He did it! He did it!
SABR Skeptic said that Alexander Ovechkin was the best player in hockey on April 3rd and then The Washington Capitals won The Stanley Cup!
This year’s Stanley Cup Finals was a great SABR Skeptic story.
This was the first season in the history of the Vegas Golden Knights. How was their team assembled? A draft was held whereby the new team was able to select players that were made available by the other teams.
I don’t know anything about hockey. But it looks to me like this is what happened here:
Gerard Gallant was the coach of the Golden Knights this season. Gallant had been the coach of the Florida Panthers. He was fired by that team early in the 2016-17 season.
Around that time I was watching A Hockey Show. One of the panelists said something that made me go “ok, I’m listening.” He said that the Florida Panthers are “obsessed with analytics.”
I was like “ok, I get what’s going on here.”
This is what is going on here.
All around sports, front offices are being taken over by boring conformists who have nothing to say but “Analytics! Analytics! Analytics!” When the teams they assemble falter, they put the blame on good old school coaches, who get fired.
Some examples?
The Chicago Bulls had a good old school coach named Tom Thibodeau. The Intelligentsia tired of him and replaced him with Fred Hoiberg. That has not gone well for the Bulls to this point.
The Indiana Pacers had a good old school coach named Frank Vogel. The Intelligentsia tired of him and replaced him with Nate McMillan. That went well for them this season because Victor Oladipo is Legit, not because Nate McMillan is a Super Coach.
The Memphis Grizzlies had a good old school coach named David Fizdale. The Intelligentsia tired of him and replaced him with J.B. Bickerstaff. The Grizzlies were a disaster before firing Fizdale. They were a disaster after firing Fizdale. The problem wasn’t the coach. The problem was the flawed roster assembled by The Intelligentsia.
The story was similar for the Florida Panthers last year. They were 11-10-1 when they fired Gallant. They were 24-26-10 the rest of the way.
Was Gallant the problem? Or was it The Florida Panthers Intelligentsia who according to A Hockey Guy on A Hockey Show are “obsessed with analytics.”
The Golden Knights selected Gallant to be their head coach.
That was Good Karma for The Golden Knights. Good Old School Karma – that’s a scientific term.
Go Figure, the Florida Panthers failed to make the playoffs again this year, while The Golden Knights made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season! Gerard Gallant was laughing at The Intelligentsia all year!
Then, there was the matter of The Goalie. Marc-Andre Fleury.
This is what happened with The Goalie.
When The Pittsburgh Penguins won The Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017, everyone said “Fleury is washed up! He’s weak! Murray! Murray is The Guy!”
Well, Fleury had a pretty good year for The Golden Knights. He played into June while Murray was sitting at home before the Conference Finals even began. WEAK!
See, Murray was protected by Fleury those two playoff runs. If he slipped, he knew that the veteran Fleury could swoop in and take his place.
The difference between 2016 and 2017 and this year for the Penguins? Fleury.
Fleury was also Good Karma for The Golden Knights. Good Karma Coach. Good Karma Goalie. That’s a lot of Good Karma.
How about James Neal? I don’t know anything about hockey. Is Neal the kind of player who is better than the numbers show? Neal was playing in June. His old team, The Nashville Predators were sitting at home before the Conference Finals even began. MORE WEAKNESS!
Were the players drafted by The Golden Knights prior to this season the kind of players who are better than the numbers show? Players that The Intelligentsia tired of, making them available to the new expansion team in the expansion draft? How much Good Old School Karma did this expansion team have?
Alexander Ovechkin had another kind of Good Karma. See, Ovechkin is, as I said on April 3rd, the best player in hockey. The Alpha Male of hockey.
When you’re The Top Dog, there are a lot of people who try to tear you down.
They said “Sidney Crosby is better than you Ovechkin! You’re weak!”
Well. Sidney Crosby wasn’t much before Mike Sullivan showed up.
Coaching Matters. Leadership Matters. Third principle of SABR Skepticism.
People are a product of the system in which they are a part.
Barry Trotz looks like a good coach to me. He and Ovechkin both just became champions for the first time.
Trotz had been a head coach in the NHL for 19 seasons prior to this one. Now, he is a champion for the first time as a head coach.
Ovechkin is 32 years old. He’s been in the NHL since 2004. He had been chasing that elusive cup for a long, long time.
Whenever I would look at Ovechkin, prior to this past Thursday night, I would go “Woah.
It looks to me like that Dude has been through Hell. What the hell happened to that guy? He’s got a missing tooth and everything. What is his story?”
Now, the weight has been lifted. Seeing him with his teammates celebrating their victory this past Thursday night was sports at its finest.
See, Sports Matter.
At their best, they are a giant metaphor. For what? Overcoming adversity and achieving great things.
The Washington Capitals 2018 Stanley Cup is a great championship. It is the story of a man who struggled mightily. It is the story of a man who had everything thrown at him. It is the story of a man who conquered his demons. It is the story of a man who wandered in the wilderness for year after year after year chasing that elusive prize. It is the story of a man who persevered.
Hats off to Alexander Ovechkin, champion.
SABR Skeptic 