No translation needed. It was really a total waste of keystrokes.

There were too many issues with what you wrote, and I really don't have the energy to help you dig your head out of your butt.
- Tomahawk

Nothing I wrote was remotely controversial or even debatable, either in theory (any time you use terms in Hockey like sv%, sh%, pk% or home ice win % as probabilities, you are using the exact model of repeated random events that I wrote about ) or in terms of verification of data (your claim that Habs have as good a chance as any because of Price's play is, to put it mildly, embarrassingly unsupported by both data and the bookies).

You made a silly claim. That however happens. Human learning and fulfilling debate occur when both parties are willing to let the issue be decided on merit, and not resort to pissing contests. I changed my views on Laine based largely on input from you.

It doesn't occur when one of the debaters regresses to using the persona (zomg!lol!) and argumentative skills (lame insults) of a prepubescent girl.
I respect your hockey knowledge, your personality here, and the analytical way you present your opinion. I have learned a lot from those opinions.

You do however need to bear down and organize your knowledge in an analytical way. Otherwise, hockey (and probably everything else), will always be a string of 'cases of one.'

Ok, I am outta here.

If Vegas wins, certainly that would be one more. In 2001, Avs traded for Bourque the year before, and Blake that year, so that's three. Boyle came to Tampa Bay a couple of years before they won, lets count that as 4. That's all I recall from my fan days the past 25 years. Its possible I am forgetting someone. If not, that's a 16% chance, so quite unusual.

But its even lower, I believe. Tampa was stacked up front, we are not. Avs were a legendary team in those days, we are really very average.


- PT21

Allow me to refresh your memory. In the 1990's into the early 2000's, the NJ Devils won 3 Stanley Cups. One of their top defenseman was a guy named Scott Stevens. He is in the Hall of Fame and he was drafted by the Caps and played his first 6 or 7 seasons or so in Washington and then a season in St. Louis before being acquired by trade by the Devils
The Detroit Red Wings won a number of Cups with at least one with 3 defenseman named Chris Chelios, Brian Rafalski and Larry Murphy. Murphy and Chelios are in the Hall of Fame. Rafalski was a top scoring defenseman and finished in the top 10 in Norris trophy voting numerous times. None were drafted or developed by Detroit
Anaheim won a Stanley Cup with a couple of defenseman named Scott Neidermayer and Chris Pronger. They finished 2 and 3 in the Norris Trophy voting that season and both are in the Hall of Fame.
This is just a few off the top of my head. There are more, I'm quite sure. If we want to expand to the forward or goalie position, there are many, many more.

Further, Vegas already had a highly competitive team, but they lacked that specific piece of a high end D guy ever since they came into league. We are not competitive and don't have one specific missing part - we have more missing parts than Swiss Cheese.


- PT21

Are you familiar with a defenseman named Shea Theodore? In the 19/20 NHL season, the season before Vegas acquire Pietrangelo, he ranked in the top 10 in NHL scoring among NHL defenseman and he finished 6th in Norris trophy voting. He also scored at a high level in the playoffs.

Nothing I wrote was remotely controversial or even debatable, either in theory (any time you use terms in Hockey like sv%, sh%, pk% or home ice win % as probabilities, you are using the exact model of repeated random events that I wrote about ) or in terms of verification of data (your claim that Habs have as good a chance as any because of Price's play is, to put it mildly, embarrassingly unsupported by both data and the bookies).

You made a silly claim. That however happens. Human learning and fulfilling debate occur when both parties are willing to let the issue be decided on merit, and not resort to pissing contests. I changed my views on Laine based largely on input from you.

It doesn't occur when one of the debaters regresses to using the persona (zomg!lol!) and argumentative skills (lame insults) of a prepubescent girl.
I respect your hockey knowledge, your personality here, and the analytical way you present your opinion. I have learned a lot from those opinions.

You do however need to bear down and organize your knowledge in an analytical way. Otherwise, hockey (and probably everything else), will always be a string of 'cases of one.'

Ok, I am outta here.
- PT21

Sure it is debatable. What tomahawk was doing is having a casual sports conversation in making the statement that he made. Nobody is interested in "if X=Y then" conversations or referring to the odds in Vegas with every conversation. You often criticize others for not referring to history. Why Tomahawk made that statement is because history tells us that a goaltender playing at a very high level can steal games or a series against an overall superior opponent. If everything in sports came down to a statistical equation or math or the bookie odds, then that wouldn't be a fun endeavor that myself or may other fans would want to partake in. There's a reason why there are sports idioms such as anything can happen in a 7 game series. That's because it often does, despite what the odds say.