Bon Voyage, Preds: Sharks Win Series 4-1
What can you say? The Preds played better this year, same result. It's not a matter of whether it's fair. There were a lot of reasons why the Preds lost this series, and if you want to look at a big reason, look no further than a stupid play by Scott Nichol in the 2nd Period where he took a 5-minute major, retaliating. Retaliating. It may have been the dumbest thing I have ever heard, a team desperately needing a win and when things don't go just the right way, you go stick a guy in the nads. The Nashville Predators deserve to be moved from the city after this performance.
Even if the Preds somehow luck out in the rumored moving situation, there are some people who must go. Barry Trotz. He should be fired right after this game. The discipline of his players has always been a sore spot and he never has corrected it. A 4-12 playoff record with no wins on the road. Players: Paul Kariya, completely underwhelming. He was paid to be the scoring star and he scored all of 1 goal in the two playoff series against the Sharks. This guy should be looking for another team next year. We know we're not keeping Forsberg. As much as he provided some playoff grit, he also provided lots of bad penalties. We may not even get to keep Kimmo Timonen, but he should definitely stay.
As for the Sharks, I will be actively rooting for their ouster in Round 2. And if they happen to make it to the Stanley Cup, I hope they play the Rangers, who I'm going to adopt as my surrogate team now that Nashville is out.
I still haven't decided on whether or not I'm going to make good on my promise not to watch any more after this. If I'm to be interested, there's going to need to be some changes, for good or ill. Keep your core of good players and surround them with people who won't be afraid to get knocked around in the playoffs--yeah, no Paul Kariyas anymore, please.
Disappointing doesn't begin to cover it, folks. This was a series where the Preds looked better, at least it didn't appear like they had no chance at all like last year, but I think they lost it in Game 1 when they should have won. They would have had a 2-0 lead and it would have changed everything in San Jose.
Until next year...
posted by Chris @ 4/20/2007 10:41:00 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I have come to this blog three times...hoping to find something to say about my reaction to the disappointing playoffs. Each time, I haven't had the heart. I'm really far more depressed about it than I am upset or pissed off. I'm just bummed. Whole season wasted.
And there are a host of questions to be answered now:
-Trotz stays?
-Free agents (Forsberg, Kariya, Timmonen, Hartnell...)
-Adding new owners?
-Team leaving?
Too soon to really answer any of those, though the paper mentions today that there is one local man trying to buy a small (5%) share of the team to help keep it local.
Also quotes Leipold a few times, and he sure doesn't sound like a guy ready to fire Trotz. And I LOVE Trotz. Don't want to see him go. But maybe a new coach is needed. We had the talent...no question. The talent was there. Maybe we lacked motivation or conditioning, or something related to coaching that Trotz doesn't have in him.
I actually heard one national analyst suggesting Forsberg had so much fun mentoring Radulov that he is likely to stick around. Interesting. I doubt it...but we'll see.
And think about this...wherever Kariya and Forsberg may want to go...the only teams that can afford to sign them are teams that will need to basically take a few years to rebuild. Kariya doesn't want to rebuild, yo. He wants a Cup.
But do we even want Kariya? I mean...he hasn't performed in two years any better than someone like Legwand or Erat, really. Not points-wise, at least. Not the kind of impact his salary would suggest.
Man, I need a month or two break from hockey to just mourn. If we have a team next year, regardless of the coach and players, I'll be a fan. But I think this season has taught me to always be a playoff pessimist...
...freaking Sharks.
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