As you may have heard, the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs are about to get underway and, for only the second time since 2006-07, your Washington Capitals won’t be participating. While we’ll all miss that extra two weeks of Caps hockey to which we’ve grown accustomed in recent years, this year’s edition of the tournament is not without Caps-related storylines and is rife with old friends (and enemies).
So who should you be rooting for this time around? Glad you asked. Let’s count ‘em down in order, from the worst possible outcome to, “Well, someone had to win it…”
16. Pittsburgh Penguins Oops!
16. Carolina Hurricanes
Former Caps: None
Perhaps the most entitled team in recent memory, the hockey world has seemingly been waiting to coronate the ‘Canes for a decade but has only four playoff series wins to show for it (one of which quickly ended any thoughts Washington had of repeating as Cup Champs). They’re a top tier Caps rival right now, and it would be impossible for any Caps fan to see this team win and not feel nauseous.
15. New York Rangers
Former Caps: Jaroslav Halak (so… none)
This was a pretty loathsome club (especially for Caps fans) even before they added Patrick Kane. Maybe this is the year that the “great goalie, decent skaters sprinkled with past-their-expiration-date big-name vets” works out for them. But probably not!
14. New York Islanders
Former Caps: Stanley Cup Champion Lane Lambert (head coach), Semyon Varlamov
Speaking of New York and great goalies, the Isles. They play hard and disciplined (remnants of their own Barry Trotz era), but there’s not enough there to put a real scare into anyone. Maybe they should be higher on this list as prohibitive underdogs, but rooting for the Islanders in most situations would be gross.
13. Toronto Maple Leafs
Former Caps: Erik Gustafsson, Ilya Samsonov
The Sammycoaster has been, well, a pretty uneventful ride for Leafs fans so far. Hopefully that ends now-ish. Nothing against Samsonov, personally, but as a Caps fan, you have to hope that the team’s braintrust gets its player evaluations right more often than not, and if Ilya Samsonov were to suddenly have the mental and physical tools needed to go on a deep Cup run, it would evince a pretty big miss by the Caps’ front office. Rooting against Samsonov is essentially rooting for Brian MacLellan, and the latter is going to have a much bigger impact on the Caps’ future.
12. Bruins
Former Caps: Garnet Hathaway, Stanley Cup Champion Dmitry Orlov
The Bruins feel like they should be more hateable than they are, given the whole Brad Marchand of them. But they’re just a damn dominant club with some outstanding talents and a couple of recent ex-Caps. Still, it’s impossible to actively root for Boston fans’ happiness.
11. Panthers
Former Caps: Radko Gudas
The Panthers have two Staal brothers and dealt the Caps’ their most recent playoff loss. To hell with these guys.
10. Devils
Former Caps: Jonas Siegenthaler, Vitek Vanecek
Of the Caps’ old school division rivals, the Devils have typically been the least offensive (in more ways than one), with the exception of Pat Verbeek’s inexcusable filth. That may change now that they finally have their shit together, but it’s hard to gin up too much hate for this group right now. (Also, yes, the Caps sure could use a guy like Jonas Siegenthaler…)
9. Tampa Bay Lightning
Former Caps: None
Haven’t they won enough recently? On the plus side, another Tampa win would give far less joy to its spoiled-by-greatness fanbase than it would to other starving supporter groups, so there is that.
[Sidebar: Perhaps you’ve noticed that the first eight teams on the list are the eight Eastern Conference representatives. This is not a coincidence. It would be worse for ANY Eastern team to win the Cup than for ANY Western team to do so.
8. Minnesota Wild
Former Caps: Dean Evason (head coach), Marcus Johansson
Okay, maybe that sidebar is wrong as we’re presented with the idea of Ryan Reaves hoisting the Cup. Also, while Minnesota is obviously a great hockey state, “Wild” is frankly an embarrassing team name to envision going on the Cup.
7. Winnipeg Jets
Former Caps: Brenden Dillon, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Nate Schmidt
We’re firmly in the “indifference” range of the countdown. Winnipeg? Sure, whatever. It would be nice to see Nate Schmidt’s smile get even bigger (if that’s possible), and for a non-Montreal/Toronto team to break the Canadian Cup drought. Just imagine being able to be magically whisked away to Winnipeg. Hi. I’m in Winnipeg.
6. Los Angeles Kings
Former Caps: Pheonix Copley
Pheonix Copley is the fifth former Caps goalie on this countdown with one more still to come. That means that one-third of the teams in the playoffs this year will have an ex-Cap netminder. Kinda bonkers. As for the Kings themselves… sure?
5. Vegas Golden Knights
Former Caps: George McPhee (general manager), Bruce Cassidy (head coach), Stanley Cup Champion Chandler Stephenson
It’d be nice to see George McPhee (and Nate Ewell) win one. And it would be an epic, non-stop party. But… memories of 2018 remain fresh, and for some of us, seeing Vegas get another shot at the Cup would be annoying.
4. Dallas Stars
Former Caps: None
This poor team has the misfortune of sharing a city with the Cowboys of the NFL, so that’s enough reason to root for good things to happen to them. That aside, they have Jason Robertson, who is both delightful and uber-talented – worth a watch and worthy of rooting for, to be sure.
3. Edmonton Oilers
Former Caps: None
There’s nothing stupider in professional team sports than “The best player to never win a championship” discussions and the amount of blame a single superstar can take year after year after year for management’s failures to surround him with the players and coaches needed to be successful. Caps fans had to endure it with Alex Ovechkin for more than a decade, and Oilers fans are in a similar spot with Connor McDavid. Rooting for the Oilers is rooting to shut up countless old school hockey talking heads, and who isn’t in favor of that?
2. Colorado Avalanche
Former Caps: Stanley Cup Champion and Perfect Human Lars Eller
Nothing but good things should happen for and to Lars Eller for the rest of his life.
1. Seattle Kraken
Former Caps: Stanley Cup Champion Philipp Grubauer, Stanley Cup Champion Andre Burakovsky, Justin Schultz, Daniel Sprong
Let’s go, Washington? A Kraken win would make so many other fan bases angry at their own team’s ineptitude that it’d be worth seeing an expansion team that’s still in the honeymoon period win it all. And if the Caps aren’t going to win it, what more can we hope for than widespread angst?
I’m gonna root for the Bruins and Avs, but the Kraken would be ok too.
Now the Columbus Blue Jackets have fired their coach. It’s that time of the year for the coach merry-go-round to begin.
Go Stars or Avalanche.
I’m guessing all of you already know Lavy has been told he won’t be resigned.
Is the next coach really going to make a difference? I have my doubts…
FWIW, he actually quit.
Do we think he owed the players an exit interview? Or if he’d decided he didn’t want to return, was it better to just check out?
Never mind, they say he came in this morning to talk to the players.
He does the right thing. I wish he had more success here.
I went to a Kraken game last week when I was on vacation in Seattle and have adopted them as my second team, especially since my friends who live there are huge hockey fans. Playing Nirvana when they score. The jerseys are gorgeous. They’re a fun team to watch.
Great place to see a game. They did a good job with the remodel of the old Seattle Center Arena. The atmosphere is great and I agree that the color scheme and jerseys are nice. Not a fan of Nirvana however. I totally get it, because Nirvana, but I would have rather they used a Hendrix song.
More Hendrix would always be appreciated. And they should take the ice to “Rusty Cage,” and not just because Soundgarden was always my favorite Seattle band. I’d been to a basketball game at the old Seattle Center as a kid and am amazed it’s the same place and not a complete teardown.
I bump Winnipeg to 4, but the list looks solid to me. GO WEST
In other news, HCPL avoids getting fired by coming to agreeing to not go after the HC position next year. Now we need a new HC and hopefully a couple of assistants and staff.
At this point, with the Caps and Pens (thankfully!!!) out, I’ll be rooting for NYR, and NJD. I was raised a NYR fan from NJD territory. I also own a piece of NYR. There’s also no logic to fandom.
Overall, I’m hoping for entertaining hockey.
1) Kraken because I’m a Seattle guy.
2) Leafs for my son
3) Bruins for my other son
4) Oilers because of growing up in the 80’s
You’re forgetting Jeff Halpren on the list of former Caps for Tampa Bay
Ahhh it feels like a weight has been lifted off of me.
This is a great list and pretty much mirrors mine, except for Winnipeg and Edmonton who I would have much higher. The Canadian drought is hilarious and want it to continue to be hilarious.
https://twitter.com/JFreshHockey/status/1646897974578905088?cxt=HHwWgICwwe6–totAAAA
I know this has been posted here, but I’m having fun.
This basically means that they got fired for signing Malkin and Letang to keep the band together, doen’t it? That team hasn’t been a cup contender since the Caps knocked them out in 2018, and this firing seems to be a real over reaction.
?
I mean… have we been a cup contender since 2018?
Anybody but NYR, NYI, or CAR
Damn. I forgot Ryan Reaves was on the Wild. Up until now, I was kind of in their corner for the playoffs. Think I’m going to shift over to Seattle, now.
Go Wild!
This is a fun list.
To go along with the start highlighting the Pens, per their PR department “the Penguins have relieved President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke, General Manager Ron Hextall, and Assistant General Manager, Chris Pryor of their duties, it was announced today by Fenway Sports Group.”
My wife is a life long Devils fan, so this is easy for me.
Yeah I think I’m sticking with the Devils too since a good friend of ours has been a long suffering fan. He’a young enough to have missed the Devils’ dominant years in the 90s. He bought tickets to their first round already! He’s so excited!
Guys, the Devils last won the Cup in 2003. That’s not long suffering.
um, for some people 20 years is LONG suffering. I’m more than 3 times that age so if you want to to talk long…at least I got to see the Caps get the cup which from their existence in 1973 I didn’t see coming.
You’ve made my point.
I am your age, give or take. I wasn’t a hockey fan back in 1974, but if we want to go with the late 90’s (when my daughter got me into it), that’s your 20 years to the Cup, but that’s ONE Cup. Ever.
I’m just saying that 20 years can feel like a lifetime, but no sympathy from me.
My standard for “long suffering” is a drought longer in years than there are teams in the league (any league). Right now that’s 33 years. So not the Devils. Nor the Rangers. Yet.
Heheh ???? True in the lifetime of a franchise.
But at 30 years old and the only hockey fan in his family he feels like it’s long suffering.
Besides out of the other Met teams the Devils are the least objectionable to me. I really hate the other teams.
I’ll never root for the Devils after they beat an absolutely fantastic, high-scoring and entertaining Ottawa Senators team with their boring trap, defensive style in the 2003 Eastern Conference final.
Rooting for the Kraken, Winnipeg, and Edmonton this year, in that order. Eastern conference teams can all pound sand, for all I care.
Go Wild and Go Kraken
I would like the Wild to win it all. Dean Evason.
nice one
I’m sorry, I can’t root for a two year old team. Just can’t.
Agree that if not us, you pretty much can’t root for a team in the East, although part of me has sympathy for long-suffering Leafs fans.
I think I’d have to root for the Oilers, and then maybe Winnipeg?
Consider this my interim upvote
I think McPhee is now president of hockey ops for VGK and Kelly McCrimmon is the VGK GM.Go Bears!
The Leafs fans are quite deserving of a Cup…hard to not root for them in the East.
Counterpoint, yes it is. Keep the dry spell going.
https://twitter.com/Childrenfalls/status/1646817043336032257
Leafs at the altar of hockey nirvana.
Omg, I hope neither were physically hurt.