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NHL April 2013 |OT| Darren Dreger: The NHL's Shane Kim

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Today is an odd day.

Montreal losing to Jersey?
Islanders losing to Carolina?
Bruins losing to Philly?
Rangers losing to Florida?

what the fuck?
 
Today is an odd day.

Montreal losing to Jersey?
Islanders losing to Carolina?
Bruins losing to Philly?
Rangers losing to Florida?

what the fuck?

Those teams can play as open as they want. And there's a lot of players playing for jobs / more salary next year.
 
Today is an odd day.

Montreal losing to Jersey?
Islanders losing to Carolina?
Bruins losing to Philly?
Rangers losing to Florida?

what the fuck?
No pressure + no reason to conserve energy + love for ruining playoff hopes = unpredictable games

This is why I avoid saying that certain teams have "easy" schedules
 
Yeah, I rather play Anaheim than Calgary for example.

The ONLY issue with playing top teams at the end schedule is they may want to start grinding you down, or the dirty players, hurting you as much as possible for the playoffs.

Hjarlmasson and Keith both tried to injure Daniel Sedin last night.
 
... The Rangers? Also it's not like those other 4 teams have anything to play for. I'd argue at least the Panthers are better off losing.
No player gives a shit about draft picks. They play for themselves and each other, not the future interests of the organization.
 
No player gives a shit about draft picks. They play for themselves and each other, not the future interests of the organization.

But they don't have more motivation to win than the other teams, is my point. I'd argue the Bruins&Habs have motivation to get the Nr2 seed, the Rangers still need to lock up their pick and the Islanders... I don't know. The other 4 teams I don't see what they're motivated by, aside from"We want to win"

So if anything, the playoff-bound teams should still be more motivated, aside from the subconscious feeling of conserving energy.
 
But Smiley, you're thinking of the team overall, the individual players have motivation to look good for next year. Bump up their stats for contract signing time.
 
But Smiley, you're thinking of the team overall, the individual players have motivation to look good for next year. Bump up their stats for contract signing time.

But don't the playoff-bound players have that motivation too? Honest question. Do you think their brain goes "I need to conserve energy for the playoffs" or "I need to win this game" less than the brains of not-playoff-bound players? If you think so, then I concede my point.
 
This game is a lot like the first game we played against Florida this year where we massively outshot them but very few of the shots were actually high quality.

Markstrom had 44 saves in that game.
 
But don't the playoff-bound players have that motivation too? Honest question. Do you think their brain goes "I need to conserve energy for the playoffs" or "I need to win this game" less than the brains of not-playoff-bound players? If you think so, then I concede my point.

Playoff bound players are both still team centric and have a month + to prove themselves for next year. Non-playoff bound players have 3 games.
 
I really don't understand why nobody wants that Nr2 seed. Are the Rangers&Caps really more scary to play against than Leafs&Pens? :lol
 
If I had a dollar for every time Markov made a bad pinch this season I could afford to buy him out.
 
But they don't have more motivation to win than the other teams, is my point. I'd argue the Bruins&Habs have motivation to get the Nr2 seed, the Rangers still need to lock up their pick and the Islanders... I don't know. The other 4 teams I don't see what they're motivated by, aside from"We want to win"

So if anything, the playoff-bound teams should still be more motivated, aside from the subconscious feeling of conserving energy.
You made two points. Your first point I addressed with my other post (and Tabris also addressed) and your second point (Florida is better off losing) was addressed with the post you replied to. You suggested that these players care about draft picks. They don't.

You're imagining some unsolvable mystery that has a very simple explanation. Yes, Boston/New York/etc are also motivated. Of course they want to win and secure the division and/or playoff spot. But the teams they're playing also have several motivations and also can go balls out with little/no pressure. Don't underestimate pressure. Consider that when a team struggles down the stretch toward the playoffs, no one points to the basement teams that bested them. Everyone just says they "choked".
 
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