For 27 other NHL fanbases this weekend it will be all you could ask for in terms of excitement, drama, and thrills....For two others it will be an awesome moment of how their team got into the postseason on the last day of the season.
And for one fanbase it will be about collapses and devastation....
I bet if you gave most of the fans of the Wings, Bruins, and Flyers the option to take a pill and wake Sunday night they would at least consider it. We aren't exactly talking about three new hockey cities here either....Can you get three more hockey crazed cities than this to be going through this emotional roller coaster?
My advice...as a fan of one of these teams...is you have to realize this is a glass hall-full/half empty situation...
If you are a glass half empty fan in Philadelphia you are left asking the questions like, "What if the Flyers had called up Ghost earlier? What if Neuvirth hadn't gotten hurt and could have played just one of those second games of back to back which saw an otherwise reliable Steve Mason go 0-4 and look average at best doing so? What if Hextall has maybe thought enough to get some aged veteran defenseman for a 6th round pick at the deadline who could have been on the ice and helped prevent any of the half dozen or so times the Flyers lost points while the other team had their goalie pulled?
If you are a glass half empty Bruins fan you will see this as the second straight late season collapse that sees your team on the outside looking in...a team that still is one of the best in the NHL against the teams in the playoffs...
If you are a glass half empty Red Wings fan you will see this as the year Babcock left and the streak ended...
The glass half full folks could look at this season as the beginning of a new rebuild that is ahead of schedule though...
All three of these teams have an older group and an impressive younger group....with some absolute studs in the system who will make these teams at least playoff contenders for years to come....
And that is probably the healthy way to look at it after all....that and the following statement a friend of mine always says, "The NHL playoffs can be a hell of a lot more fun and less stressful without your team in them..."
And for the REAL DIEHARD optimists....one of these three teams will have a 1% chance at Auston Mathews........yeh...that's even more optimistic than I am..and many of you rip me all the time for my optimism...
And then there is this:
The reality is Boston, Detroit and Philly have already MADE the playoffs.
They are just starting a few days early....
What do you think?
We will discuss all this and more on the Podcast at Live 1pm and on tape below at your convenience.