Mëds wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 12:03 am
Strangelove wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 3:38 pm
Hockey Widow wrote: ↑Tue Jun 01, 2021 1:51 pm
Honestly, had Tavares not been hurt I think the leaves win the series. His loss was a big blow and they don't have the depth to overcome that loss. In close games, that all the games were, he would have made the difference as you have to believe he would have scored a goal here and there.
Sure, but that's one of the flaws of paying your 4 top forwards $40.5M.
If one of them goes down you're not going to have the depth to cover dat dere.
Maybe...
maybe... they could have beaten Price and the Habs if Jammies didn't go down.
But the Habs are the worst team in the playoffs... and hey we'll never know.
The Leaves are a poorly constructed team, hopefully they never fire Dumbass...
I gotta point out that Pittsburgh was still dangerous with just Crosby or Malkin (not so dangerous in the playoffs without Crosby though even though Malkin won the Conn Smythe the one year). Granted the Pens have had their playoff flops too over the years. And they likely don't win the cup without Crosby or Malkin as the drop-off is pretty big after them.
But the drop off isn't as big in Tarrana. Spezza, Thronton, and Kerfoot, are all still serviceable options as middle-6 centers. Hell, Spezza scored at a better than 0.5ppg pace this season getting only 11 minutes TOI.
Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Rust, Sheary, Guentzel, Kunitz, Hagelin, Bonino, Cullen, Hornqvist.
Tavares, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Kerfoot, Galchenyuk, Spezza, Thronton, Hyman, Foligno, Simmond.
The difference is that Crosby makes 3rd line players produce at respectable 2nd line scoring rates (or better), and Malkin is just a beast who creates space with his "young Jagr puck-hog" style and guys like Rust clean up. Matthews doesn't do shit without either Marner or Nylander, and Tavares also doesn't also doesn't elevate his linemates to the same extent.
I'm sorry. There's no excuse.
Spezza was always slow, but now he's as slow as molasses in Nunavut!
He's good in the dot still though and he still has some of his scoring instincts
... if he can get to the net in time.
There are reasons he only receives 4th line icetime.
He did catch fire down the stretch and into the playoffs this year though.
But if you're counting on Spezza to fill in on the "middle-6", you're asking for trouble.
There are reasons he's a minimum NHL wage earner.
Thornton? Yeahno, he's done like dinner at midnight in Nunavut!
Pretty much ALL Leaf fans at HF wanted him the fuck out of the lineup since mid-season.
They were going mad trying to figure out why Keefe kept playing him on PP#2.
(sure he put up a few points early in the season riding with M+M, but YOU would have too)
Slow in every meaning of the word now, and seems disinterested... I say he retires.
Skills have eroded to ECHL levels.
Like Spezza, Thornton should be playing 4th line minutes or serve as a practice dummy.
Kerfoot is better than those two at this point, but he still sucks.
Kerfoot is not offensive enough to be a top sixer and not defensive enough to be a checking centre.
He also sucks at faceoffs... which is partly why he always ends up on the wing.. also he's a little weeny.
Now THIS YEAR, he shocked everyone, myself included, with his performance filling in for Tavares.
He was a man possessed as far as playing the body and going to the net... who was that guy!
But he was worse than ever in the dot and so-so defensively and just okay offensively.
(he grabbed a bunch of assists due to his winger Nylander turning into an offensive dynamo for some reason)
So I disagree with you about those centres, but I agree with everything else in your post.