A healthy Stamkos, Hedman reaching elite status, and another year of development for some very good young players? They'll be right back in.
How is no one talking about the fact they will probably have a healthy Stamkos ALL SEASON! Or maybe someone did and I just did not notice. But I think he can help them into the playoffs or at least increase their chances. Their young guys could hit a sophomore slump or they could continue to be awesome, who knows. Let the off season play out first.
But I agree the East is wide open aside from Boston and Pitts making the playoffs
BEER RULES - 16 team H2H keeper. Dress: 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 6D, 2G Reserve: 5; 20 farm players
Stats: G, A, STP, +/-, GWG+, H+B, PIM, W, SV, SV%, SO
C: Hischer, Zib, J.Hughes
LW: Guentzel, Svechnikov
RW: Bratt, Pastrnak
D: Hamilton, Weegar
G: Merzlikins, Samsonov, Murray
Rookies: Too many awesome prospects to list
Yahoo - Keep 3, 12 team H2H.
Stats: G, A, PTS, +/-, PPP, SHP, PIM, GWG, HIT, SOG, W, GAA, SV%, SV, SO
Keepers: Zibanejed, Connor, Svechnikov
Twitter for this Associate editor at DobberProspects: @FHPQuinn
I can't list my 2nd main keeper as there are too many players, but it is a keep all H2H points-only league
A healthy Stamkos, Hedman reaching elite status, and another year of development for some very good young players? They'll be right back in.
10 team, head-to-head, multi-cat, keep-12 keeper league. CATS: G,A,+/-,PPP,PIM,SOG,HITS BS,SHP, W,SV,SV%,GAA,SO Daily rosters of 6F, 4D, 2 Flex, 2G
F: Crosby, Hall, Pacioretty, Hartnell, Neal, Nugent-Hopkins, Callahan, Dubinsky, Hossa, Huberdeau, Abdelkader, Bjugstad (IR)
D: Karlsson, Hedman, Muzzin, Savard, Streit (IR)
G: Lundqvist, Quick, Condon
Piranha Hockey League est 1990 - Oakley Doakley's - 16 teams
Pts only W=2 OL=1 SO=3 Auction Draft
WHL - est 2016 Expansion - Glasgow Kiss - 24 teams
25 pro players / 10 minor league players
G,A,+/-,PPP,SOG,Hits,Blk,PIM,FOW, W,Sv,GA,SHO
10 team, head-to-head, multi-cat, keep-12 keeper league. CATS: G,A,+/-,PPP,PIM,SOG,HITS BS,SHP, W,SV,SV%,GAA,SO Daily rosters of 6F, 4D, 2 Flex, 2G
F: Crosby, Hall, Pacioretty, Hartnell, Neal, Nugent-Hopkins, Callahan, Dubinsky, Hossa, Huberdeau, Abdelkader, Bjugstad (IR)
D: Karlsson, Hedman, Muzzin, Savard, Streit (IR)
G: Lundqvist, Quick, Condon
10 team, head-to-head, multi-cat, keep-12 keeper league. CATS: G,A,+/-,PPP,PIM,SOG,HITS BS,SHP, W,SV,SV%,GAA,SO Daily rosters of 6F, 4D, 2 Flex, 2G
F: Crosby, Hall, Pacioretty, Hartnell, Neal, Nugent-Hopkins, Callahan, Dubinsky, Hossa, Huberdeau, Abdelkader, Bjugstad (IR)
D: Karlsson, Hedman, Muzzin, Savard, Streit (IR)
G: Lundqvist, Quick, Condon
Hedman has the tools to be the best d-man in the league.
26 people are wrong TB sucks
10 team, head-to-head, multi-cat, keep-12 keeper league. CATS: G,A,+/-,PPP,PIM,SOG,HITS BS,SHP, W,SV,SV%,GAA,SO Daily rosters of 6F, 4D, 2 Flex, 2G
F: Crosby, Hall, Pacioretty, Hartnell, Neal, Nugent-Hopkins, Callahan, Dubinsky, Hossa, Huberdeau, Abdelkader, Bjugstad (IR)
D: Karlsson, Hedman, Muzzin, Savard, Streit (IR)
G: Lundqvist, Quick, Condon
yeah I guess you don't realize how valuable Karlsson is. Take out Hedman and Tampa doesn't make the playoffs this year.
This is a Norris trophy winner for Christ sakes, the straw that stirs the drink.
And regardless of my opinion on spezza, it was still getting a number one centre back who takes the pressure off other guys. With stamkos back, the young players might not work as hard as they did. That's what happened to the Sens.
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28 people are only focusing on the present. I thought this poll would be closer.
I will not weigh in on my point of view here, but I would like to bring several points to the table that have been omitted until now to further discuss the matter:
1) Some compare this group of youngsters to the ones in Edmonton, but the comparison is simply on the surface (young players playing together). The core of the young players in Tampa (Killorn, Palat, Johnson,...) all played together under Cooper and dominated the AHL statistically a couple of years ago. Now that same core is playing in Tampa, with a great chemistry and a lot of heart and a good coach that knows his players. All 3 of those elements are not found in Edmonton.
2) Some are saying that Montreal is a mediocre team and that since a mediocre team beat them in 4 games, they must not be as good as their record shows. Well, I disagree here, because Montreal is a very deep team, with a great mix of veterans and youth along with a star goalie in Price; not to forget that they also landed Vanek and some key pieces at the trade deadline. They finished 9th overall in the NHL this year, tied with the powerful Kings and they have repeatedly beaten the Bruins over the years, arguably one of the best franchises in the past seasons. They had the same core last year and managed to finish 3rd overall in the shortened season. 2011-12 was a year to forget with all the injuries but it did allow them to land some solid prospects in that draft (Galchenyuk + others). Needless to say, claiming that the Habs are mediocre is unfit IMO.
3) Everyone talks about Tampa losing so quickly but no one really talks about Bishop's absence... The guy is a Vezina candidate who was replaced by a sub par backup. Most of the loses in the first round were on Lindback (not enterily, but he let in a lot of softies and he was replaced twice in 4 games). If you don't believe Bishop is as good as his stats and that this is simply a ''magical year'', I can live with that even if I don't truly agree with it. However, his ''magic'' would have most likely continued should he have been in the crease for the Bolts and the series would have clearly not ended in a sweep.
Like I said initially, I will not try to pick a side here, but I just felt that it was important to add these points for the argument's sake.
REDRUM
-roto - 10 team - keep 20 of 24 - G, A, PTS, +/-, PIM, PPG, PPA, W, SV, SV%
C - Nathan MacKinnon, Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, Jonathon Huberdeau
LW - Evander Kane, Jaden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn, Chris Kreider, Jonathon Drouin, Sven Baertchi
RW - Kyle Okposo, Valeri Nichushkin, Gustav Nyquist, Chris Stewart
D - Oliver Ekman Larsson, Dougie Hamilton, Viktor Hedman, Kevin Shattenkirk, Erik Johnson
G - Jonathon Bernier, Sergei Bobrovsky, Darcy Kuemper, Robin Lehner
The team had their old school core ripped out without anethesia
Its only normal that they would take a step back
They could well miss the playoffs but I am buying the product. Next season's motto could well be "its darkest before the dawn"
Consider Sim Hockey because guys who play shutdown minutes, deflect shots and clear creases build championships. Yet in fantasy they litter the unwanted UFA lists.
I see the similarities between Tampa and Ottawa that would lead to the conclusion that Tampa is a prime candidate for regression next year. On the surface their numbers (Corsi, Fenwick and PDO) are similar and even are slightly in Ottawa's favour. Having said that here's why I think Tampa will be fine next year.
1. Stamkos back for a full year. This has been brought up numerous times in the thread already. I think Stamkos' struggles post St Louis (MSL) are more related to coming back from a major broken leg than the absence of MSL. We've players coming back from major injuries struggle at first as they gain trust in their rehabbed leg. I think coming back and playing a bit at the end of the season will put Stamkos ahead of the curve come next season in terms of trust in his leg. We'll likely see a bit of slide back but hell still put up dynamic numbers.
2. The development of Hedman. I'm not going to argue that Hedman is going to make the leap to 60+ points. I don't think that necessarily has to happen. I think the next step for Hedman is to move in to the elite group of minute munchers. Despite driving possession, 53.9 Corsi overall, and 4.9 Corsi Rel, Hedman only played 22.5 minutes barely cracking the top 50 in minutes per game among NHL D. He's similarly under utilized on the power play ranking 48th in the league in % of PP time he gets. This disproportionately low to where he ranks overall in 24th and CorsiRel 11th amongst NHL D. Furthermore his PDO is entirely reasonable 100.1. Furthermore Hedman didnt have obscene zone start split of CorsiQualComp. Basically he was unsheltered and used in all situations. This all points to Tampa being able to improve, or maintain, just by utilizing Hedman more.
3. Stability in Tampa. Yes they lost MSL this year, but I think it'll be less of a shock for Tampa as it happened mid-season than the shock Ottawa faced losing Alfredsson during the off-season. In all it's unlikely there's going to be a lot of turnover/change in Tampa this coming season. They've also only committed a little under 49m for next season for 15 players meaning they have 2.9m available per opening. Tampa is in a nice position moving forward and should be able to return largely the same roster they finished the season with, which was pretty deep.
I think Tampa having gotten a lot of young players experience this are well-situated for next year even if a couple of those players suffer regress a little.