Vancouver Canucks: All rival teams eliminated from playoffs
By Alex Hoegler
With the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday, Vancouver Canucks fans can breathe: None of their rival teams will take home the Stanley Cup in 2018.
The Vancouver Canucks are watching the playoffs at home for the third straight year, and the players and fans could only sit back and hope that a rival team wouldn’t win the Stanley Cup.
Well, we aren’t even off to the Conference Finals yet, and fans can take a deep breath. With the Pacific Division rival San Jose Sharks and arch nemesis Boston Bruins being eliminated on Sunday, Canucks fans won’t have to be let down about this year’s Cup winner.
Yes, the Vegas Golden Knights are a division rival. But how could anybody dislike them? The Golden Knights are the ultimate underdog story. It’s their first season ever, and they’re four wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final. That’s a story that every hockey fan can buy,
The Winnipeg Jets are Canada’s only hope at ending the country’s 25-year Stanley Cup drought. Is it okay to assume that many Canucks fans would okay with a fellow team from western Canada winning it all?
Elsewhere, the Nashville Predators don’t offer Canucks fans much to dislike. They’re a terrific hockey city with wonderful fans. Mike Fisher deserves a Stanley Cup on his way out.
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Ryan Johansen is a Vancouver native. Kyle Turris is from New Westminster. Nick Bonino and Yannick Weber are former Canucks.
On the Eastern side, how many Canucks fans are going against the Tampa Bay Lightning? Didn’t they just send home Brad Marchand and the arch-rivals that beat them in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final?
Can’t think of a time where Tampa got so much support from western Canada.
As for the Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh Penguins rivalry with Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals?
That doesn’t really affect Canucks fans much. Both players are putting up tremendous postseasons, and neither offer a reason for Vancouver to dislike or cheer hardly against them.
Entering play on Monday, six teams remain in a quest for the Stanley Cup championship. The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers missed the playoffs. Both the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings were swept in the first round.
The Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs — who are both perennial eastern rivals of the Canucks — are out. The Sharks must be considered a rival to the Canucks as well, but the Golden Knights dispatched them in six games.
From 2010-15, life was rough for Canucks fans. They had to see the former rival Chicago Blackhawks win two championships. In between, the rival L.A. Kings won two. Oh, and the Bruins kind of won Game 7 of 2011 on Vancouver ice and all.
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But fans in Vancouver can breathe. While we await the seventh selection in this year’s draft, rivals of the Canucks must sit back and watch the rest of the postseason, wondering why and how they got sent home early from their championship quest.