Hockey Thread! (NHL etc.)

[SkyPikachu]

What's the likelyhood the caps don't visit the WH?

[Kong Wen]

What's the likelyhood the caps don't visit the WH?

0%.

One or two players may refuse to go, though.

[Kong Wen]

Now that the Washington Capitals have won their first Stanley Cup, I thought it would be interesting to look at the other teams who haven't won it, as well as some teams who haven't won it in a long time.

TEAMS THAT HAVE NEVER WON

St. Louis Blues - The oldest team and the only original expansion team never to have won the Cup. They entered the league in 1967 and have never won. This is a 50-season drought. They lost in the finals 3 times. The other teams in the league's first-ever expansion were the Minnesota North Stars (won the Cup as the Dallas Stars), the California Seals (won the Cup as the Dallas Stars), Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings.

Buffalo Sabres & Vancouver Canucks - Neither team added in the 1970 expansion has ever won the Stanley Cup. This is a 47-year drought. The Sabres have lost in the finals twice, and the Canucks have lost in the finals 3 times.

Arizona Coyotes - Entered the league as the Winnipeg Jets in 1979 when the NHL absorbed four teams from the disbanded WHL and have never won. This is a 38-season drought. They've never even made it to the finals. The other former WHL teams to join the league were the Edmonton Oilers, the New England Whalers (won the Cup as the Carolina Hurricanes), and the Québec Nordiques (won the Cup as the Colorado Avalanche).

San Jose Sharks - Entered the league in 1991 and have never won. This is a 26-season drought. They've lost in the finals once.

Ottawa Senators - Entered the league in 1992 and have never won. This is a 25-season drought. They've lost in the finals once.

Florida Panthers - Entered the league in 1993 and have never won. This is a 24-season drought. They've lost in the finals once.

Nashville Predators - Entered the league in 1998 and have never won. This is a 19-season drought. They've lost in the finals once.

Winnipeg Jets - The new Jets entered the league in 1999 as the Atlanta Thrashers and have never won. This is an 18-season drought. They've never even made it to the finals.

Columbus Blue Jackets & Minnesota Wild - Neither team added in the 2000 expansion has ever won the Stanley Cup. This is a 17-season drought. Neither team has ever made it to the finals.

Vegas Golden Knights - Entered the league in 2017 and has never won. This is a 1-season drought, tied for the shortest Stanley Cup drought in league history. They've lost in the finals once.

TEAMS THAT HAVE WON BUT THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO

Toronto Maple Leafs - Have not won since 1966. Have not even made it to the finals since then. The last time they even made it to the conference finals was during the 2001 season. This is a 50-season Cup drought, tied with the St. Louis Blues, who were added to the league the season after the Leafs won. It's also a 16-season finals appearance drought. The Maple Leafs haven't won the Cup since the Original Six era.

Philadelphia Flyers - Have not won since 1974. This is a 42-season drought. They've since lost in the finals 6 more times.

New York Islanders - Have not won since 1982. This is a 34-season drought. They made it to the finals a year later but haven't gotten that far ever since.

I can remember watching the rest of the teams who haven't made it back since (Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montréal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Dallas Stars, etc.) so I'm not going to go into detail on them.

[Kong Wen]

C'mon, this was a pretty baller post guys.

If the team you cheer for is on this list, raise your hand!

[Claytone]

Okay, here, have some validationpleasures for your list, Kong.

The team I cheer for is on this list.

For that matter, the only team of mine to have won a title in my lifetime is the Atlanta Braves. In 1995. When I was two.

They are looking as likely as any of my teams to finally break that drought. They have been jousting for the best record in the National League all season. They also bear Atlanta's only professional sports title, and that was only because they were fortunate enough to play the World Series against one of the few cities more cursed than Atlanta, Cleveland.

Fun to watch it all. Maybe those Blues will finally get one one of these days.

[SkyPikachu]

My 3 teams aren't on that list. (Colorado, Boston, Washington)

Also it makes me so happy to see Minnesota up there.

[Kong Wen]

The Sabres predictably took Rasmus Dahlin first overall in the entry draft yesterday.

Ottawa kept their 4th pick to select Brady Tkachuk. There was speculation they were going to let Colorado have their pick this year so they could have a better chance of drafting higher next year—but this means the Avalanche will get Ottawa's first-round pick in 2019.

Kovalchuk signed a 3-year deal with the LA Kings.

[kitroplious]

And the Red Wings first round pick of Zadina was possibly a steal, though I don’t really know what’s going to happen. Might be a similar fate as what happened to Tartar sauce...

[SkyPikachu]

Kovalchuk signed a 3-year deal with the LA Kings.

Didn’t he have a 15 year contract with the devils ending in 2025? How is he allowed to play for LA? Datysuk retired but still was contracted to play for the wings (then traded to Arizona) how is this different?

[Kong Wen]

Kovalchuk signed a 3-year deal with the LA Kings.

Didn’t he have a 15 year contract with the devils ending in 2025? How is he allowed to play for LA? Datysuk retired but still was contracted to play for the wings (then traded to Arizona) how is this different?

I thought of that, so I looked into it. It's odd that the TSN article about him signing with LA doesn't mention any of his contract status issues, since I would think that would be a common question. But I found this on NHL.com from last year:

"When Kovalchuk left the NHL, his contract was terminated and he was placed on the voluntary retirement list. That allowed the Devils to maintain his NHL rights until he turns 35, which would be April 15, 2018."

An interesting tidbit is just below that:

"Prior to turning 35, if Kovalchuk wants to sign with another team, he would need approval from all 31 NHL teams. That's unlikely to happen, but the Devils could sign Kovalchuk and either keep him or trade him."

If he tried to come back to the league with a team other than the Devils before this summer, he would need approval from every single governor in the league. Fat chance. I'm surprised he even got 3 years out of LA, all things considered.