[Cage Match Tournament] The Finals Baby!

[Dobber]

I agree with Hartnell on Malkin being the ugliest guy in the league. Ugliest.

Once Mike Ricci retired, the title became Malkin's

[Dobber]

Honestly what was the point of this tournament int he first place? You knew who the winner was going to be. It;'s whoever is currently leading the NHL in points. You do this last year and it wouldn't be Malkin.

Yeah, it wasn't about the final match that mattered, but more about 5 or 6 of the 35 matches along the way

[Big Ev]

Entertainment value would be first. DobberHockey is a great medium for people to interact and express views this tournament took it to the next level.

I think that the fact Crosby went as far as he did and made things as interesting with Malkin indicates some degree of outside the box thinking on the part of voters. Last year Daniel Sedin led the league in scoring. Certainly he made it to the Final Four so we know there is value there but I still question if after leading the league in scoring he would have won this tournament so I think that criticism falls a little flat. The fact is, we all kind of knew it was coming down to Malkin and Stamkos in the end, but the process more than anything else is what mattered.

Getting to see all the different matchups along the way was thoroughly intriguing. For instance the Benn vs. Kopitar matchup where Benn pulled off the upset, or Toews besting Eberle. Both of those yielded results I was not expecting. So there really is some insight that can be gained from the thing as a whole. If all you can see from this tournament is the end result then you are definitely missing the point.

I agree with you on those points.

Something really interesting might be a Dobber member tournament.

[Ross The Boss Palmer]

Honestly what was the point of this tournament int he first place? You knew who the winner was going to be. It;'s whoever is currently leading the NHL in points. You do this last year and it wouldn't be Malkin.

I think it will be cool to see in future years how guys will fare in this tournament, as well as comparing the previous years' results to view trends. For instance, a guy like Eberle did decent enough this year to get into the tournament, but next year if all the stars align he could perhaps make it to the Elite Eight.

[ZamboniNation]

Ha - no, Geno would win that too hahaha

chicks dig scars... lol

[metaldude26]

I agree with you on those points.

Something really interesting might be a Dobber member tournament.

HAHAHA, touche!

[bondon]

I agree with you on those points.

Something really interesting might be a Dobber member tournament.

I think my goalie advice really puts me over the top tbh.

[PittPens1787]

Not nearly as much upside as Geno my friend. Not even within 20 points of Malkin's upside. If you vote Stamkos it's because he is a Top 5 player, and the only one in the Top 5 with reliable health. Something to be said about that.


And when we're talking about "four years younger" and both players are in their early 20s, it's not an influential point. ...also Stamkos' hair is terrible LOL

But... you can't say that Dobber! Now you're just a ridiculously Pro-Malkin Malkinator faboy trying to skew all rationality and objectivity!!

without question.

Malkin
The assist heavy terribly skating mechanics injury prone Malkin.

Is he really assist heavy if 46 of his 99 points are goals, and he's second in the NHL in goals despite having missed 8 games?

[LeTrefle]

I don't care wich one is better because...

...I own BOTH!!!

Feels great to own #1 AND #2.

[FV1986]

I don't care wich one is better because...

...I own BOTH!!!

Feels great to own #1 AND #2.

And I thought owning both Sedins was good. That's awesome.

[duducks]

I want to use St Louis' age against Stamkos, but I haven't looked at their time together, or counted 1st assists by Marty.

Instead I'll go with the Playmaker > Sniper. Playmakers (especially 50 goal threat playmakers) just have that much higher of a ceiling for points vs a Sniper.

Malkin is a 100-140 point player. Yes 140 is damn high, really an outrageous number, but none of Malkin/Crosby/Letang have hit their prime. Same can be said for James Neal and Staal. If he's playing at a 120 point pace now, how much higher can we bump his ceiling in his prime? Is he capable of 10 points more? Sure. 20 more? Why not.
It took him a month and a half to put up his first (first of 4) five point game of the season. Without that early "slump", who knows where he'd be. btw, Stamkos season high is 4 points and he only did it once.

[metaldude26]

I want to use St Louis' age against Stamkos, but I haven't looked at their time together, or counted 1st assists by Marty.

Instead I'll go with the Playmaker > Sniper. Playmakers (especially 50 goal threat playmakers) just have that much higher of a ceiling for points vs a Sniper.

Malkin is a 100-140 point player. Yes 140 is damn high, really an outrageous number, but none of Malkin/Crosby/Letang have hit their prime. Same can be said for James Neal and Staal. If he's playing at a 120 point pace now, how much higher can we bump his ceiling in his prime? Is he capable of 10 points more? Sure. 20 more? Why not.
It took him a month and a half to put up his first (first of 4) five point game of the season. Without that early "slump", who knows where he'd be. btw, Stamkos season high is 4 points and he only did it once.

Prime is a relative term. I would agree that an NHL player’s prime is typically in and around that 27-30 year old age because those years are the years where the player is still at or near his peak physically while also combining the experience of having played so many years as a professional. The problem for players (especially forwards) is that as they gain experience they tend to find that playing better defensively is actually what will help them win. Now Malkin may be an interesting case because he has Crosby and Staal as excellent two-way centers on his team so this may in fact be a scenario where Malkin has an extended prime in terms of fantasy production because he never has to concern himself with defensive play the way other elite players do.

Anyways, sorry about the ramble. Just one of those things I felt was worth mentioning. With so many of the NHL's top scorers over the past few years being in that 18-24 year old age group it will be really interesting to see where these players go in terms of scoring as they age. I would think that the prevailing theory is that these players will either remain at the same level or continue to improve but we may in fact see some of these players reduce their scoring averages as the next wave of scorers comes up.

[Atomic Wedgy]

In a points only, keeper league, I see this choice as a no brainer. Malkin every time.

My answer might be different in a goal rewarded league. It also may be different in a hockey hair contest.

[Gaborlick]

But... you can't say that Dobber! Now you're just a ridiculously Pro-Malkin Malkinator faboy trying to skew all rationality and objectivity!!



Is he really assist heavy if 46 of his 99 points are goals, and he's second in the NHL in goals despite having missed 8 games?

no no no, this is complete sarcasm, there was a guy on here (MT319) that thought he was God's gift to hockey analysis and well, I was basically quoting him.

I think Malkin is great and a great goal scorer for that matter. If anyone was a assist heavy player during his prime, it was Thornton.

[bigbabybuda]

Malkin not even close in a pts only.