Expectations, Anyone?

Reading over my ridiculous midweek ranting about the Penguins’ first loss (in consecutive games!) in regulation this week, as well as listening to ex-Pen Coach Eddie O talk today, I had to wonder: What about expectations?

Eddie O, along with the rest of the NHL on NBC crew, before deciding that I needed to watch a "real hockey game" (my terms) rather than a blowout, discussed the belief among several of the Penguins players that they could be like the Edmonton Oilers were last year. An amusing discussion ensued where Eddie O noted that the Pens began the year with a 75-1 line to win the Cup and are now have a line of 15-1 odds. Eddie O was animated and vehement as he insisted that the Penguins were not like the Oilers, because no really expected the Oilers to do what they did. But "people are aware of Pittsburgh," was the general gist of the conversation, with which the NHL on NBC commentators agreed.

Glancing at hysterical reaction from fans to the team’s two consecutive losses this week (including, admittedly, my own), listening to the guys in the press booth who are in awe and fawning over the Pens’ young talent, at some point in time, expectations have got to hit these players. At first, expectations were just to make the playoffs. That’s a goal, three points away from being achieved. After that, now what? What are the expectations? Of the fans? Of the press? Of the players themselves? And will the fans and the media’s expectations ever begin to weigh on the players?

When it comes to the fans, watch highlights of a New York Rangers loss at home this season. Watch as the MSG crowd, who came into the year expecting great things from Henrik the Great and Jagr, is disappointed by a team that didn’t play consistently for much of the season. Watch as the crowd boos the power play and gets aggravated by the team. Granted, call Jags super-sensitive as I surely will (and I still love Jags like crazy), but watch how those unfulfilled expectations of the fans do not help the Rangers. It’s not a good thing.

Read some excerpts of the New York papers this season. Read the disappointment of the writers who follow the Rangers. Read where those media guys lay the blame for the season, and read about the questions they pepper the players with over their season that has not yet met expectations. Again, it’s not been a terribly good thing for the Rangers.

Unlike Rangers fans who came into the year expecting to better last season’s renaissance, Penguins fans figured to be happy with improvement. And, then, suddenly, the team had the best record in the NHL since sometime in January, and reeled off a 16 game points streak and stumbled, albeit not enough to lose two consecutive games in regulation, before reeling off another points streak. Now ask Penguins fans and Pittsburgh media their expectations, and the expectations run the gamut...but some fans, and some members of the media, are daring to dream of the Cup—not next year or the year after that, but this spring.

While I don’t yet know the answer to this question, I have to pose the question. At what point do these expectations of the fans and media, for better or worse, begin to impact the Penguins team? What are the responsibilities of the coaching staff and of the veteran players on the team to deal with the raised expectations? Are the raised expectations significant for the team—and are they significant as a stumbling block or as a propellant to great heights?

I don’t yet know the answer to that question, but I do know that the expectations, continually revised all year, are still changing—and honestly, trending upwards. Still, I have to ponder, what will be the ultimate significance, for the players, of heightened expectations from outside sources?