The Jackmans and their Feral Rage
Jackman - playing his first ever playoff game - scored his first goal on his first shot on goal while replacing Chris Pronger for his one-game suspension.That of course was also Anaheim’s first power play goal of the series as well as Teemu Selanne's first point of the series, and was instrumental in creating a 1st period lead that would help the Ducks win a Prongerless G4.
Here’s a vote to keeping Jackman in the lineup for G5, mostly for spot-duy power play time. This year on the Ducks, he has scored 2 goals and 5 assists in some 55 minutes of power play time (7.7 PP points/hour). That power play scoring rate leads the team.
As I was perusing the blogs, I saw a Pronger-reaction piece by Two for Elbowing (written after G4), and noticed this tidbit:
Anyone else looking forward to seeing this series go 7 games? And do you doubt that it will? the only problem is one we worried about from early in the season: that whoever comes out of the west will be exhausted and beat up, and easy fodder for whatever eastern team makes the cup final.Well, chiqui, it just so happens I was looking into this very concept the other day. Here’s how the last 10 cup finalists have done in their conference final series:
Year | Cup winner | Cup loser |
|---|---|---|
2006 | CAR over BUF, 7 games | EDM over ANA, 5 games |
2004 | TBL over PHI, 7 games | CGY over SJS, 6 games |
2003 | NJD over OTT, 7 games | ANA over MIN, 4 games |
2002 | DET over COL, 7 games | CAR over TOR, 6 games |
2001 | COL over STL, 5 games | NJD over PIT, 5 games |
2000 | NJD over PHI, 7 games | DAL over COL, 7 games |
1999 | DAL over COL, 7 games | BUF over TOR, 5 games |
1998 | DET over DAL, 6 games | WAS over BUF, 6 games |
1997 | DET over COL, 6 games | PHI over NYR, 5 games |
1996 | COL over DET, 6 games | FLA over PIT, 7 games |
Now take this with a HUGE grain of salt, as many of these cup finals featured a Cinderella team, but it has been eleven years since a team with more rest has won a Stanley Cup. The last four cup winners, in fact, have all played 7-game conference finals, while the cup loser has finished their conference finals series in fewer games.
I’m not saying it’s not going to happen, or that it shouldn’t happen, but if this series goes seven games, I don’t think we should take it as a given that a long WCF series cost the winner the Cup.
Anyway, food for thought.
Go Ducks.
13 comments:
I for one think Jackman should be in the lineup, maybe replacing Huskins or DiPenta obviously. Even though DiPenta played the least in game four, I think you still keep him in, because he has been here all season. That doesn't really matter, but I would hate to see Joe not in the lineup.
As for the finals, that is in OT at this moment. If the Sabres win, that is six games, can't see that being too bad. The Ducks aren't nearly as "tired" as Detroit though, they have had plenty of rest in the first two rounds. The better team wins in the best of seven, rust is an excuse.
Good point, Ed. I get tired of people saying that the layoff will help a team and then turning around and saying that the layoff hurt them because they were rusty. It can't be both, Barry (among others)!
Also, Alfredsson touched the Prince of Wales Trophy (or whatever the hell it's called). That means they're doomed, right?
Also, Alfredsson touched the Prince of Wales Trophy (or whatever the hell it's called). That means they're doomed, right?
I watched PK studiously avoid the Calder Cup (or whatever the hell it's called) after sweeping away Minnesota, and it didn't matter that much... Still, I'm sure there's a way to blame Kariya no matter what.
the Calder Cup (or whatever the hell it's called)
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl
If Ric Jackman had adamantium claws, I'd totally keep him in the lineup. Two minutes for slashing.
That means they're doomed, right?
Mario Lemieux touched the Wales Trophy after the Penguins won it in 91 and 92, and that didn't seem to affect the Pens' fortune in the finals. There's also the anecdote of how Stephane Matteau of the Rangers tapped the Wales Trophy with his stick before OT of Game 7 in the 94 East finals, and that didn't seem to affect the Rangers either.
Two minutes for slashing.
So obvious and so awesome I can't believe I didn't come up with that. Nice, Mike.
Great point about the "rest" issue - blowing up the accepted wisdom is always appreciated...
Don Cherry on Ric Jackman [Youtube]
From: Don Cherry's Coaches Corner
Don't play the blame game
I saw this post and wasn't sure how many Americans watch CBC hockey so I figured you might be interested. He's not the smartest man on TV, but he gets to say whatever he wants for 10 minutes during the first intermission.
I'm not sure why Anaheim has been letting this asset sit around collecting dust. A lot of teams would've give good money for a decent PP specialist defenseman, but I guess this last game answers that question...
I'm not sure why Anaheim has been letting this asset sit around collecting dust.
I think he's been mostly unavailable because of injury, actually. He only became an option this series, I think, and probably they are being cautious.
Generally, though, he's been underused a bit. Liked the Don Cherry clip.
Joe DiPenta terrifies me. Every time he's on the ice the other team seems to get grade AAA opportunities.
I'm not sure what the answer is, though, since he only plays at even strength.
In regards to why Jackman hasn't been used, Earl hit it right on the spot with the fact that he's been injured. In fact, Jackman had a regular spot in the lineup after getting through some early troubles with the Ducks. He was actually playing quite well until the back spasms hit him. I think the biggest concern with him right now is his conditioning level.
As far as if Jackman stays in the lineup, I think he does. I think the Ducks actually go with seven defensemen in this game. They can't seem to find a 12th forward that they're comfortable with since Kunitz is out. I see O'Donnell Playing a shift here and there at forward as well as Getzlaf, Marchant, and/or McDonald double-shifting here and there too.
Seeing this piqued my interest, wondering if there was a noticeable effect in cumulative number of playoff games over the first three rounds.
So, I looked up playoff histories from each of these years, and found ... well, statistically similar results.
If you just look at conference vs. Cup finals from 1996-2006, then the Cup winner played more conference finals games 6 times, the Cup loser played more conference finals games once, and 3 times both finalists played the same number of games in the conference finals (so, 6-1-3).
If you look at total number of games through three rounds, the Cup winner played more games 5 times, the Cup loser 2 times, and the finalists played an equal number 3 times (so, 5-2-3).
Very little difference, indeed.
Trying to analyze the numbers a little more, I noticed that, for the most part, the two finalists played virtually the same number of games almost every time. The differential was a single game in seven of the last 10 playoff years.
The three cases where there was a larger differential suggest that it's beneficial to have played fewer games, but not necessarily.
Thus, in 2001, Colorado played in 16 games through three rounds versus 18 for New Jersey (-2), and in 2004 Tampa Bay played in 16 through three versus 19 for Calgary (-3).
But, of course, the one time it defied supposedly obvious logic was in 2003, when New Jersey (17 games) played three more games through three rounds than Anaheim (14 games), for a differential of +3.
Perhaps more significant and/or relevant is that no team playing in the Pacific Time Zone has won the Cup since, ... well, not since the Stanley Cup became exclusive to the NHL champion in the mid-1920.
The last team to call the Pacific Time Zone home that won the Stanley Cup was the Victoria Cougars of the WHL, back in 1925, when they beat the Canadiens.
PT Cup winners include the Seattle Metropolitans in 1917 (again over the Canadiens), and the original PT Cup champ, the Vancouver Millionaires, who prevailed over the original incarnation of the Ottawa Senators in 1915.
So, I guess what this means is that we should just lobby the NHL to force the Eastern Conference teams to play half their "home" games in Zanzibar, or to do something to balance the travel a bit more.
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