Faceoff Factor

True Arrival

Jesse Marshall | National Hockey League

Feb 5, 10:56 AM | Hype this story!

Before you need this article, you need to check out today’s required reading here

You’ve probably already read several outlets commenting on this post, it’s certainly become a hot button topic, and I didn’t want to let it fall by the wayside here at the Factor.

I want to first rewind you to October of 2009. The Penguins started their title defense in an unreal fashion, knocking teams out at the start of the regular season and blistering their way to the top of the NHL. It was that same start that allowed them to remain towards the top of the Eastern Conference through the doldrums of their mid-season slump.

Now let’s pretend the Penguins are back in October where they’ve just defeated the St. Louis Blues to solidify themselves at the top of the conference and league.

Imagine if Dan Bylsma stood up in the post-game presser to announce that the Penguins had “arrived” and that, in essence, the journey was over.

Badger Bob would have probably rolled over in his grave.

Nonetheless, here we are in February, and Ted Leonsis has procalimed that the Capitals, for one, shining moment, have ‘arrived’. How cute!

Now, I get that the Capitals are scoring goals at will. I get that they are first in the NHL. I get that they are leading the Southeast Division by an unreal margin of points.

But arrived? Really? It’s February 4th.

I get the premise of Leonsis’s post: stop being so negative and savor the success. After all, I live in Pittsburgh. The place where people could find something to complain about with their team leading 6-2 in a Game 7.

But what kind of message does a post like that send to the players and the rest of the NHL? That February success is statiating enough that we don’t need to hunt for the Stanley Cup? Are we writing off the accomplishment of actually finishing first when, gasp, it matters!?

In many ways, it’s posts like this that make me glad to know that Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle don’t blog. There’s something respectful and mysterious about the way our two owners, one of whom was the face of the franchise for two decades, sit perched high atop the Mellon Arena, quietly watching down over the proceedings and doing their business in the privacy of their own office. We always see that obligatory shot of Mario in the luxury box, set back in the shadows calmly leaning forward with his head on his hands, savoring the game that he saved in this city.

In fact, since his retirement, the only public correspondence Mario Lemieux has had with his players was after a stunning Game 5 defeat in the Cup finals last year. The next day, Mario sent a text of encouragement, stating that he knew the players were going to win Game 6. And win Game 6 they did.

What Mario did was not screaming publicity. It wasn’t pasted with ad’s for his book all over the sidebar of some internet page. It was motivational. It was private. When a guy like Mario tells you that winning Game 6 is something that can be done, you get on the ice and you finish the job. Mind you, that story didn’t even reach the press until after the Penguins had won the cup.

Call me crazy, but that’s the way I prefer my owners to do business. The only time I need to see them is when they’re riding down the Boulevard of the Allies in a topless convertible during the Stanley Cup parade.

But that’s the screaming difference between the Capitals and the Penguins. The Penguins, under Dan Bylsma, have achieved that ultimate goal, and will attempt to do so again. Dan Bylsma cares not for proclaiming ‘mission accomplished’ in February. We need to get our two points and continue piecing together the parts that make a championship team.

Thus sets the stage for the weekend, where the Penguins will travel through the blizzard to our Nation’s Capital. Fans in Washington, gross sense of entitlement in hand, wonder why the rest of the league is so quick to villify them.

Read the post above one more time and you’ll understand why.