It\u2019s Thanksgiving, at least among one of the lesser hockey countries. So today, I\u2019m going to list a reason I\u2019m thankful for each NHL team.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s it. No gimmicks or clever twists. I promise I\u2019m not even going to do the \u201cThanks for reminding us it could always be worse\u201d backhanded compliment thing to anyone. Just one sincere, if slightly bizarre, reason to say a quick thanks to every team.<\/p>\n
Anaheim Ducks<\/p>\n
Thank you for being good this year by scoring a bunch of goals. That\u2019s a nice change from how every other team tries to be good, which is to say clamping down on defense, forcing low-event hockey, having an \u201cidentity\u201d that is exactly the same as every other team\u2019s identity and transparently playing for overtime every single night. I\u2019m sure all of this is making Joel Quenneville furious, and like all coaches, he\u2019ll figure out a way to strangle the entertainment value out of this team eventually. But for now, watching a team that\u2019s apparently too young to realize NHL hockey is supposed to be dull has been a real treat.<\/p>\n
Boston Bruins<\/p>\n
Thank you for giving the hockey world Willie O\u2019Ree. I\u2019m still mad it took the Hockey Hall of Fame so long to induct him, and that when they finally did, he had to share the builder spotlight with Gary Bettman. But we\u2019re staying positive in this piece, so let\u2019s just say that the man is a treasure<\/a>.<\/p>\n Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n Thank you for sacrificing your best shot at the Stanley Cup to get rid of one of the worst rules in NHL history<\/a>. The skate-in-the-crease rule of the 1990s was awful, and we all knew it at the time. But this being the NHL, they refused to do anything about it until they had no choice \u2014 and the Sabres made sure that happened. It cost them their only trip to the final in the last 50 years, but it was worth it for the greater good. Don\u2019t worry, Sabres fans, I\u2019m sure the hockey gods will reward you. (Checks last few decades of NHL history.) Uh, eventually.<\/p>\n Calgary Flames<\/p>\n Thank you for starting the trend of teams making weird lip sync videos in the 1980s. They\u2019ve long been a staple of our Grab Bag YouTube breakdown section, and rightly so, because all of them were fantastic. Well, they were terrible. But that\u2019s what made them fantastic. And while the Capitals did a lot of the heavy lifting, the Flames were the ones who started it all.<\/p>\n Are we absolutely sure we don\u2019t want to bring these back? I\u2019m guessing Nazem Kadri plays a mean air trombone.<\/p>\n Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n Thank you for the Mikko Rantanen trades. They didn\u2019t work out the way you hoped, because if they had, he\u2019d still be there. And we won\u2019t know for a while whether they were actually the right moves at all, or whether future Hurricanes fans might wish you\u2019d stood pat. But in a league where we rarely see midseason trades of any consequence anymore, one team made two in the same season involving the same guy. If you\u2019re a fan who loves to chew on this stuff, you have to respect that, whether the moves ultimately work or not.<\/p>\n Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n Thank you for giving us the goal horn<\/a>, a now-leaguewide tradition that is very cool (and was even cooler when it was unique to just a few buildings, but that\u2019s me being a grumpy old man).<\/p>\n Colorado Avalanche<\/p>\n Thank you for bringing back the Nordiques uniforms. It\u2019s possible you overdid it by deciding to wear them (checks notes) 37 times this year<\/a>. But those uniforms were top shelf back in the day, and look even better now, and it\u2019s important for younger fans to know that. Our so-called experts ranked them too low<\/a>.<\/p>\n Columbus Blue Jackets<\/p>\n Thank you for Boomer, the uh, oddly shaped<\/a> mascot you had for about three minutes. Real ones remember.<\/p>\n Dallas Stars<\/p>\n Thank you for Patrik Stefan\u2019s missed open net. Nearly two decades later, it remains as one of the great sports bloopers of modern times, the sort of play that will get a laugh out of anyone, whether they understand hockey or not. (OK, anyone other than Ray Ferraro, who was madder about this than I\u2019ve ever been about anything in my life.)<\/p>\n But it\u2019s also one of the great what-ifs in NHL history, a play that inadvertently changed the outcome of the 2007 draft lottery. I get into the details here<\/a>, but imagine taking Patrick Kane away from the rebuilding Blackhawks and putting him on the Oilers instead. It changes just about everything about the cap era. Given the oft-forgotten detail that the Stars still won the Stefan game, that infamous flub ended up being a low-cost way to twist the knife on multiple fan bases.<\/p>\n Detroit Red Wings<\/p>\n Thank you for the octopus thing. It\u2019s just cool, and always has been. (As long as you\u2019re not stuck next to the guy who has one crammed into his pants until just the right moment.)<\/p>\n Edmonton Oilers<\/p>\n Thank you for starting the tradition of the first Cup handoff being a thing. The Oilers are typically credited with being the first team to put much thought into who got the first skate with the Cup after the captain, dating to their 1987 win, when they made sure Steve Smith got his moment after his notorious own goal eliminated them the year prior. It didn\u2019t fully catch on right away, and even as late as 1993, the handoffs were still pretty chaotic. But it\u2019s now one of hockey\u2019s greatest traditions, one I enjoy maybe a little bit too much<\/a>, and the Oilers were a big part of it.<\/p>\n Florida Panthers<\/p>\n Thank you for the Matthew Tkachuk trade, and the lesson it should have taught every other GM. Fans forget this now, but when Tkachuk first went on the market, nobody thought the Panthers were front-runners, or even a realistic destination<\/a>. But then Bill Zito elbowed his way to the front of the crowd and slapped an offer down on the table that sure seemed like an overpay<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t, and we know that now. But Zito saw a player he wanted, he knew he had to be aggressive to get him, and he made it happen. No hemming and hawing, no floating \u201cbut only if the price is right\u201d to friendly media. Just a guy ditching the excuses and making the trade that turned his contenders into champions.<\/p>\n (Have any other GMs learned this lesson? No, they\u2019re still all timid wimps, which is why the Panthers win every year. But it was worth a try<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Los Angeles Kings<\/p>\n Thank you for trading for Wayne Gretzky, which led to American sports fans learning hockey exists, which led to a completely different economic landscape for the league for decades to come. And far more importantly than any of that, it also led to the NHL getting a piece of this commercial:<\/p>\n It also led to Gretzky hosting SNL, which did not go as well, because that man cannot read a line longer than two characters, but that\u2019s OK. Wayne Gretzky knows two things and only two things: hockey and how to absolutely wreck people on the sprint track<\/a>. Acting is not on that list, and to this day it\u2019s a small miracle that somebody actually figured out a way to get him to look cool on camera.<\/p>\n Minnesota Wild<\/p>\n Thank you for that time you traded a third-round pick for a backup goalie in the middle of a season, and that guy randomly turned into a Vezina candidate for the next few years<\/a>. The Devan Dubnyk trade was a game-changer in Minnesota, at least for a few seasons. But more importantly, at least for our purposes today, it was the ultimate \u201cyou never know\u201d move, offering hope to any team that needs help somewhere \u2014 especially in net \u2014 that even the cheapest move might just solve the problem. Never underestimate the importance of a little hope, and of reminders that sometimes miracles can happen.<\/p>\n Montreal Canadiens<\/p>\n Thank you for the Saku Koivu ovation. Still one of the era\u2019s great moments.<\/p>\n Nashville Predators<\/p>\n Thank you for the Shea Weber-for-P.K. Subban trade, which will turn 10 years old next year and remains one of the most fascinating deals in NHL history, from the most fascinating hour in NHL history<\/a>. It was a genuine jaw-dropper, featuring two legitimate superstars who were at least close to their prime. At the moment, everyone had an opinion about who won and who lost. A decade later, we\u2019re still not sure. Did both teams win? Is that even allowed? It\u2019s tough to say, but it\u2019s fun to argue, and we only get to do that because two teams had the guts to make a deal they knew would be a lightning rod.<\/p>\n New Jersey Devils<\/p>\n Thank you to your fans for delivering this absolutely brutal response to Gary Bettman on a live Fox broadcast in 1995. It\u2019s the genesis for the Bettman booing tradition, absolutely fascinating television and a cathartic moment for every smallish-market fan who had to watch their beloved team get betrayed by the suits.<\/p>\n New York Islanders<\/p>\n Thank you for Matthew Schaefer. Please protect him at all costs. I\u2019m sorry I even had the thought that you should take James Hagens because he was the local kid. I\u2019m very dumb and you should never give my opinion any weight whatsoever.<\/p>\n New York Rangers<\/p>\n Thank you for letting Phil Esposito be the GM for a while in the 1980s. Was he the most qualified candidate, purely in terms of front office experience? No. But did he somehow have a sixth sense for hockey transactions that allowed him to succeed in spite of that? Also no. But it was fun to watch him go to work over the 34 months that he held the job. His NHL Trade Tracker page is a thing of beauty<\/a> \u2014 apart from the post-deadline period where teams can\u2019t trade, he never went more than two months without making a significant trade involving players. He even traded for a coach, something nobody was sure was even possible until \u201cTrader Phil\u201d made it happen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n Thank you for Gladiator Guy. Yes, I know it was embarrassing when it happened. But enough time has passed that we can all admit this was awesome. This guy brought so much joy to hockey fans around the world.<\/p>\n Gladiator guy read his lines off of his shield walked so future Golden Knights guys could fight airplanes at center ice run.<\/p>\n Philadelphia Flyers<\/p>\n Thank you for the Legion of Doom. That line ruled. But more importantly, that line nickname was fantastic. Sure, it was stolen from pro wrestling, but that\u2019s fine. In an era where nobody can come up with a line nickname that does anything other than make an acronym from a letter from each player\u2019s name, we need the Flyers to show us the way.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n Thank you for the pregame ceremony before Mario Lemieux\u2019s comeback game, and the brilliant idea of actually lowering his number from the rafters. Having a player with a retired number return to the lineup was close to unprecedented in sports, and we\u2019d all have understood if you just left it up there as a cool reminder of how great Lemieux\u2019s first chapter had been. But somebody had a flair for the dramatic, and it made a great night even greater.<\/p>\n San Jose Sharks<\/p>\n Thank you for introducing teal to pro sports uniforms. Yes kids, believe it or not, there was a time when sports fans didn\u2019t think teal would work on a uniform. We\u2019d only really seen it with the Miami Dolphins, and they balanced it with a lot of traditional orange. When the Sharks came along and debuted their teal jerseys, it was a controversial choice. But it was the right one, and now every league has at least a team or two ripping off that Sharks aesthetic.<\/p>\n Seattle Kraken<\/p>\n Thank you for finally bringing the \u201cCool S\u201d to the world of pro sports logos. I\u2019ve long been a proponent of what I call the pencil case test \u2014 the idea that a good sports logo should be simple enough that a motivated kid could successfully draw it on their pencil case. Well, nothing has ever been drawn on more pencil cases than the \u201cCool S.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Louis Blues<\/p>\n Thank you for Ron Caron. I miss the old professor, whether it was him wildly gesticulating in the press box or pulling off franchise-altering blockbuster trades back when GMs had the guts to actually do that.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n Thank you for basically your entire 1990s history, from the Duke of Manchester to playing in the baseball stadium to the mob rumors. It might only be fun in hindsight because we know what the franchise eventually developed into, but here we are. The No. 1 goal for any team is to win, but the secondary goal should be to be interesting, and the Lightning may have had one of the most interesting decades in sports history.<\/p>\n Toronto Maple Leafs<\/p>\n Thank you for the greatest fan-made hype video<\/a> of all time, even if the only surviving version on YouTube looks like it was rendered on a potato.<\/p>\n Utah Mammoth<\/p>\n Thank you for putting a merciful end to the Coyotes saga. It had to happen. That\u2019s not even a knock at Arizona fans, who\u2019ll no doubt get a fresh crack at the NHL in a few years, once some sort of acceptable arena situation is worked out. The league let the situation drag on about a decade too long, and by the end, it felt like we were doomed to have it never end. And then, just when almost all hope had been lost, Utah stepped up and saved us all.<\/p>\n Vancouver Canucks<\/p>\n Thank you for drafting Pavel Bure with the 113th pick in the 1989 draft, for two reasons. First, and most obviously, Bure rocked. But maybe more importantly, if the rumors are true that Detroit had decided on picking Bure with the 116th pick, the Canucks saved the rest of the league from a decade-long Red Wings dynasty.<\/p>\n Vegas Golden Knights<\/p>\n Thank you for hosting the 2024 draft at Sphere, still one of the coolest hockey events in recent memory<\/a>. We weren\u2019t sure it would work, but it somehow overdelivered. It also cost a fortune, and this being the NHL, ended up leading to a new way of doing things that nobody likes. But someday, we\u2019ll be back. And when we are, that \u201ctrade alert\u201d siren had better be even louder than last time.<\/p>\n Washington Capitals<\/p>\n