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When Improbable Was Probable

April 3, 2017, 3:38 PM ET [65 Comments]
Sheng Peng
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What were you thinking as the final seconds ticked off on Kings-Coyotes last night?

I thought about two Cups in three years, then two postseason misses in three years.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

I thought about the series finale of "The Office."

"I wish there was a way to know you were in the good ol' days...before you actually left them."

When Alec Martinez slammed the rebound past Henrik Lundqvist's desperate butterfly, the team seemed on the verge of a dynasty.

Little did we know.

I thought about Bill Simmons, who once wrote, "After your team wins a championship, they immediately get a five-year grace period: You can't complain about anything that happens with your team (trades, draft picks, salary-cap cuts, coaching moves) for five years."

Simmons probably wasn't thinking about situations like LA's insensitive handling of the Slava Voynov domestic violence case.

But for many fans, even on the ice, Dean Lombardi and Darryl Sutter's "grace period" seems used up after just three years.

Chances are, the same people who are calling for their heads will come to miss them.

Frustrating but unforgettable, Lombardi and Sutter set an unparalleled standard for a truly-downtrodden franchise and fanbase.

Chances are, a new regime will not enjoy a similar success.

I thought about how we should've known in the summer of 2014.

Brown had just suffered consecutive unproductive 5v5 seasons. Marian Gaborik, Jarret Stoll, and Matt Greene were all on the wrong side of 30. Mike Richards was playing like he was on the wrong side of 30.

I thought about Richards and Kings teams that you thought could come back from anything.

A prelude to the next season's history-making run, Richie's last-second score to stave off elimination in the 2013 Western Conference Finals was perhaps the most improbable single goal of the 2012-14 trilogy.

But back then, improbable was probable.




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