NHL 2017 / 2018 Puxx They Are Dropping

Everything else
61

I mean Trig is partly right, in that there was a good chunk of time the ‘hawks were a distant fifth in Chicago. And that’s largely an ownership issue. Once the days of Chellios and Roenick were done, there was zero reason to even try to follow them. I was born in ‘84, and even during those years there was little hype and mindshare, because you couldn’t watch.

But that’s not true today. Dollar Bill died, and the team actively tried courting fans, making it easier to be one. Hiring McDonaugh from the Cubs was a master stroke. We all thought John was crazy to leave the cities too love for a has been, but he was part of that change.

Today I’d say the ‘hawks are number two in Chicago. I don’t think it’s possible for the Cubs to ever truly be supplanted, and the Bears have taken some permanent hits (partly due to NFL general malaise), so it seems there’s a pretty clear order.
Cubs
Hawks
Bulls
.
.
.
.
Bears
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.
White Sox

And I think it’s a generational ordering. I really don’t see the Bears overtaking any of those top three in the next decade, at least. And I think the NFL in general might be facing a permanent market loss, due to CTE and long term health effects, so I don’t know that will ever shift.

In Trig’s time here it was Bears, Cubs, then everything else. But the over two million for the Hawks championship parades only look small when you compare to the Cubs parade.

@ChiTownBluesFan I think you’re right. They, or Vancouver, or the Sharks are the likely takers of the mantle.

62

I’ve enjoyed going back and watching just how close this all came to being just another year where the Caps did nothing in the playoffs.

First round vs. Columbus, Blue Jackets take the first two games in Washington, and the Caps face the Blue Jackets down 2 games to none, and on the BJ’s home ice.

And it goes to overtime. And the Blue Jackets have numerous good opportunities to score. If they had, they’d have been up three games to none, and that would’ve been that.

But there’s a pile up in front of the net and the puck goes in off Lars Eller.

And then it just sort of came together from there.

63

Yeah, I live in Chicago, and I don’t think the Bulls are ahead of the Bears. I don’t know that I’d say the Hawks are ahead of them, though they’ve had a lot more success as of late. Chicago is still very much a Bears town, but we’ve had to deal with a lot of crappy teams since their run in 2006, and especially since they jettisoned Lovie. I do think things could be turning around - I like the head coach hire, I like the picks, I like the trades - it’s been a great (seemingly) offseason for the Bears. But really, all it takes is one successful season for the Bears, and they’re easily ahead of the Bulls and Hawks, if they aren’t already.

64

That’s hilarious to me, because I’ve seen zero interest or enthusiasm for the Bears by me. I guess it all depends on the circles you’re in.

I mean tv ratings always favor, game per game, the NFL due to timing and fewer games. But based on the number of shirts, people talking, etc. the Bears haven’t felt relevant in years. At least in the Cook County suburbs in which I live and work.

Put it this way, my last job had season ticket for Cubs, Hawks, and Bears. Guess which one was easiest to get the seats for? There were Bears games that they literally couldn’t give away free tickets

65

Lots of teams on this list to talk about before you get to the sharks there buddy…

–Team–Last Stanley Cup Win–Current Length of Drought
–Washington Capitals–2017–0
–Vegas Knights–Never–1
–Pittsburgh Penguins–2016–1
–Chicago Blackhawks–2015–3
–Los Angeles Kings–2014–4
–Boston Bruins–2011–7
–Detroit Red Wings–2008–10
–Anaheim Ducks–2007–11
–Carolina Hurricanes–2006–12
–Tampa Bay Lightning–2004–14
–New Jersey Devils–2003–15
–Colorado Avalanche–2001–17
–Columbus Blue Jackets–Never–18
–Minnesota Wild–Never–18
–Dallas Stars–1999–19
–Winnipeg Jets–Never–19
–Nashville Predators–Never–20
–New York Rangers–1994–24
–Florida Panthers–Never–25
–Montreal Canadiens–1993–25
–Ottawa Senators–Never–26
–San Jose Sharks–Never–27
–Edmonton Oilers–1990–28
–Calgary Flames–1989–29
–New York Islanders–1983–35
–Arizona Coyotes–Never–39
–Philadelphia Flyers–1975–43
–Buffalo Sabres–Never–48
–Vancouver Canucks–Never–48
–St. Louis Blues–Never–51
–Toronto Maple Leafs–1967–51

source: hockey writers

And lets not forget, before their recent successes, Chicago was riding a 49 yr drought, LA a 45 year drought and Boston a 40 yr drought…

…and no, this isn’t a chip on my shoulder, it’s just bent that way naturally ;)

66

There’s also the decency effect. The Sharks have been good, very good, in recent years. With Thornton they’ve gotten close, even making a cup, in the last decade. The Sabres or the Coyotes? There just isn’t that same level of consistent ‘almost but not quite’ recently.

67

The St. Louis Blues have never even been to the Finals in their 50 years of existence.

68
  1. Yes they have. First three years of existence they went to the Finals. Now, as to how much you want to count those appearances due to the fact they were simply the best of the expansion teams is up to you. But technically, they did make 3 Final appearances in 68-70.
  2. Not sure why Toronto is listed as 51 years where St. Louis is 50. Toronto last won the Cup the last year with the just 6 original teams. So for the Blues first year of existence, the Leafs were the Cup champions. So after that year (67/68), they were both at 1 year on the ‘Seasons w/o a Cup Win’ counter. Point being - they should be equal.
69

That would be my fault, I added a year to all of them since the original data was from last year…looks like i missed st louis. corrected.

70

Yep, that famous Bobby Orr picture of him off his skates and celebrating after scoring the game-winning goal in the 1970 Cup Finals was against the Blues.

I’ll still always be a Blues fan to an extent I guess. But it’s weird. When I moved from St. Louis to Chicago, there was no question of NOT adopting any Chicago team when I got there. But then the White Sox were so very, very terrible in the late 1990s and 2000 that it made it incredibly easy to go to Comiskey, pay the cheapest ticket price, and end up sitting behind one of the dugouts. Since there was little interleague play at that point when I’d been going to Cardinals games, that was how I got to see AL stars of that generation: Ripken, Belle, Clemens, Pedro, and of course Frank Thomas. And…honestly the White Sox at that time had what I think is still best radio booth I’ve ever heard, with John Rooney on play by play and Ed Farmer doing color. I kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinda adopted the Southsiders as my second team.

When I moved to DC, there was no question of hating the Redskins. I’d grown up hating them, and Daniel Snyder and Steve Spurrier just made it so easy to root for them to fail. Then the Nats came to town, and I thought “Maybe I’ll like them a little…” But then Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble’s idiotic, annoying, and utterly awful play by play on TV happened. “Natitude” happened. Bryce Harper happened. God what an easy team to hate. (OK, I still love Max Scherzer.)

But then there were the Caps. I worked with Caps fans, without knowing it. But then a couple of times, we’d be in a bar with the Caps game on, and they’d talk as knowledgeably – if not moreso – about hockey than I’ve ever experienced fans anywhere discuss hockey. Like these interesting, mild-mannered folks you’d never suspect cared a whit about any sport would sit and cite puck possession metrics out of the blue, and five on five efficiency. It was nuts.

And then also, while managing the restaurant, Ted Leonsis became a frequent lunch visitor for a while. And Ted was just so unfailingly nice. And one of our bartenders – a huge Caps fan – would just be delivering food or another bottled water to Ted’s table, and he’d say “Nice game last night,” in passing, and Ted would say “Well, it was pretty good, but the two power play goals we gave up caught my eye.” And just like that, 10-minute conversation between team owner and fan that went far beyond idle chit-chat would begin. Ted loves his team and loves talking about them – in detail – with fans. Just awesome.

And so I started to fall in love with the Caps. And discovered, like Gob Bluth, that being a Blues fan who’d adopted the Capitals meant that, verily, I had made a big mistake. Game 7 at home against the Pens in the playoffs happened. Jaroslav Halak happened. The Pens happened again. And again. And again.

71

Being from Toronto originally, i feel much the same way about the leafs. I grew up on them and they had the fantastic run of 93 when I was in university there. While I don’t particularly follow them anymore, I do hope the franchise does well - the fans there deserve something after so many years of misery. Moving through Vancouver for a while, i hated that team and i pretty much dropped out of hockey then and through my move to the bay area.

Thornton coming to San Jose in 2005 reawakened my interest a little bit, but it was Dan Boyle in 2008 that brought me back as a fan of the team and game. It’s been 10 years of some really good teams that just haven’t been able to go all-the-way, but mostly it’s been fun.

Caps had a really good run this year and the win is well-deserved. Prior to the final round starting, and having watched vegas through three rounds (as well as some of the cap games), I felt sure that vegas was going to win. It wasn’t so much about the Caps losing…it was that vegas would be the better team. But a strange thing happened between rounds 3 and 4 - reality (doubt?) crept into fleury and the caps found that and exploited it. Of course, maybe since the caps had so much more experience playing fleury than the west did, maybe they had more/better scouting/experience on him and used that. Either way, he wasn’t the same player that outduelled quick, and when he faltered, the rest of the team did too. I’m really glad too - I’m happy for the caps and their fans. I’m also a little stunned at the maturity and growth of ove in such a short time, that was truly incredible to watch. I also love seeing that kind of passion in a player - that’s one of the reasons boyle brought me back to hockey - and i dont doubt ove’s doing/done the same thing with other people too.

72

I’m also a little stunned at the maturity and growth of ove in such a short time

Me too :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj0eKRVghlW/?utm_source=ig_embed

Actually, as a Flyers fan, I used to hate him, but now I think he’s great!

73

I wonder if Trotz will be able to keep Ovechkin motivated next season. He played in the playoffs with a huge chip on his shoulder, and I think he was partially frustrated by his reputation for losing the biggest games. Now that he has silenced the critics and won the cup, I wonder if he is going to be able to dig as deep as he did these last couple months.

74
75

That’s easily the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen gather in DC to celebrate a Russian victory.

76

Easily dwarfs the one from January, 2017, for sure.

77

Just about as white though ;)

I’ll admit, I’ve taken some fun at the Caps, and Ovie’s, expense for their failure to get over the hump for years. But he’s a great player so I’m happy for them.

78

Eat it, Wilbon

79

Ovi is reaching levels of joy normally reserved for golden retrievers and eight year olds. It’s good to see :)

80

what about when trump was elected?

damn you and your subtleties

i dunno, i’m thinking trotz wont be there…