It's been a grind. but the 2013-14 NHL season is finally over. I don't think anyone can argue coherently that the season was anything other than a massive success for the NHL, it's fans, players and teams.
After a season marred by a strike/lockout, this season was great on almost every level. You could just randomly turn on any NHL game and be entertained. It wasn't always this way - much of the last two decades has seen the NHL tinker with ways to make their game less boring.
We have less fights, and probably not as many goals as we would like to see, but overall, it's hard to find anything to complain about. The overall talent level and quality of competition and games is - and I have no way to prove this - as good as ever. Sure, the season is about a month and a half too long, but it seems a little ridiculous to argue that there could ever be too much hockey.
The Final ended up being a great series, with two games going to double OT, and the series being closer than maybe it appears in the final tally. Full credit to the Rangers for being a better team than I think a lot of people, myself included, gave them credit for being.
It was really easy to look at the teams LA played on their way to the Cup and be let down by the fact that their first round opponent was a better team than their Final opponent. The Rangers, however misguided and sentimental this may sound, seemed to prove that the Final is still something special, no matter who plays in it.
The kings too, present a bit of a contradiction in hockey teams. To take nothing away from them, because I think they are a great team, it is bizarre that they can win two Cups in three years, but yet, in 2012 they barely made the playoffs, and this year they had to come back from a 3-0 first round near elimination and went to game seven in their first three series.
It's still impressive to win the Cup no matter how you look at it, but I think people should be a little cautious before declaring them some kind of dynasty. However, there will be like four people who know what I mean, and everyone else will think I am bashing them out of some kind of misguided loyalty to the Coyotes, so I'll lay off now.
I will say this though: whether they did so by the skin of their teeth or not, whether you look at it as luck or pure determination, they played an insane schedule to get here. To beat San Jose, Anaheim and Chicago may be the toughest gauntlet anyone has ever gone through to win the Cup. It's what makes them such an interesting team: whatever way you look at them, there is another, almost opposite way to consider them that is equally valid as well.
Despite the length, and despite missing the best two teams (Toronto and Phoenix) this was one of the most exciting playoffs I can remember in recent years. Overall, I would say my favorite series was Chicago/ Minnesota due to the upstart Wild almost taking down the stacked Blackhawks.
I think the best player was Drew Doughty (despite sounding like a bit of jerk whenever he talks - "This was our easiest series"). In my opinion, he was the best player in the playoffs. Obviously they gave the Conn Smythe to Williams because he happened to score when it counted most, but there is no way LA wins without Doughty, who may have just earned the title of best defenseman in the NHL.
It seems stupid to say because he was already a superstar and top ten defenseman in the NHL, but watching him play in the regular season, the Olympics, and then throughout the playoffs was like watching a guy just get better and better every day. Not like it really matters, but I think he was robbed of the Con Smythe Trophy.
To close, it would be really easy to bitch about the fact that LA had to play San Jose , and Chicago had to play St. Louis in the first round, but when you think about it, if that is the only thing that mars an otherwise perfect playoffs, then it must have been pretty good.
I think as a hockey blogger, it becomes part of your job to concentrate on the negatives and focus on things to fix or alter, but at the end of the day, the NHL has the best game, the best playoffs and the best Final by about a mile. There is really nothing to complain about- last night's game was about as tense and exciting as you could have scripted it, and ultimately the Cup probably went to the NHL's best team.
Which, is the most fitting end to a great season.
P.S Maybe I left out the best part: It seems like forever since we talked about a suspension or "headshots" which is a bit of a relief.