NHL Players, As Told By Country Songs
Originally written in January 2017, ahead of the Nashville All-Star Game for Heavy.com
STEVEN STAMKOS: "Lot Of Leavin' Left To Do," Dierks Bentley Stamkos's contract is up at the end of this season, which means unless the Lightning make him an offer he can't refuse and get him to re-sign, Stamkos is gonna be a free agent for the first time in his young career.
ALEXANDER OVECHKIN: "Wrecking Ball," Eric Church For anyone who's ever watched a Caps game or knows anything about hockey, there's no explanation needed. For the rest of you, please watch this video.
JONATHAN TOEWS: "Humble and Kind," Tim McGraw The yin to Patrick Kane's yang. Even his enemies can't say a bad word about the guy.
PATRICK KANE: "Nobody To Blame," Chris Stapleton We may never know what really happened and I'd rather keep my opinions to myself. However there's one thing I can say without a doubt: when it comes to losing fans and popularity, Kane has nobody to blame but himself.
ROBERTO LUONGO: "Crash and Burn," Thomas Rhett This guy's blown more shutouts at the last second than any other goaltender in recent memory. Plus he was a big part of the Canucks' playoff failures, and until he can prove he's not actually cursed, I'm not getting anywhere near him without some sage.
P.K. SUBBAN: "Hard to Love," Lee Brice Unless you're a Habs fan, PK Subban is nothing more than a hockey menace.
TYLER SEGUIN: "Let's Get Drunk and Make Friends," Love and Theft The NHL's most loveable fratboy.
EVGENI MALKIN: "You're Still On My Mind," George Jones Don't worry Sid, just because you didn't make the cut, Malkin's still gonna be thinking about you while he's in Nashville. Most likely wondering how he's still considered the second line center, but he'll be thinking about you!
CLAUDE GIROUX: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," Hank Williams He's not the only player heading to Nashville as the sole representative of his team, but he's the only one I picture curling up in a ball and crying about it in his hotel room.
BRADEN HOLTBY: "Top of the World," Tim McGraw Holtby is one of only four goaltenders who've had undefeated streaks of 20+ games in the last 20 years.
BARRY TROTZ: “Ex to See,” Sam Hunt Barry Trotz was the head coach of the Nashville Predators for a little over 17 years before being replaced by Peter Laviolette and getting hired by the Washington Capitals. The Caps are currently in 1st place of not only their division but the entire NHL with a 30-7 record. The Preds are 5th in their division, barely clinging to a wild card spot at 19-15.
Musings Of A Sports Fan
Originally written in 2014
It's hard to explain the pain to people who don't understand the joy. The emptiness in your stomach, the fog that takes over your brain, walking around in a daze, not sure where you are or where you need to go, going to sleep and waking up still not feeling completely okay. You tell yourself it's just a game, that there are far more important things in life to worry about. That doesn't change the feeling. You know it's silly, a little ridiculous, and yet the pain lingers anyway. You almost feel guilty for letting it have this much power over you, but that guilt can't take it away either. Like any other kind of pain, only time can do that.
Being a sports fan is amazing precisely because of this trade. The highs can take you to a euphoria no drug could touch; the lows can take you somewhere just as extreme in the opposite direction. That's the price of admission. We know the deal when we dedicate ourselves to a team, we know it's not always going to be easy, we know the pain is going to be severe, and still, every single year, hope gets the better of us. This year is going to be different. The escape sports gives us from life's "real" problems is incomparable.
Yes, it's just a game. Try telling that to Toronto the night the Maple Leafs blew a 4-1 third-period lead in a Game 7 against Boston, watching a series they'd all but won evaporate in twenty minutes. Try telling it to the Bruins fans who stayed in TD Garden that same night, down three goals with time running out, refusing to leave because some part of them still believed, and got to be right.
I'm a Capitals fan, so I don't think I need to explain why the last several years have been brutal. From 2008 to 2014, Washington won the Presidents' Trophy more than once, the best record in the entire league — and lost early anyway, first or second round, year after year, each exit somehow more devastating than the last. Then, in 2014, after all that history, after all that hope, they missed the playoffs completely. No series to lose. No third-period collapse to relitigate for months. You'd think that would hurt less than another crushing playoff exit. It didn't. Turns out there's a specific kind of gut punch reserved for not even getting the chance to be sad about a loss — for the season just quietly ending somewhere in April with nothing to show for it, not even heartbreak.
But even after the pain from a loss like that subsides, the hope comes back. Hope that next season will be different. Hope that anything is possible once the slate's wiped clean.
Maybe that makes us all masochists. If that's the case, I wouldn't have it any other way.