All things 2014 Playoffs

Who is dominating the playoffs so far: Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf, Brendan Dubinsky, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan Johansen...

Who is not a good leader on that least?
I'm watching this game, the Hawks look awfully flat for several minutes, Toews decides to take over around the boards, the Hawks score and the whole team has been dominating St-Louis ever since.
And some people actually claim that the play of the captain should not affect what the others do...

LeKing wrote:Who is dominating the playoffs so far: Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf, Brendan Dubinsky, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan Johansen...

Who is not a good leader on that least?
I'm watching this game, the Hawks look awfully flat for several minutes, Toews decides to take over around the boards, the Hawks score and the whole team has been dominating St-Louis ever since.
And some people actually claim that the play of the captain should not affect what the others do...

The only people who say the "everyone leads.  leaders are not the end all and be all.  we need other guys to step up when it matters too" those are all quotes from losers.  Having a leader in hockey is one of the most important things a team can have.   But hey, don't tell that to a Spezza fan.

Feels good for Foligno. Fleury being Fleury on that OT winner. People are blaming him for the tying goal, which makes no sense....the puck just took a bad bounce over his stick...he couldn't have done anything else. But the OT winner is 100% on him. If I'm Pittsburgh, I come back with Vokoun or whoever.

The East really sucks, which just makes Ottawa missing the playoffs even harder to take. If Boston doesn't win the East, they f'd up.

No Alfie again for the Wings tonight, but he could be ready for game 5 on Saturday, per Joe Haggerty on Twitter.

Why did they scratch Selanne?  Is he that old and tired? He looked pretty good to me leading up to that.

EDIT: Looks can be deceiving, he had a terrible year statistically.

Selanne has looked old and slow in the playoffs. Not sure if he was able to take it up a notch.

shabbs wrote:Selanne has looked old and slow in the playoffs. Not sure if he was able to take it up a notch.

Fair enough, I didn't watch every game, I thought he looked okay when I saw him.

Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun
Matt Cooke addressing media. Begins his address by saying he feels bad Tyson Barrie can't play tonight. Insists didn't intent to injure him

Ah yes, we've heard that before.

Hoags wrote:

Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun
Matt Cooke addressing media. Begins his address by saying he feels bad Tyson Barrie can't play tonight. Insists didn't intent to injure him

Ah yes, we've heard that before.

The NHL doesn't seem to care, because 7 games for a terrible repeat offender is a joke.  Barrie's got a torn ACL for goodness sake.

EDIT: Roy says it's a medial collateral ligament injury, so I'm not really sure what that means lol. And also, it's coming from Roy, so an additional grain of salt is required.

NEELY wrote:

LeKing wrote:Who is dominating the playoffs so far: Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf, Brendan Dubinsky, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan Johansen...

Who is not a good leader on that least?
I'm watching this game, the Hawks look awfully flat for several minutes, Toews decides to take over around the boards, the Hawks score and the whole team has been dominating St-Louis ever since.
And some people actually claim that the play of the captain should not affect what the others do...

The only people who say the "everyone leads.  leaders are not the end all and be all.  we need other guys to step up when it matters too" those are all quotes from losers.  Having a leader in hockey is one of the most important things a team can have.   But hey, don't tell that to a Spezza fan.

The 'C' does not stand for "Leader", know what I'm saying? Who was the Leader of the Mighty Ducks in 2007? Don't think it was Nierdermayer, even though he wore the 'C'. The guy went out on the ice, did his thing, came back to the bench, sat down and said nothing to anyone.

Hockey is the only one of the major sports where the Captain is clearly identified. Do you need a Captain in football, basketball, baseball? No. Why not? Who knows. But you sure know who the MVP is each year.

Quick question: how many of the last 10 Conn SMythe winners wore the 'C'? Answer: 3

And that includes Niedermayer.

Hoags wrote:

Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun
Matt Cooke addressing media. Begins his address by saying he feels bad Tyson Barrie can't play tonight. Insists didn't intent to injure him

Ah yes, we've heard that before.

Well, it's clear, then. If this is how he plays now that he's rehabilitated, and since he didn't intend to injure, then is there really any solution to this other than expulsion from the league? If this guy can stick out his knee and plant it, yet insists that he wasn't trying to hurt him, then what other recourse is there? This is not a move that is taught at any level in hockey.

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:

LeKing wrote:Who is dominating the playoffs so far: Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf, Brendan Dubinsky, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan Johansen...

Who is not a good leader on that least?
I'm watching this game, the Hawks look awfully flat for several minutes, Toews decides to take over around the boards, the Hawks score and the whole team has been dominating St-Louis ever since.
And some people actually claim that the play of the captain should not affect what the others do...

The only people who say the "everyone leads.  leaders are not the end all and be all.  we need other guys to step up when it matters too" those are all quotes from losers.  Having a leader in hockey is one of the most important things a team can have.   But hey, don't tell that to a Spezza fan.

The 'C' does not stand for "Leader", know what I'm saying? Who was the Leader of the Mighty Ducks in 2007? Don't think it was Nierdermayer, even though he wore the 'C'. The guy went out on the ice, did his thing, came back to the bench, sat down and said nothing to anyone.

Hockey is the only one of the major sports where the Captain is clearly identified. Do you need a Captain in football, basketball, baseball? No. Why not? Who knows. But you sure know who the MVP is each year.

Quick question: how many of the last 10 Conn SMythe winners wore the 'C'? Answer: 3

And that includes Niedermayer.

I have no idea what being the MVP and the Captain have to do with each other, but I'm sure you'll enlighten us.

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:

LeKing wrote:Who is dominating the playoffs so far: Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf, Brendan Dubinsky, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan Johansen...

Who is not a good leader on that least?
I'm watching this game, the Hawks look awfully flat for several minutes, Toews decides to take over around the boards, the Hawks score and the whole team has been dominating St-Louis ever since.
And some people actually claim that the play of the captain should not affect what the others do...

The only people who say the "everyone leads.  leaders are not the end all and be all.  we need other guys to step up when it matters too" those are all quotes from losers.  Having a leader in hockey is one of the most important things a team can have.   But hey, don't tell that to a Spezza fan.

The 'C' does not stand for "Leader", know what I'm saying?  Who was the Leader of the Mighty Ducks in 2007?  Don't think it was Nierdermayer, even though he wore the 'C'.  The guy went out on the ice, did his thing, came back to the bench, sat down and said nothing to anyone.  

Hockey is the only one of the major sports where the Captain is clearly identified.  Do you need a Captain in football, basketball, baseball?  No.  Why not?  Who knows.  But you sure know who the MVP is each year.

Quick question: how many of the last 10 Conn SMythe winners wore the 'C'?  Answer: 3

And that includes Niedermayer.

In football?  Yah, I would say the quarterback is pretty clearly the leader.  Baseball actually does have a "C" sometimes.  Basketball is an exception and even then you know who the leaders are.

Anyways, don;t let common sense into your thoughts as that would detract from w/e point you are trying to make.

I'm actually not sure if baseball teams have captains, but they sure don't wear a 'C'. I think in football you actually have the captains calling the coin toss but, again, no 'C'; same in soccer.

Point still stands -- no other major team sports so clearly identifies a captain (and alternates). And I've heard a lot of talk, recently, on whether hockey really needs a captain.

As to Tim's question, the debate here has been that you cannot expect other players to play the 200' game and give a crap if the guy wearing the 'C' doesn't. I've said all along (and so have plenty of former players) that you need leadership in the room and on the bench from far more than the guy wearing the 'C'. Spezza has his faults -- no doubt, but hanging the team's Dung-poor excuse of a season on the shoulders of one guy is a short-sighted knee-jerk reaction.

So you move Spezza and who is the whipping boy after that?

I don't think anyone here ever said Spezza is the sole problem. We might've said he's the biggest problem.

wprager wrote:I'm actually not sure if baseball teams have captains, but they sure don't wear a 'C'.  I think in football you actually have the captains calling the coin toss but, again, no 'C'; same in soccer.

Point still stands -- no other major team sports so clearly identifies a captain (and alternates).  And I've heard a lot of talk, recently, on whether hockey really needs a captain.

As to Tim's question, the debate here has been that you cannot expect other players to play the 200' game and give a crap if the guy wearing the 'C' doesn't.  I've said all along (and so have plenty of former players) that you need leadership in the room and on the bench from far more than the guy wearing the 'C'.  Spezza has his faults -- no doubt, but hanging the team's Dung-poor excuse of a season on the shoulders of one guy is a short-sighted knee-jerk reaction.

So you move Spezza and who is the whipping boy after that?  

Cory Seesy.

wprager wrote:I'm actually not sure if baseball teams have captains, but they sure don't wear a 'C'.  I think in football you actually have the captains calling the coin toss but, again, no 'C'; same in soccer.

Point still stands -- no other major team sports so clearly identifies a captain (and alternates).  And I've heard a lot of talk, recently, on whether hockey really needs a captain.

As to Tim's question, the debate here has been that you cannot expect other players to play the 200' game and give a crap if the guy wearing the 'C' doesn't.  I've said all along (and so have plenty of former players) that you need leadership in the room and on the bench from far more than the guy wearing the 'C'.  Spezza has his faults -- no doubt, but hanging the team's Dung-poor excuse of a season on the shoulders of one guy is a short-sighted knee-jerk reaction.

So you move Spezza and who is the whipping boy after that?  

When the guy who wears the "C" does what he wants, others will do the same.  Like it or not that's how the world and hockey work.  If your boss goofs off chances are you will too, doesn't mean there are not other people there willing to work hard or put the effort in but things fall apart. 

Also, Spezza was THE problem, he was the biggest one though.  There are other issues like youth, inexperience, inconsistency (coaching and players)... but they should get a chance to sort it out and they will.  Spezza has had a decade to sort out his issues and hasn't. 

Who is the new whipping boy once Spezza is gone?  Not sure but I would guess Cowen as that has already started.

wprager wrote:I'm actually not sure if baseball teams have captains, but they sure don't wear a 'C'.  I think in football you actually have the captains calling the coin toss but, again, no 'C'; same in soccer.

Point still stands -- no other major team sports so clearly identifies a captain (and alternates).  And I've heard a lot of talk, recently, on whether hockey really needs a captain.

As to Tim's question, the debate here has been that you cannot expect other players to play the 200' game and give a crap if the guy wearing the 'C' doesn't.  I've said all along (and so have plenty of former players) that you need leadership in the room and on the bench from far more than the guy wearing the 'C'.  Spezza has his faults -- no doubt, but hanging the team's Dung-poor excuse of a season on the shoulders of one guy is a short-sighted knee-jerk reaction.

So you move Spezza and who is the whipping boy after that?  

are you trying to downplay the importance a team appointed captain who is slacking off has on the rest of a team? really??? c'mon man.
think of it this way, you see the boss coming in to work 3 days out of 5 and playing solitaire on his computer, hell he's out the other two days playing golf! do you think the rest of the office feels like giving their 100%? same Dung different pile.