MantaRay Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Tri, You can apply this same argument: "these teams never had the kind of secondary scoring or strong defense to go very far in the playoffs. They relied on below-average defensemen and finesse scorers to have strong regular seasons, only to tank in the playoffs because the whole team other than a few guys was dreck" to rationalize why Anaheim, Carolina, Calgary and even Tampa should have been bounced in the first round of the playoffs, yet these teams managed to make it to the finals with alot less talent than those St. Louis teams. The difference is leadership and character, which Tkachuk doesn't bring to the table. He has never made these talented teams better nor elevated their standards. On paper, Tkachuk is a very good player, but he lacks the intangibles that produces winning TEAMS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 (edited) In what league were the Blues 'championship-caliber' the last few years? Not the NHL, not with the likes of Brent Johnson in net. They were never as good as Detroit, Colorado or Dallas in the last several years. The West was a bit stronger than the East over the last decade, we were the only Cup winner out of the East since '95 until Tampa in '04. They were a lot closer to being a championship team when they had Oates, Hull, CuJo etc, while Thachuk was in Phoenix. Edited February 18, 2006 by Hasan4978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jursylegnd Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 In what league were the Blues 'championship-caliber' the last few years? Not the NHL, not with the likes of Brent Johnson in net. They were never as good as Detroit, Colorado or Dallas in the last several years. The West was a bit stronger than the East over the last decade, we were the only Cup winner out of the East since '95 until Tampa in '04. They were a lot closer to being a championship team when they had Oates, Hull, CuJo etc, while Thachuk was in Phoenix. EXACTLY RIGHT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek21 Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Tri,You can apply this same argument: "these teams never had the kind of secondary scoring or strong defense to go very far in the playoffs. They relied on below-average defensemen and finesse scorers to have strong regular seasons, only to tank in the playoffs because the whole team other than a few guys was dreck" to rationalize why Anaheim, Carolina, Calgary and even Tampa should have been bounced in the first round of the playoffs, yet these teams managed to make it to the finals with alot less talent than those St. Louis teams. The difference is leadership and character, which Tkachuk doesn't bring to the table. He has never made these talented teams better nor elevated their standards. On paper, Tkachuk is a very good player, but he lacks the intangibles that produces winning TEAMS. You can't include Tampa with the first three because of their talent level. Plus they didn't exactly come from nowhere to win it all. The previous year, they pushed the Devils in the second round despite it only going five. Anaheim and Carolina were big time surprises. Calgary was a lot of people's darkhorses to make a run. Plus they had Iginla. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Tri,You can apply this same argument: "these teams never had the kind of secondary scoring or strong defense to go very far in the playoffs. They relied on below-average defensemen and finesse scorers to have strong regular seasons, only to tank in the playoffs because the whole team other than a few guys was dreck" to rationalize why Anaheim, Carolina, Calgary and even Tampa should have been bounced in the first round of the playoffs, yet these teams managed to make it to the finals with alot less talent than those St. Louis teams. The difference is leadership and character, which Tkachuk doesn't bring to the table. He has never made these talented teams better nor elevated their standards. On paper, Tkachuk is a very good player, but he lacks the intangibles that produces winning TEAMS. No, the difference is goaltending quite simply - the teams you mention got great goaltending and fluked their way to the Finals. Calgary was also far grittier than any of those St. Louis teams. Anaheim had better depth from top to bottom on defense. Carolina too. What unifies those three teams is that they had defenders who weren't giving the puck away all the time - St. Louis never had that, with the awful Salvador and Finley getting regular minutes. This really isn't an argument - you cannot show me any one of those Phoenix or St. Louis teams being great. You can't because they weren't - they got some good luck during the regular season and hit a bad patch during the playoffs because good teams stopped their top line scoring and they didn't have enough secondary scoring to compensate. Or let's not forget that Elias didn't make the Devils better with his 13 point performance in the 03 playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueNJ97 Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 I'm intkachtrigued by the possibilities. He sure seems to have great chemistry with Gomez and Gionta. The Good To Go line? The American Legion? The United Skates? The U.S. of Aim? The Red, White and Food? The possiblities are endless! I don't want NJ to get him but I'd have to vote for Red, White and Food. I wonder how KT would feel about being put through a workout by V. Bure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Thachuk might be worth acquiring for that moniker alone, I love the Red, White and Food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekes Head Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Tka-Chuk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Yeah well if the man ever played any games for my fantasy team maybe I'd get the spelling right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekes Head Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SueNJ97 Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Yeah well if the man ever played any games for my fantasy team maybe I'd get the spelling right Touche. For everything he has NOT done for you, he deserves to have you mis-spell his name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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