Predators vs Penguins: Which Team Needs to Win the Cup More?

With a thrilling Conference Finals game 7 resulting with the Penguins eliminating a tenacious Ottawa Senators team in double overtime, the 2017 Stanley Cup matchup is set and will feature the Nashville Predators taking on the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The matchup this year is interesting to say the least, as it features the 2 seed in the east Penguins facing the overall 16 seed in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Predators, who barely saw a playoff birth this season.  However, despite their varying seedings in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, both teams have made impressive runs this postseason alone.  

The Penguins first knocked out the 3 seed Columbus Blue Jackets, who at one point this season were clearly the best team in the league with a 16 game win streak, the second longest win streak, only behind the league record 17 game win streak, which was ironically set by the Penguins in the 1992-93 season.  After this tough first round opponent the Penguins now had to face the 1 seed President’s Trophy winners, the Washington Capitals, who I thought were favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final going into the postseason this year.  However, the Penguins were somehow able to hold off both the Capitals and the Senators, with each series ending in a game 7 win for the Penguins, and now Pittsburgh is 4 games away from being the first team to become repeat Stanley Cup Champions since the Detroit Red Wings in 1996-97 and 1997-98.  

The Predators, on the other hand, exemplified their dominance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs early on by sweeping the 1 seed Chicago Blackhawks in the first round.  To follow this up, Nashville eliminated both the playoff veteran St. Louis Blues and the Pacific Division Champs Anaheim Ducks in two 6 game series to land the Tennessee team in their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.  It’s clear the Predators and the Penguins are two very deserving teams who have earned their spots in the Stanley Cup Final, but which team needs to win the cup more?  If Pittsburgh wins, they will establish themselves as a modern dynasty in the NHL, similar to that of the Blackhawks in previous seasons, while also proving why Sidney Crosby is arguably one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen take the ice.  However, if Nashville wins, they will not only win their first ever Stanley Cup in franchise history and join the Colorado Avalanche as the only two NHL teams undefeated in the Stanley Cup Final, but they will be the first ever Nashville based professional sports team in the major 4 sports (baseball, basketball, football, and hockey) to win a league championship.  

Despite Nashville’s historic playoff run, many analysts have argued that Pittsburgh clearly needs the win more.  While it makes for a better overall story for Nashville to pull away with the cup, in reality (and from a business standpoint) Pittsburgh needs to win this series.  Before a young Jaromir Jagr would lead a 1990-91 Penguins team to their first Stanley Cup Championship while rocking his simply majestic mullet, the Pittsburgh hockey team was considered a small market franchise that did not receive anything close to the attention the Steelers or Pirates received, who they share the city with.  However, with the help from legends like Jagr, Lemieux, and Crosby, to name a few, the Penguins have quickly grown to become one of the most followed and successful teams in the league.  Now, like mentioned earlier, Pittsburgh is 4 wins away from becoming the first team in nearly 2 decades to repeat as Stanley Cup champs.  With this series win it would mark Pittsburgh’s third cup win since 2009, and in my opinion, would establish the franchise as a dynasty in a similar way to how Chicago earned the same title in the early to mid 2010s.  It would also solidify Pittsburgh as one of the most prominent big market cities in hockey alongside other major cities like Montreal, Chicago, and Detroit.  Of course, if Pittsburgh did lose, it wouldn’t mean that the franchise would return to their small market reputation they had before 1990, however, the series win would elevate them to a new level of franchise success.

It’s also important to note how winning the 2017 Stanley Cup would impact Sidney Crosby.  Since being drafted by the Penguins in 2005, Crosby has been the captain and face of the organization throughout their vast successes over the last 12 years.  His impressive career, which is far from over, includes being a 2x Art Ross Trophy recipient, a 2x Hart Memorial Trophy winner, a 6x All Star, a 2x Gold Medalist in the Winter Olympics for Canada, a 2x Stanley Cup Champion, and being named the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP.  While these awards help Crosby’s contention to become the greatest, or at least one of the greatest NHL players of all time, it also greatly benefits the Pittsburgh franchise, as it provides them with a start player, who is undisputably the greatest player currently playing in the NHL, which they can use to represent their team and attract a larger fan base as the franchise continues to grow in following.  Essentially, Pittsburgh has been an exponentially growing hockey market with the potential to reach the size of the largest big market cities in the NHL.  A win in this year’s Stanley Cup would only keep this growth rate accelerating at an even faster pace.

However, there’s nothing the sports world loves more than to see a goliath like Crosby and the Penguins go down to an underdog team like the Predators.  It’s remarkable to see how much this team has improved this season alone, especially when comparing the Predators at midseason form to how they have been playing as of late.  Being the lowest seeded playoff team in both their conference and the league yet still knocking out some of the biggest names in the west, it’s almost impossible not to root for the Tennessee franchise.  With Tennessee Titans players and iconic Nashville-based country music stars coming out to playoff games to support the Predators, watching notable players like P.K Subban, Pekka Rinne, and Roman Josi playing in their first ever Stanley Cup, and seeing the great city of Nashville covered in yellow and blue with the excitement of their first Stanley Cup appearance and chance to win the city’s first professional sports championship ever, how can one not jump on this electric bandwagon?  It’s a playoff story young teams like Nashville dream of having, especially since it has proven that the Predators might not be as small of a market team as the rest of the league might have thought.  A Stanley Cup win would drastically change the Predators and their fan base, and would help the league expand its audience rather than continuing to add to the select few that constantly succeed in the postseason.

There is one downside to having a smaller market team like Nashville win the Stanley Cup.  In the past, when smaller market teams go on to win a Stanley Cup or two, the success and relevancy from this feat doesn’t always withstand the test of time.  Take the Carolina Hurricanes and the Colorado Avalanche for example.  The Hurricanes were the 2006 Stanley Cup Champions, and since then, their attendance has continued to drastically drop season after season, with their average attendance dropping to an abysmal 10,102 attendees per game, which only fills 65.6% of PNC Arena and is the worst attendance in the entire league at 3,331 less attendees per game than the 2nd lowest team, the Arizona Coyotes.  Despite winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history, the fan base and relevancy for this small market team launched into a downward spiral that put the Hurricanes in a state of irrelevancy only a decade after winning the cup.  

In similar fashion, the Colorado Avalanche have struggled to keep their status as a medium-sized market team.  In the Avs inaugural season after relocating from Quebec in 1995, Colorado went on to win the Stanley Cup, sweeping the Florida Panthers in 4 games.  Colorado would then win the cup again in the 2000-01 season after knocking out the Devils in a 7 game series.  However, despite this early success, the Avalanche have struggled to maintain this relevancy in the league.  Their decreasing attendance has put them in the list of the top 10 worst average attendance teams in the NHL for the last 6 consecutive seasons.  Of course, you could blame this on the fact that their last cup win was 16 years ago, compared to Carolina’s 11, and how every professional Colorado team besides the Broncos struggles to sell seats, and due to the fact that the Nuggets and the Avalanche share the same shockingly small marketing team, however, the fact that this young team, who is still the only team undefeated in the Stanley Cup, has struggled to remain relevant after winning their first championship as a smaller market team does raise questions about whether or not Nashville will follow suit of Carolina or Colorado if they do win this year.

While I do think Pittsburgh will repeat, I believe that the Predators need the win far more.  It’s not clear if the hype for the Predators will last for seasons to come, but it’s obvious that that the following and support the young team has is more prominent than originally thought.  Of course, there is a chance that this first Stanley Cup appearance could have the same effect on the Predators as it did on teams like the Ducks or the Sharks, whose attendance stats since their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final have increased to levels similar to that of established original six teams like the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers.  Not to mention that it is refreshing and good for league growth, and other sports leagues’ growth for that matter, to have new faces in the Stanley Cup Final (or other championship games for other prominent leagues).  Being an avid basketball fan myself, it’s getting ridiculous to keep seeing the Warriors and the Cavaliers matchup in the NBA Finals year after year.  While it’s great for the big market cities to continue their success as dynasties, it’s terrible for the rest of the league, as it defeats the purpose of pursuing an accomplished season if the best case scenario is losing in the Conference Final to these superteams in their respective leagues.  Of course, I wouldn’t consider the Penguins a superteam this year, but it’s good for the growth of the NHL, which is still the smallest of the big 4 sports leagues, if a smaller team with less accolades, like Nashville, wins the Stanley Cup.  Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final starts Monday, May 29th at 8 pm ET on NBC and will show which of these two deserving teams will be one step closer to earning the title of 2017 Stanley Cup Champions.

Written by Erik Clark