Around the League 45: The Stanley Cup is in God's Waiting Room

[Blueline Bomber]

I get why people like Hughes now. I don’t think I’ve seen a more relatable 6 seconds from a hockey player in all my life. The dead eyes, the blank stare, the sigh to attempt to shake the weight of the world off your shoulders, all perfect.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

So I caught this on Reddit and thought it might be an interesting parallel to what we're dealing with here. It's from Craig Custances new book, coming from the Caps owner, Leonsis:

But it was the ballroom celebration at the team hotel that led to an exchange Leonsis won't forget. He walked in and the players were already celebrating hard, as they would for weeks. He spotted Nicklas Backstrom with the Cup, having a great time. Back-strom looked over at Leonsis, spotted him and his wife, Lynn, and ran over with the Cup. He handed it to Leonsis "And he starts crying," Leonsis said. "And he goes, "Thank you, I love you, thank you. I'm an idiot."

Leonsis laughed retelling what Backstrom said to him. "I can't believe I said, "I [don't] think we're going to win a Stanley Cup. Thank you for not listening to me," Leonsis said in sharing Backstrom's response at the celebration. "It was a very endearing moment." Thank you for not listening to me. A moment for the ages was created by Leonsis's refusal to give in to Backstrom's trade request following that crushing loss to the Penguins in the 2017 play-offs.

After the elimination game, a large group of players had dinner together at the steakhouse at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland. Team Sweden management was pushing hard to get Backstrom out of the United States to Cologne, Germany, to join the team in the World Championships. "Team Sweden was all over him and he said, 'I'm going to dinner with these guys. If you guys want me you can wait another day,"

Orpik said. "Knowing Nicky, that's not surprising." There was a lot of discouragement at that dinner. A lot of frustration. Everyone felt like it was a blown opportunity, with maybe the best roster ever assembled in Washington. The pressure from the outside was mounting, as was the criticism. The exit interviews were emotional and lengthy. It was under these circumstances that Backstrom openly questioned whether he and Ovechkin could win together in Washington

"He came to us after the season and said, 'It's not working," Leonsis said. "It's obvious something is wrong in this mix. And so I think it's time for you to consider whether Alex and I make a good team and will we ever be able to win a Stanley Cup? I'm at that point in my career where, if I don't win a Stanley Cup, I'll be unfulfilled. Can it happen here? For the first time, I'm really questioning that. So much so that I want you to consider—should I be traded?'

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

So I caught this on Reddit and thought it might be an interesting parallel to what we're dealing with here. It's from Craig Custances new book, coming from the Caps owner, Leonsis:

so Necas is Backstrom and we are the Caps and will win the Cup this year

 

[Unhinged Finn]

so Necas is Backstrom and we are the Caps and will win the Cup this year

This is a food thread so I think it's obvious that we are the steakhouse at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland.

 

[hblueridgegal]

They should do another one during the winter on the weekend. Perfect couch potato viewing.

 

[A Star is Burns]

They should do another one during the winter on the weekend. Perfect couch potato viewing.

I agree. I like that they've done this, but it would be better if done a few times a season.

 

[Svechhammer]

I agree. I like that they've done this, but it would be better if done a few times a season.

Quite frankly, I think they would be wise to do this as often as possible on the weekends, especially in February and March after the NFL season has ended.

Or, if not the weekends, then something like Wednesday Night Hockey every week where everyone is playing and you make a big deal of it, possibly with Sportscenter on ESPN taking place in the arena of the biggest matchup. Something like that just to get a little regular excitement around the league

 

[A Star is Burns]

Quite frankly, I think they would be wise to do this as often as possible on the weekends, especially in February and March after the NFL season has ended.

Or, if not the weekends, then something like Wednesday Night Hockey every week where everyone is playing and you make a big deal of it, possibly with Sportscenter on ESPN taking place in the arena of the biggest matchup. Something like that just to get a little regular excitement around the league

As often as possible is probably when it gets tricky. It's already challenging to feed all the national and streaming partners in two countries (and the number of partners keeps growing with the addition of something like Amazon in Canada) and they often like having fewer games on those nights. It's probably also not easy to factor in building availability and the fact that they don't want to have many days during the season that have no games (discounting holidays, all star break, international tourneys, etc.). I think it's definitely possible to do it like 5 times a season even with all of that.

I do wonder if they ever adopt the in season tournament thing the NBA recently did. That could be an interesting way to schedule one of these days with increased hype.

 

[LostInaLostWorld]

A nice gimmick on occasion. And as others have said a full weekend day and night would be preferable.

Personally I'd rather have a couple more games to choose from every night of the week than 16 all in one day/night. There's some nights with no games; others with 1 eastern, then a western or not.

 

[MinJaBen]

A nice gimmick on occasion. And as others have said a full weekend day and night would be preferable.

Personally I'd rather have a couple more games to choose from every night of the week than 16 all in one day/night. There's some nights with no games; others with 1 eastern, then a western or not.

I agree. It is a stunt. As much as I love hockey, I'm not interested in watching every team in one day. Spread it out so I have good games as many nights as possible.