Habs Win 2022-2023 Stanley Cup

  It's been eighteen years since Remi Rainville last hoisted the cup as GM of the New Jersey Devils.  After being swept in four straight games by the Predators in the 2004 cup final, Rainville had built a solid team with lots of cap space.  At the deadline, he used this cap space to add star players Brian Campbell and Scott Gomez.  The Devils finished the year on a tear and defeated the Minnesota Wild in the cup finals to become champions.  The team made the cup finals the very next season but fell short.  After making the cup finals three straight seasons, GM Rainville was extremely confident in his abilities.  Fast forward to three years ago when yet another TUFHL league was launched and Rainville got another chance to relive his old glory days but this time managing his favorite team; Montreal.  The team made it clear that they had a three year window to go all in and feel the indescribable joy of winning a Stanley Cup.  Year one, we lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1st round.  Year two, we lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.  This year, there was no Lightning, and we won.

  The team won despite having an aging core and no clear top three forwards.  This was litterally the last chance for guys like Mike Smith, Justin Braun and Marco Scandella.  Giroux, Okposo and O'Reilly aren't going to get too many other chances to win it all.  Head coach Claude Julien did what he does best and implemented an aggressive strategy to complement this naturally defensive roster.  He took advantage of our speed and spread the ice time almost evenly between the top two lines.  He split up the Toews/Severson defensive pairing and got both guys playing their best hockey. 

  This was the last chance for this core to win.  Now, sadly, this team must be disassembled to try to rebuild.  There are no great youth coming up in the system.  There aren't any good draft picks left for this off season.  Mike Smith has announced his retirement after winning the Conn Smythe as Montreal's playoff MVP.  Reality has set in and one can say it is much easier to rebuild after winning it all.  Montreal's win wasn't just luck.  We had to beat four of the top five teams in the standings.  The other team was us.  We took the hard road.  Not a single GM in this league had the Habs in the cup finals, but we knew what we had in the locker room was special. 

  I'm looking forward to a new approach after three years of trying to add.  Now it's time to talk all kinds of trades.  Montreal is open for business.  Looking to get younger and add picks while trying to stay competitive in the ultra tough Eastern Conference.  Congratulations to Kirk for bringing me as far as I can go before winning.  Props to the Panthers.  If Ekblad doesn't get injured, I think Derek would be writing this article instead of me. Thank you to all of you who take the time to participate in this league.  It has been a big part of my life for a long time and I truly love it.  Thanks to the admin team for keeping things running as smoothly as we can.  And thanks to everyone who pitched in this year financially. 

 I look forward to many more years and many more of Steve's tears.

Your Champ,

Remi Rainville