1. Trivia - 3 TPE

Verification: Ricer

2.

a) 1 TPE

Honestly, seeing both of these teams here bores me to death. Im going to say that New Englands run has been more impressive though. They upset teams to get where they are and they fully deserve to be here. Winnipeg was better than what their regular season showed. They hit their stride when it mattered most and I fully expected them to be here.

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b) 1 TPE

New England had the tougher path. Like I said before, Winnipeg underperformed during the regular season and stacks up fine against the top teams in their conference. New England finished similarly in their conference but don’t stack up as evenly with the likes of Buffalo or Philadelphia. It was a much tougher road for them and I’m very impressed they’re here.

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4. 3 TPE

Montreal definitely pulled the plug too early but that really is a different opinion for any person who looks at this situation. It’s such a tough decision to decide to limp along an aging core, hoping to have one more magical run or whether to cut your losses and start bringing on a new wave of players while you have some veteran presence to show them the way. It takes a savvy GM like the one in Winnipeg to keep a true contender going for as long as they have and maybe Montreal’s GM doesn’t quite have that same savvy demeanour, hence why they decided to go another way.

At the end of the day, with how this is league works, I would have tried maybe one or two more seasons. There’s always a deal to be made or a roster move needed to help spark a miracle run. Why not give your players another chance during their final years.

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