Change is possible. If there is a life lesson to be drawn from this spring’s NHL play-offs, then that, if anything, is it. The usual suspects have been swept aside; the usual losers are ascendant.
When the play-offs began three weeks ago, the eventual finalists were widely expected to be drawn from the three western powers — Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings — on one side and the emergent Washington Capitals on the other.
But the big three all lost in the first round, and now Washington find themselves on the ropes in the second.
Meanwhile the teams that are in better shape through Thursday’s action include St Louis, which had fallen in the first round three years in a row under coach Ken Hitchcock, but this time surprised almost everyone by prevailing in Game 7 against Chicago; San Jose, the league’s long-time epitome of underachievement, which manhandled Los Angeles in the opening round; Nashville for their defeat of Anaheim in the biggest shock of the opening round; and Pittsburgh, which throughout this decade had been a reliable playoff disappointment but who will enter Saturday night’s action with a shot at eliminating Washington from the second round.
And lastly the New York Islanders, who won a play-off series for the first time since 1993.
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This is not a Leicester City-level turnabout in the Premier League but it does feel like a sea change. In the past six seasons the cup has been confined to three teams: Chicago three times, Los Angeles twice, Boston Bruins once.
But before that came a run of eight seasons in which no single team won more than once. Many presumed that this was the new normal, that dynasties had been finished off by the salary cap the league inaugurated in 2005.
But equality on the payroll does not mean equality in intelligence. The cleverest general managers — Stan Bowman in Chicago, Dean Lombardi in Los Angeles — draft better, trade better and sign better.
Chicago in the off-season signed Artemi Panarin from Russia for a base salary of only US$812,500 (Dh4.3 million). He scored 30 goals and is a finalist for Rookie of the Year.
Los Angeles picked up Marian Gaborik from Columbus via trade in 2014 and have added depth to their roster with the likes of Alec Martinez, a 95th-overall draft pick, and Jake Muzzin, an undrafted free agent.
Thus equality becomes imbalance.
Looking ahead, the question is whether this post-season of upheaval is a blip.
My hunch is that it is not. Florida Panthers, the Islanders, Edmonton Oilers and maybe even Toronto Maple Leafs, these teams are at various stages of assembling the core of young talent that creates a winner.
Across the league, teams are becoming smarter through the use of analytics, which in only a few years has gone from quirk to staple.
On Thursday, the Arizona Coyotes unveiled John Chayka, a 26-year-old with a background in statistics, as their new general manager.
At the same time, Chicago will remain cup contenders so long as they employ Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who are under contract through 2022/23.
Los Angeles, though, have salary-cap problems and could fade, and Anaheim’s core is growing old.
Change is happening.
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