NHL 2012-13 - Half Season Thread

Merrith

Merrith

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Araysar_sl said:
So what you're saying is that Caps played 18 games against the crappiest division in the NHL. Given that Seeds #4-8 are within 2 points of the final season standings from the Caps, it amuses me that Seed #3 would literally be struggling to get into playoffs at all, even if they lost just one game.
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I'm saying acting like we built so many extra points from a ton of extra games vs our division just doesn't hold water when everyone else played them 15 times too. You mentioned the teams behind us in seeding, and some thought because of our "tough" schedule down the stretch against all those Northeast division teams (the mighty Northeast, which got 4 teams into the playoffs) Winnipeg might overtake us for the division title. Well, if you look at those Northeast teams that finished with the same or more points than we did (57+ points, Toronto/Boston/Montreal)...we played them a combined 4 times in April. Our record in those games? 4-0-0, outscoring the opposition a combined 16-6.

If the season was 10 games longer, we might have ended up the 2 seed in the East.
 
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Pizoi

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I think that if the Canucks can get past the Sharks, they have a good shot at making it out of the west. They're the only playoff team in the conference that really stacks up well against the Hawks this year. However, I don't think they'll make it past the Sharks, so I'll probably be having to pick another team to root for by early next week.
 
Araysar

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Merrith_sl said:
I'm saying acting like we built so many extra points from a ton of extra games vs our division just doesn't hold water when everyone else played them 15 times too. You mentioned the teams behind us in seeding, and some thought because of our "tough" schedule down the stretch against all those Northeast division teams (the mighty Northeast, which got 4 teams into the playoffs) Winnipeg might overtake us for the division title. Well, if you look at those Northeast teams that finished with the same or more points than we did (57+ points, Toronto/Boston/Montreal)...we played them a combined 4 times in April. Our record in those games? 4-0-0, outscoring the opposition a combined 16-6.

If the season was 10 games longer, we might have ended up the 2 seed in the East.
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But that's what I'm saying. In a conference where 2 points separate Seed #3 from Seed 4-8 and 3 points from being out of playoffs entirely, playing an extra 3 games against the weakest division could have meant the difference between being #13 in EC or #3.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not begrudging them the #3 spot. Frankly I wished all my sports teams in all sports were the equivalent of Patriots in AFC East. All I'm saying is that #3 seed is deceptive and the Capitals are not as strong as their seeding indicates. Yeah, they won a few games here and against the top dogs too, they're not total scrubs. But I just dont see them competing across a 7 game series against a legitimate opponent and pulling through to 2nd round.
 
Ishad

Ishad

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Whoops, should have been caps not habs. I can't give too many fucks about the east until next year.
 
Merrith

Merrith

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Araysar_sl said:
But that's what I'm saying. In a conference where 2 points separate Seed #3 from Seed 4-8 and 3 points from being out of playoffs entirely, playing an extra 3 games against the weakest division could have meant the difference between being #13 in EC or #3.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not begrudging them the #3 spot. Frankly I wished all my sports teams in all sports were the equivalent of Patriots in AFC East. All I'm saying is that #3 seed is deceptive and the Capitals are not as strong as their seeding indicates. Yeah, they won a few games here and against the top dogs too, they're not total scrubs. But I just dont see them competing across a 7 game series against a legitimate opponent and pulling through to 2nd round.
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By the same token though, if the season was any longer we could have easily leapfrogged everyone in the East save Pittsburgh. We started the year 2-8-1 after hiring a new coach and having only a single week of "training camp" to install a completely new system and make changes to the PP/PK (not to mention moving Ovechkin to right wing). A slow start was expected. We went 25-10-2 over the last 37 games of the year. That's a 115 point pace over a full season.

Granted, it probably doesn't hold up at quite that pace all year, but are we really just that weak division winner that lived and died by playing 3 extra games against our division, or were we a team that didn't have the proper preparation for a new coach before the season, and overcame that to become a decent team? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but I don't expect us to get swept out of the playoffs by the Rangers just because they don't play in the Southeast.
 
Araysar

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Merrith_sl said:
By the same token though, if the season was any longer we could have easily leapfrogged everyone in the East save Pittsburgh. We started the year 2-8-1 after hiring a new coach and having only a single week of "training camp" to install a completely new system and make changes to the PP/PK (not to mention moving Ovechkin to right wing). A slow start was expected. We went 25-10-2 over the last 37 games of the year. That's a 115 point pace over a full season.

Granted, it probably doesn't hold up at quite that pace all year, but are we really just that weak division winner that lived and died by playing 3 extra games against our division, or were we a team that didn't have the proper preparation for a new coach before the season, and overcame that to become a decent team? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but I don't expect us to get swept out of the playoffs by the Rangers just because they don't play in the Southeast.
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I agree the truth is somewhere in the middle. We will see, I guess.
 
Merrith

Merrith

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Araysar_sl said:
I agree the truth is somewhere in the middle. We will see, I guess.
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I doubt it goes less than 6 games either way. Oates coaching his first playoff series against Torts is a storyline too. Oates has been very good, but we'll see if a 7 game series is a different animal for him.
 
Merrith

Merrith

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Avs win draft lottery. They did have the 2nd "best" chance of winning it, should be interesting to see with new coach coming in. Have some serious talent on that team, they should be better than what they were this year.
 
S

Sweet Prince Empire_sl

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East

(1)Pittsburghv. (8) NY Islanders
(2)Montrealv. (7) Ottawa
(3)Washingtonv. (6) NY Rangers
(4)Bostonv. (5) Toronto

West

(1)Chicagov. (8) Minnesota
(2)Anaheimv. (7) Detroit
(3)Vancouverv. (6) San Jose
(4) St. Louis v. (5)Los Angeles

Im going with almost every top seeded team except the Kings.
 
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Bane_sl

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(1)Pittsburghv. (8) NY Islanders
(2)Montrealv. (7) Ottawa
(3) Washington v. (6)NY Rangers
(4)Bostonv. (5) Toronto

West

(1)Chicagov. (8) Minnesota
(2) Anaheim v. (7)Detroit
(3)Vancouverv. (6) San Jose
(4)St. Louisv. (5) Los Angeles
 
Valderen

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East

(1)Pittsburghv. (8) NY Islanders
(2)Montrealv. (7) Ottawa
(3)Washingtonv. (6) NY Rangers
(4)Bostonv. (5) Toronto

West

(1)Chicagov. (8) Minnesota
(2) Anaheim v. (7)Detroit
(3)Vancouverv. (6) San Jose
(4) St. Louis v. (5)Los Angeles
 
Killswitch

Killswitch

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East

(1)Pittsburghv. (8) NY Islanders
(2)Montrealv. (7) Ottawa
(3)Washingtonv. (6) NY Rangers
(4)Bostonv. (5) Toronto

West

(1)Chicagov. (8) Minnesota
(2)Anaheimv. (7) Detroit
(3) Vancouver v. (6)San Jose
(4) St. Louis v. (5)Los Angeles
 
Merrith

Merrith

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Kill who do you have for Boston v. Toronto?

Btw come to find out that reason Caps/Rags have to wait until Thursday to start their series (and why later on Games 5, 6, and 7 would be over only 4 days) is partially because of a damn Taylor Swift tour. First Yani during the Pens series in '09, now this.
 
Araysar

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Merrith_sl said:
Kill who do you have for Boston v. Toronto?

Btw come to find out that reason Caps/Rags have to wait until Thursday to start their series (and why later on Games 5, 6, and 7 would be over only 4 days) is partially because of a damn Taylor Swift tour. First Yani during the Pens series in '09, now this.
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To be fair, no one expected the Caps to make it to the playoffs, hence the scheduling.
 
Merrith

Merrith

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Araysar_sl said:
To be fair, no one expected the Caps to make it to the playoffs, hence the scheduling.
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Maybe a month into the season, but I think most people had us picked to be in the playoffs before the season started. They just figured Carolina or Tampa might be there too. I think the real culprit here is Leonsis knowing the Wizards weren't going anywhere so he booked Verizon Center as much as possible. Knicks being decent doesn't help from the NY end either.
 
Killswitch

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Merrith_sl said:
Kill who do you have for Boston v. Toronto?

Btw come to find out that reason Caps/Rags have to wait until Thursday to start their series (and why later on Games 5, 6, and 7 would be over only 4 days) is partially because of a damn Taylor Swift tour. First Yani during the Pens series in '09, now this.
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Sorry thought I had that in Bold corrected it now. Boston is my second favorite team so easy choice for that one. I fucking despise Vancouver and will never will pick them to win anything.
 
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