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Hockeylover360

Habs/Pens fan
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Forum: Armchair-GM23 août 2020 à 18 h 30
Sujet: if Tavares never signed obviously unrealistic
I think the John Tavares contract hindered them for multiple reasons.

1. They had had a 1C in Matthews and a 2C in Kadri who had a few years left on his deal at 4.75 million and could score 30 goals with some grit

2. They needed (and still need) a top pairing right handed defenseman

3. They had cap troubles as early as 2019

4. They haven't really improved as a team, Leafs had 1st round exits then and they still do or worse

5. They could potentially lose Andersen or Reilly due their cap troubles

6. Leaf were offense production relative to the rest of the league stayed the same (Top 5) but the goaltending/defense has gotten much worse (Middle of the road to bottom 5)

7. Leafs could potentially add a defenseman without worrying too much about the contract.

8. In order to fix their cap troubles the would have to trade either trade some forward depth (Kapanen, Kerfoot) , trade Marner or Nylander, trade a defenseman, or worse trade Andersen
Forum: NHL28 avr. 2020 à 14 h 1
Sujet: Hawks vs Penguins Best Teams Of Cap Era
Alright this series will be 7 games as both teams are very close. However let's compare the 2 and how each line stacks up.

Coaching: John Quenneville vs. Mike Sullivan

This is too close to call both are fantastic and adaptable. I'll give each team on point each. (1-1)

Forwards

For this and the defensive pairs I'll do each line 1 by 1.

Line 1 (Saad-Toews-Hossa vs. Kuntiz-Crosby-Hornqvist)

Seems like both teams are using shutdown lines as their top lines with probably means it'll be the lower lines that will make more of a difference. Crosby is by far the best offensive player on either line however Toews will neutralize the production on this for the Pens however I can't see how the Pens will shutdown Toews so 1 point for the Hawks. Hossa is by far the best winger on either lines. (2-1 Hawks)

Line 2 (Sharp-Richards-Kane vs. Guentzel-Malkin-Rust)

While line 1 are more shutdown lines both teams are putting their better offensive players on line 2. Richards was past his prime for the Hawks while Rust was weaker than he is today so we have a few players not in their primes on either line. Malkin and Guentzel are also playoff performers while Kane's production is more along the lines of Guentzel rather than Malkin making this a point for Pittsburgh. (2-2)

Line 3 (Ladd-Vermette-Teravainen vs. Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel)

This is where Pittsburgh has it's edge, offensive depth. While the hawks are using more of shutdown line the Pens are using an effective scoring line with great chemistry. Note that Teravainen is also not in his prime yet either. Easy point for the Pens (3-2 Penguins)

Line 4 (Bickell-Bolland-Versteeg vs. Dupuis-Staal-Guerin)

Having Jordan Staal as 4th line center probably means your team is staked. Most of these players are 3rd/4th line players that can occasionally go up in the line up while Jordan Staal probably would have been a 2C if not on Pittsburgh during the '09 cup win. Another point for Pittsburgh (4-2 Pens)

Defense

This will be similar to the forwards

Pairing 1 (Keith-Seabrook vs. Gonchar-Letang)

Once again Chicago are going with a shutdown pair while Pittsburgh goes more offensive. All 4 of these defensemen were top pairing guys in their prime however only Duncan Keith is a Norris winner so that will give the edge to the Hawks for this point. (4-3 Pens)

Pairing 2 (Campbell-Byfuglien vs. Dumoulin-Schultz )

Dustin Byfuglien offers something that Pittsburgh can't quite match. Both guys on the hawks provide good offense and defense while the Pens have a shutdown guy and a offensive threat in Schultz. I think Buff is the x factor for the Hawks here so one more point for them (4-4)

Pairing 3 (Oduya-Hjalmarsson vs. Maatta-Daley)

Again both teams are using shutdown pairings this time so let's compare this important battle. It's clear so far that Pittsburgh has the offensive edge while Chicago has the defensive edge. Most of these players are 2nd/3rd pairing guys with Hjalmarsson being the clear standout of the 4. Hjalmarsson was one of the better shutdown guys in the league on a team with Toews, Hossa, Keith and Seabrook. The Maatta-Daley pair didn't have great chemistry either so it's an easy point for the Hawks. (5-4 Hawks)

Goaltending

For this I'll compare the 2 starters while sorta factoring the backups with their own comparison.

Starters (Crawford vs. Fleury)

Funny enough Fleury's peak was after he left Pittsburgh so it's kind of an weird comparison. While Fleury's is better, is wasn't with Pittsburgh so it's yet another point for the Hawks (6-4 Hawks)

Backups (Niemi vs. Murray)

Ok this is easy. Murray will step in easier than Niemi in case the starter got injured (6-5 Hawks)

While the Pens have great offense, the hawks have x-factors in Byfuglien, Hjalmarsson and Hossa that the Penguins simply don't have.
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