Talking Hockey
Flames are now 5th in the western conference. Trailing the wilds by 1 point in the standings while leading the Avs by 2 points and the Vancouver Canucks by 4 points. With 4 games still left in the season, the playoffs for the NW division has already started.
Here's a funny read for those that understand hockey especially the NHL.
When we were growing up, my sister, the second of three kids in the clan, used to chirp constantly about "Middle Child Syndrome." It was a long-running gag. She would accuse our parents of ignoring her while spoiling our oldest sister, the first born, and me, the baby.
I would respond by saying she was delusional as there were clearly no favourites in our family. I'd do this while being cuddled in my Mommy's arms, being spoon-fed ice cream. I was 17.
The shrinks will tell you there is something to Middle Child Syndrome, and I do my utmost daily to make sure it doesn't affect my own middle child, little what's-her-name.
The NHL has its own version of MCS. Call it MSS: Middle Standings Syndrome.
Having your team in a playoff race is intoxicating, but losing out at the end has never been more devastating. Narrowly missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs has become the worst thing that can happen to a franchise. (Next to being owned by a pension fund.)
"It is (expletive) deadly," says one NHL General Manager. "Mediocrity is a terrible fate in this league now."
Playoff teams get extra cash (the NHL range is roughly $700,000 to $1.3 million per home playoff game), tons of fan-buzz, more season-ticket renewals, and a 1 in 16 shot at Stanley. And this year, 1 in 16 isn't far off the actual odds. In the parity era: you get in, you can win.
At the other end, NHL bottom-feeders get a lottery pick in the draft, which can turn a franchise around in one single selection. Be lousy for multiple years and you can set yourself up for the next decade. See: Washington (Ovechkin, Backstrom), Chicago (Toews, Kane) Pittsburgh (Fleury, Crosby, Malkin, Staal), and the former Sultans of Suck - Ottawa (Redden-via Berard, Phillips, Spezza - via Yashin, Daig...oops, sorry typo).
So being good is good, and being bad can be good, but being anything between good and bad…is bad. (Apologies if reading the preceding sentence gave you a nosebleed.)
"One year of just missing the playoffs, you can probably handle, but two or three years in a row can really cripple you," says another GM. "In our league now, you have to either capitalize on your talent, or capitalize on your lack of talent."
The Toronto Maple Leafs have become the poster boys for Middle Standings Syndrome. They finished 9th in the east the last two seasons, and are likely headed for something in the 10th-12th range this year. Their perennial late-season charges are admirable from a hockey standpoint, but disastrous for the future of the franchise. The potential destiny-changing players they've missed out the last two seasons include Kane, Toews, Backstrom, Staal, Sam Gagner…
We now pause briefly to let Toronto fans throw up.
Okay, resume.
Erik Johnson (who looks like he will win a Norris or three someday), Peter Mueller, Kyle Turris, and soon to be added: Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, and more.
The Leafs are not alone. The Florida Panthers also suffer from MSS. They are on the verge of their 4th straight non-playoff/non-lottery season, making a certain former Senators coach the star of his own sitcom: Martin in the Middle.
MSS doesn't have to be fatal. Teams like Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa seem to find impact players no matter where they draft. But it makes life much more difficult.
And draft position isn't the only issue for MSS teams. They may have trouble attracting big-name free agents, who usually prefer teams with either playoff pedigree or future potential. Places like Chicago and Washington, with their stock of young talent, will be just as attractive as Anaheim and Detroit this off-season.
It's hard not to feel a little sorry for Paul Maurice and his Leafs. They did exactly what they've been programmed to do their entire lives: play hard, and try to win as many games as they could. But as Morgan Freeman told Brad Pitt in Se7en, long before he found poor Gwyneth's head in a box, "This isn't going to have a happy ending."
As for Leaf-haters, the joke has changed. You can no longer make fun of Toronto for being awful, like you did all those decades when they were.
They're not awful. They are middling. Which, sadly for them, hilarious to you, is now worse than being awful.
James Duthie
From the Ottawa Citizen
Here's a funny read for those that understand hockey especially the NHL.
When we were growing up, my sister, the second of three kids in the clan, used to chirp constantly about "Middle Child Syndrome." It was a long-running gag. She would accuse our parents of ignoring her while spoiling our oldest sister, the first born, and me, the baby.
I would respond by saying she was delusional as there were clearly no favourites in our family. I'd do this while being cuddled in my Mommy's arms, being spoon-fed ice cream. I was 17.
The shrinks will tell you there is something to Middle Child Syndrome, and I do my utmost daily to make sure it doesn't affect my own middle child, little what's-her-name.
The NHL has its own version of MCS. Call it MSS: Middle Standings Syndrome.
Having your team in a playoff race is intoxicating, but losing out at the end has never been more devastating. Narrowly missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs has become the worst thing that can happen to a franchise. (Next to being owned by a pension fund.)
"It is (expletive) deadly," says one NHL General Manager. "Mediocrity is a terrible fate in this league now."
Playoff teams get extra cash (the NHL range is roughly $700,000 to $1.3 million per home playoff game), tons of fan-buzz, more season-ticket renewals, and a 1 in 16 shot at Stanley. And this year, 1 in 16 isn't far off the actual odds. In the parity era: you get in, you can win.
At the other end, NHL bottom-feeders get a lottery pick in the draft, which can turn a franchise around in one single selection. Be lousy for multiple years and you can set yourself up for the next decade. See: Washington (Ovechkin, Backstrom), Chicago (Toews, Kane) Pittsburgh (Fleury, Crosby, Malkin, Staal), and the former Sultans of Suck - Ottawa (Redden-via Berard, Phillips, Spezza - via Yashin, Daig...oops, sorry typo).
So being good is good, and being bad can be good, but being anything between good and bad…is bad. (Apologies if reading the preceding sentence gave you a nosebleed.)
"One year of just missing the playoffs, you can probably handle, but two or three years in a row can really cripple you," says another GM. "In our league now, you have to either capitalize on your talent, or capitalize on your lack of talent."
The Toronto Maple Leafs have become the poster boys for Middle Standings Syndrome. They finished 9th in the east the last two seasons, and are likely headed for something in the 10th-12th range this year. Their perennial late-season charges are admirable from a hockey standpoint, but disastrous for the future of the franchise. The potential destiny-changing players they've missed out the last two seasons include Kane, Toews, Backstrom, Staal, Sam Gagner…
We now pause briefly to let Toronto fans throw up.
Okay, resume.
Erik Johnson (who looks like he will win a Norris or three someday), Peter Mueller, Kyle Turris, and soon to be added: Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, and more.
The Leafs are not alone. The Florida Panthers also suffer from MSS. They are on the verge of their 4th straight non-playoff/non-lottery season, making a certain former Senators coach the star of his own sitcom: Martin in the Middle.
MSS doesn't have to be fatal. Teams like Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa seem to find impact players no matter where they draft. But it makes life much more difficult.
And draft position isn't the only issue for MSS teams. They may have trouble attracting big-name free agents, who usually prefer teams with either playoff pedigree or future potential. Places like Chicago and Washington, with their stock of young talent, will be just as attractive as Anaheim and Detroit this off-season.
It's hard not to feel a little sorry for Paul Maurice and his Leafs. They did exactly what they've been programmed to do their entire lives: play hard, and try to win as many games as they could. But as Morgan Freeman told Brad Pitt in Se7en, long before he found poor Gwyneth's head in a box, "This isn't going to have a happy ending."
As for Leaf-haters, the joke has changed. You can no longer make fun of Toronto for being awful, like you did all those decades when they were.
They're not awful. They are middling. Which, sadly for them, hilarious to you, is now worse than being awful.
James Duthie
From the Ottawa Citizen