On this Monday edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, Ian, Julian, and guest cohost Mark Lazerus discuss Corey Perry leaving the Blackhawks for the foreseeable future for as-yet-unknown reasons, Detroit as a potential frontrunner to land Patrick Kane, Jacob Trouba fined $5,000 for swinging his stick at Trent Frederic’s head, if the Rangers are the best team in the East right now, the NHL’s sadly predictable reaction to Marc-Andre Fleury’s Native American tribute mask, Nikita Kucherov quietly leading the NHL in scoring, and more.
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2 Comments
Love the show, guys. Been listening since the beginning. Today I liked the discussion with Laz near the end of the pod about championships, but dang, Julian. I'm a bit disappointed in the comparison of the "Oilers vs. Blues" where you compared the Blues Cup win season as a "one off" and the Oilers as perennial contenders! Sure, it was probably a comment without too much deep thought and it doesn't really impact your overall point and I'm looking too far into this, but you've triggered me because I feel the Blues sustained regular season success since 2010 (last year notwithstanding) often goes overlooked.
Now, I'm biased as a Blues fan and understand it's a smaller market that doesn't get the coverage and so on, but the Blues spent much of the 2010s as a 100 point team looking to get over the hump in the playoffs – eventually doing so in 2019. Again, last year notwithstanding, they've been a force in the West since Doug Armstrong took over in 2010. They've had – by far – more wins/points during that span than any other Western Conference team (including more than the Hawks during their near-dynasty years from 2010 and 2016)! That's the very definition of a perennial contender! I get that the playoff failure and ultimately running the gauntlet and continually losing to the Kings and Hawks in the early 2010s during their years of glory dampens their regular season accomplishments and that's what separates them from mentioned as a truly great team, but why the disrespect implying their Cup win came from nowhere? Especially in comparing them to Edmonton?!?!
I understand that the Oilers expectations have grown the past couple years, but what exactly have they done besides fail to live up to expectations despite having the greatest player of our generation? The Blues' Cup win in 2019 came near the end of a decade of great regular seasons, trying to get over the hump in the playoffs – it hardly came from nowhere! Meanwhile the Oilers stockpile #1 overall picks and have eventually put together a couple good seasons and we're calling them perennial contenders? Hell, they finished behind the Blues even as recently as 2021-22! Going back to 2010, the Blues have finished ahead of the Oilers in the standings 10 out of 13 seasons. They're being criminally underrated here. Put some respect on The Note, lol.
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. Love the show and keep it up, guys.
Since 2014, Tampa has been to 4 cup finals, won 2 cups, made the ECF in 2016 and 2018. Only barely missing playoffs in 2017 due to injuries. How is what Boston has done more impressive than that? Also I'm taking the three cups all day. The joy of having your team win the cup is unmatched.