2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs

[HumanSlinky39]

Watching real hockey teams like the Panthers-Lightning duke it out makes me so mad.

Edited Thursday at 01:18 AM by HumanSlinky39

[HumanSlinky39]

33 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

OV looks like a guy that wants another Cup.  Wilson having a series. Chyckrun looking good too. 
 

Caps pull ahead 3-0. 

They do look good, but I've been impressed with the Habs. They're young and have been a game opponent. As we sit here going backwards, in the last 5 years the Habs have made a surprise run to the Cup Final, tore it down almost to the studs, rebuilt and returned to the playoffs. Their arrow is pointing up. We're going the other way and don't appear too eager to do anything about it.

Edited Thursday at 01:21 AM by HumanSlinky39

[SwampD]

28 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

They do look good, but I've been impressed with the Habs. They're young and have been a game opponent. As we sit here going backwards, in the last 5 years the Habs have made a surprise run to the Cup Final, tore it down almost to the studs, rebuilt and returned to the playoffs. Their arrow is pointing up. We're going the other way and don't appear too eager to do anything about it.

Would have been nice to see the series with Laine in it. Montembeault, as well.

[HumanSlinky39]

12 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Would have been nice to see the series with Laine in it. Montembeault, as well.

Yep. They have a bright future. Nice young core with Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson, Slaf, Demidov and a good compliment of vets like Anderson, Gallagher, Evans, Dvorak, Armia. They understood the assignment.

[Pimlach]

Ref leaning to the Peg.   Lousy call, embellishment on Sunqvist?  

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Yep. They have a bright future. Nice young core with Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson, Slaf, Demidov and a good compliment of vets like Anderson, Gallagher, Evans, Dvorak, Armia. They understood the assignment.

Montreal just had pretty much the same season the Sabres had 2 years ago, with a late surge to 91 points, young veterans having career years, a very promising crop of rookies and some holes to fill.

It will be very interesting where they go from here.

 

Edited Thursday at 03:29 AM by dudacek

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

Montreal just had pretty much the same season the Sabres had 2 years ago, with a late surge to 91 points, young veterans having career years, a very promising crop of rookies and some holes to fill.

It will be very interesting where they go from here.

 

Difference is they also have some toughness and more veteran leadership to go with those kids. Not enough to go further right now but the structure of that team is being built more playoff ready. 

[dudacek]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Difference is they also have some toughness and more veteran leadership to go with those kids. Not enough to go further right now but the structure of that team is being built more playoff ready. 

They’ve got Josh Anderson and Arber Xhekaj, I’ll give you that.

Not really seeing Gallagher and Armia as upgrades on Okposo and Girgensons, or Laine and Dvorak as the type of vets that Sabres team was lacking. Savard’s retiring.

I will say Nick Suzuki looks to be head and shoulders over Dylan Cozens and they are better coached.

Their progress will be determined by how good guys like Slavkovsky, Demidov and Guhle can be, just like the Sabres has been by the progress or lack thereof of guys like Power, Peterka and Quinn

Edited Thursday at 01:47 PM by dudacek

[Archie Lee]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Difference is they also have some toughness and more veteran leadership to go with those kids. Not enough to go further right now but the structure of that team is being built more playoff ready. 

Montreal could easily back-slide in 25-26.  But I agree with you, we didn’t have the collection of vets in important roles that Montreal does. Earlier this year, Montreal’s GM, Hughes, gave an interview where he specifically referenced learning from the mistakes made by Buffalo, Ottawa, and Detroit. It remains to be seen if they have achieved something sustainable, but no question they have passed the Sabres. 

[Archie Lee]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

They’ve got Josh Anderson and Arber Xhekaj, I’ll give you that.

Not really seeing Gallagher and Armia as upgrades on Okposo and Girgensons, or Laine and Dvorak as the type of vets that Sabres team was lacking. Savard’s retiring.

I will say Nick Suzuki looks to be head and shoulders over Dylan Cozens and they are better coached.

Their progress will be determined by how good guys like Slavkovsky, Demidov and Guhle can be, just like the Sabres has been by the progress or lack thereof of guys like Power, Peterka and Quinn

I don’t want to overstate anything. It could just be that Montreal had a similar nice year to what we had in 22-23 and it just happened that this year it was enough to grab WC2. However, I would bet on Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes, and Martin St. Louis as a hockey braintrust over Kevyn Adams and Lindy Ruff. 

[Thorny]

F the jets 

[Archie Lee]

Further to Montreal and where they are in their rebuild. The Habs have no big ticket RFA’s this summer. They have 3 UFAs (Armia, Dvorak, Savard), who they probably let walk. They have $17ish million in real cap space. They have 7 picks in the 1st three RD’s in the coming draft. Montreal has always been an attractive destination for certain NHL players, and perhaps more so now than recently. My bet is that they will not rely on internal growth as a primary off-season strategy. Maybe I’m just a pessimist, but it feels they may be about to pull away from us. 

[SabreFinn]

3 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Further to Montreal and where they are in their rebuild. The Habs have no big ticket RFA’s this summer. They have 3 UFAs (Armia, Dvorak, Savard), who they probably let walk. They have $17ish million in real cap space. They have 7 picks in the 1st three RD’s in the coming draft. Montreal has always been an attractive destination for certain NHL players, and perhaps more so now than recently. My bet is that they will not rely on internal growth as a primary off-season strategy. Maybe I’m just a pessimist, but it feels they may be about to pull away from us. 

They are probably trying to find an upgrade over their second line center. And they need a veteran stay at home RHD to replace Savard. Pretty much the same shopping list as Sabres.

I honestly can't see many possibilities for us to grab a playoff spot next year when thinking of the five playoff teams from Atlantic. We need one helll of a offseason, and one helll of a season.

[dudacek]

18 minutes ago, SabreFinn said:

.

I honestly can't see many possibilities for us to grab a playoff spot next year when thinking of the five playoff teams from Atlantic. We need one helll of a offseason, and one helll of a season.

Montreal and Ottawa aren’t proven pieces and I am not prepared to say they are on the verge of jumping up a tier yet. Apparently New Jersey is not much different. Neither are Columbus or Detroit

Boston broke. PIttsburgh broke. The Islanders might be preparing a reset. Philly is in one. Tampa and the Rangers are declining. I have a feeling Washington just had one of those years.

I think you’ve got three good teams in the East: Toronto, Florida and Carolina.

It’s not about them, it’s about us. Stop making excuses. Make the right moves. Seize the opportunity.

 

[OverPowerYou]

19 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Montreal and Ottawa aren’t proven pieces and I am not prepared to say they are on the verge of jumping up a tier yet. Apparently New Jersey is not much different. Neither are Columbus or Detroit

Boston broke. PIttsburgh broke. The Islanders might be preparing a reset. Philly is in one. Tampa and the Rangers are declining. I have a feeling Washington just had one of those years.

I think you’ve got three good teams in the East: Toronto, Florida and Carolina.

It’s not about them, it’s about us. Stop making excuses. Make the right moves. Seize the opportunity.

 

We are winning the eastern conference next year. We are going to be like the Chicago blackhawks and la kings of the 2010s and come out of nowhere 

[kas23]

It makes me wonder if Kevyn and crew even watch the playoffs. Can’t they see why some teams are good and others are not?

[SabreFinn]

26 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Montreal and Ottawa aren’t proven pieces and I am not prepared to say they are on the verge of jumping up a tier yet. Apparently New Jersey is not much different. Neither are Columbus or Detroit

Boston broke. PIttsburgh broke. The Islanders might be preparing a reset. Philly is in one. Tampa and the Rangers are declining. I have a feeling Washington just had one of those years.

I think you’ve got three good teams in the East: Toronto, Florida and Carolina.

It’s not about them, it’s about us. Stop making excuses. Make the right moves. Seize the opportunity.

 

It is definitely about us. That's why I am so pessimistic 😄.

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

They’ve got Josh Anderson and Arber Xhekaj, I’ll give you that.

Not really seeing Gallagher and Armia as upgrades on Okposo and Girgensons, or Laine and Dvorak as the type of vets that Sabres team was lacking. Savard’s retiring.

I will say Nick Suzuki looks to be head and shoulders over Dylan Cozens and they are better coached.

Their progress will be determined by how good guys like Slavkovsky, Demidov and Guhle can be, just like the Sabres has been by the progress or lack thereof of guys like Power, Peterka and Quinn

Well of course the progress is determined by the "stars" or I guess you'd say here future or potential stars, but don't underestimate guys like Gallagher. There's a competitiveness angle that they have in spades. Team works harder overall. Suzuki is a leadership personality as well agreed. 

I see more balance and character on that team than the Sabres and not really more talent. They play more like a team and as has been the case for a long time the Sabres are a group of individuals. It's a culture perpetuated by management as you see all the end of season crap is about individual accomplishments. The idea that individual accomplishments mean nothing if the team fails is alien to the Sabres. 

[PerreaultForever]

8 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Montreal could easily back-slide in 25-26.  But I agree with you, we didn’t have the collection of vets in important roles that Montreal does. Earlier this year, Montreal’s GM, Hughes, gave an interview where he specifically referenced learning from the mistakes made by Buffalo, Ottawa, and Detroit. It remains to be seen if they have achieved something sustainable, but no question they have passed the Sabres. 

Easily. Young teams often take 2 steps forward and 1 back and luck factors in as well (injuries, scheduling etc.) but yes, I'd say they have a different approach to Buffalo. 

Buffalo can't seem to learn from Buffalo's mistakes, that's the real problem. 

[klos1963]

Just like in the 80's, the Oilers have such a powerful offensive game.

They put so much pressure on the opponent,  there's no let up.

The Kings are a very good team,  but they just can't keep up.  That was a very entertaining series.

 

 

 

[HumanSlinky39]

Oilers take 4 straight to eliminate the Kings for the fourth straight year. God i wish we had a real hockey team.

[Thorny]

10 minutes ago, klos1963 said:

Just like in the 80's, the Oilers have such a powerful offensive game.

They put so much pressure on the opponent,  there's no let up.

The Kings are a very good team,  but they just can't keep up.  That was a very entertaining series.

 

 

 

Series was lost with the coaches challenge in game 3

5 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Oilers take 4 straight to eliminate the Kings for the fourth straight year. God i wish we had a real hockey team.

I wish we had a real playoff format 

[inkman]

18 hours ago, kas23 said:

It makes me wonder if Kevyn and crew even watch the playoffs. Can’t they see why some teams are good and others are not?

Moving Cozens was a good start

 

[Pimlach]

On 5/1/2025 at 9:22 AM, Thorny said:

F the jets 

Lets go Blues!

 

[Mango]

I watched the LAK-EDM game and all I could think is that the Sabres would get absolutely pummeled in that series.

They just are not a playoff roster. They aren't a coach or a piece away. The roster is missing too many things. A commitment to playing style, grit, tenacity, speed. Among so many others.