Now That The Caps Have Won The Cup, Who Does The Playoff Bitch Label Transfer To?
The playoff are right around the corner. Literally a month from today we will have the bracket set and probably even a few games played. I can’t wait. The moment above was what the Stanley Cup Playoffs are all about. Ovechkin has been chasing the Cup for years and years and years. Never could get passed Crosby. A few stumbles in the first round. Won a President’s Trophy and then lost to an 8-seed Montreal. You could set your watch to the Caps falling on their face in the playoffs and as someone who enjoys the misery of other teams, I loved it. I was happy for Ovechkin in a weird, human emotion way, but as a bitter hockey fan whose team is not a real contender at the moment I was sad. The Caps shed the playoff-bitch label forever with one great playoff run. That label needs to transfer to someone and lucky enough for us, there are a few pretty good contenders.
Now, this list isn’t for ‘loser” teams, even though it’s full of losers. You won’t find the Blues and Wild on this list. While they are perennial playoff losers, I wouldn’t call them a disappointment because nobody expects much from them anyways. This list is for elite teams who can’t seem to get over the hump.
1) Tampa Bay Lightning
Oh Tampa. They are the obvious candidate right now. I think the Lightning know it that they’ve acquired the Washington playoff stink and they’re proactively fighting against it. We saw it first hand the other night.
Big game against one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference and within three minutes you knew that Tampa Bay was going to dummy them. It was a message sent, and received. The Lightning are the clear best team in the league and maybe the best team since the 2013 Blackhawks. Wire to wire #1 team. If they don’t win it this year playoff bitch ass team will be synonamous with Tampa Bay.
2) Toronto Maple Leafs
Speaking of the Leafs…it’s getting to that time. Everyone had kind of crowned the Leafs as the next Chicago Blackhawks when Matthews, Marner, Nylander, etc. When you go and add a guy like John Tavares you better get over the hump while you still have your core guys on their entry level deals. It’s time for this group to start slaying some dragons. But there’s a monster waiting for them in the first round.
If the Leafs lose it won’t be the overwhelming stench that would come from a potential Lightning loss, but it would start to linger. It’d be like a silent little fart. You’d look around the room. Wonder who it is. The Leafs would deny it, but everyone knows it’s coming from them.
The silver lining if the Leafs lose early again this year?…a silver mustache
Take it for what it’s worth, but a little birdy told me that IF the Leafs lose again then Babcock will be fired and replaced by Joel Quenneville. Everyone HATES Babcock, allegedly, and the Leafs have already paid the majority of his money owed. It was a front-loaded deal. Joel will comeback to Toronto, show them the winning ways, and become an absolute LEGEND who won a Cup in Toronto for the first time since 1967. I will be a quasi-Leafs fan if he goes there.
3) San Jose Sharks
This is the kind of stink that is around for so long that you don’t even notice it anymore. Then someone comes over and is like WHOA THIS PLACE SMELLS LIKE ASS. That is the Sharks. They’ve only missed the playoffs once since 2003 and they’ve been to the Stanley Cup Final exactly one time in that span…and in their franchise history. The Sharks are regular season gangsters and a model franchise. Sometimes you just run into bad luck when you’re peaking as an organization. The Sharks being a top team in the West when the top teams were the Blackhawks and Kings was bad timing and a bit of bad luck. That doesn’t change the stigma attached to having great teams that can’t get over the hump. They added to this group with Karlsson and Evander Kane the past couple years. Trying desperately to get the job done, but time is really running out. Joe Thornton is 39, Pavelski is 34, Logan Courture is turning 30, Brett Burns…34, Vlasic 31, and Erik Karlsson is a UFA. Feels like now or never for the Sharks.
4) Nashville Predators
Everyone’s darling maybe just maybe is starting to turn. Like when you open the fridge and you catch a whiff of something, but you can’t tell where it’s coming from. The Predators are a well established team now. They’re no longer the plucky underdog in the fun market. The expectation should be Cup or bust and for their entire history, which is going on 20 years now, it’s been bust. The Preds have been in the playoffs 12 out of the last 15 years and only have one Cup Final appearance to their name. They’ve been buyers at the deadline, they’ve been aggressive in the offseason, they’re trying everything they can, but they haven’t been able to bring it home. Sadly, for me, Nashville isn’t going anywhere. Poile is a magician and perhaps a hell of a salesman because the Preds are loaded, and yet not in cap jail. Everyone who matters is under a reasonable contract and still very much in their prime. Another early exit in the playoffs though and that stench will start to attach to that gross yellow jersey. And there’s only one way to get it out. You need a true super star or stars to win the Cup. Toews&Kane&Keith, Crosby&Malkin, Ovi&Backstrom&Kuznetsov…the Preds don’t really have that. Not up front anyways. It’s just a ton of very good players. Not any hall of fame type guys.
That’s the list. I am ready for the post-season. I am ready to perpetuate this narrative. It’s all I have right now. Rooting for the misery of others. Let’s dance, Nashville.