The Rite of Spring

[Kevin W.]

He meant oldest team never to win the Cup.

[BigBubba]

45 years without a Cup is 45 years without a Cup. At the very least, St. Louis/LA have the excuses of being expansion teams. I get it now.

[njmeadowlanders]

Oldest to not win is not the same as longest drought.

[NJTank]

Oldest to not win is not the same as longest drought.

But in this case its a tie

[IceCap]

Oldest to not win is not the same as longest drought.

But in this case its a tie

Not really Tanker.

The Leafs have a Cup. Thirteen in fact. They haven't won one since 1967, but they have won Cups.

If the Kings win it this year then the Blues will be the oldest team without a Cup. Drought not withstanding, the Leafs have won it before.

[Magnus]

Rangers-Kings Final would be great for TV ratings. Both coasts! (If they can schedule the start times in a way that can attract both markets at the same time.)

SAT. Jun. 2 - NY - 7:00 ET (4:00 in LA)

Sun. Jun. 3 - NY - 7:00 ET (4:00 in LA)

Tue. Jun. 5 - LA - 6:00 PT (9:00 in NY)

Thu. Jun. 7 - LA - 6:00 PT (9:00 in NY)

Sat. Jun. 9 - NY - 7:00 ET (4:00 in LA)

Mon. Jun. 11 - LA - 6:00 PT (9:00 in NY)

Wed. Jun. 13 - NY - 9:00 ET (6:00 in LA)

[BigBubba]

Sorry about that. I misinterpreted "oldest team without a Cup" as "oldest Cup drought".

Granted, it's easy to win in a 6-team league, but they're Cups nonetheless and better than being LA/StL, I suppose.

[maz]

I know it's hyenias but it's still umm... describing of the upcoming series I guess

Eh, not seeing it. Gary Bettman's not cool enough to be Scar

Give Bettman his due though... Like Scar, he is a really manipulative bastard.

Yeah, but instead of being cunning with the distinguished voice of Jeremy Irons he's just infuriating condescending with a voice that reminds me of a gerbil trying to talk while someone's pinching its nose shut.

So....

Zazu?

Nope. Ed... you know, the dumb hyena.

Can we make him the one voiced by Whoopi? I find that one far more annoying.

No... No... Timon. Small, condescending, annoying voice, incompitent but means well...

[njmeadowlanders]

Rangers-Kings Final would be great for TV ratings. Both coasts! (If they can schedule the start times in a way that can attract both markets at the same time.)

SAT. Jun. 2 - NY - 7:00 ET (4:00 in LA)

Sun. Jun. 3 - NY - 7:00 ET (4:00 in LA)

Tue. Jun. 5 - LA - 6:00 PT (9:00 in NY)

Thu. Jun. 7 - LA - 6:00 PT (9:00 in NY)

Sat. Jun. 9 - NY - 7:00 ET (4:00 in LA)

Mon. Jun. 11 - LA - 6:00 PT (9:00 in NY)

Wed. Jun. 13 - NY - 9:00 ET (6:00 in LA)

The weeknight games will almost certainly be 8:30ish eastern/5:30 pacific starts regardless of which coast the game is on, who makes it, and games 1 & 2 won't be back-to-back.

[NEW.ERA]

I thought all the games in the Cup Final were 8pm ET?

[njmeadowlanders]

I thought all the games in the Cup Final were 8pm ET?

Well 8 will be when they go on air, but you need to hear from Mike Milbury in the studio! Also here's your 7,843rd reminder you can catch the Belmont Stakes here even though nobody's going to win the triple crown!

[sportstar1212]

Wow Volchenkov got destroyed.

[NEW.ERA]

I thought all the games in the Cup Final were 8pm ET?

Well 8 will be when they go on air, but you need to hear from Mike Milbury in the studio! Also here's your 7,843rd reminder you can catch the Belmont Stakes here even though nobody's going to win the triple crown!

So thankful we have Ron Maclean.

Anyways, Anton Volchenkov just sh** himself. Thanks to Zac Rinaldo and Sean Couturier.

[Squeaks4]

Wow am I glad the Yotes got Smith... What a horrible goal given up by bryz

[youcan'tseeme]

Sorry about that. I misinterpreted "oldest team without a Cup" as "oldest Cup drought".

Granted, it's easy to win in a 6-team league, but they're Cups nonetheless and better than being LA/StL, I suppose.

I'm sorry is I'm misreading some sarcasm, but I cannot stand when people say such things. Less teams equals less roster spots, equals better players in each spot. I had someone calling out the Leafs the other day in one of my courses for thatexact reason, I asked him if the Olympics were easy to win? He said no, I said well there's only like 8 teams? His reponse " Yah but that's all the best players in the world put on to those 8 teams ". Followed by silence.

Anyways sorry just had to rant that, your odds go up with less teams but that's just a numbers thing, less teams equals better teams, so to say its easier to win the cup isn't a logical arguement.

Again not even really directed at you but just ranting.

[The_Admiral]

Less teams equals less roster spots, equals better players in each spot.

I would argue it's about finding equilibrium between roster spots and qualified players: if you're freezing out players who belong, you struggle with legitimacy just as you would if you let anyone in. When baseball only had the sixteen charter teams, they were also in the business of keeping black people out for much of that time, which opens up hosts of arguments over whether the major leagues really featured the best of the best (they didn't). There's obviously no equivalent racial dynamic to the NHL, but with only six, six teams in the league all the way until Sgt. Pepper's came out, there were surely NHL-caliber hockey players toiling in inferior leagues while the Wings/Leafs/Habs were gobbling up championships among themselves in the comforts of the Norris House League.

[youcan'tseeme]

Less teams equals less roster spots, equals better players in each spot.

I would argue it's about finding equilibrium between roster spots and qualified players: if you're freezing out players who belong, you struggle with legitimacy just as you would if you let anyone in. When baseball only had the sixteen charter teams, they were also in the business of keeping black people out for much of that time, which opens up hosts of arguments over whether the major leagues really featured the best of the best (they didn't). There's obviously no equivalent racial dynamic to the NHL, but with only six, six teams in the league all the way until Sgt. Pepper's came out, there were surely NHL-caliber hockey players toiling in inferior leagues while the Wings/Leafs/Habs were gobbling up championships in the comforts of the Norris House League.

This is true, but there were very few that went unnoticed, if you were that great (for the msot part) you were in the NHL. It's no different looking at Canada currently at the Olympics. Canada could fill two rosters of players, send two teams to the Olympics and still beat out half the teams there. Yet nobody ever harps on how easy it is to win at the Olympics. All I'm saying is in the end is the less teams logic has so many holes in it, that I don't see why it's used.

[Kramerica Industries]

So, apparently, New Jersey now leads 3-1.

13 minutes left at Wells Fargo. Fork-sticking time for the guys in orange?

[BigBubba]

Ehh, my comment was half and half. Basically, I was trying to say that the Leafs are no less pathetic as the Blues because while they do have the better history, they haven't done anything post-67.

But the wording was sarcastic. Whenever the Leafs' Cups are brought up in a rivalry argument, the opponent always says "Easy to win in a six-team league!" (which is usually met with a "Which is why you only won X times in that era, right?").

[Kramerica Industries]

You know, I watched a few Kings games this season and I didn't have a single thought on Bob Miller. Maybe this is what makes him so great, that he stays out of the way and doesn't engender any thoughts one way or the other, because god knows Emrick swings for the fences on every call and does nothing but annoy the living crap out of me, but I dunno, I don't really have thoughts on John Forslund or Rick Peckham, either, and I don't exactly consider John Forslund and Rick Peckham to be legends in their field. They're both former Whalers, though!

I know this is a late reply influenced only by the fact that I hear Peckham on a regular basis, but I think he's much better on national telecasts because he falls into the bog of hometown bias during Lightning games, thanks in part to Bobby Taylor.

And I find Chief amusing, especially when he's ripping into the officiating, but he's an obvious homer who seems drunk half the time he's on the air. Peckham's not the greatest, and I think his goal scoring calls are pretty grating (maybe I have awful standards towards analyzing goal scoring calls, since I feel the same way about Strader, but I love John Forslund's calls) but on his own, I think he's pretty solid at what he does. There's probably a reason NBCSN brings Peckham in for playoff games in the first two rounds basically every year, and it's not just because the Lightning always miss the playoffs.