What a ****ing great season. No shame in losing to the best in the East, but it's too bad we couldn't give them more of a run.
In a sense, it's good that we didn't go further in this series. It gives Spezza, Karlsson, and anyone who's nursing ailments time to recover fully. We'll need a fully healthy crew next year -- we're going far.
From our home opener against Florida to our second-to-last home game, we showed the league that this isn't a team that quits when the going gets tough. Did we have the raw god-given talent of, say, Datsyuk? For the love of Alfie, not even close. But every single player on this team shouldered the load and came out of it smelling like roses.
Special kudos to Anderson, Bishop and Lehner to keeping us in games we had little business being kept in; to Methot, Benoit, Phillips and Wiercioch for seldom, if ever, looking out of place and consistently giving 100 per cent efforts; to Condra, Greening, Daugavins, Smith and Conacher for showing that when the going gets tough, we say **** YOU, GOING, WE'RE GONNA DO IT OUR WAY; to Turris, Michalek, Pageau, Silfverberg and Zibanejad for providing scoring that, while not as abundant as we'd have liked, was always timely; to Neil, Kassian, Cowen, Gryba and Dziurzynski for always answering the bell when someone tried to push us around; to Regin, O'Brien, Latendresse and Lundin for being the best damn press box attendants in the league.
And, of course, a massive shout-out to Alfredsson. I sure hope he hasn't played his last game for this team, but he's got his own future, his family and his kids to think about too. If he comes back, nobody will be as happy or excited as I will be. Regardless, if this was his last game, he's been the best damn captain anyone could ever hope for, and whoever follows will have massive skates to fill.
Lastly, to you guys. With seasons as intense as these, the discussions on here have rivalled that intensity. We've all had our differences of opinions, and every fanbase has its loose screws, but the bottom line is that there's no other fanbase on HF I'd rather have shared this season with than you guys and girls (yes, AndrePetersson, this means you.)
Cheers, everyone. Have a great off-season, I'm sure I'll be seeing you around, and I really can't ****ing wait to watch these guys build chemistry together, grow together, improve together and win a Stanley Cup together.
