So the best, er....I mean first, round of the Stanley Cup playoffs are done. Like everything in my life, my commitment to watching, and writing about, them was sporadic. But that won't stop me from having strong and uniformed opinions on them. (It's one of my charms).
1) I am developing a serious man-crush on Carey Price. I don't mean to say 'man-crush' because I want to maintain some heteronormative bullshit. It just isn't sexual. At least not yet. He's just so fucking cool. He is calm and centered and a magnificent goalie. In interviews, he has that 'I've seen some shit, but I'm okay' vibe that too many of our First Nations people have. I hate, or at least dislike, the Habs. But I'd be okay if this was the year of Carey.
2) I had a short twitter exchange with James Mirtle. Not surprisingly, he was getting shit about analytics. I get it. There is a certain segment of the analytics community who are smug know-it-alls. Of course, there are a fuck of a lot of old-time hockey folks like that too. The twitter exchange, and his mentions, reminded me of something that bothers me in academic discussions. Too many, far too many, people prefer to attack with discussion rather than create a dialogue that connects different points. And as Mannheim, and a bunch of other big brained folks, pointed out most arguments are about different things. It must be frustrating for someone like Mirtle to discuss possession numbers and have responses like "well, that doesn't tell the whole story", or "sometimes it is all about the goaltending". No shit. A discussion of possession numbers is a discussion of a particular way to view the game over an aggregate of games / seasons. It reveals trends, and shows probabilities. No one has ever argued it is the only way to look at a game, or that is is 100 percent predictive of the outcomes. When you find yourself disagreeing with someone, try and figure out what they are actually saying. You will save everyone a lot of time and energy.
3) I'm beginning to think losing your top defenceman is bad. Letang, Giordano, Weber. All gone, and all gone. Of course, none of those series was only about that--see above blurb. But, not being able to get the puck out of your own end consistently makes it hard to score. (I figured that out all by myself). As a former target I understand the importance of a top defenceman. It makes everything so much easier. I also understand defencemen, as a group, are the dumbest fucking people in sports. But, that is another story.
4) Unless Chicago wins, this has the feel of one of those, "Really, Washington won a Stanley Cup" playoffs. See also: Tampa Bay and Carolina.
5) The Canucks sucked hard and will probably suck harder next season. As Edmonton is showing us, you need depth in your system and good scouting to be successful. The Canucks drafting was a wasteland for many years.
