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Barry Svrluga
A sports columnist with experience in rhythm writing on baseball, golf, NFL, college basketball and college football
There was a moment – let's say 365 days ago – when the opening of the Washington Capitals training camp meant the regurgitation of a nauseating end-of-season version. Man, it was hard. There was a time, say 365 days ago, when capitals wallowed in a litany of paralyzing losses. From top to bottom, the organization admitted hangover.
Now, the most important concern could be: are the capital letters still outstanding? The pre-training camp questions focused on lost opportunities and the opportunity to prepare them again. They have never included before if they were doing too much.
And now, here we are, and even three months later, it's so odd to hit this: the Washington Capitals are the Stanley Cup champions. Thus, the opening of this training camp on Friday at Medstar Capitals Iceplex (recently renamed) began the first season that Washington is already pursuing.
The Stanley Cup champions, after another Stanley Cup. In Washington
Go understand.
"We have never been in this position before," said Alex Ovechkin, captain of the Smythe team.
(Seriously, at one point these sentences will look normal, they do not do it now, I mean, Alex Ovechkin, the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? usual to open a training camp without having questions about the trophy) Ovi is not sure whether he has committed or not, so now ask him: Father? We are through the mirror, the people, and he is crazy on the other side.)
[100 days with the Cup: The story of the Capitals’ summer]
The capitals of the past years, trying to get rid of all this misfortune, claimed that their goal was the Stanley Cup. Even last year, when everyone – internally and externally – suspected that their list was not enough to win a Cup, they had to say that was what they were chasing.
Now? Of course, former assistant Todd Reirden replaces Barry Trotz, who won the Cup that triggered a contract extension, and then resigned when he could not negotiate a more lucrative contract. But there are more fundamental changes than the man who designs and installs the system.
"I think the organization feels a little different," said General Manager Brian MacLellan. "There is less tension or pressure. That does not mean we do not want to win or repeat, or something like that. It's just different. It may be difficult to explain.
Except you explain it to fans who go through the same process. The Washingtonians of the 21st century know how to wallow in the mud puddle of sports misery. In the previous reasons, you could almost feel the reluctance – in some pockets at least – to start buying again. The sport fandom, at least in part, is to develop admiration and allegiance to an athlete or group of athletes over time. These last Caps teams did not reward this allegiance until last spring. Indeed, they had taken the allegiance, had thrown it in the alley and had abandoned it with their SUV. The annual question then became: can I again?
Now the buy-in is integrated. Fans know what they have never done before: this satisfaction is possible in the end – although it will be extremely difficult to achieve the same feeling the following spring.
"I think we're still hungry," said veteran center Nicklas Backstrom. "I think it will be a different challenge. It will be much more difficult.
Nick, Nick, Nick. Have you forgotten how hard it was to win just that one?
He has a point, however. I mean, the last team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions was. . . Oh, wait. What? Pittsburgh, the most recent non-cap champion, was the last consecutive winner of the Cup in 2016 and 17. Yes, Sidney Crosby hated the Penguins.
"I do not know why I say that," said Capitals forward Tom Wilson. "But you respect a team like Pittsburgh."
(Other things that stand out now: Remember when it was so painful to recognize that these two titles Penguins by Caps, which were the top seed in each case? Now it does not matter.)
[Capitals mailbag: What to expect from winger Sergei Shumakov]
The truth is that what lies ahead is difficult. Very difficult. Reirden spent time in his first season talking to coaches who tried to repeat. Their advice? "After" good luck! ", He said.
There is a question of chicken and egg here: what is the hardest part, making a dream come true for the first time or maintaining the drive and commitment needed to achieve it? The practical proof is that it is difficult to come back the next year and do the same again.
The last champion before the Penguins was Detroit in 1997 and 98, Steve Yzerman's Red Wings and Nicklas Lidstrom. Before that? Teams Mario Lemieux at Pittsburgh 91 and 92. Forward this? The Edmonton Oilers in 1987 and 1988, led by none other than Wayne Gretzky.
You notice one thing immediately about these consecutive winners: everyone has at least a generational talent, an instant Hall of Famer, at its base. The Capitals won last year because they avoided individual results in favor of a collective spirit, and the group is bigger than all individual players. . .
Oh, forget all that. They always have Ovi. Yes, his most recent public appearances took place with the Moscow Cup and, before that, stroll through a Georgetown fountain before pushing the Cup into a cab looking for another beer.
"This is one of the best moments of our life in our hockey career," said Ovechkin on Friday. "But again, this time, it's over. We're back on track and I think we're thrilled to start again because we feel the win way – and we do not want to lose it.
This is the first day of training camp. They have not lost it yet. But life is different here, of course. There is no 365 days, when the rink was like a morgue. There is no hangover from a crowbar loss at the knees in a match 7. There is only first-hand knowledge of what it's doing to overcome that. What world we live in now.
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