Driving in your car or can’t read your screen right now? Listen to the audio recording of Second Place Fate.
There is no prize for runner-up.
If you’re not first, you’re last.
Or worst of all: Nobody remembers second place.
All of these quotes detail the harsh, but honest reality of being a runner-up.
Second place entails two things: first, there’s no doubt that a team or player has to be incredibly good to continuously face some of the best teams in a league. However, you also have to be so unlucky to continually find yourself as a runner-up. Winning isn’t only about being good, it’s about a team being at the right place, at the right time, and knowing themselves enough to win against an equally good team. Injured players, poor coaching, bad managers, or lack of camaraderie among teammates can all spoil a potential win.
People that participate in sport, either as fans or athletes, sometimes look at “bad” teams (or teams that have failed to win) and don’t feel empathy for them. For a number of reasons, they claim that they don’t “deserve” the win, they’re not good enough, or that they just need one more player or a different manager, and they’ll come back stronger the next year. The inspiration for this article was finding that sometimes the best players don’t ever win and realizing that you lose more often than you win.
Since the beginning of time (1917) the NHL’s most coveted prize has been the Stanley Cup– a trophy that holds legacy, power, and history. Few teams like the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs have been skilled enough to win the trophy multiple times. Other teams haven’t been so lucky, but continue to find themselves in the runner-up position.
If you were to ask which NHL team has appeared in more Stanley Cup Finals than won, the answer would be simple. The Boston Bruins have appeared in fourteen runner-up positions and have only (if you can say only) won six Stanley Cups. Sure, those fourteen runner-up positions aren’t hung at TD Garden, but they still prove a powerful legacy that the Bruins hold. Using that metric, however, doesn’t account for outside factors such as time, coaches, and players. I wanted to find a team that, despite trying their best, despite all odds, weren’t able to hold up that trophy.
NOTE: It’s important to remember that second place is not bad (I know that, but do you?). It’s a position that still needs as much hard work, determination, and sacrifice as first place. However, if we have the data and tools to analyze, why not do so to determine our Ultimate Second Place (USP).
The Detroit Red Wings
This is a controversial team to start off with as our “Ultimate Second Place,” because they are simply not. With 11 wins and 13 Stanley Cup runner-ups, their 45% win percentage shows how just dominant they have been over the years.
Since 1917, (the beginning of time) the Detroit Red Wings’ first appearance in the finals was in 1934 against the Chicago Blackhawks. Detroit faced their opponent at home in a game that went into two overtimes, which Chicago won. Chicago also won their second game, but in their third meetup, Detroit was determined for a potential comeback– and they did just that to win 5-2 in Chicago. Even the fourth game looked like a potential toss up with a 0-0 draw at the end of regular time. The game had to go into double overtime until Mush March from Chicago scored a goal to win the game and the series. That was the Red Wings’ first appearance in the finals. However, with a bit of regrouping and new leading scorer Marty Berry, the team went back-to-back in 1936 and 1937 winning 3-1 and 3-2 against the Maple Leafs and Rangers.
This was the beginning of a 16 year journey where Detroit would look unstoppable. From 1940 to 1956, when the world was in a state of unrest, (well, when is it not?) the Red Wings came out with five Stanley Cups and six runner-up positions. During this time, they lost against the Bruins, Maple Leafs (four times), and Canadiens and won against the Bruins, Rangers, and Canadiens (three times). This chunk of years marks where the Red Wings made the most impact in the NHL and for their team. Jack Adams, Tommy Ivan, and Jimmy Skinner led the way to the team’s victory.
The only Red Wing era where they could be our USP was the journey from 1961 to 1966 with four finals appearances and no wins. After a 4-2 series in 1961 against Chicago and a 4-1 and 4-3 series in 1963 and 1964 against Toronto, the Red Wings came home trophy-less.
In 1966, the Red Wings went back to the finals to face the Canadiens. Overtime would not be their friend as Montreal took the series. However, what might be more impressive than four runner-ups in six years is head coach Sid Abel staying with the team during that time. Unlike now where coaches are fired if there is no promise of a championship a few games into the season.
The Red Wings’ next shot at victory would be back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in 1997 and 1998, and two more times in 2002 and 2008 with a dominant performance in each series (against the Flyers 4-0; Capitals 4-0; Hurricanes 4-1; and Penguins 4-2). Head coach Scotty Bowman (remember this name) from 1993-2002 and Mike Babcock 2005-‘15 allowed the Red Wings to add to the legacy they started nearly 50 years prior. These noughties wins are why I do not consider them our USP. Although their “Dead Wings” era caused some struggle for the franchise, they’ve had periods of extreme dominance. So, on to our next team.
The Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers have definitely had some ups and downs when it comes to the Stanley Cup. So much so, that I was nearly convinced they would have to be our USP.
After winning the Stanley Cup in 1974 and ‘75 against the Bruins and the Sabers (both 4-2 series’ wins), the Flyers reached the finals again next year, but fell to the behemoth that was the Montreal Canadiens. Head coach Scotty Bowman (recognize this one?), and elite players Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt acted as two of the many incredible showmakers on the team who were literally unstoppable for four years. But enough of Montreal, back to Philly.
They came back to the finals 1980, but fell to the New York Islanders (4-2 series) who would go on to win three more Stanley Cups in a row. The Flyers went back to the finals in 1985 (4-1 series) and 1987 (4-3 series) but lost to the Edmonton Oilers who would win five more Stanley Cups in just seven years.
It seems that the Flyers did not only lose in the Stanley Cup finals, but also had the strange magic of making their opponent win several other Cups after that. A superpower I would not want to have. If that’s not enough, Flyer Captain Mike Richards and company arrived at the finals again in 2010, but it wouldn’t be enough against the Blackhawks– a team that would win another two Cups in five years.
On paper, their ratio of wins to runner-ups makes it easy to call the Flyers a second place team. Although they have two Stanley Cups in eight finals appearances, the lengthy time between their appearances (1974 to 2010) makes me retract my statement. From the 70s to the 2010s, a new wave of Flyer fans entered and, unbeknownst to them, had no idea what it was like to lose out on a trophy. Instead, I wanted a team that was so close, yet miles away.
St. Louis Blues
If you think I’m looking too much from the perspective of a fan, it’s because I am. I believe there is no team in the NHL that encapsulates such a disappointing and tough loss for fans and the team than the 1968 to 1970 St. Louis Blues. The team had three consecutive Stanley Cup finals appearances and lost 4-0 each time. Their final year in the Stanley Cup playoffs had to be the most difficult, losing to the Bruins with a total of 20 goals against them in just four games.
After their inception in 1967, Canadian and former New York Ranger Lynn Patrick was assigned head coach but left after a slow start. Scotty Bowman (yes, that man) took over and stayed with the team for three years. As you might recall, Bowman was the man that was able to bring the Canadiens and Red Wings to Stanley Cup victory as well as with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992. Unfortunately, Bowman was not the man for the job despite his prowess with other NHL teams. Even the addition of Canadian and Canadien Phil Goytette in their final run was not enough for the team to secure a Stanley Cup.
Even though I do classify the Blues as our “Ultimate Second Place” team, I do think it is impressive that such a young team and young coach made it to three finals in a row– even if they weren’t able to lift that trophy. The reason I call the Blues a second place team is not because of their win to runner-up ratio, but of the loss of potential. To have an amazing coach simply not work out for your team makes those losses even more difficult to deal with. Seeing Bowman make it big with other NHL teams and wondering: Why couldn’t he do that with us? Even more, their 25 year streak of appearing in the playoffs from 1980 to 2004, with either zero to two winning rounds had to add to the frustration for fans and management. Luckily for the team, they won the 2019 Stanley Cup, proving that sometimes it’s more about the journey than the end goal.