Kissing The (Paper) Cup

About this time every year, fans and pundits alike pass out a Cup in late July - the Paper Cup.

The Paper Cup is given to the team or teams that make the flashiest moves in Free Agency, or who shuffle their roster like a deck of cards. As no actual NHL hockey is being played, the Paper Cup is awarded on the merits of speculation and popular opinion. No moves are bad moves in competing for the Paper Cup - the only way to truly eliminate yourself from consideration is to make a few low-profile moves, run under the radar, or just generally not draw attention to yourself.

The All-Time Greatest Recipient of The Paper Cup? Last year's Tampa Bay Lightning, and it's not close. New, maverick owners came in and ruffled the feathers of the 'traditional hockey establishment', spent plenty of money and generally drew as much attention to themselves as possible. Len Barrie predicted his team would win the division. He and Koules may have individually negotiated free agent contracts, and Koules apparently made a majority of the day-to-day decisions for the club for the past year.

All of this flash certainly dazzled many. Legions of fans were blown away, leading to some truly memorable message board posts - including this true gem over at Hockey's Future. Professional hockey observers seemed to like the moves, for the most part, though were split on how much of a breath of fresh air the new ownership actually were - were they rebels with a cause? Were they punks? A little of both?

Well, through the crystallizing lens of hindsight, it seems that the traditional hockey establishment was spot-on. The team finished second-to-last in the league, made questionable move after questionable move on the personnel front, including bullying Dan Boyle into accepting a trade, and Barrie and Koules are at odds with each other and had to be called into Principal Gary's office.

As it is late July, and we're in the bleakest days of the hockey-free season, there isn't much to do except talk hockey and judge the moves of our favorite teams and rivals. We at DH certainly engage in more than a little discussion on that front, and heartily endorse it. As we write names on The Paper Cup, however, we are reminded that it's all just more hot air in the Summer.