For Whom Do I Cheer?

When I turned the TV on tonight as the first night of the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs began, I found myself in a bit of a conundrum when it came to which team for whom I should be cheering. I've been a lifelong Penguins fans and most of my life has seen this decision made easy for me with the Penguins in the dance. With this being the first time in 17 seasons that the Penguins haven't been playing postseason hockey, I find myself with a void. An emptiness. A hole inside me where my fandom usually resided for the team I wanted to see win the Stanley Cup. With the playoffs starting tonight, I had a difficult question to answer: for whom am I cheering?

As much as it would be easy to cheer for the historic season that the Bruins put together in winning the Presidents' Trophy, there's no way I will ever cheer for the Bruins to win a Stanley Cup because I lived as a kid with my Dad cheering for the Bruins. My Dad is a great guy, but it's written into my DNA that I cannot cheer for the same team as him. That counts Boston out as the team for whom I'll cheer.

You're kidding me, right? As you may know, I live by the motto of "Anybody But Toronto", and I'm enforcing it here as well. ABT is the only way that 1967 will remain in every hokcey fan's lexicon when it comes to taking shots at Leafs fans, and the last thing any respectable hockey fan wants to see or hear are Leafs fans gloating about a win. Toronto will absolutely not be who I will cheer on in this year's playoffs.

I almost could live with the idea of cheering for Tampa Bay in this year's playoffs if it weren't for all the success they've had over the last six years. I like when teams that haven't won a Stanley Cup rise up and beat the teams who may be favoured, and no one should be counting out the Lightning when it comes to their experience in big games. Because they have won so recently, though, I'm opting out of cheering for the Lightning in this postseason. I don't need to see another boat parade.

In any other season, I might have cheered for the Panthers. However, the Paul Maurice-coached team is simply destined to lose no matter who stands in the crease. I still struggle to understand how this team fired Andrew Brunette after the success he was creating in Sunrise, but the Panthers' return to the playoffs will be a short one this season. I need a team who will play more than four games. I won't be cheering for the Panthers.

As much as I like the Hurricanes this season, it seems like they may be the best non-favourite to win the Stanley Cup. I'm a fan of Jaccob Slavin, I enjoy watching Sebastian Aho, and I was big on Martin Necas when he was playing with the AHL's Charlotte Checkers. I'm not all-in on Carolina due to their goaltending, but the Hurricanes could be a team I'll watch more than once. Besides, they're doing it for Svechnikov this season.

As a Penguins fan, this is an automatic no. I do like New Jersey's giant Hat hat they wear after victories, but I watched too many Martin Brodeur-led Stanley Cup parades in my lifetime. Maybe if they went back to their green-and-red colour scheme they'd find a fan in me, but that's not happening. New Jersey's a very good team who could win it all, but they won't be my team in this year's postseason.

Again, as a Penguins fan, this is an automatic no. The Rangers assembled all sorts of talent this season, and that only makes this feel like 1994 all over again. Patrick Kane already has his Stanley Cup rings. Vladimir Tarasenko has his ring too. Those major acquisitions for the Rangers give them a ton of experience, but I'm not cheering for the Rangers to win to see Kane and Tarasenko hoist another Stanley Cup. Count the Rangers out as a team for whom I'll cheer.

Any team led by Lou Lamoriello is an automatic no for me as well. The Islanders used to be the one team I loved to hate because of their crushing defeat of the Penguins in 1993 thanks to David Volek, but it was the hiring of Lou Lamoriello that rekindled the dislike for the Islanders in me. And this is coming from a guy with two Islanders jerseys and a Fisherman jersey! Sorry, Islanders, but I just can't cheer for you because of Lou.

I struggle with teams that circumvent the integrity of the salary cap. I know it's legal by all definitions based on how the rules are written, but seeing Mark Stone return this week after missing most of the season to create salary cap relief feels like cheating. If there was any karma in this universe, the Golden Knights would be eliminated quickly due to Stone's miraculous recovery, but I won't be cheering for them in any case.

Cheering for Edmonton is an automatic no thanks to growing up in the Smythe Division. It didn't matter what you did in the 1980s when it came to hockey because all roads seemingly went through the Oilers and Gretzky. Even after the Oilers traded him to Los Angeles, Messier and the crew were dangerous. As nice as it would be to see McDavid finally get his Stanley Cup, I won't be cheering for that to happen.

The Los Angeles Kings are an interesting case because I want them to defeat the Oilers, but they're my brother's favourite team. As such, I am obligated not to cheer for them because worlds would collide. I do wish the Kings would wear their Reverse Retro jerseys from the past couple of seasons just to put the purple-and-gold back into prominence, but I won't be cheering for them when my brother has that covered.

The hometown team seems like an obvious choice when it comes to supporting a team, but I haven't cheered for the Jets in some time now. The baffling decisions made by management, the coaching that seems oblivious to statistics, and the players who go through the motions far too often means I'm most likely in for disappointment once more this postseason. As such, I won't be cheering for the Jets even if they can pull off an upset.

I don't mind if Colorado repeats this season because they truly have been one of the best teams in the second-half of the NHL season. It wouldn't bother me if MacKinnon, Makar, and Rantanen were successful in defending their title, and I feel like MacKinnon will win at least one more Stanley Cup before his time is up in the NHL. Maybe that will be this year? Maybe they'll win it for Landeskog? Maybe I'll cheer for the Avalanche?

As much as I like Jake Oettinger as a goaltender, I struggle to cheer for Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Dallas was good all season long and there's really no reason to dislike them other than I've never really liked Dallas at any point in their history. Adding Pete De Boer as a head coach didn't help things either this season. Dallas won't be my chosen team this postseason.

The Wild are one of those gritty teams that every team wants to avoid in the playoffs. They have skill, they have goaltending, and they can play physical, but I've never had any sort of wish to cheer for the Wild in any year. Personally, if the Wild and the Stars beat each other into submission, I'd be good with that result. Because of that, I'll continue my streak of not cheering for Minnesota this year.

Seattle is one of those feel-good stories as they reach the playoffs in the second year of existence, but that might be where the feel-good ends as they draw the defending champions in their first-ever series. I've been told that if you want to be the best, you gotta beat the best, but I'm not certain that the Kraken are at that stage of their evolution yet. That being said, I'd like to cheer for them, but I want to cheer for a team that will go deeper into the postseason.

It comes down to Carolina and Colorado for me, and I can already tell you that it won't be the Eastern Conference team for whom I'm cheering. I like the Avalanche because of their defence - Makar, Girard, Toews, and Byram - but also because they've given players like Valeri Nichushkin and Alex Galchenyuk a second chance at playing in the show. Lars Eller is thoroughly underrated in his game, Andrew Cogliano can still check like a demon, and both JT Compher and Artturi Lehkonen provide depth scoring.

Carolina fans will throw names of players on their team into the mix who can matchup against the Avalanche, and I'm not discounting that they're talented as well. I'm just more of a MacKinnon fan than I am a Jordan Staal fan. If Crosby and Malkin can't be competing for the Stanley Cup, I'd like to see MacKinnon win one more. I'm sure Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia is with me on this one.

Perhaps this will be the 2023 Stanley Cup Final matchup with the Avalanche meeting the Hurricanes. I certainly wouldn't complain about two highly-skilled, offensive juggernauts meeting in the final. Everything gets started tonight, though, so we'll see who earns their first wins before we starts talking about 16th wins. In saying that, let's go Avalanche... I think?

Until next next time, keep your sticks on the ice!