nhl playoffs are the toughest war of attrition in team sports...
stanley cup is not won by the year's best team...but by the best of what's left of these teams after four terribly-draining best-of seven series, with grueling scheduling throughout (not pussified like NBA with no b2b's ever ) and precious few days off...every man on every team now is playing injured to a degree that in other sports would have them out of action...
i really think they should start the frackin' playoffs with just 8 teams, meaning just three rounds scheduled into the exact same calendar period, meaning more days off for the poor bastids to lick their wounds...would make sense if the purpose of organized sports was to promote quality competition...but never happen cuz the purpose is not that...it's to generate revenue...so we're stuck with two bands of "walking wounded" in the final...
Ana has drawn a good schedule (helped a lot by Calgary defeating your Canucks) and is BY FAR the least banged-up of all the teams still in the hunt...and Tampa the second-least...seems Chicago third in this department (but solidly first in the all important "eye of the tiger" character department)...Washington quite possibly killed the Ranger's chances to win the Cup this year
at this stage, the less banged-up team right now may easily beat the better team (as measured pre-playoffs) if the better team is considerably more banged up from earlier action
i see the NHL's (revenue-nightmare final) sunbelt dogs both with a clear advantage in the "less banged-up" department...we don't know how much these guys are suffering...probably far more than you imagine...
hockey playoffs are like having 4 team-MMA events scheduled a week for six solid weeks...the winner will be the survivor of the "truest grit" competition in all of sports
stanley cup is not won by the year's best team...but by the best of what's left of these teams after four terribly-draining best-of seven series, with grueling scheduling throughout (not pussified like NBA with no b2b's ever ) and precious few days off...every man on every team now is playing injured to a degree that in other sports would have them out of action...
i really think they should start the frackin' playoffs with just 8 teams, meaning just three rounds scheduled into the exact same calendar period, meaning more days off for the poor bastids to lick their wounds...would make sense if the purpose of organized sports was to promote quality competition...but never happen cuz the purpose is not that...it's to generate revenue...so we're stuck with two bands of "walking wounded" in the final...
Ana has drawn a good schedule (helped a lot by Calgary defeating your Canucks) and is BY FAR the least banged-up of all the teams still in the hunt...and Tampa the second-least...seems Chicago third in this department (but solidly first in the all important "eye of the tiger" character department)...Washington quite possibly killed the Ranger's chances to win the Cup this year
at this stage, the less banged-up team right now may easily beat the better team (as measured pre-playoffs) if the better team is considerably more banged up from earlier action
i see the NHL's (revenue-nightmare final) sunbelt dogs both with a clear advantage in the "less banged-up" department...we don't know how much these guys are suffering...probably far more than you imagine...
hockey playoffs are like having 4 team-MMA events scheduled a week for six solid weeks...the winner will be the survivor of the "truest grit" competition in all of sports