The best playoff tournament is about to start. Yes, better than March Madness. Better than the World Cup to come this summer. Better than the NFL playoffs that triumphantly ended with New England failing to win 3 Super Bowls in 4 years (for the second time). The Stanley Cup Playoffs are better than all of these things. It may last too long (but actually does better than basketball, which hilariously makes its first round go on for like four weeks). But it never fails to disappoint. Endless and energetic, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are perfect.
There is truly nothing like the intensity of playoff hockey, or at least nothing that combines the drama and the speed. There is nothing as grueling, to a point where generally everyone in the Stanley Cup Finals is playing hurt to some degree. There is no greater test or gauntlet. There is no long playoff format that mixes both spates of upsets each year with generally having a deserving winner each time out. And there's no playoff tournament that crowns a tournament (and not finals/Super Bowl/World Series) MVP - even if that is done out of tradition than actual implementation. There really are so many incredible elements that combine to create a perfect cocktail.
My favorite part of the playoffs is the first and second rounds, when there is hockey multiple times each night. The endless celebration of the sport. I remember when I was a kid, I would stay up and watch the late games, just putting them on the background, inevitably falling asleep to the beautiful sounds of a stadium cheering and chanting. I loved learning the line combinations of the random Western Conference teams I never really watched or cared about. I learned the various goal songs and celebrations. The noises of the game, rhapsody on ice.
This year is no different, and if anything should be better. This was one of the more enjoyable regular seasons in a long time, including a sudden rise in scoring to a limit not seen since the 2007-08 season. We had a Lightning team score 296 goals, the most by any team since the 2009-10 Capitals. We had others in the 270 range. We had Ovechkin hit his usual quota of goals, but neo-Ovechkin nearly match him in Patrik Laine. And of course, we had Vegas.
The story of the Vegas Golden Knights is one of the most incredible sports stories in recent memory. There were a lot of reports that the league would be more forgiving in the expansion draft process, not wanting Vegas to be as badd as the exapnsion teams of the 90's in the first few seasons, but even then few saw them even challenging for a playoff spot. Instead, they win the division wire-to-wire, and have the best home record of any team, with the mystique of the Vegas nightlife (no pun intended) being a far better home ice factor than even the wild fanbase that showed up constantly.
There is no real bad team in this years playoffs either, with the most anonymous or fogettable of the 16 probably being my Devils, who return to the playoffs off the back of potential Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall (that Hall for Larsson trade looks a lot different a year later) for the first time in 6 years. But outside of them you have Boston getting back in, against Toronto in a great revival of a dormant rivalry. You have the battle of Pennsylvania (during a time when I'm on a project near Philadelphia, will definitely be going to a local sports bar for a few of their games). You have the Battle of California (Sharks/Ducks), the aforementioned Vegas Knights trying to beat teh Kings playoff mystique (last seen four years ago), and even a nostalgic battle between Winnipeg and Minnesota (apparently, the previous iteration of the Jets and North Stars used to be big rival). This first round should be an insane whirlwind of 8 concurrent series.
Honestly, the playoff field is great every year; but this year just seems to set up for more fun than ever. Sure, not having Chicago around feels a bit odd (what a quick, stunning drop for a team who led the Western Conference in points just one season ago), and not having Connor McDavid is sad, but everything else is there to enjoy.
Honestly, I'm just ready to sit back and enjoy. I don't even want to make picks, to try to analyze this too much, just want to enjoy the carnival of hockey, the never ending run of incredible drama, draining, endless overtimes. Playoff hockey truly is the best, and the 2018 vintage has the chance to be something special. Can Ovechkin and the Caps finally get to a Conference Final, in a year when they seem a bit under the radar for once. Can the Penguins three-peat? Can the Lightnings finish their dream season off in style, or similarly can Vegas or Winnipeg (NBC probably hopes the answer is a hard 'No'), can the Preds finish off their incredible year? All the possibilities exist, and I just want to start this drama off now.
There is truly nothing like the intensity of playoff hockey, or at least nothing that combines the drama and the speed. There is nothing as grueling, to a point where generally everyone in the Stanley Cup Finals is playing hurt to some degree. There is no greater test or gauntlet. There is no long playoff format that mixes both spates of upsets each year with generally having a deserving winner each time out. And there's no playoff tournament that crowns a tournament (and not finals/Super Bowl/World Series) MVP - even if that is done out of tradition than actual implementation. There really are so many incredible elements that combine to create a perfect cocktail.
My favorite part of the playoffs is the first and second rounds, when there is hockey multiple times each night. The endless celebration of the sport. I remember when I was a kid, I would stay up and watch the late games, just putting them on the background, inevitably falling asleep to the beautiful sounds of a stadium cheering and chanting. I loved learning the line combinations of the random Western Conference teams I never really watched or cared about. I learned the various goal songs and celebrations. The noises of the game, rhapsody on ice.
This year is no different, and if anything should be better. This was one of the more enjoyable regular seasons in a long time, including a sudden rise in scoring to a limit not seen since the 2007-08 season. We had a Lightning team score 296 goals, the most by any team since the 2009-10 Capitals. We had others in the 270 range. We had Ovechkin hit his usual quota of goals, but neo-Ovechkin nearly match him in Patrik Laine. And of course, we had Vegas.
The story of the Vegas Golden Knights is one of the most incredible sports stories in recent memory. There were a lot of reports that the league would be more forgiving in the expansion draft process, not wanting Vegas to be as badd as the exapnsion teams of the 90's in the first few seasons, but even then few saw them even challenging for a playoff spot. Instead, they win the division wire-to-wire, and have the best home record of any team, with the mystique of the Vegas nightlife (no pun intended) being a far better home ice factor than even the wild fanbase that showed up constantly.
There is no real bad team in this years playoffs either, with the most anonymous or fogettable of the 16 probably being my Devils, who return to the playoffs off the back of potential Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall (that Hall for Larsson trade looks a lot different a year later) for the first time in 6 years. But outside of them you have Boston getting back in, against Toronto in a great revival of a dormant rivalry. You have the battle of Pennsylvania (during a time when I'm on a project near Philadelphia, will definitely be going to a local sports bar for a few of their games). You have the Battle of California (Sharks/Ducks), the aforementioned Vegas Knights trying to beat teh Kings playoff mystique (last seen four years ago), and even a nostalgic battle between Winnipeg and Minnesota (apparently, the previous iteration of the Jets and North Stars used to be big rival). This first round should be an insane whirlwind of 8 concurrent series.
Honestly, the playoff field is great every year; but this year just seems to set up for more fun than ever. Sure, not having Chicago around feels a bit odd (what a quick, stunning drop for a team who led the Western Conference in points just one season ago), and not having Connor McDavid is sad, but everything else is there to enjoy.
Honestly, I'm just ready to sit back and enjoy. I don't even want to make picks, to try to analyze this too much, just want to enjoy the carnival of hockey, the never ending run of incredible drama, draining, endless overtimes. Playoff hockey truly is the best, and the 2018 vintage has the chance to be something special. Can Ovechkin and the Caps finally get to a Conference Final, in a year when they seem a bit under the radar for once. Can the Penguins three-peat? Can the Lightnings finish their dream season off in style, or similarly can Vegas or Winnipeg (NBC probably hopes the answer is a hard 'No'), can the Preds finish off their incredible year? All the possibilities exist, and I just want to start this drama off now.
