The date was January 21st, 2010 and the Washington Capitals were at the top of the Eastern Conference. Coming off a 6-3 win over their arch rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Capitals appeared as though they were destined for a long and prosperous playoff run come April. Washington was flying high – winners of five in a row, the highest scoring team in the NHL, owners of the league’s top powerplay and their superstar, you know, that Russian guy whose won all those awards? Yeah, he was doing okay. First in plus-minus, second in scoring, 18 points in eight straight games. Obvious statement of the day: Alex Ovechkin and the Caps were among the league’s best and beating Sidney Crosby and the Pens? That was the icing on the cake.
Ovie Says Goodbye After Round 1
President’s Trophy Offers Little Reward For NHL’s Top Teams
Flash forward four months to Wednesday night, Washington’s season ends in a way no one could’ve expected, a heartbreaking seventh game loss to the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens. In 60 frustrating minutes, 82 games of excellence was flushed down the proverbial toilet and for what? The Presidents’-freakin’ Trophy!
What was Washington’s reward for 54-regular season wins, a Southeast Division title and 121 regular season points? One more home game in a seven game series! Yeah, that makes it allllll worth it.
You know, Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau actually saw this coming on that fateful night in January against the Penguins. And in the process, he described exactly what’s wrong with the NHL’s regular season:
“We were 3-0-1 against them [the Penguins in the regular season] last year and it didn’t mean a hill of beans,” Boudreau said. “The first couple of times I could only watch (the tape of Game 7 [versus the Pens in the playoffs]) until they scored their first goal, but then I gutted it out and watched it all.”
Boudreau should probably avoid watching the tape of Wednesday night’s Game 7 too.
Look, with all due respect to Jarolsav Halak and the Habs, who are full credit for their upset of the Capitals, all those regular season wins racked up by Washington “didn’t mean a hill of beans.”
Halak's Habs Finished 33 Points Behind Washington
NHL Needs To Consider Playoff Restructuring
Is a playoff system that rewards the best team in the league with one meager additional playoff home game (the fourth and final home date in a seven game series) – as its ‘congratulations’ for 82 games of hard work – a proportionally representative way to say ‘thanks’?
While certainly not the ideal example, Major League Baseball might actually have the best playoff model. Only the best teams (eight in total) qualify for the postseason in baseball and when the New York Yankees lose in the playoffs – in all likelihood, they do so against another elite squad like the Boston Red Sox – not a club [see the Montreal Canadiens] that eeked into the second season by winning less than half of their total games.
There’s justice in losing to a team that worked just as hard as you to get to the dance.
But there’s frustration, one can imagine as a player, in knowing that over 82 regular season matches, you could’ve cared a little less, scored fewer times and given the paying customer another reason to boo – and for what? A trip to the second round of the playoffs and a chance to win the Cup.
Sounds backwards, no?
The Presidents’ Trophy? For the Capitals, it didn’t mean a hill of beans.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on what works or doesn’t work about the NHL playoff format. Agree? Disagree? Let’s hear from you.
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TSJ, these guys are supposed to be professionals. The reward for the President’s trophy was to relax and rest battered bodies in anticipation of a long playoff run. Montreal on the other hand has had to fight tooth and nail for the last month in a half and didn’t find out their fate until the final night of the season. Lot’s of sleepless nights and a nerve wracking time for the players and coaches I’m sure. Washington on the other hand had the “luxury” of easy nights of sleep and should have been relaxed and refreshed going in to the post season. Their collapse is all their own. The reward for the President’s is home ice through EACH round of the playoffs including the Stanley Cup round if you get there. That’s 4 extra games at home… including maybe the most important game of all. Sorry TSJ got to disagree here. Washington choked and they deserve all the blame themselves.
I can’t feel sorry for a team that thinks Jose Theodore is their playoff starter then a game and less than a period in pulls him never to return. You know what Washington, how about spending a little less on goal scoring and secure the most important position on your team with an A list goalie. You have Philadelphia syndrome over there.
This isn’t a rule or anything but in general you need your goalie to “steal” one for you each round or so when your guys aren’t getting it done.
Zaiontz,
The first segment of the NHL product offering is the 82-game regular season, a chance for the fans to pay multi-million dollar salaries to the players. The Caps won the regular season. Hurrah hurrah! If Toronto had done the same, there would have been parties all down Yonge St and the drinking hours extended to 4 am. Did Washington enjoy the spoils of victory? Perhaps! Perhaps quite a bit! The team didn’t look more rested than Montreal. There was probably free booze and pu**y, everywhere the Caps were, by the end of the season.
The 2nd segment of the NHL product offering is a year-end tournament, with the chance for any team entered to “win it all” through grit, determination, heart, desire, luck, whatever.
The first segment of the NHL product offering is not intended to reward the top team of the regular season with a strong advantage during the playoff tournament. It sounds like you’re writing from the perspective of someone who bet heavily on the Caps going into the playoffs. Your bitterness shines through your rhetoric.