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Around The League - 2025 Playoffs

Sal_Butera said:
Oilers run & gun players also seem to have bought into Knoblauch’s messaging of sacrificing offensive production for making the right situational play
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Definitely.

Consider their thoroughly mediocre goaltending and their mediocre blue line without Ekholm and yet their team defense right now is tighter than a virgin's honeypot. Stuart Fucking Skinner has just pitched two consecutive shutouts. The Same Skinner who lost his job to Calvin Pickard, the same Skinner who got yanked 4 times in last year's playoffs.

I said it last spring and it's still true now. If the Oilers get any kind of halfway competent goaltending and defense it won't be close. They will beat any team out there. McDavid and Draisaitl aren't choking dogs like Matthews and Marner. When the camera shows them on the bench they look focused, angry, and mean. When they show Marner and Matthews they look defeated, worn out, and totally spent.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
Trust me. Even I can no longer summon much hate for the Leafs anymore. They're on the brink of being pitied more than hated now. I used to hate watch their games and now I can barely be bothered checking the scores of their games. I watched the last half of last night's game while I was having dinner and waiting for the Oilers game to start. It was fun but how many different ways are there to tell Leafs fan that their team sucks before it gets boring for me as well as for them?

I haven't reached that point with the Cowboys, thankfully. But the Leafs? I am having trouble caring what happens to them anymore.
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Yet your TL always has cowboy hatred, and memes etc. Good to know there won't be next season.
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
And you claimed Oilers had no shot with Skinhead, you were wrong again
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This, so far, is not last season's (or even this regular season's) Skinner.

I picked them to lose to LA, I picked them to lose to Vegas and unless the Jets pull off a miracle I'm picking them to lose to Dallas. What is happening here should not be happening but it is.

I just sense that at some point, Skinner is going to revert to the mean and the Stanley Cup bandwagon is going to turn back into a pumpkin. But one thing is certain and that is that people need to stop pretending that Matthews and Marner are comparable in any way to McDavid and Draisaitl because they are not the same. Win or lose no one who follows the Oilers ever hangs or needs to hang the blame for a playoff loss on 97 or 29 for failing to show up. But 34 and 16 are nearly always the ones to blame when the Leafs blow it.
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
The mute and delete buttons are my favourite.

And don't lie re the Leafs, you were shitting yourself when they were up 2-0
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5 or 6 years ago maybe, but not now. I've seen this movie too many times before. The Leafs ALWAYS blow it. I'm at the point now where they can go up in a series and I'm not the least bit nervous because I know they will find a way to squander it. It's self-parody now.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
5 or 6 years ago maybe, but not now. I've seen this movie too many times before. The Leafs ALWAYS blow it. I'm at the point now where they can go up in a series and I'm not the least bit nervous because I know they will find a way to squander it. It's self-parody now.
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Did you write Missing You by John Waite. "I can lie to myself"

You will be banned by 2230 ET tomorrow should Florida win.
 
One would assume so but sports are weird that way. 1994 defending cup champs won game 5 on road, lost game 6 at home and game 7.

I had Leafs out in 2nd rd to Tampa in my pool so I correctly predicted a demise but they could man up if Stolarz returns.
 
I feel bad for Leafs' fans. Not sure how they rebound from this. Marner and JT will be gone this summer, I don't see them returning at this point, this will give the Leafs some cap space to play with and make core changes. But Matthews... yikes. That's a big problem.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
This, so far, is not last season's (or even this regular season's) Skinner.

I picked them to lose to LA, I picked them to lose to Vegas and unless the Jets pull off a miracle I'm picking them to lose to Dallas. What is happening here should not be happening but it is.

I just sense that at some point, Skinner is going to revert to the mean and the Stanley Cup bandwagon is going to turn back into a pumpkin. But one thing is certain and that is that people need to stop pretending that Matthews and Marner are comparable in any way to McDavid and Draisaitl because they are not the same. Win or lose no one who follows the Oilers ever hangs or needs to hang the blame for a playoff loss on 97 or 29 for failing to show up. But 34 and 16 are nearly always the ones to blame when the Leafs blow it.
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Yeah, Skinner could be the key as to how the Oilers season will end. Credit to him the last two games, but you just know he will go through another horrible stretch before much time passes. If the unlikely happens, and he plays really well to the end, the Cup is theirs. If not, they may still have a shot, but it becomes more difficult, like last year.
 
GrandWazoo said:
I feel bad for Leafs' fans. Not sure how they rebound from this. Marner and JT will be gone this summer, I don't see them returning at this point, this will give the Leafs some cap space to play with and make core changes. But Matthews... yikes. That's a big problem.
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Matthews is likely injured but even with that, the fucker has 0 goals in 10 2nd round playoff games in his career
 
east coast said:
Yeah, Skinner could be the key as to how the Oilers season will end. Credit to him the last two games, but you just know he will go through another horrible stretch before much time passes. If the unlikely happens, and he plays really well to the end, the Cup is theirs. If not, they may still have a shot, but it becomes more difficult, like last year.
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the vaunted Vegas defence shit its pants every time 97 touched the puck

I get he is the most skilled player (and maybe the fastest with the puck of all time) but christ, you can't live in fear of him.

That is why Guhle is relatively successful against 97, he isn't afraid of him
 
Sal_Butera said:
Make Beliefs are where Blow Jays were in 1990 as perennial “needing to take the next step” - until Pat Gillick made a landscape changing deal acquiring Alomar + Joe Carter for Fernandez + McGriff

May require dealing Matthews in such a mega deal….

Hughes bros (Jack + Luke) for Matthews?

Two teams, both needing seismic shakeup…
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I was one that hated that trade at first but soon changed my mind.. what a year 1993 was, Habs won the Cup and Blue Jays won the World Series..
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
Elite players elevate in games that matter. Frauds like Matthews and Marner do not.

View: https://x.com/travisyost/status/1923023221009285231
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That’s close to impossible to do w a sizeeable data set. it’s like saying give it 150% when it’s impossible to give more than 100%.

What top end performers do, however, is MAINTAIN their consistent level of median performance in season & playoffs - which both McJesus & Draisatil do vs Matthews

Matthews drops 40% in production, from being a 50G+ regular season scorer to a 30G playoff rate
 
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legoalie said:
I was one that hated that trade at first but soon changed my mind.. what a year 1993 was, Habs won the Cup and Blue Jays won the World Series..
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I hate the Jays. Both those autumn's were ruined for me. Then in 94 it was ruined again by the work stoppage that fucked the Expos out of a championship.
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
the vaunted Vegas defence shit its pants every time 97 touched the puck

I get he is the most skilled player (and maybe the fastest with the puck of all time) but christ, you can't live in fear of him.

That is why Guhle is relatively successful against 97, he isn't afraid of him
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Guhle has never faced him in the playoffs. McDavid is a different animal entirely in the playoffs.
 
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