Washington Capitals: 2018 Stanley Cup win will forever be most emotional

Even though there’s a new champion, the Washington Capitals winning 2018 Stanley Cup is the most emotional moment in the NHL this century.

Some time has passed, some dust has settled, and now it’s an appropriate time for Washington Capitals fans to finally admit: it was not very fun watching the St. Louis Blues win the 2019 Stanley Cup. It wasn’t fun watching another team end Washington’s reign of being the “defending champs” of the NHL. It just didn’t feel as impactful as when Washington got over the hump.

Of course, there were some unreal stories to go along with the Blues’ first Cup victory in franchise history. For example, they were in last place in the NHL standings on January 3rd (if you haven’t heard that before), the emergence of goaltender, Jordan Binnington and, of course, the emotional boost that Blues’ superfan, Laila Anderson, gave to the club in their pursuit for Gloria…uh, I mean glory.

Although all of these stories made the Blues a compelling team to cheer for, I can’t help but feel that Alex Ovechkin‘s raising of the Stanley Cup and what ensued afterwards for the Washington Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup victory was more emotional than St. Louis Blues’ captain, Alex Pietrangelo’s raising of Lord Stanley.

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This got me thinking about the Stanley Cup victories of the past 10-20 years and how they compared emotionally to the Capital’s first Stanley Cup in franchise history. This, in turn, led me to the conclusion that the Washington Capitals’ Stanley Cup victory was the most emotional Stanley Cup victory in recent memory.

In my opinion, it is the most emotional Stanley Cup win since Ray Bourque and the Colorado Avalanche’s cup-raising in 2001. Again, this is an opinion coming from a Capitals fan but I will do my best to help you understand my theory. Buckle up, because this may be a long one.

A first, and obvious reason as to why the Caps’ victory was so emotional is due to the fact that it was the first Cup in franchise history. Of course, the first and obvious argument against this is that there have been plenty of first Cups for teams since the Avalanche won in 2001, including the Blues.

It’s true. There have been 6 first-time Cup winners since 2001. The Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, Anaheim Ducks in 2007, LA Kings in 2012, Washington Capitals in 2018 and the St. Louis Blues in 2019. So yes, a first-time Cup is an emotional experience for a franchise as it rightfully should be and I am not trying to take that away from any of these franchises. Washington’s was just different. It took 44 years to get to it, but It was different because it shouldn’t have been their first. It happened when it wasn’t supposed to.

Ovechkin first met postseason Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008-2009 Stanley Cup playoffs after winning their division and beating the New York Rangers in the first round. The Capitals fell to Sid and the Pens in 7 games as the Penguins went on to win their first Cup in the Crosby era. The 2009-2010 Capitals had a dominating regular season which ended in a 121-point President’s Trophy-winning season which they then followed up with a first-round upset loss to the Montreal Canadiens in 7 games after blowing a 3-1 series lead.

After that, they made their way to the second round of the 2015 playoffs where they played the President’s-Trophy winning New York Rangers. With the Rangers as the favourites the Caps stunned the hockey world as they took, you guessed it, a 3-1 series lead over their divisional rivals. They then shocked the hockey world again by blowing that series lead and losing in overtime of Game 7 on an infamous goal by Derek Stepan which is burned into the minds of Caps fans everywhere.

Since then, they watched as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat them in the second round of the Playoffs in back-to-back second-round matchups en route to back-to-back Cup victories in back-to-back seasons where the Caps were Stanley-Cup favourites due to their back-to-back President’s Trophy victories as the league’s best regular-season team in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, respectively. So heading into the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs expectations were, naturally, very low due to past expectations not being met. Nobody wanted to place their faith in the proven choke-artists of the NHL.

So, they had an average season in 2017-2018. Good enough to win the Metropolitan division, but not good enough for a third-consecutive Presidents’ Trophy. Caps fans had lost the hope and confidence they had had entering previous playoffs that things would be different and decided instead to just go along for the ride.

This helped relieve the Caps of all of the pressure that that trophy possesses and, thanks to their previous two playoff-performances lowering expectations, they had almost no pressure on them for the first time in a long time. It was generally accepted that this team, with this corps, couldn’t get it done.

Only once the pressure was off and they were playing with house money was when the Capitals defied expectations for the first time in the Ovechkin era. One of the only times the Capitals were not supposed to win is exactly when they did it. They should’ve won back in 2009-2010 when they had 121 points. They should’ve won when they won two consecutive President’s Trophies. Instead, they did it as emotionally as possible: right when everybody stopped believing in them.

Yes, fans of teams such as the St. Louis Blues will be quick to say that they have had their fair share of Playoff struggles as well and although this is true, the struggles never were as painful as they were for the Capitals and in such a short amount of time. Blown series leads, losing to underdogs and being tossed around by their biggest rival three times, who went on to win the Cup each time they won.

So when the Capitals finally overcame the odds by being down 0-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round, exorcising the demons by knocking off the Penguins in the second round, climbing back from a 3-2 series deficit on the back of Braden Holtby and his back-to-back shutouts to win the Eastern Conference and stepping on the throats of the Vegas Golden Knights and their Cinderella story to write their own by winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, it’s something else altogether.

Phew, sorry about that. Really went off there in explaining the underlying significance of the Caps’ first Cup (other than the obvious reason that it’s their first). I needed to get into every little detail and I digressed a little to try to help readers understand how tough the past 10 seasons have been for the Capitals and their fans regardless of how successful they have been throughout the regular season.

As mentioned, the Blues had lots of stories to go along with their championship win. Every team does, in fact. Every team has players or with stories that help make them compelling to cheer for. Off-ice inspirations and trends that fans find out about that help to rally a team, a veteran’s first Cup or an unlikely performance by an unexpected player.

The St. Louis Blues had Laila Anderson, Boris the Chinchilla and Gloria help to rally them to their championship. The 2011 Boston Bruins were carried to the Cup by 37-year old goaltender, Tim Thomas, as he deservedly won the Conn Smyhe Trophy for being the MVP of the dance.

Of course, there were the 2007 Anaheim Ducks had NHL greats and veterans, Teemu Selanne and Chris Pronger, win their first Stanley Cups after years of dominance in the league. None were quite as compelling as Ray Bourque winning his first Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in his final season playing in the NHL, however. Captain Joe Sakic skipping his raising of the Cup to hand it straight to Bourque is the stuff of legend. Nothing has compared to it since. I’ll get back to this.

Washington had their fair share of stories that became prominent throughout the post season as well. It started with Holtby regaining his role as the starter of the team after losing his spot at the end of the regular season and beginning of the playoffs to backup, Phillip Grubauer. They did the “Hot Lap” at practice during away games for good luck. All of the players they lost to injury and the controversial suspension of Tom Wilson. Devante Smith-Pelly‘s emergence as a clutch performer with three goals in three consecutive games in the Finals. Again, nothing has really compared to Bourque raising the Stanley Cup…until Alexander Ovechkin did it.

If there has ever been a more controversial, all-time great player then I haven’t heard of them. From the minute Ovechkin stepped onto NHL ice, he had controversy. Who was the better player, the Russian Ovechkin or the Canadian Sid? When Crosby won his first Cup, taking Ovechkin down in the process, it immediately flipped the switch for Ovechkin-doubters to point out that he isn’t a winner and that he wasn’t as good as Sid. Then analysts saw that he couldn’t play defense and he wasn’t a team player. He was selfish and he doesn’t pass.

This was piled onto even harder when he was named captain. He’s the leader in the room so it’s his fault the team couldn’t win. Despite being almost a point-per-game in the playoffs and well over a point-per-game in the regular season, it was his fault the team couldn’t get over the hump. When the Capitals lost to the Penguins for the 3rd time and watched Sid win his 3rd Cup in Ovi’s tenure, there were serious talks about Ovechkin potentially needing to be traded if Washington were to have any success. After their 2017 second-round exit to the Pens, Washington GM, Brian MacLellan, said “Maybe at some point if there’s a legitimate hockey deal that came available, but I don’t know if that’s where we’re at right now,” (NHL.com).

While all of this controversy was surrounding Ovechkin throughout his entire playing career, there were only 10 players with 50-goal campaigns for a total of twenty 50-goal seasons since Ovi’s rookie season. Ovi accounted for 7 of those seasons and is the only player with more than 2 in that timespan. He ended the 2017-2018 season with 607 regular season goals. He couldn’t pass but he had four 50-assist seasons and ended the 2017-2018 season with 515 assists. He doesn’t play defense but at the end of the 2017-2018 season was a career +87 (a flawed stat, I know, but still). So, for those who aren’t great with numbers (me), Ovi ended the 2017-2018 season with 1,122 points in 1,003 regular-season games. He entered the playoffs with 90 points in 97 career postseason games.

While accumulating these points, Ovechkin had won the Calder Trophy, an Art Ross Trophy, three Hart Trophies, three Ted Lindsay Awards, and seven Rocket Richard Trophies. He was just missing the most important trophy of all (and one more he happened to win).

I’ve successfully bored you by throwing Ovechkin’s stats at you but there’s a point to the stats. Those aren’t the numbers of someone who deserves to be labelled as being a problem to a team’s success. These are the numbers of a top 100 NHL player of all time. Instead, they were the numbers of a player who was constantly ridiculed and labelled a failure. A player who isn’t a winner, and it’s his fault his team couldn’t win a Stanley Cup. A player who couldn’t be considered a great because he hadn’t won it all…and then he did it.

When Ovechkin lifted the Stanley Cup, he simultaneously lifted all of the doubt and criticism and controversy off of his back, as well as the entire Washington Capitals organization. The second the Cup was hoisted by Ovechkin, he was an all-time great. He was hoisted into the upper-echelon of hockey talent. No more accusations of “he can’t win” or “he can’t play a team game.”

On top of the Stanley Cup, he also added a Conn Smythe Trophy to his shelf as being the MVP of the Playoffs. He had shut everybody up even though he never should’ve had to in the first place. The raw emotion was seen when Ovi hoisted the Cup for the first time. Hell, before he even got the Cup he was screaming to his teammates. It was the embodiment of all of the doubt and disbelief he had thrown his way over 13 seasons that he had to bottle up being let loose. This was him letting it all out. Pure emotion.

Of course, Ovi was never really in this alone as he had his partner-in-crime Nicklas Backstrom by his side for almost his entire career. He had been through the hard times and had faced criticism himself. He was just always shielded from the blunt of the blows by Ovechkin. That’s why Backstrom was the first player Ovi passed the Cup to. As his teammate and friend, he knew Backstrom had felt the same wrath that he had felt as a member of those under-achieving Caps teams. They went through it together, so it was only right that they make a statement and hoist the Cup together. Watching them skate around with the Cup together was a Capitals’ fan’s dream and evoked the strongest of, you guessed it, emotions. They skated forward with the Cup leaving what everybody once thought behind them.

There is nothing to take away from what other Stanley Cup champions have done. Every win is extremely emotional for the players, coaches, families and fans of the team. Winning the Stanley Cup is like the movies. Every movie has a different ending. Some are more emotional than others. There are just certain circumstances that make for a more powerful ending.

Ray Bourque ending his career and cup-drought by being handed the Cup before Sakic could even lift it and Gary Thorne saying his famous line: “And after 22 years, RAYMOND BOURQUE!” right as Bourque lifted the Stanley Cup makes a moment like that something else entirely. So when Ovechkin screams before and as he lifts the Stanley Cup, effectively changing his legacy and that of the organization he has represented through thick and thin for 13 seasons, you can’t help but get a little emotional.