Bleacher Report - Articles by ASR

The Greatest Canadian NHL Franchise: Part Two of Six - Playoff Appearances

ASR — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:46:49 -0400

Son-of-a Canuck!

Okay, this Leaf fan is admittedly a little perturbed at Montreal’s early lead in the race to see who the greatest Canadian NHL franchise is.

As some of you may recall, Montreal jumped out to a dominant first-round victory with an impressive 30 percent score in the Stanley Cup category of analysis.

I hate ‘em.

For those of you who missed it, you can check out the article, or just take my word that the first round rankings looked something like this:

1. Montreal – with a score of 6.24

2. Edmonton – with a score of 3.70

3. Toronto – with a score of 2.82

4. Calgary – with a score of 0.74

5. Ottawa – with a score of 0.00

6. Vancouver – with a score of 0.00

There was some excellent feedback to the piece, I must say. I was especially interested in those comments that referenced suggestions that I design a formula to take mathematical account for the impact of league expansion on Cup chances.

Touché.

Counterpoint: As the league has continued to grow, winning a Cup has not gotten easier per se. Expansion has watered down talent to where a good team can dominate a mediocre league as opposed to a great team fighting to compete among other great teams.

In a sea of mediocrity, sometimes motivation and passion can overcome skill.

Just ask the 2006 Oilers.

If I should have accounted for anything, it would have been the inclusion of some equation that factors in the difficulties of establishing a dynasty-style championship run in the salary cap era. Well that, and maybe Ottawa’s 23-point season.

I just thought I’d throw that one out there. Come on, ten wins all year? That must deserve a one-point deduction.

But this is why we have more than one category of analysis folks.

So here we go again—the second category for you hockey fans to froth over is playoff appearances in the modern era relative to the number of years in the league.

Enjoy.

Playoff Appearances (VALUE = 10 of 55)

Did I mention that I hate Montreal? It could be a touch of envy for the league leader in playoff appearances that has put a bad taste in my mouth.

Then again, it could be they began the career that was Claude Lemieux's.

Without further ado, with Montreal leading the way, and Vancouver pulling up the rear—bookends of the country itself—here it is:

*The ratio is multiplied by the value of this category to arrive at a score:

Calgary: 19/27 = 0.704 = 7.04

Edmonton: 20/27 = 0.741 = 7.41

Montreal: 58/64 = 0.906 = 9.06

Ottawa: 11/15 = 0.733 = 7.33

Toronto: 48/64 = 0.750 = 7.50

Vancouver: 21/36 = 0.583 = 5.83

Well, Ottawa did better on paper then they did in my memory. I guess it’s probably because I’m still bitter that Sens fans actually think they’re not "band-wagoners."

The Scotiabank Place was a morgue until Ottawa broke 100 points—but I guess that makes sense because their win column was, in fact, dead.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop picking on Ottawa. I have a Senator fan brother who used to cheer for the Leafs, so it's a sore spot I will admit prompts additional barbs. There, I said it. I kinda feel like I’m back at “AA”. That’s right, I said back—I am a Leaf fan you know.

“Hello everyone, my name is Andrew and I have a relative who cheers for the Sens”

Vancouver continues to be a standout at the bottom, making the playoffs a dismal 60 percent of the time, while Toronto and Edmonton are once again locked in a battle for second.

I refuse to comment on “the team” boasting a near 91-percent appearance rate. That’s just sick.

Disgusting.

Montreal will hereafter be referred to as “those guys”—and those guys sure do a good job of winning.

No wonder Canadien fans tend to riot. They’re bored.

I intercepted a letter from Fletch to the North Pole this week:

Dear Santa,

I know it’s been awhile since I called or wrote,

But Mats has stopped taking my offers and Blake is broke,

If you could find the time for me this year for what it’s worth,

All I want for Christmas is one of Montreal’s playoff berths.

Love Cliffy

I’m not a player—I just crush a lot.

Next up, season play. Stay tuned.

The Greatest Canadian NHL Franchise: Part One of Six - Stanley Cup Overview

ASR — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:31:14 -0400

Did somebody say controversy?

This article will surely piss off five-sixths of all Canadian hockey fans. If you’re willing to bet that you may be the one sixth who ends up as happy as Cujo was to find another job, or you just enjoy the opportunity to complain, read on.

I will now break most of your hearts.

Stats, skates, and sweat, herein come together to finally answer the question that burns inside each hockey fan and player alike—what is the greatest Canadian hockey franchise of all time?

In six parts this series will examine how each of the active Canadian NHL franchises size up relative to one another in each of five categories, before finally declaring a winner.

The battle lines will be drawn around Stanley Cup Championships, Playoff Appearances, Season Play, Franchise “Greats,” and Fan Base.

I know what you’re thinking and no, the Nordiques didn't rank.

So once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. Onwards to study those things that divide us all, yet simultaneously unite us as hockey fans.

It begins:

Stanley Cup Championships (VALUE = 20 of 55)

Okay, okay, let's just go ahead and say it before the analysis even begins—of course Montreal takes this category, leaving the rest of us jealously wallowing in self-pity like Nick Lachey.

I guess I just tipped my hand. I am not a fan of Les Habitants, although I am a fan of Jessica Simpson—on mute of course. Despite this, I have a lot of respect for the accomplishments of the Canadians but alas, my heart is in Toronto. I'll do my best to shake my bias and stick to the facts.

Let’s see how everyone else sizes up to Montreal.

The following is a breakdown of Stanley Cups won in the modern era (that’d be from the '42-43 season on) divided by the number of years each team participated in the modern era NHL.

This ‘win percentage’ is then multiplied by 20 to get the final score for this section.

Calgary – 1/27 = Win Percentage of 0.037 = 0.74/20

Edmonton – 5/27 = Win Percentage of 0.185 = 3.7/20

Montreal – 20/64 = Win Percentage of 0.312 = 6.24/20

Ottawa – 0/15 = Win Percentage of 0.00 = 0.00/20

Toronto – 9/64 = Win Percentage of 0.141 = 2.82/20

Vancouver – 0/36 = Win Percentage of 0.00 = 0.00/20

Thank God I’m not a Vancouver fan. Ouch. They may not have the longest-running drought, but they’re certainly a team who thirsts to sip expensive champagne from hockey’s Holy Grail.

Representing almost half of all points available, the Championship category has significant weight, and Montreal pulls out to a strong early lead. Kinda reminds you of most of their playoff runs.

The Canadiens boast an impressive winning percentage, averaging a Cup every three seasons—a championship ratio unheard of in modern sports. To put it in perspective, the Habs have won at least four in a row twice and four in five years three times.

I believe the word is “dominant.”

Ottawa and Vancouver pull up the rear with a big fat zero, but if we were giving out Cups for effort—okay, they still wouldn’t have one. But Ottawa came close that one time, remember?

I know you do - Ottawa fans hold onto that run like Wacko Jacko dangling a baby over a railing. Dear Sen-nuts, keep a tight grip, 'cause I got bad news—it ain’t happening again anytime soon.

The dark horse of this category is definitely Edmonton, who wins respect with a strong average of almost one in five. I was a little surprised, actually—I guess the Gretzky years were better than I remember.

Montreal turns in a strong victory, and everyone else is left to wonder how in the world to catch-up. Damn you bleu, blanc, et rouge. J'admire vos victoires.

And that’s about as much praise the Habs will ever get from this Leaf fan.

So there we have it. Part One complete. Stay tuned—it only gets better as the competition heats up.

Until next time. TML forever (sorry, I couldn’t help it).

ASR

The Olympic Dream - Version 2.0

ASR — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:09:04 -0400

The Olympics. One word that can conjure so many emotions. One event that represents so much. Hope, triumph, heartbreak, and failure. For such a short time so few athletes provide the entire world with four years worth of stories and influence. But despite the media frenzy that begins weeks before the torch arrives to engulf the Games in its rapture, has the message of the ancient ritual been lost?

For the last 2,784 years, less a 1500 year moratorium imposed by then Roman Emperor Theodosius I, Olympians have delivered some of the most powerful messages imaginable.

It started with the very first medalist in history, a naked runner who completed the sole event in the first recorded Games, the 192 meter sprint. Stripped of clothing and exposed to the audience Corobeus, unknown to his own conscience, was actually setting the stage for a play that would be repeated hundreds of times throughout the ages—the capture of an audience’s attention by naked athletes.

Future Games would not be defined by literal nakedness, but rather how these players would be stripped bare of political pressures, class distinctions, and social divides as each has been melted away as the light of competition and internalized patriotism burns its way through the clouds of ignorance, if only for a few weeks every four years. With their unbridled passion exposed to the world, athletes have consistently delivered the message of peaceful unity.

But has that message been lost if not significantly obscured?

For the last 30 years the Olympic Games have been marred by declining ratings, corruption scandals, political involvement, and general social interference. From the heroic statement of a single fist raised to this week’s smog filled media lungs, the unity message of athletic competition has gradually been eroded as our interest has simultaneously waned.

Despite the disenfranchisement of viewers, the issue is not a simple peace versus chaos equation. It cannot be measured in ratings, ticket income, and attendance records. Rather the issue is whether or not the Games should evolve, as we have allowed them to, into a stage on which actors project not only the value of peaceful competition but also those of accountability and social responsibility.

Is it time the IOC embrace an actual agenda and use their influence to serve a more socially progressive end? Probably not. The entire notion is much too liberal and idealistic to sit easy with a Committee that is known for right wing appeasement and general corruption.

No, the Olympics will go on as they have; slowly evolving to the point where political and social grandstanding is generally limited to the pre-game weeks. Maybe the message of unity is still found somewhere in the smog as people turn away from China’s human rights records for a few weeks, if only to surely declare their involvement deplorable afterwards.

Maybe, just maybe, the message lives on as audiences seem to have once again warmed to the event with revitalized interest and a focus on stories of hope and perseverance. Maybe there is hope that the Games make each of us reflect on the ideals of peace and togetherness.

Here’s to hoping that the Games do continue to evolve and that the message isn’t yet lost. Here’s to hoping we take time, as corny as it may seem, to pause and reflect on the human achievement the Olympics represent and what it means to each of us that they continue to inspire and remain relevant. The Olympic dream is not always gold plated; it may be that the dream is that, if only for one brief moment, each of us realizes that unity is a human possibility.

Better Late Than Never: An Ode to Darcy Tucker, a Leaf Departed

ASR — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:07:14 -0400

An Ode To Darcy Tucker

A cheer to thee who never meant to play like shit
for when people fucked with Mats you'd hit

Your gloves for certain were not glued on
although last year the passion did seem gone

Oh noble man we loved your heart
and it hurts bad now to see us part

But last year you just could not find your game
Bad knee, Bad hip, and all that pain

So Tuck its come time to see you go
to surely play again but for a major foe

We won't boo or call or chant your name
you'll always get a clap and ovation for your fame

For ‘Darc’ you'll always be a Leaf
the one who'll be remembered as playing like a Chief

A leader and outlet for all the frustration
felt around the globe by our Leaf Nation

Goodbye my friend and champion you are
in our hearts and minds, you'll always be a star.

Sniff.... sniff.... I won't cry.... damn it, I promised myself I wouldn't cry... sniff...