2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs

I'm sorry, BYH ... no sarcasm. But only to an extent.

I like that the local team is having success. But the whole idea is to share it with everyone.

There was a poster here - I think the world of her, always have and always will - who was concerned about this when Tampa Bay won the Cup in 2004, followed by the Hurricanes two years later ... the season in between cancelled because of a lockout. I think she's better with it now, though I'd like to think that some Sun Belt fans aren't all bad. Admittedly, any victory parade won't compare to what will happen on Yonge Street if the Leafs ever get the Cup back to the Centre of the Hockey Universe, but it won't be swept under the rug too quickly, either.

(And, in all fairness, the lack of Panthers and Hurricanes stuff in the NHL Store in Manhattan is a bit head-shaking.)

It stinks that a Canadian team hasn't won the Cup in 30 years, and I'll apologize to you about Peter Karmanos as many times as necessary. Obviously, I didn't have any input into Karmanos' decision to move the team ... and to track his BS, you'll understand that he did the organization no favors when he was controlling the pursestrings (JR pulled the right strings and he and Peter Laviolette got enough of the right players post-lockout and adapted to a game that was not going to tolerate as much hooking, obstruction and other such fun that had slowed the game down as a whole leading to the lockout). The idea of paying Eric Staal, Cam Ward and otherwise surrounding them with as many cheap players as possible to remain "a budget team" killed the organization for 10 years – leading many fans to turn unfairly on Eric Staal and Ward – though some moves by JR and a few by Ron Francis helped set up the core of the current roster for Don Waddell.

But yeah ... not too many fans, particularly north of the border and/or in Original Six markets, are going to think much of that piece. That SBJ piece will NOT quell the boos.

 

Sunny NHL playoffs: Every Stanley Cup semifinalist team is from the Sun Belt for the first time

 

Time to pull up stakes and hit the road. I hear Quebec is interested in having a team.

 

This may come as no surprise to our friends north of the border or hockey historians on the board, but I ran down a rabbit hole looking at the Maple Leafs history since 1967 and found it fascinating. We all know they haven't won a Cup in 56 years, but I guess I wasn't aware they haven't even played in a Stanley Cup final since then.

And over that timeframe, they've made just 5 appearances in the conference or NHL semi-finals. (Vegas has now accomplished that 4 times in their 6 year existence).

And it's not like they've been consistent league bottom feeders over that half century plus. 34 total playoff appearances--you'd figure somewhere in that many chances the pucks might have bounced right to land a finals run.

Sorry if I'm opening old wounds for our Ontario crew.

 

Houston could play in the West, so if this happens for 2023-24 that has appeal.

By all accounts, Bettman won’t let the presumptive Quebec owner, Pierre Karl Peladeau, into the club. To Bettman’s credit, PKP is an outspoken separatist d bag. He does accept PKP’s money for the French national TV rights though.

 

KC also could play in the west. I don't think they'll get it but I'd rather them than Houston.

 

Since they haven’t won a Cup (or been to a Final) since the Original Six days, all their Cups required just them to win just two rounds - the semis and the Final.

Therefore, the Leafs have never in their history won more than two playoff rounds in a single season.

By comparison, the Vegas Golden Knights won three rounds in…..*checks notes*……their first season.

 

Draft lottery rigged? Nah.
Elliotte doesn't think so, but many others do.

https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news...nnor-bedard-lottery-made-by-elliotte-friedman

 

No one credible thinks it's rigged. I used to work with someone who was in the room. I would trust him over most people, unless he's completely changed since our time as colleagues.

And if high-ranking league executives think it was rigged, they're literally too stupid to have their jobs. The NHL absolutely fucking hates that the Blackhawks won. Look at the shit they're getting from the other 31 fanbases.

 

If you're co-worker isn't Bettman or Daly, he is outranked and it doesn't have to be cleared through him.

 

He was a media observer. I thought that would be obvious from context.

 

Conspiracy: When statistics and probability meet the human ability to find patterns where none exist.