As the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights get set to kick off the Stanley Cup Final on Monday, it's guaranteed that we'll have a first-time Cup winner this year.
Because misery loves company, I never want to see any team leave the Vancouver Canucks behind. The smaller the group becomes, the more frustrating it is that a Canucks team that's coming up on its 50th anniversary still hasn't quite turned the trick.
Here's the list of the 13 teams that have yet to win it all, along with their dates of entry into the league—still including Vegas and Washington, for now.
• St. Louis Blues (1967)
• Buffalo Sabres (1970)
• Vancouver Canucks (1970)
• Washington Capitals (1974)
• Arizona Coyotes (originally Winnipeg Jets V.1 - 1979)
• San Jose Sharks (1991)
• Ottawa Senators (1992)
• Florida Panthers (1993)
• Nashville Predators (1998)
• Winnipeg Jets (originally Atlanta Thrashers - 1999)
• Columbus Blue Jackets (2000)
• Minnesota Wild (2000)
• Vegas Golden Knights (2017)
In a couple of weeks, we'll be down to 12.
Which option is more disturbing to you—the thought of a long-time loser like Washington finally getting it done, or an expansion team bringing home a championship in its inaugural season?
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For me, I think I'll be more sad if Washington wins. They're arguably the most successful regular-season team never to have won a Cup, with three Presidents' Trophies in the last nine years, but they've only had one prior trip to the Final—where they were swept by the Detroit Red Wings in 1998.
The Canucks, of course, have been to the Final three times and never won. That matches the St. Louis Blues—the only team that has waited longer than Vancouver—but the Blues' three trips to the final came when all the expansion teams were lumped into one division, guaranteeing that one of them would reach the final every year.
Credit to them for being the best of the expansion teams—and launching the NHL coaching career of Scotty Bowman—but the Blues haven't been back to the final since the Canucks and Sabres joined the league and the divisions were realigned in 1970.
Buffalo has been to the final twice. It was pretty annoying when they got there in 1975, just five years into their existence, while the Canucks had just squeaked into the playoffs for the first time that year before being crushed 4-1 in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens.
The Sabres beat the Canadiens in six games in the second round before losing in six to the Flyers in the Final. But they're arguably the fanbase that's even more emotionally scarred than our own, thanks to Brett Hull's skate-in-the-crease that went uncalled on the winning goal when the Dallas Stars beat out Buffalo in six games in the 1999 Final.
This year's Golden Knights have exactly mirrored the Sabres' path to the final this year, losing just three games through the first three rounds. Both teams swept their first-round opponent, then lost twice in the second round and just once in the third. And both have ridden red-hot goaltending—Dominik Hasek for the Sabres, back in the day, who had a 1.82 goals-against average and .938 save percentage through the first three rounds. By comparison, Marc-Andre Fleury is at 1.68 and .947 so far this year.
I guess I feel like, if Vegas wins, we all have to just collectively shrug. Who could have seen *this* coming?
Even after their strong regular season, I assumed that they'd fall apart in the playoffs—specifically, that their defense would be exposed. I can understand how 36-year-old Deryk Engelland, a Vegas resident, became the heart and soul of the team, but I cannot understand how he has turned into a shutdown defenseman who's averaging 22:36 a game—second on the team only to Nate Schmidt (24:53).
I have to admit, I'm looking forward to seeing former Canuck Luca Sbisa play for the Stanley Cup. After an injury-plagued season, he has been back in the lineup for the last seven games, playing on the third pairing with Colin Miller while Jon Merrill has been scratched. Sbisa's a 28-year-old UFA at the end of the year. If he wins a Cup, does he actually earn a raise from that oft-maligned contract with the $3.6 million cap hit that he signed here in Vancouver?
A couple of other reasons why I have a hard time hating on the Golden Misfits:
• The team hit just the right notes in helping Vegas heal after the mass shooting last October, which was an important part of the bonding process with the community. For all the initial concerns about the market, the Golden Knights have been well supported by their local fanbase all season—and have drawn phenomenal U.S. TV ratings.
And crushing everything we know about how the NHL needs traditional hockey markets to draw eyeballs, this year's playoffs have delivered the best-ever U.S. ratings since NBC acquired the broadcast rights—with conference finals that featured Winnipeg-Vegas and Washington-Tampa Bay. Amazing.
The Vegas story is loud enough to be making waves beyond traditional hockey markets.
• I also love the fact that the Golden Knights have embraced the sense of spectacle that's incumbent upon anyone doing business on the Vegas Strip. I'm glad they have home-ice advantage; I can't wait to see the pre-game ceremony they roll out before Game 1 on Monday.
If you're up early on Monday morning, tune into The Early Edition on CBC Radio at around 6:45 a.m. I'll be on with host Stephen Quinn, talking about the Golden Knights' success and what it all means for Canucks fans.
Click here to listen to the live stream online.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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