This Vegas Golden Knights–Washington Capitals matchup can’t get any better.
Two teams who currently don’t possess any Stanley Cups are now battling for their first one.
On one side, we have a team who has existed for 44 years and has never won a Cup. On the other side, we have a team who has existed for 10 months and has never won a cup. And now, one of these teams will win their first one.
Which leads me to ponder the fact that many people are anti-Knights, simply due to the fact that they are the new kids on the block.
They’ve beat out teams who have existed far longer than them, who’ve never seen the light of a championship win, and are already en route to possibly winning their first, despite not even being a season old.
I see why people could be mad, but to them I say, it’s senseless and foolish.
Many people who were formerly anti-Capitals are now rooting for the Caps simply because they “deserve” it, because they’ve been around longer. Many say the Knights don’t “deserve” it.
As I discussed in my article about the Cavs-Warriors matchup in the NBA, teams make it to the championship because they’re good. Because they’ve got the skills and talent that no other team in their league or division has.
Because they’re simply better.
And as we know, only one team can win it all.
The whole idea of teams “not deserving it” is a bunch of crock. To make it this far, teams must show that they are capable of doing so. As the Cavaliers and Warriors did in the NBA, the Knights and Capitals have done so in the NHL.
An expansion team has never won a championship in its first year, let alone make it this far to the championship round. The closest team to do so was the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were founded in 1998 and won the World Series three years later, in 2001. No one believed they could do it so soon, but they did. The St. Louis Blues also made it to the Cup in their first year, but lost.
If the Capitals win the Stanley Cup, it’d be their first in franchise history, 44 desperate years without one. Which would be good for their fans, I guess.
If the Knights win the Stanley Cup, it’d be their first in their 10 month history. That would be excellent for Las Vegas, the state of Nevada, the team itself (obviously) and all the fans. It would also be great for the NHL itself, in that it both boost ratings and raise the bar for expansion teams, which are viewed as teams who are incapable of winning or even making it to championships, and are undeserving of such things.
Maybe if the Knights won the Cup, other sports leagues would invest in the idea of creating new expansion teams. Either way, it would be a tremendous morale boost for the future expansion teams of sports.
So what do you think about this matter? Who will win the Cup? With Game 3 set tonight in Washington, the series tied 1–1, only time and skill will tell.
Chris is a writer and publisher who travels America, and loves doing it. He also loves pizza, video games, and sports, and can tell you a thing or two about each. Follow him on Medium to be informed of new articles.
