2nd round picks
April 25th, 2007, 9:29 am
I hate to divert from our spirited debate with Abel to Yzerman, but I have to get my 2nd round picks in. Short and sweet.
Wings vs Sharks. Sharks- too big. Wings- too old. Sharks in 7.
Anaheim vs Vancouver. Not scoring against Dallas- we can still win. Not scoring against Anaheim- smell ya later. Ducks in 6.
Sabres vs. Rangers. Rangers beat up an overrated team, but have good goaltending. Sabres will turn it on after wandering a bit versus the Isles. Sabres in 5.
Devils vs. Senators. Normally I’d pick the Devils, my second favorite team for reasons that make little sense. But their injuries are too numerous to ignore against a streaking Senators team. Sens in 6.
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“Wings- too old.”
Is that all you can come up with? Regurgitating the same nonsense we’ve been hearing for years?
Wings average age: 30
Without Hasek and Chelios: 28.5
Sharks average age: 26.7
big deal.
(btw, for the Wings total I did it only for players who played in the first round. since I don’t know that off the top of my head for the Sharks, I totalled up everyone listed on their web site. feel free to correct the Sharks average if you feel it’s off.)
Old players aren’t necessarily worse. But unless there’s some new medical study out there, or some players are on the juice, injuries take longer to heal the older you are. And injuries happen, big and small, in every single series. If it happens to Hasek or Cheli, or Lidstrom or Lang, medicine says the injuries on average will be more severe, and healing time will be longer. That is inherently a disadvantage.
By your own admission, Hasek and Chelios are part of the “Stanley Cup winning core”, part of the reason why the Wings will win. They drive up the average, but without them, they’d hurt the Wings chances of winning. So trying to pawn off average age numbers without including those two is disingenuous, to say the least.
Let me start by saying I am not a Sharks fan. Nor am I a Redwings fan. I did, however, consider the street address of the house I recently bought a bonus – 19.
It would bring me great pleasure to see these two teams pummel the begeezus out of each other for seven games, and then have nothing left in the tank (no pun intended). I just don’t see that happening.
The Redwings scored 18 goals in 6 games. Second best GFA in the West to the Sharks 16 goals in 5 games. The Redwings GAA was number one in the West, but that is an overstated number. Lest we forget that Calgary made it into the playoffs with one day to spare. And at times they threw a whopping half a line at the Wings.
And speaking of stats that are overstated, how about Detroit having the best record in the West?! Undenialby, they reside in the weakest Western division. And I am not one to forget how that played out last year.
Let’s look at what the teams didn’t get in the first round. San Jose got NO production from it’s PP. Detroit got NO production from their screen/goalie infuriating machine Holmstrom. One of these situations will change (with Tomas missing at least game 1, you can guess which way I’m leaning on this one).
So this is how I see the series being played out:
The depth of San Jose gets them a win in game one. Two PP goals; two goals from the defence. 5-2 final score.
Game two is much more physical, and goes to double OT. Game winner from Marleau. 3-2.
After dropping the first two in Detroit, the Wings have little left for a team that is unphazed by their size, or “experience”. While they put up an expected battle, Sharks take the games at home, 4-1 and 5-3.
That’s right. A sweep!
“So trying to pawn off average age numbers without including those two is disingenuous, to say the least.”
You just don’t understand Chelios. He has the condition of a 25 year old. Seriously. He is a freak of nature, and you can’t apply normal standards to him.
As for Hasek, yeah he’s brittle but (knock on wood) has been healthy all year because of a dedicated training regimen. Unless the Sharks plan on running him, he should be fine. And if he’s not, um, Osgood has two Stanley Cup rings (with the Wings) and played fantastic this year.
“a team that is unphazed”
That’s the problem with youth. They get “phazed” when things don’t go their way. Detroit has the experience and poise not to flinch if San Jose wins a game or gets a little momentum. Does San Jose have that same poise as they look across the ice at a bunch of future Hall of Famers? Only time will tell.
Sabres will beat Rangers but the rest of these picks are goin’ down faster than a Sharks fan at a frat party!
Go Wings!