For us die-hard Pittsburgh hockey fans, this is practically virgin territory. Our beloved Penguins—back-to-back champions—were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs at the beginning of the week by the Washington Capitals. A cosmic event that occurs with roughly the same frequency as the return of Halley’s Comet.
Strange days, indeed.
So who in the heck should we root for?
The good news is there are plenty of appealing options…especially since the immensely dislikeable Smashville Predators were fished from the NHL postseason pond like one of those poor catfish the beer-swilling denizens of the Music City so unceremoniously tossed onto the virgin Bridgestone Arena ice.
Good riddance to Peter Laviolette, P.K. Subban and Carrie Underwood.
The poster team for appealing options? Marc-Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights. The miraculous Golden Knights, I should say. Not that anyone needs to be told, but theirs’ truly is an amazing story folks. An expansion team competing in the Conference Finals? Talk about your rare events!
Indeed, Vegas enjoyed unprecedented success during its inaugural season, recording 109 points—fifth-best in the league—while winning 51 games. To put that in proper perspective, the Capitals won eight games during their expansion season of 1974-75. The Islanders? An even dozen in ‘72-73. Yes, it was a different era and the pickins’ for those teams were bone-yard thin. But still.
In addition to ‘Flower,’ who enjoyed an outstanding regular season (2.24 goals against average and .927 save percentage) while backstopping the Golden Knights to the Pacific Division crown, Vegas boasts four other ex-Pens. David Perron (66 points) and sniper James Neal (25 goals) finished among the club’s top six regular-season scorers while keying a dangerous power play. Ex black-and-gold battler Deryk Engelland—remarkably effective at 35 years of age—anchored a young defense. Heavyweight and renowned Phil Kessel baiter Ryan Reaves rounds out the expatriate Pens.
Combined with the fact that my nephew, Josh, lives in Vegas? The Knights are definitely my first choice.
Still, it’s awfully hard to root against Winnipeg. Through no fault of its own, ‘the Peg’ lost the original Jets to Phoenix back in 1996 during a wayward and ill-conceived wave of southwest expansion. The newest incantation…descendants of the woebegone Atlanta Thrashers…hadn’t won a playoff game, let a lone a series, until this spring.
Living up to their nickname, these Jets can really fly. Boasting the likes of flashy rookie Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, Viking stud Patrik Laine (44 goals) and Mark Scheifele, they’re loaded with young talent and lots of fun to watch. And it sure wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for a Canadian team to win the Cup…something that hasn’t happened since Montreal laid claim to Lord Stanley’s coveted silverware way back in 1993. After all, it is their national sport.
Nor do I mind the Tampa Bay Lightning. Featuring high-end talents like Nikita Kucherov (100 points), Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, the Bolts are a heck of a hockey team and my personal pick to win it all. In a way, they remind me of our champs from two seasons ago…deep, talented and fast…albeit with a bit more grit and considerably more size.
Plus, they’ve got Chris Kunitz. It’s awfully hard to root against ‘Kuni’…the quintessential warrior and team player during his nine-season stay in the ‘Burgh.
The only club in the final four I won’t be cheering on? Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals. It isn’t so much the fact that they ousted our Penguins…every once in a while a blind squirrel finds an acorn. But I simply can’t stomach uber-villain Tom Wilson and the cheap-shot tactics of cohorts like T.J. Oshie and former Pen Brooks Orpik.
Here’s hoping their Cup drought continues.
Hey all,
I think I jinxed Tampa Bay by picking ’em to go all the way. Never in my worst nightmares did I see them trailing Washington 2-zip.
Boooooooooooo … 🙁
Rick
The only way I think that I could not root for the Caps to lose is if they were to play Boston or Philadelphia. If any combination of those 3 teams were to play I would root for the apocalypse. I am pretty sure that scenario would represent H. E. double hockey sticks.
For me it is easy who to root for. #1 The Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg supported their 1st team like crazy before it was taken away from them. Winnipeg deserves it.
Vegas would be tied for #2 pick and would be fun to just see them make it to the finals if not just for the uproar from owners who think that they were given way too much from the expansion draft. They were basically handed a better team than most of the teams in the NHL. How well they do really doesn’t bode well for I’m sure new rules to be set for Seattle in the expansion draft.
Tampa #2 pick also. Yzerman has shown that a good GM makes all of the difference. He has built a solid team. Truthfully though I’m just in for Tampa because I really think there is a NHL fix in for Washington and nOvechkin. I’ve never seen such blatant game changing bad calls all go for one team before in all the time I have watched hockey.
Hi Rick,
I won’t be rooting for the Caps under any circumstances. They surprised Tampa Bay in game one, but I’m hoping that was all they’ve got.
As for the other three teams, I’ll watch most of the remaining games and I won’t be disappointed, or overjoyed, no matter which of the three might win. A Caps victory would be the only exception. I dread that possibility.
If I’m leaning in any direction I would like to see a small market Canadian team take it all. That’s long overdue. Or… I wouldn’t mind seeing Fleury hoist a third in a row. That’s as close as we’ll get this time ‘round. Tampa? Meh. If they do, fine. If they don’t that’s fine, too, so long as they hammer Washington.
As someone mentioned in an earlier post, I’m more interested in seeing what shakes out this summer here in da ‘Burgh. Lots of rumors already flying.
— 55
Well for me I can not cheer for the Cap’s…at all, no way.
My hate list:
1A. Philly
1B. Washington
I am not a fan of Tampa, but I always liked the way Steve Yzerman played, but no.
Vegas??/ Well I will always love MAF. You guys know how I feel about Reeves, maybe JR can bring him back next year, but probably not. So no on Vegas as well.
And as a Canadian, I am supposed to cheer for the Canadian teams left in playoffs, but I really can’t cheer for any other team, I am Canadian but I bleed black and gold.
I will be rooting for the Jets, I like their coach and they are a fun team to watch, I would love to see them win because they have a awesome fan base, and it looks good the team left for and now they are back.
But to be honest I am more interested in the Pen’s off-season, draft and free agency.
Hey Pen’s 4ever,
A local hockey buddy and I also wondered if Rutherford might try to sign Reaves over the summer.
I confess to wavering about his value to the team while we had him. But you, 55 on Point, and Mike were steadfast in your belief that he would’ve helped us in the playoffs…especially against a heavier team like Washington.
I think he would’ve, too.
Rick
Hey Rick,
When the Pens traded for Reaves, I was against it and quite frankly I still say that trade was bad. I would much rather have had that first round pick and selected Hague. Furthermore, Sullivan never really used Reaves. In the first half of the season Reaves was getting only about 5 minutes a game, with so many back to back games the team struggled since Sullie wasn’t really rolling 4 lines.
Reaves did show his value when Sullie started playing him, Reaves started doing a lot more things on the score sheet other than hits. In the end Reaves’ full value was truly realized at the end of the season when 3 Penguins finished the season after playing all 82 games. Perhaps it was just coincidence that 3 Pens finished full seasons last year but to me it looks a whole lot more like the players survived because opponents thought twice before taking Tom Wilson liberties.
So, in the end I would resign Reaves, but with as bad as the Pens D is, I would still rather have Hague. Furthermore, even though I would resign Reaves, I can’t help but wonder if the Pens did resign Reaves, Sullie would still just sit him like he did this past season. During the playoffs, even though he had plenty of opportunity to make adjustments to his lineup when the Caps started gooning it up, Sullie did nothing. He did not add Sestito to the Black Aces nor did he play our Wilson instead of one of the useless 3rd or 4th liners that did absolutely nothing but wilt under the weight of the Caps.
Hey Other Rick,
You make a good point about Sullivan only giving Reaves about three minutes of ice time a night through the early going. It’s awfully tough to find your game with your keister planted on the bench.
When Reaves returned after sitting out three games in late January, he started getting more ice time and, not by coincidence, was much more effective. He began to resemble the guy I thought we’d acquired over the summer.
Give this guy eight or nine minutes a game, let him soften up the opposing ‘d’ and drop the mitts when needed, and I think he could be an effective player for us.
Even when he was barely touching the ice, his presence had a neutralizing effect on opposing thugs like Tom Wilson. Until we start drafting Josh Anderson/Boone Jenner types we need a guy like ‘Reavo.’
Rick
Hey Rick,
Agreed Rick, particularly when Reaves is a FA and the Pens don’t have to give up draft picks to get him. Furthermore, with the way the team’s bottom 6 disappeared in the Playoffs, it is hard to argue that anyone occupying those spots should be playing instead of Reaves.
Hey Rick,
Just my 2-cents;
I have a friend from the DC area. He is a good friend and I want to root for his team but between all of the classless fans that jumped on Penguins websites with taunting because their sorry team has finally got into the third round after so many years of futility, the goon tactics and slew footing of Tom Wilson and the great ape, and the bizarre Kuznetsov goal celebration I can’t. The Karma that team and their fans generates is enough to cause digestive issues.
For me, the Flower wins hands down. I will be rooting for Vegas.
Neal, Perron, and Engelland, eh, but Fleury, he deserves it.
No offense to Winnipeg.
Hey Other Rick,
I was going to mention the Caps fans’ boorish behavior, but I didn’t want to acknowledge them in my feature. What a bunch of idiots…at least the ones who commented on PenguinPoop.
As an aside, one of our gym members, Jim Hartley, had an interesting take. Now that our Pens are no longer in the hunt, he said it’ll be kind of nice to watch playoff hockey without all of the tension and angst.
A positive way to look at a negative situation…
Rick