NHL 2017-18 Season Thread
 

Let's GO BLUES!!!

Fully expect the cap strapped Caps to miss the playoffs and hopefully break up the band of 2nd round losers finally.

Time for the Jets to push their way up the Central a couple notches. If this team isn't sitting in a playoff position by December 1 there needs to be a wholesale change of the coaching staff. Not just Paul Maurice, but almost as importantly (or maybe more) Charlie Huddy and Wade Flaherty as well.

No offense, but I hope they lose every game.

I miss the Thrashers.

Not the start you envisioned, I'm guessing.

Go Flyers! Maybe one of their free agent scratch off goaltending lotto tickets will finally pay off.

They scored two goals, so a bunch of people probably got extensions.

Sucks when you can't get a consistent number 1 between the pipes. Steve Mason is awful.

Looks like you might get your wish! :eek:

Well they played like gangbusters for the first 10-15 minutes, so it kind of was the right start. They all absolutely fell apart after not scoring on all those penalties and then the Leafs immediately making the most of their first one.

It's one game, but almost all the areas of concern going in showed up in spades (dumb penalties, bad goaltending, awful d-zone coverage, poor special teams). Not encouraging.

I was born into being a Red Wings fan but given that we left Detroit when i was in 1st grade, I never saw Wings game until they came down to play Atlanta in what I think was the Thrashers 2nd regular season home game in the inaugural season. I never had anywhere near the cash necessary to buy season tickets, but I went to at least 5 games a year and miss the live experience of the NHL.

The franchise was cursed with bad ownership, the Dany Heatley car accident, and poor planning for when games started due to traffic, but I still miss them, even if they never did win a single playoff game (I think Winnipeg has kept that going at least).

I'm glad you got a team back. Just wish it wasn't ours.

Poor, Jiri Hudler. I hope he gets things straightened out.

As for the Wings... They aren't likely to be contenders for a long time. It sucks. I'm in a funk. A Blue Streak. I don't like it. I am very down on the Red Wings, the organization, and their management staff. I hate this. I have never been this down on the Wings EVER.

I really did not like their draft at all, though I will admit that Rasmussen, their first round pick, did look really good during the pre-season. He's back in juniors now, where he belongs, but he might turn into something.

I have zero faith that Holland can actually make an impactful hockey deal. When was the last actual trade Holland pulled off that had an impact? The 2008 trade for Brad Stuart? I don't know if I'd count the Legwand, Cole, or Zidlicky deals as really having an impact. Even the Hossa signing wasn't his idea. Hossa's agent called him and raises the possibility.

Holland's press conferences are painful. They are Lionesque in their mix of haplessness and arrogance. He has come out and said "trades are hard" and "less is more" and that "there are no more dynasties in the NHL" (despite the fact that three teams have won 7 of the last 8 Cups). His cap management is awful. How can a team this bad have NEGATIVE cap space? They don't even have enough cap space to sign Athanasiou, who remains the only RFA unsigned.

Almost every contract on this team is a bad one. He had a chance to try to do something to help with this during the expansion draft. Other teams did. It was painful, but they did it. Holland? Nope. Trades are hard after all.

Then there is the new arena. Put aside all of the tax payer money and how it's all about filling the Illitch's coffers, but it's a garish thing. Thee is a giant Little Caesars pizza guy on the roof of the building. It's massive and dumb looking and will show up in ever aerial shot ever. The font on the building is the actual Little Caesars Pizza Font. There is going to be a Kid Rock restaurant in the arena. Ticket prices have increased big time. It's all garbage.

I have no faith in Chris Illitch as an owner. No faith in Holland anymore. His track record over 7-8 years is abysmal.

All that being said, I'll be watching the Wings tonight and will hope for the best.

This

Devils likely to be hot garbage. NHL new playoff structure still sucks. Always happy when there's a new expansion team to ignore, but wouldn't be surprised if I ended up at a game at their barn sometime, once the novelty wears off.

Also, seeing Devils v. Flames in Calgary in November.

Caps might eek one out against Ottawa but they look as untalented as I thought. On a positive note, Pens barely forced OT last night before losing and are down 5-0 after 1 tonight.

Nice win for the Blues!

On another note the Blackhawks are taking it to the Pens tonight.. wow 8-1 in the 2nd period.

One win closer to playoff disappointment. Liked the fight out of the Caps after being invisible for most of the game.

Now 9-1.. Saad with the hattrick.

10-1 now. I'm not sure the last time I saw the Pens get skunked like this.

That (Blackhawks) game was fun to watch last night!

Hopefully the Schmaltz injury isn't going to be a huge buzzkill today.

I don't understand why they had to play back to back games. I'm not saying that's the reason they got smoked but all that emotion Wednesday night and then had to travel to Chicago.

That's seven goals for Ovi to start the season. The spinning wrist shot to the top corner was vintage Ovi.

The Caps look solid for another strong season and disappointing playoffs.

I'm shocked they look this good right now. They've got 2.5 legit defensemen and a very thin top 6 forward group. I still expect them to not make the playoffs, but 5 of Ovi's 7 goals are from driving the net and getting into the slot between the dots. That's something I haven't seen since probably 2010-11. It's wild to see this transformation even in the regular season (remember last year he was barely top 15 in goals and top 20 in points).

I'm guessing the GM calling him out publicly for being out of shape in the playoffs and finally settling down and getting married has gotten him to be a bit more serious. He came into camp early for the first time ever and was 15 lbs lighter than last year. He's also apparently pissed about the Olympics. With that said, he's still been zero effort in the defensive zone so not everything has changed. I'd still put money on the Caps being sellers and starting the needed rebuild at the trade deadline.

I'm going for the Caps making the playoffs as a lower seed, 6th or 7th. The local sports media will rattle on about "this isnt like the old Caps, there's no pressure or expectations, they can play freely, this is our year!"

Then they get knocked out in the first round and Trotz and MacLellan get fired.

I'll hold the door for Trotz as he goes. I think GMBM is trying to do the right things but the owner is more concerned with sellouts and merchandising than winning it all. If he goes then I expect nothing but another yes man who isn't allowed to make the obvious moves like buying out Orpik, trading players before their value is depleted (rumors abound that Mac wanted to trade Ovi and was told no), and building a team for the playoffs instead of the regular season.

As an outsider I would not be in a hurry to blow up that Caps roster. That is a good team and I still think they can have a couple legit runs for a cup.

They haven't had a legit run for the cup since 1998. They've changed everything except Ovi during this run and had the exact same results. He's been a 0.66 ppg playoff scorer, and a -8, the last 5 postseasons. They're locked into being a good scoring team that wins in the regular season for another 3 years after this season. It's actually more enjoyable to have the cup winning false hopes removed.

Niskanen is the only legit top pairing D on the roster and he's more of the #2 guy. Orlov is still developing while Carlson has taken a couple of big steps backwards the last 2 years. It's so bad that Brooks Orpik is playing in the 2nd pairing again despite being beyond horrible at this point.

They've got 4 top 6 forwards. Even the bottom 6 has a question mark or two.

There's not much in the pipeline other than another 2-3 goalies behind the 2 studs at the NHL level and 3 defensemen that are considered 3rd pairing prospects. All of that is true with a team that is right up against the cap.

Ovi, Oshie, Backstrom, and Kuznetsov have been big positives through the first 3 games, but Vrana and Burakovsky are clearly not good enough yet.

The hope is probably to move either Holtby or Grubauer and get either a top 4 D or top 6 F. The window for moving either Ovi or Backstrom is gone and both will be counting more than $16 million a year against the salary cap through the end of the 2020-21 season.

If they move Holtby they are crazy. Source - a fan of a team that hasn't had a decent goalie in forever.

Still weird that Vegas has a team, but somehow less strange that Arizona having had a team for 20 years.

Holtby has collapsed in the playoffs two years in a row and Grubauer's numbers are nearly as good. I would move Grubauer myself, but we're legitimately 4-5 deep at goalie.

Vegas can't possibly make the playoffs, can they?

This isn't the 1969 NHL, so no.

Before the season I felt that 85 pts was highest goal. Stars game was luck and beating Arizona twice isn't that grand. If they win Friday against the Red Wings, it's still not a major win as the Red Wings are low in most power rankings but it will seem big in name as it's one of the original 6.

Vancouver, Colorado and Arizona are worse than VGK. The question is can they finish above San Jose and LA to make the playoffs and I just don't see it happening. I think only the top 3 in the Pacific make it.

I hate the Jets, but this was pretty cool:

https://deadspin.com/winnipeg-jets-p...ter-1819422683

Sadly Buff took some heat locally for that, with people claiming he should have been focusing on recovery from his injury. Sports fans drive me crazy sometimes.

When you are the Golden Knights there is obviously only one choice for a mascot. Chance the Gila Monster! (makes me think Sand Knights or Desert Knights was given real strong consideration)

Despite the explosion from Ovechkin in the first couple of games, the Caps are last in shots on goal and the paper thin defense is now down to 1.5 legitimate top 4 D until Niskanen can return.

They're not only up against the cap this year, but they've got $59 million tied up next year in 13 players with Eller (3C), Beagle (4C), and Carlson (3D) all UFAs with Wilson (3RW/1RW) and rookie Bowey (5D) as RFAs. That 13 man roster has 4 legit top 6 forwards, 2 top 4 defensement, and 1 goalie. Carlson, despite not being very good in the defensive end and seeing his offense decline, will likely get a huge contract from someone.

Rumors are the new GM had a deal in place to move Ovi in the offseason after resigning Kuznetsov and Oshie but the owner nixed the deal. He also apparently wanted to buy out Orpik before last season. Instead, it now looks like the window is completely shut on this team and the biggest question is whether they dump Trotz early to give another coach a chance or have a firesale at the deadline and change coaches in the offseason.

How's about we trade you Paul Maurice for Trotz? Heck, we'll throw in all of our assistant's, too. Deal? :P

6 of one.

So it seems like the Jets might actually be... good? I'm not sure I even want to put that down in writing for fear of jinxing it, but this is such a departure from any of the teams I've watched since they came back to town 7 years ago. Legitimate goal-tending, elite scoring, depth, reasonable defensive structure, and what appears to be a bit of resiliency when they get down.

Queue the 2-7-1 stretch over the next 10 games...

1/ So, here is what's happening in the KHL, for those who still can't quite grasp the banality of evil, Russian style... The entire league has been set up this year to allow SKA to win. It's Putin's team, this is Putin's election year, it's chock full of OAR Olympians...

— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) March 8, 2018

Click through and read the whole thread. The KHL has been rigged and basically everyone knows it.

Wow that's pretty crazy stuff. Good job, Russia.

Maple Leafs, have I ever told you how much I love you? Because I should have.

Down Goes Brown: Imagining the ideal 2017–18 NHL playoffs - Sportsnet.ca

Jets clinch a playoff spot with a 5-4 shootout win over the Preds. If they can ever get healthy they could make a run. Best hockey team I've ever had the fortune to cheer for.

Wasn't sure where to put this. Sad story, thoughts go out to everyone affected by this.

Bus carrying Humboldt Broncos of Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League involved in fatal collision

Very sad. :(

Super terrible tragedy. Shades of the Swift Current Broncos losing 4 kids to a similar bus accident in the 80's.

Jets and Blackhawks paid tribute in a unique way (in addition to $25000 donations from each club): they played the whole game with all players using BRONCOS as their nameplate.

Tonight we play for the name on our back.

Tonight we play for the Broncos. #PrayersForHumboldt pic.twitter.com/EOeyt6mg8W

— #PrayersForHumboldt (@NHLJets) April 7, 2018

No personal offense, but i hope they get swept out of the playoffs and never make it back.

No personal offense taken, but I hope you are super fuckin' wrong :p

Didn't take long for the Leafs and Bruins to turn into a series with bad blood. I don't really watch regular season hockey, so I don't know if Kadri and Wingels have some history, but it sure looked like Kadri was mad the refs called him for hitting Wingels from behind the first time, so he decided to launch a hip check at a defenseless Wingels (who was on his knees facing the boards) the next time they were on the ice together. Weird, and he'll probably get Game 2 off to think about it.

Should get a lot more than just game 2. That was an insanely bad and stupid hit.

I'm nauseated enough that they're in as it is.

I understand where you guys are coming from, I really do. But I'm still glad we won on Wednesday, and I'm super pumped to be going to the game tonight. Let's make it 2-0!

Jets are going to the second round! I was 10 the last time this happened. The next round against Nashville is going to be phenomenal!

Happy for Winnipeg, it's been a long time for you all. Would be to see a Canadian team vie for a Cup, but one round at a time, I guess.

Devils won't beat Tampa Bay, but I'm just glad to have the post-season drought over with.

Well game five in Nashville went south in a f'n hurry :/

Seth Jones deserved to be a finalist for the Norris Trophy.

I can't say I've seen him play much this year to agree or disagree, but he does seem like he's pretty good.

Also pretty good? That series between Columbus and Washington. I've only seen bits and pieces but it definitely appears to be the best series this round.

Been a long ass time since I've been interested in the NHL but these have been some fun playoffs to watch.

Dunno... Subban being there is a joke based on reputation and playing for a good team (arguably the third or fourth best defenseman on the Preds this year based on stats) but there's a bunch of people I'd take over Jones.

Burns, Karlsson and Hamilton (who got low key screwed, 17 goals and insane advanced stats) are all in front of Jones in the queue, IMO.

If we're talking snubs, Vasilevsky over John Gibson for a Vezina nod is way more egregious. When you look at what Gibson did to drag an aging, injured Ducks team to a playoff spot that one shouldn't have been close.

Quiet thread given:
- a guy licked an opposing player
- an expansion team has advanced to the conference finals
- the Caps have Sid and the Pens on the ropes. Can they finally knock them out?

Both of my kids were out on Saturday night and my wife was not feeling well so she agreed that I should treat myself so I went to the Caps-Pens game on Saturday night. I sat next to a guy in a Penguins jersey, 9 rows behind the Caps bench. The game was spectacular. The place was crazy the entire time. Me and Penguins guy had friendly team banter throughout the game. It was kind of a bucket list item for me.

Now to see if the Caps can actually pull it off this time.

I haven't really watched the NHL in about 20 years but I'm loving these playoffs so far. The stories of Winnipeg and Las Vegas drew me in but the Caps/Pens series has been great on the ice with the added storyline bonus just adding the drama.

It is a bit of a shock to the system to not have Stl, Chi, Edm, Det, NY, NY, Cal, in the playoffs though, and all these southern teams still feel weird to me, but at least for now I'm enjoying things.

This is how we know you aren't exaggerating. :D

I love watching Winnipeg play. I've never seen a team take it to Nashville in Nashville like they have been able to do.

Disgusting.

Hopefully their employers will read this and fire them, their relatives will disown them, and their neighbors will shun them.

I'm unfamiliar with this situation. Can someone please explain further?

Good riddance, Pittsburgh. Caps haven't won enough for me to care about them. And Tampa doesn't need another Cup. Though LOL at a Vegas-Washington or Caps-Winnipeg SCF.

LOL. If anyone cared about hockey that much to get worked up about him down there, the team might still be playing in Atlanta.

Haha, have they been that bad?

Thank god the penguins lost. Every hockey game chokes the city for uber and it's nearly impossible to do pickups at the arena.

Well I guess Vegas will finish above San Jose and LA after all and easily top my 85 point goal.

Was at game 5 Friday and the place was electric. Can't believe I have to look at game 3 or 4 tickets in late May.

As a Pens fan, I want to say congrats to the Caps fans and their hard fought earned victory. You guys were clearly the better team for stretches that mattered the most. Good luck moving forward.

Go Vegas

Congratulations to Winnipeg!!! To beat Nashville in a Game 7 in Nashville is quite a feat! Should be another great series against Vegas!

Fucking bad Pekka couldn't beat a bunch of pee wees. Good Pekka gooood, bad Pekka is like having Stevie Fn Wonder between the pipes.

Hopefully Nashville will take the approach that Pittsburgh promised after their loss.

For now, it's #LetsGoKnights

Jets are in the WCF. I can't even believe this is real. So much love for this team.

Thank you Golden Knights.

Unbelievable season. Kills me as a Blues fan, seeing an expansion team win the WC, but damn have they earned it!!!

RIP my wallet having to buy tickets and RIP my job as I'm getting bombarded by vendors...

But it's so nice...

Someone got paid off for this to be able to happen. Total joke that an expansion team can even sniff the post season, let alone this.

It really just outlines how totally shit at their job most GM's are. They will fix it next time around and Seattle will get screwed, but NHL GM's in general are just the most laissez-faire, reactionary group in all of pro sports. Even a guy like Jim Rutherford who has put together back to back Stanley Cup champions just gave a big shrug and gave up his all-star level goalie for nothing. Dale Tallon is highly regarded (or was) and decided giving Vegas a first line forward wasn't enough so he decided to send another one for free. Stick tap to my Ducks GM who got himself into such a mess with NMC's that he traded away a top defensive prospect, and then moved the guy he traded away Theodore to protect for very little halfway through the season anyway.

That shouldn't belittle the job that Gallant and McPhee did, to take this opportunity to start from nothing and get ahead of the way the league was going (speed and skill over size and grit), but in general they couldn't have got there without some very generous front offices around the league.

This.

There were people lining up around the block trying to give Vegas something in order to protect some X,Y, or Z player that may or may not have ended up mattering to them.

It also calls into question, fairly IMO, the ability of a lot of GMs / HCs around the league considering that Vegas basically just did an empty cupboard misfit toys franchise ... and got to the finals in year one.

Yeah because the 3 day training camp they had made it obvious that they could win the Pacific division. Both players who scored today weren't on the opening day lines. GMs worried more about dumping contracts on Vegas for a team that was picked dead ass last after the expansion draft. Also this notion of the best 9 to 11 kept is sort of bullshit as any player with less than 2 years experience was protected also so teams kept more than 9 players out of the draft. So this roster is a bunch of 12th best players at best from 2016.

The gift of Fleury was a guy who's save percentage was 90.9% last season while giving up 3+ goals a game. The Penguins were glad to give up a 2nd to get rid of his contract. They kept a younger goalie and gave up an aging one who had his worst career year in 10+ seasons. He ends up with his best career year at the age of 33 with no all-stars on the D-line in front of him (which most noted Vegas fucked up by taking 12 D in the draft). Many haven't noticed that he only started 46 games this year.

Anaheim wanted to get rid of Stoner's contract so bad that they added Theodore who had 1 year left on his deal. They were loaded at defense and but protecting Manson backfired. Also a note that Shea didn't make the roster until Halloween I think.

Tallon... Gallard firing was the first bad move as the Panthers were injured and still above .500 when they fired him. That was his first bad move. Then he panicked because of Smith's contract and felt like he was pulling a great dump of a contract. They could have kept both guys but kept and extra defensemen. They got rid of a midget off a lucky 30 goal year and out from Smith who looked like He got his contract and was living off it.

Perron had an expensive contract with 1 year left and also had a career high in 50 assists which was 15 more than any other season. He was never a passer until this year.

3rd line player Eric Haula ended up on our top power play and lead the team in goal and points there. They threw in free agent Alex Tuch (started in AHL this year) who we had to go out and sign so we got lucky here.

And then William Karlsson. 18 career goals in 4 seasons so everyone knew he'd be a 43 goal scorer... (another the Ducks gave up on). They ate 3 years of Clarkson's 16 million left in cap hits to get him. Not sure if I blame Columbus here. He scares me like his name is Brady Anderson in 1996 but we shall see.

Engelland was seen as a realtor pick being from here. He played the 2nd most minutes on the team at 36 years old while having a career year in every stats category and a career low in penalty minutes. You saw that coming too?

Grabovski got 6 million off the Islanders books being on this roster when we could have taken Raata. Stars fans were bragging about dumping Eakin who ended up being a solid piece on the 4th line that has carried us in the playoffs. We got rid of Colorado's starting goalie only to have to pick up Subban with a career GAA of 4.5 I think.

5 players off the draft were traded for picks after the draft and we lost 3 players to free agency. So 22 of the picks remained out of the original 30. The 3rd/4th and 5th string goalies started 17 games while Subban started 19 and they still won the Pacific.

(I may seem bitter here but I've had to defend them all year). The one that gets me is that VGK fans haven't suffered enough yet (according to the hockey world) but last I checked Vegas hasn't had a pro team in the last 112 years so I think we've suffered enough for a US city that has been over a million people for long enough. He Hate Me. That's our professional sports history until this year.

Being a Blues fan.. it's also nice to see a team like Vegas actually want to go out and play hockey.. whatever it takes, so to speak. Our effort was pathetic most of the 2nd half of the season and definitely at the end when we needed 1 measly point.


I hope Vegas keeps it going right up to hoisting the Stanley Cup.

I'm not sure where you got that I was attacking Vegas, I thought I specifically went out of my way to suggest that Gallant and McPhee deserve a shit ton of credit. And your point about everyone thinking they were terrible after the draft is absolutely true, myself included. I thought they'd win 20 games with that defense heavy roster they'd built and thought it was hilarious that they couldn't move any of them and it looked like their gamble would backfire.

The point is that Vegas did build a far better roster than every other expansion teams (remember the hilarity of those mid 90's Senators and Lightning teams) and it's mostly down to NHL GM's since 2005 being the most conservative and timid people in the world of sports. The expansion draft rules were more favorable to Vegas than in the past but still, with a bit of forward planning and creative trading, there really shouldn't have been the quality of player that they got. As we talked about lol Panthers, but with the consistent state of 5 NHL teams every year needing goaltending you don't think the Penguins could have got a second and a prospect for Fleury? You don't think somebody would have given something half decent up for Neal?

Back in the summer of 1988 when my family and I moved from Dallas back to Detroit, we lived in Gerard Gallant's house for the summer. Gallant and his family spent the summer in Canada and we couldn't move into our new house until later in the summer.

It was a nice enough house. They had a nice, large white sectional sofa. I fell asleep on it once and drooled a bit and left a stain. I always worried about that stain.

So, that's my connection to the Vegas squad.

I think your info on the Pens and your scenario is a bit wrong/ off so ill add some context that might help with the confusion on why Flower was there for Vegas to even take.

The Pens took calls on Fleury, however, in going for cup number 2 in a row, they decided on keeping him rather than trading him at the deadline. It was a good call because he started/played in some key games with Matt Murrary being injured at the beginning of the playoffs last year.

Everybody knew that the Pens couldn't afford a 5 million dollar back up goal tender, especially one that just had his worst year ever in the league with a younger just as seemingly capable guy already on the roster in Murrary. Fleury was only there for Vegas to take because 1. The Pens went for the cup, and 2. they needed to be able to pay other guys, and couldn't do that with Fleury's salary.

Could they have gotten more from someone at the deadline last season? Of course they could have, but the Pens might have not added a 2nd cup if they did.

So your assessment of Rutherford is the exact opposite of what it more than likely should be. He made a shrewd call and played for the title instead of the future and was rewarded with a 2nd cup in a row AND was still able to dump the 5 mil to pay guys this year. It didn't work out for title 3, but it was a good attempt in my mind. The forward planning and trading that you suggest should have happened didn't because Rutherford said no thank you to those offers. Other GM's weren't inept here at least as far as Rutherford, Fleury and the Pens were concerned.

Hence I put in the last part as after typing I felt I aimed it at you when it's just a daily conversation with my job that got typed out here (had to do it 3 times today too). I forgot to add the obvious of it's easier to expand with 1 team than 2 so we had no one to fight with the CAD being in the toilet and Seattle with their SODO project hanging by their mayors stupidity.

There is no way anything would have been done for Neal except for rental purposes. He's made it known he wants 5 years and he's not worth that.

Pretty sure Fleury had the no trade option and the VGK coaching staff went to him pre-draft and told him all the things they saw wrong in his game last year and they would fix. When they took him on, most figured it was a locker room presence but he's obviously meant so much more helping the younger players while he was out two months with a concussion. (another reason the Pens got rid of him probably as he's had 3 or 4 good concussions).

Holy shit... This does not count every pool party around town but...

Yesterday's @GoldenKnights @NHLJets Game 5 on NBC also generated a 36 share in Las Vegas, meaning that more than 1 in every 3 TV sets in use in the city during the game were watching it

Is hotel PPV porn included in that tally?

Golden showers not counted.

This is officially my favorite hockey-related story ever. Thanks for sharing it. :)

That's the other 2/3. :)

You only watch that for 2 minutes before changing to the hockey,

You've got me beat. All I got is that one of his brothers was my kid's P.E. teacher in middle school.

My son and I had the great pleasure of watching game 2 of the Golden Knights-Jets matchup live at Caesar's sportsbook (VGK won 3-1). We have become fans of VGK and it was great to share in joy of victory locally.

It appeared to us that hockey in Las Vegas is another top-ranked show on the Strip and a highly entertaining one at that, so people (locals and tourists) come out. I think it will be true of the Raiders as well.

Crazy game 7 going on right now.

Go Caps!

Either the Caps win or Vegas pulls the incredible season long upset. I'll be happy either way.

Just recovering from that WCF myself, but congrats to both the Caps and Knights. I'd love to see Ovi finally get the cup that Sid has blocked him from so many times. Should be a good series either way.