surprised Sergachev made it back for 1 game.
But they were just out matched. FL is going to be the team from the atlantic.
Only real question is can CAR actually hang with NYR. I'm not sold they can.
FL vs NYR should be an interesting matchup for the ECF.

This defense is gonna cause the same problems

Whitecloud would be a great pick-up! Never thought of him. Amadio is a nice add too.

sergachevs first game was game 4, they might have been slightly outmatched but that series should have went 7, some of the worst officiating I have every seen. Also no team in the east even has a chance at beating FL, its going to be VGK or DAL, thats it.

its not the players as much as it is the system, they have no chance at playing good hockey in that system

Tough to find a solution for the right side really. The Left can somewhat hold his own and Raddysh is a good piece to compliment Hedman in the top 4, we just need one more defensive minded piece (Dumba was far from that) and I think Whitecloud's term can help us out a bit

Ik but still they need another quality d man

Yep they gotta get a defensive d man to play with cernak imo that’s when they’re most successful

Yeah, the people calling Cooper's head to roll need to give their own a shake though. Dude was dealing with an abysmal assistant coach changing a defensive scheme right before the season started knowing they changed some pieces defensively, no Vasilevskiy to start, and obviously Sergachev's injury hurt us too. Not to mention our bottom six had its issues as well with a lack of a top six guy.
Atlantic is always a death race, painfully looking forward to see what next season brings us. It'll be interesting to see what BriseBois does.

Figured to exploit their cap vulnerabilities to pick up their 3rd RD. Whitecloud's a solid defensive minded piece without any trade clauses while we can offer them 1 year of cap savings at half his deal, and a 3rd in a year they lack a 1st rounder. Might need to bump the pick to a 2nd because of the term he's signed on for, but with Vegas being in a bit of a spot getting back a cost-effective D-man who just got a career high in points and only has 1 year left doesn't seem terrible.

Poaching Amadio would be nice, I sense he gets more than that though maybe in a 1.3-1.8M range, but would love to see him on our depth regardless.

Amadio would be a sick add. Only thing i'd change is to make it a two-way flight to Guangdong. Dumba may be a UFA, but it wouldn't be right to let Blash go alone

stop blaming refs.
DAL is laughable, they would be lucky to ever make it to the cup. They don't have a franchise player and it's been holding them back for years. It's the same reason why I'm not sold CAR can beat NYR.
EDM, COL, VGK all pretty equal chances over there. VGK doesn't have a true franchise guy, but they are really deep. But a guy like McDavid or MacKinnon can take games over.
The same is true in NYR with panarin. The rangers will give FL a run for their money in the ECF is my guess. They are a better team than you give credit.

"stop blaming refs" kinda hard to do when they directly impact the results of the games. Dallas is the 2nd best team in the west behind VGK imo, insane depth that only VGK can rival and they may not have that number 1 but they have at least 6 elite players, they would beat any other team in the west. EDM's defense and goaltender is not good enough like always(just wait until round 2/3) and COL doesnt have good enough goaltending. I would consider eichel to be a franchise guy for VGK he is at the very least a top 32 player in the league. NYR have no chance against FL their roster isnt as deep and they arent as fast or good at forechecking.

Eichels always hurt and barely a point per game player. That's not exactly franchise level in a league where 100pts is nothing to some of these guys. He does elevate in the playoffs though I do have to give him that.
I don't know, Crosby doesn't get 100 pts anymore either, but who in the hell is going to argue against that. Not me.

The refs are what they are, they even things out and usually the other team complains just as much. The better teams just push though it.
We'll see on DAL and VGK. Looks like they will have to go through both COL and EDM. History is against them. 7 of the last 10 cups are won by franchise level player forwards. They probably have to go through 3 of them to win as it is right now. I don't think those are good odds for either team. Especially when McDavid looks like he's on a tear. That's 25 minutes every game of being on the wrong side of the ice when it counts.

Rangers have a better shot than you think. But we'll see. That will be an interesting match up. NYR are built for playoff hockey. They can get into the mud. It's not always about being faster. Hockey is short distance game at times. It's better to be quick than fast. That's kind of Panarin's thing. He's never been blazing, but you just don't want to cover him. He'll shake loose and make it hurt. He did that to a much faster and better TB team. No one gave them a chance.
I think the rangers match up well. It's a 50/50 game for me.

There were only 9 guys to get 100+ points in the regular season, to me a "franchise player" is if there was a mock draft and every team picked their first player 1 to 32 those 32 players would be considered "franchise" players and I think eichel is a top 32 player.

I would disagree with things leveling out in terms of reffing, maybe over the course of a season sure but not over the course of a playoff series and they can determine often who wins or loses a series. One player can only do so much, it takes a team to win or else EDM would win every year. Until EDM get an actual goalie and defense they wont win. COL has a pretty good forward and D core although again the goaltending just isnt good enough to give them the edge against VGK or Dallas imo.

That 2019 TB team gave the least amount of effort in that postseason I have ever seen so I wouldnt evaluate panarin on those 4 games, although he is a good player. I just dont see them being able to handle the panthers constant forecheck but we will see.

there aren't 32 franchise players, it's a talent level thing. Some teams just don't have one.
just because TB lost doesn't mean there was no effort, believe me, none of those players wanted to be in line for that handshake with panarin. Which was classic.

to me it sounds like you are trying to describe "generational" players vs "franchise" players. Also I agree that not all 32 teams have a franchise player, there are some teams that have mutliple but to me at least it is the top 32 players in the league

no there are only 2-3 maybe generational players out there. McDavid being the last one. Crosby. Some might say OV but I'm not sold on that.

There just aren't 32 franchise players.