NHL Playoff Pool (Make Finals Picks)

[bignick33]

The Nats are intriguing. Mike Rizzo has done a phenomenal job assembling talent and he appears to be batshit crazy as well.

"Cole Hamels says he's old school? He's the polar opposite of old school. He's fake tough," Rizzo said, according to the report. "He thinks he's going to intimidate us after hitting our 19-year-old rookie who's eight games into the big leagues? He doesn't know who he's dealing with.

"He thinks he's sending a message to us of being a tough guy. He's sending the polar opposite message. He says he's being honest, well, I'm being honest. It was a gutless chicken (bleep-bleeping) act," Rizzo added, according to the report. "That was a fake-tough act. No one has ever accused Cole Hamels of being old school."

"This goes beyond rivalry and all that stuff," Rizzo added. "This points to, you take the youngest guy in baseball. He's never done a thing. And then Hamels patted himself on the back. Harper's old school. Hitting him on the back, that ain't old school. That's (bleeping) chicken (bleep)."

[Dick Rosenthal]

Exactly. I am praying that at some point he will completely lose it and put a bounty on Cole Hamels like he is Tim McKracken.

[eagle9903]

Man... Fuck the Nationals, Werth's glass wrists, Strasburg's elbow and Bryce Harper's boundless yet hopefully never to be realized JD Drew-Greg Jeffries potential.

Philadelphia has annexed their shitty stadium and I don't think the Phillies are done yet.

[DuchesneEast]

Giroux suspended

[bignick33]

Man... Fuck the Nationals, Werth's glass wrists, Strasburg's elbow and Bryce Harper's boundless yet hopefully never to be realized JD Drew-Greg Jeffries potential.

Did you attempt to drive to the Walt Whitman in 2007, or did you merely boo in the direction of the framed photo of JD on your wall that you use as a dart board?

[flyingelvii]

Man... Fuck the Nationals, Werth's glass wrists, Strasburg's elbow and Bryce Harper's boundless yet hopefully never to be realized JD Drew-Greg Jeffries potential.

Did you attempt to drive to the Walt Whitman in 2007, or did you merely boo in the direction of the framed photo of JD on your wall that you use as a dart board?

Come on Nick. That's just absurd. Everything about that. Everyone knows Philly fans throw D batteries and not darts.

[bignick33]

Man... Fuck the Nationals, Werth's glass wrists, Strasburg's elbow and Bryce Harper's boundless yet hopefully never to be realized JD Drew-Greg Jeffries potential.

Did you attempt to drive to the Walt Whitman in 2007, or did you merely boo in the direction of the framed photo of JD on your wall that you use as a dart board?

Come on Nick. That's just absurd. Everything about that. Everyone knows Philly fans throw D batteries and not darts.

Oh wait, never mind. Booing never occurs in Philly. Dec. 15, 1968 is a narrative that was wildly overblown by the media.

[eagle9903]

Man... Fuck the Nationals, Werth's glass wrists, Strasburg's elbow and Bryce Harper's boundless yet hopefully never to be realized JD Drew-Greg Jeffries potential.

Did you attempt to drive to the Walt Whitman in 2007, or did you merely boo in the direction of the framed photo of JD on your wall that you use as a dart board?

Come on Nick. That's just absurd. Everything about that. Everyone knows Philly fans throw D batteries and not darts.

Oh wait, never mind. Booing never occurs in Philly. Dec. 15, 1968 is a narrative that was wildly overblown by the media.

You have D Batteries and Santa. What are you missing? You just need to hit a few more dumb talking points and you could be one of the guys eepstein jerks it too for his basketball analysis.

[eagle9903]

Unrelated to Nick's attempts to become a more LinkedIn Chris Berman, I really, really, really want to see a Devils Coyotes cup. I mean not see it obviously, because I won't watch that garbage, but it would serve the BigEast of professional sports leagues right.

Fuck the NHL.

[bchockey04]

I actually don't mind the Devils this year. Between Kovalchuk and Parise they're fun to watch...plus they have Gionta playing regularly and Harrold as their 7th D. Plus I think the NHL would love the Marty making one last run at the cup.

Of all the teams left...i'm sure the NHL is praying for Kings vs. Caps/Rangers

[bignick33]

I want to see Kings vs. Flyers.

[eagle9903]

I actually don't mind the Devils this year. Between Kovalchuk and Parise they're fun to watch...plus they have Gionta playing regularly and Harrold as their 7th D. Plus I think the NHL would love the Marty making one last run at the cup.

Of all the teams left...i'm sure the NHL is praying for Kings vs. Caps/Rangers

I think Parise is great. I actually like him as well. Kovie is skilled but I don't think he's remotely interesting to watch. The rest of the team is the real problem, its like 3 4th lines(which are kicking the shit out of my team) gum up neutral zone, catch puck in corner, wait, wait, wait. I agree the NHL probably thinks brodeur is a nice story(Even though he cheated on his wife with his sister-in-law), but 99% of the world wouldn't know who he was without his jersey and unless you are Ron Hextall, goalies are not that interesting. Also Newark.

Yotes-Devils could lead to immediate major contraction.

[bignick33]

Unrelated to Nick's attempts to become a more LinkedIn Chris Berman, I really, really, really want to see a Devils Coyotes cup. I mean not see it obviously, because I won't watch that garbage, but it would serve the BigEast of professional sports leagues right.

Fuck the NHL.

I figure you realize that your vigorous defense of this sort of confirms my original observation.

[flyingelvii]

I want to see Kings vs. Flyers.

This would not only be the most interesting series hockey wise but the storylines are wonderful. Who on the Flyers would pull a Lapierre and throw a stick of snow up to Richards' nose.

[bchockey04]

Un f*cking believable. Literally the only place that puck can go and go in...and it goes right there. Rangers win this on the power play in OT. No doubt.

[flyingelvii]

The refs hate the Rangers so much they let Hagelin get cleaned up and don't kick the center out for delaying the faceoff.

[bignick33]

Un f*cking believable. Literally the only place that puck can go and go in...and it goes right there. Rangers win this on the power play in OT. No doubt.

The Rags' PP is bad. I'm rooting for about 6 OTs here.

[flyingelvii]

Un f*cking believable. Literally the only place that puck can go and go in...and it goes right there. Rangers win this on the power play in OT. No doubt.

The Rags' PP is bad. I'm rooting for about 6 OTs here.

I've been rooting for al Qaeda all series but they're coming up like the pre-2012 Caps this year.

[bignick33]

Un f*cking believable. Literally the only place that puck can go and go in...and it goes right there. Rangers win this on the power play in OT. No doubt.

The Rags' PP is bad. I'm rooting for about 6 OTs here.

I've been rooting for al Qaeda all series but they're coming up like the pre-2012 Caps this year.

Well, at least bchockey04 is good at predicting stuff

[bchockey04]

Sigh. Hagelin, Richards, Gaborik line dominated all game..could see it coming. Being a caps fan is like being a BC football fan sadly.

[claver2010]

Un f*cking believable. Literally the only place that puck can go and go in...and it goes right there. Rangers win this on the power play in OT. No doubt.

The Rags' PP is bad. I'm rooting for about 6 OTs here.

[Dick Rosenthal]

The refs hate the Rangers so much they let Hagelin get cleaned up and don't kick the center out for delaying the faceoff.

Go douche yourself. Your Vuhgyna is obviously yeasty. Here are the facts--being echoed on the CBC--the Caps are getting away with playing with one arm off the stick the entire time in the corners. I think PJ Stock just said "I thought the refs we're supposed to call interference on those plays. If I am the Rangers I am all over the League Office tomorrow."

As for the delay, yeah it shouldn't have happened but that is a generally minor oversight. Letting team go back to playing late 90s hockey without any reprecussions is a bigger glaring problem.

Other observations--Lundqvist has a suspect catching glove right now. That is a big problem. If the voting included the playoffs, Quick would be the Vezina winner. As it is, the Caps can honestly be more comfortable with Holtby right now as weird as it is to say about a guy whose name means "Varlamov" in Canadian.

Also, how many N-bombs were dropped at OJ's house after the tying goal and the winning goal. Poor Joel Ward may get home tonight to find a cross burning on his lawn.

[Dick Rosenthal]

By the way, I am now watching the hostage video that is masquerading as the Caps postgame show. I think Alan May is drunk and Joe Benninati can't stop crying. It is pure gold.

[flyingelvii]

I fail to see what other calls and other incompetences of the refs have to do with them failing to perform the most basic and innocuous of tasks, such as kick out the center when one of the linemates is late to getting in position for the faceoff. I fail to see anything remotely controversial with that seeing as how Hagelin was a solid 5-10 seconds late to the dot with everyone else already in position because his soft skin was busy getting toweled off. Not saying it would've definitively made a difference but not having your ideal faceoff guy in there for whatever they were trying to set up is pretty big.

But the whole "The NHL is against us!!!!" narrative is especially bemusing given the remaining markets left in the playoffs assuming those Santa haters down in Philly don't come back (happy now 9903 or are you going to cheer me like you did a paralyzed Michael Irvin?).

Edit: Tge book on Lundqvist has always been go high do no surprise there. Though I was confused as to why MSG was doing MVP chants for a game in which Jonathan Quick wasn't playing.

[bchockey04]

By the way, I am now watching the hostage video that is masquerading as the Caps postgame show. I think Alan May is drunk and Joe Benninati can't stop crying. It is pure gold.

Blah blah blah. Please tell me how 99.5% of caps fans don't know anything about the team again. That turned out well for you last time.

[commavegarage]

there are some fantastic sour grapes in this thread

[claver2010]

I fail to see what other calls and other incompetences of the refs have to do with them failing to perform the most basic and innocuous of tasks, such as kick out the center when one of the linemates is late to getting in position for the faceoff. I fail to see anything remotely controversial with that seeing as how Hagelin was a solid 5-10 seconds late to the dot with everyone else already in position because his soft skin was busy getting toweled off. Not saying it would've definitively made a difference but not having your ideal faceoff guy in there for whatever they were trying to set up is pretty big.

But the whole "The NHL is against us!!!!" narrative is especially bemusing given the remaining markets left in the playoffs assuming those Santa haters down in Philly don't come back (happy now 9903 or are you going to cheer me like you did a paralyzed Michael Irvin?).

Edit: Tge book on Lundqvist has always been go high do no surprise there. Though I was confused as to why MSG was doing MVP chants for a game in which Jonathan Quick wasn't playing.

Edited 3 times, wow

[eagle9903]

I fail to see what other calls and other incompetences of the refs have to do with them failing to perform the most basic and innocuous of tasks, such as kick out the center when one of the linemates is late to getting in position for the faceoff. I fail to see anything remotely controversial with that seeing as how Hagelin was a solid 5-10 seconds late to the dot with everyone else already in position because his soft skin was busy getting toweled off. Not saying it would've definitively made a difference but not having your ideal faceoff guy in there for whatever they were trying to set up is pretty big.

But the whole "The NHL is against us!!!!" narrative is especially bemusing given the remaining markets left in the playoffs assuming those Santa haters down in Philly don't come back (happy now 9903 or are you going to cheer me like you did a paralyzed Michael Irvin?).

Edit: Tge book on Lundqvist has always been go high do no surprise there. Though I was confused as to why MSG was doing MVP chants for a game in which Jonathan Quick wasn't playing.

are you paralyzed?

[DavidGordonsFoot]

it's good to know there's still a place on EO to find even after the events of yesterday.

carry on, hockey weird0s.

[bignick33]

Phoenix in 5