA-Pens.