As noted in my blog twice this series, the Pittsburgh Penguins are the better team and they deserved to win the Stanley Cup. The torch has been passed from the Red Wings to the Penguins. They are the class of the NHL. They are the champs and they deserve everyone’s respect and congratulations.
They are a great set of core young players and they have a great franchise; great fan base; great ownership and coaching. We all have our hands full now. They came back from two game deficits in two different series. They won two Game 7′s on the road. They are worthy Stanley Cup winners. That kind of determination has never been shown before in NHL history. Youth must be served. Kudos and congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Could people complain about the refs any more? All you do is make excuses for the fact that your star players do not understand what the word “defense” means. How many times did you see Cap forwards back check in the series against the Pens? Now, go watch the games the Red Wings and Penguins played in the playoffs. Notice something? Their forwards actually enter the defensive zone! Stop wining about Bettman and the refs and face the facts, the Caps will not win anything of importance UNTIL Ovie and the gang learn what defense is.
I am so glad I moved out of Northen VA and follow a Western Conf team and do not have to put up with all the wining from your fan base. It is truly sad.
Understand the Caps fans feeling about the Penguins, since they have beat the Caps so often in the playoffs. But it is hard to see that the “fix is in” when the Pens have to win game 7 on the road in Washington, clinch on the road in Carolina, and upset the champion Redwings in Detroit in game 7 to claim the Cup, giving the Wings 2 power plays in the 3rd period. The Pens elevated their game at the end of the regular season, having to win 18 of their last 25 to make the playoffs, then won 16 of 24 to claim the cup. Unlike the Caps, whose PP % declined 4.1% in the playoffs, the Pens raised theirs by 3.4%. In the series with the Caps, the Pens were very effective, scoring on 27% of their chances, vs 17% in the regular season. In a series which was as closely played as this one, that was a significant factor. Biggest factor in not advancing for the Caps was the lack of support for Ovie–Semin disappeared, Green was hurt and a non-factor. Crosby carried the Pens with 8 goals, but he had more support from other players, which is crucial at playoff time.
Maybe the Caps will show up for round 1 next season instead of allowing a pathetic Rangers team to take them to 7 games then acting like they showed great heart getting out of round 1.
Mr. Leonsis, you exhibit good sportsmanship with your post. Thanks.
Just wanted to stop by and say that the Caps are not that far off. I think you guys got all the components of a Cup winning club, you’re just going to need a few adjustments on Defense and change the mind set of the coaching. Thank you Washington for the rivalry. The 2nd round series was one of the best ever. Cap that I wouldn’t mind being a Pen is Backstrom.
Oops, that should be pregame skate SLASH of Chelios.
Still waiting for the leagues explanation of why Malkin wasn’t suspended for his pregame skate of Chelios prior to game 2. Until some explanation is given it is a tainted championship.
i’m tired of the caps rolling over to the pens. that includes this response from you, Ted. i am done with losing to them.
it’s time to stop making excuses. you are paying high salaries that put us close to the cap, and we thank you for keeping us competitive. but it’s time we start making good HOCKEY moves.
when is the last time we have had a tough and rumble d-man who put fear into the opponents? Langway? Stevens? hell, the closest we’ve had to that lately is Tinordi and Witt. the only tough guys we have on D are Erskine and Jurcina, and they are 6/7 d-men AT BEST on a team with “Stanley Cup Aspirations”.
screw the pens. i’m tired of it. let’s do something about this now. it’s bad enough we have 38 threads on the Caps message boards congratulating these guys, now we have you doing it to.
i have nothing but respect and admiration for what you have done here in DC for the Caps…but if we don’t start making appearances in the ECF and the SC Finals soon, the fans won’t be around for too long.
remember Ted…this is a bandwagon city!
I respect what the Penguins accomplished and they deserved to win the Cup, but they are our most hated rival. So congratulate them? Not in this lifetime. I would rather put any energy wasted on congratutulations into focusing on how to make sure what happened this year never happens again. What would happen in the corporate world if your number one competitor took you down on its way to achieving all of the goals you had set for your organization. The stakes just got raised big time.
Every team that played the Pens with the POSSIBLE exception of the Wings had to face both Pittsburgh and the referees. I congratulate them for nothing.
Unfortunately I agree with everything you have posted.
NOW…
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO CHANGE THIS REALITY?
I hope you take the path the Detroit Red Wings took after the Avalanche won the Cup in 1996: build a better team: go through them to win the CUP!
Good Luck because the future is made by those who ACT!
(pass that last sentence on to George…)
And if the Pens can do it and have gotten there pretty darn fast then I expect no less of the Caps.
No more excuses. A few seasons ago the Pens not only were terrible but they were about to shut down or have to move. Something the Caps as of yet have not had to deal with. All the Caps have had to work on is getting better.
Be ready of even more demanding STH and fan base. The Pens have set the bar and the Caps need to get on board and follow.
Okay, maybe you’re just being magnanimous to a fellow club owner – understandable in the business context – but as a Capitals supporter of 28 years’ standing (and eight-year STH renewed for next season) with memories of Steeltown Sociopath invasions of the Phone Booth still fresh in the memory…sorry mate, I ain’t buyin’.
I find it very hard to believe that you don’t think that the Penguins got the Cup on their own without any assistance in the way draft orders were determined, schedules put together and the way games were called.
I have always thought you were a good owner for the Caps but I really wish that you would address the perpetual bias that the Caps and the fans have to face every year, especially against League golden-boys like Mario and Crosby.
I can only speak for myself but, personally, I am sick of it. Disgusted at this point. We’ve never played a perfect game, but then neither have our opponents. We’ve been jobbed, especially in the playoffs, so many times now, that I can hardly stand to watch it anymore. I sense a growing sentiment among my fellow fans that there’s really no point in watching it any more when the “fix” seems to be in on most nights.
You can congratulate the “Penguins” and ignore all the undo help they got along the way if you choose. I suppose that make you magnanimous or something but your customers are getting screwed. I hope you’re doing something about that. Otherwise, the same thing will happen to this Caps team as happened to all the others over the last 30-some years: They will be a perpetual one-and-done and the fans will become apathetic again — the late 80′s also saw great attendance too. This isn’t the first time. And when we got jobbed against Mario’s beloved Pens back then year after year, guess what happened to the fans.
Lucy can only pull the football out so many times before people wise-up.
I don’t mean this to be harsh towards you at all. It’s not your fault. But you are probably the only one of “us” in a position to make it stop. The NHL is not much better than the WWE and real hockey fans won’t put up with it forever.
I am glad Bettman got his jollies off and finally handed Crosby the Cup (and validated Gary’s support of the Pens through the rough times). As I asked before, can we now play a fair game of hockey for a change, especially come playoff time?
Sapper
Looks like the Caps will have to hope and pray because the Penguins will own the NHL for quite a few years to come. The Caps had a lot of weaknesses exposed during the playoffs and they probably won’t be addressed for a couple of years. So by the time they address their problems and finally get them taken care of Ovie will be at the end of his career and the Caps will have to try again. Meanwhile the Pens will keep on winning and the Caps will always be the Caps.
Honeymoon is over. No more happy talk. People are real p.o.ed that the Caps are still taking baby steps while Pittsburgh has been to two finals now and won one. And Chicago even advanced further than the Caps this season and they started rebuilding well after the Caps. Frankly, I don’t think the team can go all the way with this GM. He blew it this season by getting into cap trouble and not being able to make any deadline moves as I result. I hope I am proven wrong next season. Because sooner or later, people are going to become frustrated and the momentum that has been built up in town will go the other way. Fast.
Very classy, Ted. I truly believe that the Caps are not that far off from being just like the Pens. They are both young, dynamic teams, and the Caps have so much potential to be the next team to get there. I think after this post season they understand better what hardship and sacrifice it really takes to hold that cup. They will be better prepared to do that next year.
Changing of the guard.
A true man of class!!!
Gonna have to pass on that……But how ’bout those BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo
=)