Hairyducked Idiot

San Jose has gotten away with murder, but the one penalty that was called was pretty iffy imo.

I just keep telling myself not to get my hopes up. I'm not doing a very good job of it, though.

The thing about playing with house money is that you still need to keep winning in order to finish ahead.

Getting pucks high means fewer rebounds and a more difficult time hitting the net. Go for it, Sharks.

Best Game Day Thread post evar: http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=777515

Is that based on something or just a random percentage? If you assume every Sharks/Hawks game is 50/50, then a 2-0 lead gives them an 81.25% chance to win the series. I think they are 67% to beat either Eastern Conference team. That would give them a 54% chance of winning the Cup.

Win tonight and I think you have to say there is at least a 51% chance this season ends with the Cup.

I hate the whole "we're young we'll be back" stuff. They might be back, they might not. *Right now* they are up 1-0 in the conference finals as one of the top 2 teams in the league and a very mediocre team will be coming out of the East. You don't get many opportunities like that. But hockey is a sport where you can be elite for a long time and get a lot of late-season shots. No reason to think this team can't be similar to Colorado or Detroit from last decade. Why do you hate it? It's not like people are conceding defeat or acting as though they won't care if the Blackhawks win. It's just silly to contend that it's now or never for the Blackhawks. They are in a great position and it would be a shame to miss out on it, but there's no reason to scoff at their hopes for continued future success. I'm not saying they shouldn't hope. I'm saying it's hard to get this far and being young and good are no guarantees. Then again, I'm having trouble thinking of a comparable team in recent hockey history that didn't ever get past the conference finals. Maybe the 1990s Blues, but they were frequent chokers and this year's Blackhawks have been winning in the playoffs from day one.

I hate the whole "we're young we'll be back" stuff. They might be back, they might not. *Right now* they are up 1-0 in the conference finals as one of the top 2 teams in the league and a very mediocre team will be coming out of the East. You don't get many opportunities like that. But hockey is a sport where you can be elite for a long time and get a lot of late-season shots. No reason to think this team can't be similar to Colorado or Detroit from last decade.

Yeah, I meant to double-check all those. Versteeg was acquired for some nobody forward.

If not for the HUGE overpay on Huet, or Campbell, or having to overpay for some guys after the RFA/UFA debacle, they'd be in better shape. That part is really frustrating. I'm beginning to think you just never, ever, ever pay for goaltending in the NHL. They are like relief pitchers: Whether luck or streakiness, they just aren't consistent enough to make me feel like the 10th best goalie is any different from the 35th best goalie.

Well, I definitely want them to win it this year. But I don't think they'll be going anywhere. Worst case scenario, they lose two key pieces like Byfuglien and Versteeg. You've still got 5 of your 6 best forwards (Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Bolland) and your entire defense. And you've got a couple of NHL-ready prospects ready to step in. This is the same organization that got Versteeg in the fifth round, Byfuglien in the 8th round, Brouwer in the 7th round, Burish in the 9th round. They'll just keep churning out NHL-ready players because the front office is second-to-none right now.

It's the NFL. By week 7 all that matters will be how healthy you are.

I am not against trading Sharp, but that scenerio would be the last resort to me. I understand the Hawks two important FA to re-sign, Hammer and Niemi, and I hope the Hawks can move enough salary to re-sign both. I think we will see the Hawks pick up alot of draft picks this offseason. It's not just resigning those guys, it's being able to field a team at all. Right now, the Blackhawks have 15 guys under contract for next season: Hossa, Sharp, Kane, Byfuglien, Versteeg, Sharp, Toews, Bolland, Kopecky, Brouwer, Campbell, Seabrook, Sopel, Keith, Huet. Those 15 guys combined put them right at the cap for next season. So you have to clear about $4 million in space just to be able to fill out a roster with 6 or 7 more league minimum guys. If you want to think about keeping guys like Hjarlmarsson, Ladd or Niemi, you have to clear even more. Now, I don't think those guys will be *that* expensive, because teams in the NHL are very reluctant to commit money to RFAs, so I don't think you'll be forced to match any big offer sheets. They'll try as hard as they can to move Huet and Sopel, but I don't see how they can do it, so I think both of those guys are likely to be bought out and that should get you enough space to *just* squeeze in under the cap. (If Wirtz is willing to pay for it, you can waive Huet and keep him down in Rockford where he is still getting paid but doesn't count against the cap. The problems with this are that it doesn't make you look real good with players around the league, and you still might be running afoul of the infamous "tagging" rule that came up when we tried to sign all our guys to extensions this offseason. Tagging rule says you can't be over the next season's cap either.)

Trying way too hard. "I have this kinda cool idea and I'm going to shoehorn it into a bad sentence no matter what!"

Even I had to think about it for a second. If it meant the Blackhawks would win Game 2 against the Sharks, I would go back in time and make sure Deloris Peoples falls in love with someone else, Back to the Future style, thus erasing Michael Jordan from history.

You know he was planning that one all along.

He's signed for $750,000 for next season, but that doesn't count against the cap unless he's on the team.

I'd really hate to lose Sharp, but he's probably the one of the tradeables that you can definitely get a good return for.

I outlined them earlier in the thread but goofed up because I was counting guys like Kane and Toews at this year's cap numbers and not next year's. They are more or less at next year's cap right now with seven or eight guys to resign. Sopel and Huet are goners, and probably one of either Versteeg, Sharp or Byfuglien (I'd prefer to move Byfuglien, but we'll see what the offers are).

You can buyout a player by giving him 2/3rds of the remaining money on his contract. That money counts against your cap space, spread out over twice as many years as he would have had on his contract if you hadn't bought him out. For example, Huet has two years left at about $5.625 million each. I think it's very likely they will buy him out this offseason (they'll try to trade him first, but the end of the season killed any chance of that). So they'll take the $11.25 million he's due and get a 33% discount, so they pay him $7.5 million. That $7.5 million will count against the cap spread out over four years, at $1.75 million per season.

I remember when the Blackhawks signed Niemi that a couple of fans who fancy themselves scouts were superexcited over on the Chicago Blackhawks official web site boards. I dismissed them (same as I did when they said Toews was more exciting to them than Kane).

Toews now has 21 points in the playoffs. The team record in a playoff season is 29 by Savvy in 1985. He's also got 15 assists, 5 short of Savvy's team record of 20, again in 1985.

That's about right. The Blackhawks weren't completely dominated in the first, but San Jose definitely had an advantage, especially with three power plays to none. The second period I thought the Blackhawks had an advantage and they really dominated most of the third. Niemi was unbelievable, but Blackhawks hit some posts and neither team was particularly good at finishing chances. One of the best games of the year in terms of action and pure skating, both teams moving the puck fluidly.

I really don't think they were outplayed. Both teams had periods of dominance.