Winners and losers in the NHL shutdown
Who are the winners and losers from the NHL shutdown that abruptly ended the New York Rangers season and brought all professional sports to a halt?
Bad news does not affect everybody equally on the New York Rangers and in the entire NHL. So, while we have some spare time on our hands, let’s take a look at who benefits and who suffers the most with the loss of this season.
But first, a moment of silence for the ESPN.com score ticker, which was down to showing results in the Russian Premier League before finally calling it quits.
Losers: Teams
Tampa Bay Lightning – With 92 points, second best in the Eastern Conference, the Bolts looked to make people forget last year’s embarrassing first-round playoff exit. Now…not so much.
St. Louis Blues – Despite losing Vladimir Tarasenko to an injury that limited him to 10 games, the Blues had 94 points, second most in the NHL, and were expected to go deep into the playoffs. But the burn is soothed by the Stanley Cup they still possess as last year’s champions.
Boston Bruins – The Bruins led the NHL with 100 points and looked to secure this year’s President’s Trophy as well as revenge for last year’s Finals loss to the Blues. Instead, they are left echoing Charlie Brown’s friend, Linus. “Just wait ’til next year!” But championship windows can slam shut unexpectedly.
Philadelphia Flyers – Under first-year head coach Alain Vigneault and new acquisition Kevin Hayes (hmmm…those names sound familiar) the Flyers were a red-hot 9-1 in their last 10 games and streaking toward the playoffs. The Rangers have the skate marks on their chest to prove that. By the way, it’s now been 45 years since Philly won a Cup. Just sayin’. Next season might be a good time to try out a “Nineteen seventy-five!” chant to welcome them to the Garden. Or would that be inviting bad karma?
Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans – The Leafs (I still think it should be Leaves) haven’t won a Cup since 1967 and are getting close to the all-time NHL championship drought record, our beloved 54 years of Madison Square Garden futility. If it’s inconceivable that the Rangers couldn’t win a Cup in a 6-team league, then imagine how Canadian fans must feel. Think it was galling to live through the Long Island Dynasty? Toronto fans had to watch Edmonton win year after year. I mean, that’s like Binghamton having a better team than Manhattan. A championship team.
Losers: Players
Alexander Ovechkin and David Pastrnak – These two were locked in a battle for the most goals this season, tied with 48. More historically important, Ovechkin loses 13 regular season games, which might end up being a factor in the Great 8’s chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record.
Mika Zibanejad – Mika lost out on a shot at 50 goals and maybe the league lead. Hockey fans recently saw what he is capable of producing in a single game. Between the shutdown and his early-season injury, there’s no telling what numbers he might have racked up.
Ryan Strome – The Rangers’ forward had a career high 59 points (18 goals / 41 assists) and will become a restricted free agent in the off-season. Every puck hitting the net had to sound like the ringing of a cash register to him. He’s still set for a big pay raise next year.
Artemi Panarin – Would the Breadman have gone into total Yeast Mode and taken the Art Ross and Hart Trophies by force? We’ll never know.
Kaapo Kakko, Igor Shesterkin, and Julien ‘Kid’ Gauthier – It has to be considered a loss that the trio of rookies were cheated out of NHL-level action in their first season. Kakko has the tools to break out at any time, Gauthier was impressing a lot of people, and Igor was doing what he has done at every other level of hockey. Now, if we can only bribe the old gypsy woman and get her to take the fluke injury curse off him.
Now a look at who got something out of this mess.
Winners: Teams
The Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators, and Buffalo Sabres can consider this work stoppage the implementation of a slaughter rule, or in the case of the once-mighty Detroit Red Wings (17-49-5, 39 points and a goal differential of -122), a mercy killing. Somebody needed to smother their season with a pillow, One-Flew-Over-the Cuckoo’s-Nest style.
Oh, sorry. Uh…spoiler alert.
Winners: Players
Chris Kreider – His foot can stop feeling guilty for cracking under pressure, as the injury did not have a disastrous effect on the Ranger’s season.
Brendan Lemieux – His face and wallet both get a chance to heal. He might actually save money by not playing the rest of the games and incurring any more fines.
Brendan Smith – Maybe he likes flip-flopping between positions, but I’m going to list him as a winner because he no longer has to pretend to be a first-pair defenseman.
On a side note, if teams can retire a jersey, can they also retire a name? How about we put a moratorium on signing anybody named Brendan? We can revisit the issue in, oh…ten years. Maybe twenty.
Henrik Lundqvist – I debated where to put Hank. On the one hand, he doesn’t have to endure the ravages of the three-headed goalie monster, nor being thrust into games rusty and without the defensive effort other net-minders seemed to receive. But this situation might have increased the odds he never plays another game in the NHL. And that would be a shame.
Beyond sports
Obviously, and seriously, nearly everybody’s a loser in the current pandemic.
More than well-paid athletes, the workers at arenas depend on games and concerts for income. And people have always counted on sports to take their minds off bad times, such as New Orleans cheering for the Saints after Hurricane Katrina and New York after 9-11. Who can forget those first home Mets and Yankees games? Now, as a nation, as a world, we don’t even have that distraction except for discussion forums like this one and re-watching the Rangers’ Road to Victory DVD.
So, stay safe and use this time productively. And yes, for those who normally work long, hard days, binge-watching Netflix and extensive napping qualifies.
Future Ranger Morgan Barron honored. light. More