With the HHOF committee meeting tomorrow to pick the class of 2025, and a stellar crop of first-time candidates added to some impressive holdovers, it’s time to have the Hall debate. After all, half the point of a sport having a highest honor is for fans to argue over who deserves it and who falls just short.
When we talk about which kind of Hall a fan wants, we usually default to the old “small hall” debate, which basically amounts to just how high you want to set the bar, and inevitably ends with a fight over Bernie Federko. But there’s another way to look at it, and it’s the one we’ll focus on today: Which matters more, a player’s short-term peak or their long-term consistency?
Obviously, the ideal answer is “both”. But the players who are truly great for an extended period aren’t the ones we typically argue over. Joe Thornton and Zdeno Chara both had MVP/Norris peaks to go with long careers of sustained excellence. Both are also getting in on the first ballot, so there's no debate to be had. It's the fringe cases that usually force us to pick one side or the other. So, who you got?
Let’s look at this as a sliding scale, with five stops along the way.
The Hockey Hall of Fame will welcome seven new members this weekend, including three players from the men’s side. That’s one fewer than the committee is allowed to induct, meaning they didn’t run out of room; they just decided that some of the bigger names weren’t worthy.
Good. The Hall is supposed to be tough to get into, and we should be slamming the door on some of the names that just don’t deserve a spot.
At least, that’s the angle we’re taking today. I’m not necessarily a Small Hall guy, and I’ve spent plenty of time over the years making the cases for various stars. But I think there’s value in trying the other side sometimes, if only to force the supporters of certain stars to sharpen their arguments. So today, I’m going to make the case against 10 names that could be front and center when the HHOF committee holds their next meeting.
We tried this a while ago, with a list 15 players. That was two years’ worth of inductions ago, and four names from that piece have got the call: Mike Vernon and Tom Barrasso in 2023, then Jeremy Roenick and Pierre Turgeon this year. Apparently my other 11 arguments were just more convincing.
We won’t be doing any repeats this time around, so check that older post if you want to see my case against names like Rod Brind’Amour, Patrik Elias, Ryan Miller or anyone else you're expecting to see today but don't. This time, the group of 10 will be made up of some names that I left off last time, as well as a few new that are new to the mix. I won’t bother with a few players I think are easy slam dunks, including Zdeno Chara, Joe Thornton and Patrice Bergeron, and we’re not tackling anyone who isn’t eligible until 2027 or beyond, including anyone who's still active.
That still leaves us with plenty of names to consider, including several who’d probably have my vote. Here’s why none of them should make it – just for argument’s sake.
With the season just over a month away, it will be time to get back to real content soon. It’s been a fun summer of time-wasting challenges and random rankings, but soon it’s going to be time get serious.
Soon, but not quite yet. So today, we’re going to get to a topic that shows up in a lot of your requests: Superstar players, and the teams they never actually played for. Specifically, we’re looking for players who belonged to a team at some point, be it a few years or a few hours, but never suited up for them. Along the way, we should run into some interesting stories.
But first, a few ground rules™:
- We’re going to be building a 20-man roster out of 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies.
- We’re looking for overall star power. Normally this is the part where I give you the whole “only get credit for what a player did on your team” caveat, but… (gestures at entire concept). Full careers on this one.
- Finally, we’re limiting each team to one representative. Call this the Arizona Coyotes rule.
Sound good? Let’s do this. One full roster, full of stars who never played for the teams they were one.
We’ll start our squad with a Hall-of-Famer and all-time great, who’s also kind enough to be a simple example of what we’re looking for here. Six years before he arrived in Montreal and gave the Habs nearly a decade of Cup-winning goaltending, Ken Dryden was a Bruins third-round pick. Boston held onto him for all of three weeks before trading him to Montreal, and the rest was history. Unlike the Bruins, we’ll give him a chance as our starter.
The second goalie spot has a few worthy candidates. We could go with Tim Thomas, a Nordiques pick who never got a chance there. There’s also Olaf Kolzig, who was technically Maple Leafs property for a few weeks in 2009, or another not-quite-Leaf in Tuukka Rask. Or Mike Richter, a lifelong Ranger who was briefly a member of both the Predators and Oilers due to offseason shenanigans. Evgeni Nabokov was a Red Wing for a few hours before the Islanders sniped him off the waiver wire. The Canucks acquired John Vanbiesbrouck for a few days before the 1993 expansion draft. We could even dip back into very recent history to go with the Blue Jackets’ brief Jonathan Quick era. And the best of the bunch might be Henrik Lundqvist, who signed with the Capitals but was never healthy enough to suit up for them.
All else being equal, I’d go with Lundqvist here. But without giving too much away, I don’t want to use my Capitals slot this early. So instead, let’s go with Hall-of-Famer Eddie Belfour and his brief and forgotten two-day stint with the Nashville Predators in 2002. Yes, really.
On this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- Ryan and I have to record at night while the games are on
- Here us pronounce the Rangers dead when the Penguins make it 2-0
- Thoughts on Barry Trotz and Pierre McGuire
- We go through each of the eight first-round series
- The Habs and Devils win the draft lottery
- Award finalists are trickling in
- Patrick Marleau retires, and more...
Welcome back to the mailbag. It’s been a record-breaking week in the NHL and we’re all starting to shift into playoff mode, so let’s argue about some old guys, change some NHL history, laugh at the Canadian teams, and cover other vitally important topics.
Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and style.
With Patrick Marleau breaking Gordie Howe’s games played record, does that make him a lock for the Hall of Fame? He has always been a “Hall of Very Good” player in my mind, but that is a HUGE record to break and it seems strange not to induct the holder of a record like that into the HOF. – Andy S.
I love Hall of Fame debates. We did a bunch on the Puck Soup bonus this week, and I’d do them every week if I could. And Marleau’s a good one, so let’s get into it.
The case for is pretty straightforward. He’s about to hit 1,200 career points, and only a handful of guys who’ve crossed that barrier didn’t make the Hall. More impressively, if you adjust for era he ranks 29th all-time, and every single eligible player ahead of him is in. Now that he’s broken Howe’s record and mixing in the fact that everyone in the hockey world loves the guy, he’s an easy yes.
Except… he never won an award and was never a post-season all-star. He never even came close; in 23 seasons, he’s had just two years where he even finished higher than tenth in all-star voting. He was never in the “best at this position” conversation, and rarely even considered the best player on his own team. Instead, he was a classic compiler, the kind of guy who never feels like a generational star but hangs around long enough to rack up numbers.
Your view on Marleau in the HHOF is going to align closely with your view on what the Hall should be. If you’re a small Hall type of fan, he’s a no. If you’re a little more forgiving, you can find a spot for him. Personally, I lean to the small side of the argument, and I don’t think I’d have him on my ballot, even with the games record. But as I’ve said with guys like Dave Andreychuk and Mark Recchi, sometimes a compiler hangs around long enough and the numbers get so big that you have to give them a look. And in a physical game like hockey, sticking around is a skill worth recognizing. If you have him on your ballot, I get it.
I strongly suspect that this is all moot, because he’s going to get in, and probably on the first ballot. He’s too well-liked, and the games record is a big point in his favor. But Eric Duhatschek didn’t sound so sure, and he knows a little bit about how the Hall voters think. We’ll see, but if you’re a hard no on Marleau, you may as well start preparing yourself now, because I think he gets in.
Who would be better: Gordie Howe on a modern team, or Patrick Marleau in Howe’s era? – Shaun R.
I see what you’re doing here. You’re trying to take my longstanding “anyone from today’s NHL would dominate anything from the 1980s back” and flip it around to make me say something bad about Canadian icon Gordie Howe. It won’t work.
On this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- Patrick Marleau sets the all-time games played record
- Is he a Hall-of-Famer?
- The Canucks come back and maybe make a playoff run
- Taylor Hall looks good in Boston
- Which bubble teams we'd most like to see make it
- Remembering great athletes we saw before they were stars
- Another disappointing NHL statement, do sports wives bet on their husbands, a game show and more...
The week after the trade deadline can always feel like a bit of a letdown, in that day-after-your-birthday sort of way. You get one month of increasingly frantic trade rumors, the big day finally arrives, and then it’s over and you’re left with one more month of regular season hockey. There are still playoff races to watch, but those won’t be settle for a few weeks at least, so it might feel like there isn’t much to be excited about.
Not this year, though, because we’ve got something extremely rare to celebrate: A major record being set. Patrick Marleau has tied Gordie Howe on the all-time games played list, and will pass him tonight.
OK, yes, “celebrate” might be a little strong for a small segment of fans. I know that some have mixed feelings about Howe’s mark being broken by Marleau, a Hall-of-Very-Good type of player who might not feel worthy of removing hockey royalty from the record book. When I wrote about the record at the start of the season, and how close Marleau was to breaking it, I heard from plenty of fans who had no idea the record would fall this year. Some of them thought it was cool, others weren’t so sure.
I’m guessing most of us have warmed up to the idea by now. Marleau is, by just about all accounts, a legitimately good guy who’s loved by his teammates and just about everyone else who isn’t Jeremy Roenick. And this is one hell of a tough record to break, which is why so many of us grew up assuming Howe’s record would stand forever. Considering how many games Marleau has lost to lockouts and COVID-shortened seasons, it’s amazing that he managed to get here.
From my perspective as a history nerd, the coolest thing about this is that it’s happening at all. Games played is, without a doubt, a major record. Do you realize how long it’s been since somebody set a major career mark for skates? Not at a specific position, or in some minor category nobody knows about. I’m talking the big stuff – games, goals, assists, points, etc.
It’s been a long time. Wayne Gretzky has owned the points record since 1989-90, goals since 1993-94, and assists since 1987-88. Larry Robinson has had the career plus/minus mark since 1984-85. Tiger Williams had held the PIM record since all the way back in 1981-82. Even some of the non-Gretzky scoring records go back a long way, like Dave Andreychuk’s powerplay goal record (2002-03) or Ray Bourque’s shots on goal mark (1997-98). Most of the goalie records are more recent, since they took over the sport in mid-90s. But for skaters? It’s basically been a generation since a major career record has fallen.
Tonight, it will. That’s kind of cool. Tune in to watch it happen, because it may be a while until we see something like this again. (Or it might be a warmup for Alexander Ovechkin catching Gretzky’s goal record in a few years.)
On to this week’s rankings, which won’t set any records, but do include a new team in the top five and a very old one that might be about to leave the bottom five…
In the Friday Grab Bag:
- So you want more scoring but won't make the nets bigger. Cool, I've got some idea...
- A simple request about the draft lottery debate
- An obscure player who may have gone to Alcatraz
- The three comedy stars
- And a YouTube look back at teenaged Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Roberto Luongo
With the playoffs starting this weekend, its time to break out an annual tradition: The yearly OGWAC rankings, in which we honor the noble tale of the Old Guy Without a Cup. The OGWAC is always a great story, and the sight of one finally getting his hands on the big trophy is guaranteed to tug at any fan’s heartstrings. Whether it’s Ray Bourque, Lanny McDonald, Teemu Selanne or last season’s Jay Bouwmeester, the grizzled OGWAC is a playoff tradition, and a concept we like to revisit every year around this time.
Well, not really “around this time,” because we usually do all this in April. Things are somewhat different this year, as you may have noticed. And that means that in addition to being three months late with this year’s column, we’ve also got a much larger field of teams to contend with. And you know what that means: More OGWACs! We’ll bump the list up to 25 names this year, just to make sure we don’t leave any of the best candidates out.
To qualify for this year’s list a player must be at least 33 years old by the time the Cup is awarded in October, have played in the league for at least 10 years and be expected to play in this year’s tournament. That leaves several teams without an OGWAC and a few others whose best options won’t make the cut. Other teams have a ton of candidates, so we’re going to limit each team to a max of two entries on this year’s list. As always, preference will be given to older players that have a realistic shot at winning this year and have suffered through painful near-misses or otherwise have some sort of dramatic story to draw on.
Competition is tight this year, especially since a certain OGWAC mainstay didn’t get traded at the deadline like he was supposed to and it made him sad and everyone involved in that decision should be sent to jail. But it’s fine, don’t worry about, we’re not holding any grudges here at OGWAC headquarters.
As the old saying goes, first place on the OGWAC list is the hardest trophy to win in all of sports. I think that’s what the saying is, I wasn’t really paying attention. On to this year’s list …
25. Mats Zuccarello, Wild
It feels weird to think of him as old, but this is his 10th season and he turns 33 in September. He’s also a popular player who had a close call with the Rangers in 2014 and some recent adversity with last year’s broken arm. There’s also a good chance that you’d completely forgotten he plays for the Wild now, so I can’t rank him too highly, but he deserves a mention.
24. Braydon Coburn, Lightning
Coburn may not be a star, but he’d make for a classic OGWAC story. At 35, he’s been around for 15 seasons and has had plenty of deep playoff runs, including trips to the Final with the 2010 Flyers and 2015 Lightning. The big question is whether he’ll see enough ice time to be an important part of this year’s Lightning push.
23. Carey Price, Canadiens
I know there’s a few of you double-checking right now, but yes, Price qualifies this year — the 13-season veteran turns 33 in a few weeks. We’ll see if the Habs are even still playing then, but for now, he barely makes the cut as the only former MVP on our list. I can’t rank him very high, in part because the Habs are a longshot to go very far. But if he proves all those scared GMs right and turns into the monster behind the diner, he’d be a fun story. If not, well, according to his contract he still has at least six more years of elite goaltending ahead of him, so it’s fine.
22. Marc Staal, Rangers
Staal just turned 33 this year, and his 13 seasons in New York include a near-miss in the 2014 Final. On most teams, that would make him a strong candidate. He’s still a solid pick for the Rangers, but there’s a better one we’ll meet a little further down the list.
21. Keith Yandle, Panthers
Yandle feels like one of those guys where you could tell me he’s 27 or that he’s 36 and I’d believe you. He’s actually 33, and 14 years into an NHL career that’s included a trip to the conference finals with the 2015 Rangers. He’s only won one playoff game since then, and the Panthers have a long road ahead of them, so don’t get too attached, but he makes the list.
20. Nathan Gerbe, Blue Jackets
The diminutive center has always been a great story, and he just barely qualifies for OGWAC status this year, having turned 33 last week in his 10th NHL season. The Blue Jackets are a long-shot to win it all, and Gerbe has some work to do to earn a regular spot in the lineup, but admit it — you’d love to see Nick Foligno turn and hand the Cup to him. Or just hold it over his head and make him jump for it.
We’re into holiday mode, where everything is supposed to be about peace and goodwill. Love thy neighbor and that sort of thing.
That’s nice and all, but it can be tough for hockey fans, who are preconditioned to be mad at just about everything. Pretty soon we’ll hit the Christmas trade freeze, meaning we can’t even sit around and imagine that bum who’s clogging up our team’s salary cap being traded for a ransom of picks and prospects. Now you want us to be nice to the jerks on the other teams too? It’s a rough time of year when you’re a diehard hockey fan who hates everyone.
Well, almost everyone. Because at any given time, there are always a few players who just about everyone seems to like. It’s been a rough few years for that crowd, as we’ve said goodbye to guys like Roberto Luongo, Pavel Datsyuk, Teemu Selanne and Jarome Iginla. But that just creates some extra room on the nice list.
Today, let’s get into the holiday spirit with a list of the ten players in the NHL that nobody can hate. (And then the reasons why maybe you can hate them just a little.)
Connor McDavid
Why almost everyone loves him: First of all, he’s the best player in the league, with maybe the most pure skill since Mario Lemieux. Even in a league with more dominant young talent than ever before, McDavid still occasionally does things that you’ve never seen, or ever thought possible. He’s one of the rare players who’d be worth paying full price just to watch on his own and brings back that pre-Dead Puck Era feeling of excitement you used to get whenever a star player had the puck on his stick.
Second of all, he’s signed long-term in Edmonton, so the sympathy factor is off the charts.
The one group that still kind of hates him: Flames fans get a pass, as they do for any Oiler. Beyond that, nobody really dislikes him, although you get the sense that there’s an undercurrent of aggravation from other fan bases who keep waiting for him to stomp out of Edmonton and demand a trade. Come on, they’re terrible, and he looked vaguely sad at his draft lottery. Surely he wants to play somewhere else. Specifically, for my favorite team. Come on Connor, blink twice if you want us to send in a chopper to airlift you out.
Patrick Marleau
Why almost everyone loves him: He’s been around forever, his speed means he’s been fun to watch over the years and he always seems disturbingly happy. He became the team father figure in Toronto – literally – and then headed home to San Jose to finish out his career. Plus he’s still chasing that elusive Stanley Cup, and everybody loves a good OGWAC story. Uh, please don’t check the standings to see how that quest is going for him.
The one group that still kind of hates him: Nobody right now, although we’ll save a spot for Leaf fans when they miss the playoffs and end up having to send the 11th overall pick to the Hurricanes for getting out of the last year of his contract. Also, it’s going to be kind of weird if he sticks around next year and ends up breaking Gordie Howe’s all-time games played record. See, you didn’t realize that was going to happen, and now you feel just a little conflicted, right?
Marc-Andre Fleury
Why almost everyone loves him: He’s a former first overall pick who’s smiled his way through a very good NHL career, without ever being so dominating that you resented him. He was part of three Cup winners in Pittsburgh, then handled what could have been a tricky Matt Murray situation and eventual exit with class and good humor. That was supposed to lead to him spending his last few years getting shelled for the expansion Knights, but instead, he’s played some of the best hockey of his career while leaning hard into his likable personality to sell the game in a new market.
The one group that still kind of hates him: Man, I’m not even sure. That Sharks/Knights rivalry is pretty solid, so maybe you allow San Jose fans to sneer at him just a bit. Beyond that, his only natural enemy at this point are Canadians who still aren’t over how the 2004 World Juniors ended and Hall of Fame sticklers who’ll be mad when he makes it in on the first ballot.
In this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- Reacting to this week's HHOF announcement
- Our thoughts on who'll be next, including one player I think just moved into the "sure thing" category
- Our thoughts on the draft, the PK Subban trade,the Marleau deal and more...
- This whole Mitch Marner recap and why it might be about to get worse
- Saying goodbye to Roberto Luongo and Bob McCown
- Ryan and I face off in a quiz over what actually happened during the 2018-19 season
- And more...
The Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee will meet today, and within a few hours we’ll know the identity of the Class of 2019. It’s an interesting mix this year, with only one sure thing (Hayley Wickenheiser) and only one new candidate on the men’s side who seems like a possible first-ballot pick (Patrik Elias, and that’s probably a stretch).
That could mean we get a small class this year, maybe even one that only includes Wickenheiser on the player side. Or it could leave the door open for some of the many candidates who built up a decent case but have yet to hear their name called. That would include guys like Curtis Joseph, Jeremy Roenick, Theo Fleury, Sergei Zubov, Alexander Mogilny … the list is a long one.
But one of my favorite angles to take is to look at active players who are shaping up as tough calls. I did that a few years ago, in a list that included Elias. Only two of those players are still active, and one (Roberto Luongo) seems like a safe pick now. So it’s time for an update.
Today, we’re going to look at a half-dozen players whose careers are on track to make for tricky Hall of Fame calls. We can’t predict the future, but each of these players is on pace to build a plausibly Hall-worthy resume without getting into no-doubt territory, although one or two are pretty close.
We’re looking for players who’ve been around – let’s say at least a dozen years of NHL experience – but haven’t already stamped their ticket. We know that stars like Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Zdeno Chara and Joe Thornton are already in, even if they never play another game. Those won’t be long discussions when they get to the induction committee. I want the guys who are going to cause a few arguments.
To be clear, these aren’t the only players worth talking about, and if you don’t see your favorite player listed it’s not because I don’t think he has any chance. These are just six of the guys that seem like they’d be fun to debate. And by “debate” I mean yell at each other about in the comments, and by “fun” I mean the opposite of fun. Let’s get started.
Nicklas Backstrom
Why it’s a tough one: Can you be a Hall of Famer if you were never considered the best player on your own team? Yes, because lots of guys have been, including no-doubters like Jari Kurri and Paul Coffey and more recent picks like Dave Andreychuk and Dino Ciccarelli. But fair or not, Backstrom has spent his entire career playing second-fiddle to Alexander Ovechkin, and that perception could muddy the waters.
The case for: Backstrom’s still just 31 and barely hits our 12-year cutoff, so we’re going to have to do some projecting here. But he’s one of the best playmakers of his generation – he already ranks fourth in assists among active players, ahead of names like Evgeni Malkin, Jason Spezza and Anze Kopitar who’ve been around longer. Ovechkin could go down in history as the greatest goal scorer of his generation, and Backstrom will have had a lot to do with that.
On top of that, Backstrom is a solid two-way player who’s finished as high as seventh in Selke voting, and he’s been remarkably consistent through his 12-year career, including posting 70-plus points every year since the 2013 lockout. And now that he’s got his Cup ring, any lame narratives about the Caps not knowing how to win can’t haunt him.
The case against: Assists are important but goals get the glory, and Backstrom has never been a great scorer; he might struggle to even get to 350 for his career. He’s never won an award or been a finalist, and his highest finish in post-season all-star voting was third.
Worth remembering: Other noted playmakers like Adam Oates and Doug Gilmour eventually made it in, but each had to wait and it looked iffy for a while – and they both had over 1,400 career points.
Should he get in? It’s all going to depend on where his numbers end up. He won’t hit Oates or Gilmour territory, but he won’t have to because of the era he played in. Would 1,200 be enough? I think it might, especially if he continues to get credit for solid defensive play.
Will he get in? Right now, he ranks sixth among active players in points per game, and all five ahead of him look like likely (or sure-thing) Hall of Famers. Check back in five years, but his case is tracking stronger than you non-Caps fans might think.
The best kind of NHL Draft is one that surprises us. We spend weeks and months figuring out exactly what should happen, and who’s going to wind up where and it’s always more fun to be wrong. Whether it’s a big trade, an off-the-board pick, or some unexpected breaking news, the best draft weekend moments are the ones that leave you wondering what just happened.
How did the 2019 edition do? The short answer: Not bad. For the longer answer, let’s break out the surprise scale and see just how good a job this year’s draft did of delivering the unexpected.
Gary Bettman gets booed
Fans booing is part of the fun of the first round. There are even parts of the evening that seem specifically designed to encourage it, like the traditional roll call that seems to be there just so the local fans can boo the teams they hate the most. (This year’s winners: Toronto and Boston, with honorable mention to Chicago, Edmonton and Calgary.)
But the main event is always Gary Bettman, who continues to insist on appearing in front of fans who clearly don’t want to see him. This year’s reception was especially bad, as we all knew it would be. The fans gave it to him with both barrels when he first appeared; while you could hear him on TV, he was completely drowned out in the arena. The boos continued all Friday night as he did that weird thing where he shows up between every pick to tell us who’s next even though we can all see the giant logo on the scoreboard.
Surprise scale: 0/100. Only because the scale doesn’t go any lower.
Bettman brings backup
In an admittedly funny bit, Bettman responded to the initial wave of boos by acting flustered, trying to talk over them and eventually wandering away from the podium. The crowd loved that, thinking that they’d actually driven him off the stage, only to see him return with reinforcements: Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
I mean, there’s really no way to sugarcoat this. This was a full-fledged heel turn by the Sedins, right? They just aligned themselves with the sworn enemy of their fan base. This is the NHL equivalent of Stone Cold shaking hands with Vince McMahon. Sorry, Canucks fans, the Sedins hate you now. That’s just how this works.
In related news, how great would it have been if Bettman had come back out with Mark Messier instead?
Surprise scale: 22.33/100
The top two picks
There wasn’t much intrigue around the top two picks, beyond some mild (and mostly forced) speculation over whether the Devils might throw a curveball and go with Kaapo Kakko over Jack Hughes. They didn’t, making the expected pick with Hughes and the Rangers grabbed Kakko. So far, so good.
In this week's episode of the Puck Soup podcast:
- Where we're at after four games of a pretty darn good Cup final
- What's next for Taylor Hall?
- Figuring out what the Leafs do with Mitch Marner, Paatrick Marleau aand Nikita Zaitsev
- Apparently Erik Karlsson is going back to the Senators
- That crazy ECHL stolen trophy story
- Pop culture talk about The Office, Star Wars vs. MCU, Bill Goldberg and more
- Sean Avery is a hockey insider now
- And we open up the mailbag for listeners to ask us anything
We may be just a few days away from deciding the most important title in the NHL.
No, not “Stanley Cup champion.” Those come and go. This is something bigger and more enduring. We’re talking about the title of the most miserable franchise in the entire league. Which team has done the most to torture its fan base over the years?
For a long time, there was a fairly easy answer. It was the Washington Capitals, a franchise that had built a reputation for finding new and exciting ways to raise expectations and then brutally crush them. Whether it was blowing 3-1 series leads, or losing quadruple overtime game sevens, or winning Presidents’ Trophies only to lose to a hot goalie or to the Penguins or to a hot goalie on the Penguins, the Capitals were the undisputed kings of hockey misery.
But then last year, it all came crashing down. They actually went out and won a Stanley Cup. It was confusing and even a little frightening. And it left the hockey world wondering: Which team has the best claim to the vacated throne?
The Canucks certainly have a strong case, one bolstered by nearly a half-decade without a title that includes two heart-breaking Game 7 losses in the final. The Sabres would be right there with them, with a Cup-losing goal that shouldn’t have counted highlighting their resume. The Maple Leafs could be in the mix too since their last Cup came before most of today’s fans were alive. Maybe you work in some consideration for fans in places like Winnipeg, Minnesota or Ottawa.
But the two teams that have to be near the top of just about any list are the St. Louis Blues and the San Jose Sharks. Those two teams have spent the last few decades doing what miserable teams do: Being pretty good just about every season, convincing their weary fan base that this just might be the year and then having something horrible happen to crush those hopes and dreams.
As a lifelong Maple Leafs fan, I know a thing or two about misery. And I think there’s a strong case to be made that when it comes to taking over the Capitals’ crown, the Sharks and the Blues are the two best candidates we have. But which one should earn the honors? That’s a tough call. As we wait for the two teams to face off in Game Six of the Western Conference final, let’s compare their cases in a head-to-head battle with even bigger stakes.
How long are we talking about?
True misery isn’t a short-term game, but a slow drip that builds over time. It’s not about a moment or a series or even a season. We’re looking for decades here.
The Sharks: San Jose entered the league as an expansion team (sort of) back in 1991, which doesn’t seem like all that long ago to some of us but actually puts the Sharks right around the middle of the current league in terms of longevity in their market. We are all so old.
They were historically awful for their first two years. But when you’re talking about their history of misery, you’re really starting the clock right around 2001, when they crack the 90-point mark for the first time and start heading into the postseason with expectations. That kicks off a long run of regular season success that’s still going to this day, with only two playoff misses in nearly two decades. But of course, no Cup.
The Blues: The Blues came into the league in the 1967 expansion and were the first quasi-success story among the half-dozen new teams. They won the all-expansion West Division in each of its first three years, earning trips to the Cup final each time but never winning. They didn’t have much success in the 1970s but had turned things around by the start of the 1980s.
That’s when the Blues really became the Blues – which is to say, a perfectly respectable regular season team that never seemed to do all that much in the playoffs. From 1979-80 through to the 2005 lockout, the Blues made the playoffs every year. That’s 25 straight seasons, the same as what the Red Wings pulled off in their much-hyped streak. And yet I’m guessing some of you may have never even heard of the Blues streak because it didn’t deliver any Cups or even any final appearances and only two trips out of the second round. The St. Louis Blues: Just kind of there™.
Misery edge: This one’s a pretty easy call as (furiously punches numbers into his calculator) 52 years is more than 28. The Sharks’ case here is that they may have had more seasons with serious expectations; they’ve had nine 100+ point seasons since 2001, compared to eight for the Blues since 1980. But St. Louis still takes this one.
Signature heart-breaking moment
Every truly miserable fan base has a few of those plays that they still can’t watch without wanting to whip the remote through the TV.
The Sharks: This ends up being a tougher call than you might think, for reasons we’ll get to down below. But for sheer hands-over-head disbelief, it’s hard to beat the way they were eliminated by the Canucks in the 2011 conference final.
That’s just the hockey gods toying with you right there.
The Blues: It’s the opening round of the 2000 playoffs and the Blues have just captured their first and only Presidents’ Trophy. They’re heavy favorites over the eighth-seeded Sharks, but the underdogs have stretched the series to a seventh game. And then, with seconds left in the first period in front of 19,000 stunned fans, this happens:
That ends up being the winning goal and the best season in franchise history ends in Round 1.
Misery edge: For creativity, it’s the Sharks for sure. But for actual psyche-scarring misery, the Blues get the nod here.
The first two rounds of the playoffs are over, and we’ve made it through one of the most unpredictable and outright shocking months of postseason action we’ve ever seen. Twelve teams are out and four more are on to the conference final, just eight wins away from the sport’s ultimate prize. So you know what time it is now.
No, not time to celebrate the accomplishments of the winners. Ew. Is this your first day here?
No, we’re hockey fans, so we’re going to do what we do best: Point and yell “SHAME” at those who have displeased us. So today, let’s assemble a full roster’s worth of playoff disappointment. These are the players who didn’t live up to expectations once the postseason started, and may now be part of the reason their team isn’t playing anymore.
And why did they let us down? (Ignores that one guy with a pocket protector shouting “Small sample size!”) That’s right – they didn’t want it bad enough. Try harder next time, guys, and everything will work out fine. Consider it a lesson learned.
Like all great teams, we’ll build from the net out. Please welcome your 2019 All Playoff Disappointment Team.
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning: Spoiler alert – Vasilevskiy won’t be the only Lightning player to show up on this list. And in a sense, that should shield him from some criticism, since a goalie is only as good as the team in front of him. But the series between the Lightning and Blue Jackets was closer than you probably remember it, and an extra save here or there could have at least extended it, if not changed the outcome. The Lightning never seemed to get that save. Put it this way: So far, 17 goalies have started at least one playoff game, and 16 of them have posted a save percentage over .900. The 17th is Vasilevskiy, with a downright ugly .856.
Matt Murray, Penguins: The story of the Islanders’ surprising sweep over the Penguins was how Pittsburgh just couldn’t ever seem to hold any momentum. They’d score a big goal, you’d think “OK, here we go,” and then the Islanders would come right back down and score almost immediately. Those goals weren’t always Murray’s fault, but some sure were, and the Penguins were always going to need something more than .906 goaltending to get past Robin Lehner and the Islanders.
Missed the cut: Martin Jones looked like he had a spot on this team all wrapped up after the first week, but he’s been fantastic ever since. Pekka Rinne has a stronger case, and he certainly didn’t get that redemption he was looking for after last year’s disastrous finish. But he had three games where he was .950 or better, including 49 saves in the OT loss that ended the Predators’ season. And unlike Murray or Vasilevskiy, at least he won a game. Marc-Andre Fleury did too, and would have won a series if the Knights could kill off a penalty.
First pair
Kris Letang, Penguins: You can’t accuse him of not showing up, as he averaged over 27 minutes a game. But in a series where the Penguins always seemed one goal away from turning things around, their only high-scoring defenseman managed just one assist. Worse, he was front and center on several key goals against, as his aggressive style seemed to backfire just about every time. As Letang himself pointed out, you can’t just tell an offensive defenseman not to make mistakes. But when your style is high risk/high reward, sometimes you wind up high on the list of goats.
Jacob Trouba, Jets: In what could be his last games in a Jets uniform, Trouba had a rough series against the Blues. His offense dried up, to the tune of just one assist in six games. But his most memorable moment came in his own end, where a disastrous decision may have been the series turning point.
OK, kids. Hike up your pants around your armpits, hang an onion from your belt and park your walker over by rotary phone, because it’s time for the annual OGWAC rankings.
For you newbies, an OGWAC is that beloved species of hockey player whose story everyone loves to hear during the playoffs: the Old Guy Without a Cup. He’s the grizzled veteran who’s been around forever and has probably come agonizingly close a time or two, but he doesn’t have a ring and he’s running out of time. Everyone’s rooting for him, and if his team does win it all, he usually gets the honor of being the first in line for the Cup handoff.
The greatest OGWAC story of all-time is Ray Bourque in 2001, one that still makes the toughest hockey fan you know cry a little. Others include Teemu Selanne in 2007, Lanny McDonald in 1989 and Kimmo Timonen in 2015. Last season’s OGWAC story was Alexander Ovechkin, who was a little young for the honor but has somehow had grey hair for five years, so we’ll allow it.
I’ve been breaking down the annual OGWAC rankings going back to the Grantland days and the format hasn’t changed much. It doesn’t need to, because the OGWAC is timeless. Or so I thought. Because this year, I’m starting to wonder if we don’t need something new.
I think we might need to introduce the OGWACWIT: The Old Guy With a Cup Who Isn’t Thornton.
After all, there isn’t really a ton of suspense about the top spot in these rankings. Joe Thornton has emerged as one of the league’s most lovable characters and will be a no-questions-asked Hall-of-Famer as soon as he’s eligible. But he’s about to turn 40 and has battled injuries in recent years. He’s almost at the end of the road and still doesn’t have his ring. He’s pretty much the archetypal OGWAC right now.
Even as wait to see if last night’s high hit on Tomas Nosek gets him suspended, Thornton is going to rank at the top of our list. Sorry for the spoiler. But there are plenty of other guys who are worth a mention too. Let’s count down the best stories of the Cupless guys who a.) are at least 33 years old; b.) have played at least ten seasons; c.) are in the playoffs and either playing or at least have a chance to at some point.
With the criteria set, let’s get to the rankings. We’re going to need a top 15 this time, because for reasons I’m not quite clear on, there are just a ton of great OGWAC candidates this year. And even a few OGWACWITs.
15. Dan Hamhuis, Predators
Hamhuis is a nice starting point because he’s basically the classic OGWAC story. He’s 36, has played 15 seasons and won’t have too many more shots at this. And of course, he had an agonizing near-miss in 2011 with the Canucks. That loss was especially tough for Hamhuis, since he was hurt in the first game of the final and didn’t play again. He hasn’t won a playoff round since.
This year’s Predators are an especially loaded OGWAC team, as we’ll see a little bit further down. That hurts Hamhuis’s standing just a bit, but he’s still worthy of a spot on our list.
14. Matt Hendricks, Jets
Hendricks is a bit of a tricky call. On the one hand, he’s a 37-year-old role player and his teammates love him. And unlike some of the other players on this list, this really does seem like his last shot at a Cup. On the other, there’s a good chance we won’t see him suit up for the Jets during this run – he barely played down the stretch and is really here to be a veteran leader as opposed to an on-ice contributor. In terms of the Jets who matter during this postseason, Hendricks doesn’t rank that high.
Still, it’s a long way to a Stanley Cup, and if the Jets can get past the Blues and go deep, you never know who they might need. And if Hendricks was in the lineup for a Cup win, he’d be close to a guaranteed first handoff. We’ll rank him here and hope against hope that his case gets stronger in the weeks to come.
13. Blake Comeau, Stars
Comeau’s the youngest player on our list, having just turned 33 in February. But he’s had the classic journeyman career that can make for a great OGWAC story, playing 13 seasons for six teams and never having seen the second round of the playoffs. In fact, he’s only ever been part of six playoff wins, including Game 1 against the Predators.
We can’t rank him too high since he’s presumably got more runway left than most of the other guys on this list. But let’s consider him an OGWAC prospect to keep an eye on.
Alex Ovechkin has heard it for just about his entire NHL career: He can’t win the big one.
Sure, he can rack up the stats and personal accolades during the regular season, winning Rocket Richards and Hart Trophies almost at will. But when it’s all on the line, either in the Stanley Cup playoffs or the Olympics, he can’t get it done. Everyone knows it. He’s basically the NHL’s poster child for coming up small when it matters most.
But now, Ovechkin has finally led the Capitals to the final, and he’s three wins away from a championship. He and the Caps will have their work cut out for them against the Golden Knights, but they’ve defied expectations all spring. And if they do pull it off and Ovechkin gets his skate with the Cup, the NHL’s can’t-win-the-big-one squad will need a new leader.
So today, let’s run through the rest of the NHL and figure out which players are in the best position to take over Ovechkin’s role as the star player who just doesn’t have what it takes to earn a ring. As it turns out, there are plenty of candidates. We’ll count down 10 options.
10. Patrick Marleau, Maple Leafs
Marleau’s name doesn’t come up all that often in these discussions, partly because he seems like such a nice guy. But the reality is that he’s now 20 seasons into his career and is still chasing his first championship. Most of that time was spent with the Sharks, a team that’s established a reputation for falling short of expectations in the post-season. This year, Marleau made the jump to the Maple Leafs in what some saw as an attempt to get closer to that elusive ring, only to see San Jose go further into the post-season than Toronto did.
Marleau’s playoff numbers are reasonably good, down only slightly from his regular-season production, and he’s at least played in a final. But with over 1,500 career games played without ever winning the sport’s ultimate prize, he has to be on our list.
9. Pekka Rinne, Predators
There are a couple of goaltenders who’ll rank higher on our list than Rinne, and we’ll get to them in a moment. But the Predators’ star is well worth a mention, even on the heels of what figures to be a Vezina-winning season.
Rinne has had some very good playoff runs in his 10-season career, including last year’s trip to the final that saw him post a .930 save percentage. But others have been decidedly average, and he’s coming off a rough 2018 run that ended in disaster, with him yanked from Game 7 against the Jets after giving up two softies in just over 10 minutes. That’s the kind of performance that creates questions even after an excellent season, and it will be interesting to see how much confidence the Predators still have in their suddenly beleaguered star.
8. Maybe nobody?
Hear me out. Maybe the whole “He can’t win the big one” narrative was fatally flawed from the start, not just for Ovechkin but for everyone it was ever applied to. And maybe instead of looking for an heir apparent for Ovechkin’s crown, we should use his appearance in the final as an excuse to drop the whole concept altogether.
In the Friday Grab Bag:
- We'll miss the Islanders now that they have to move to Houston
- A look at that fantastic list of the all-time best NHL captains
- An obscure player who shares a birthday with the league
- The week's three comedy stars
- And a YouTube reminder that it could be worse for the Senators, since at least Earl McRae isn't around to viciously body-bag them
In the Friday Grab Bag:
- Debating the NHL's top 100 list that we're all going to hate
- There's something very strange about the music acts the NHL booked for the all-star game
- The most obscure player to ever score four goals in a game
- This week's three comedy stars, featuring an f-bombing ref
- And a look back at what's quite possibly the best piece of marketing the NHL has ever produced
Puck Soup is a podcast featuring me and Ryan Lambert. We release one free episode each week during the season, plus mailbags and other bonus episodes for Patreon subscribers.
"Biscuits" was the Vice Sports hockey podcast, hosted by DGB and Dave Lozo. It ran for two seasons; the final episode was in July, 2018. You can find the archives below:
