The Crown
Andrei Vasilevskiy wearing the Conn Smythe on his head like a lampshade should be the lasting image of the 2021 NHL season
Monday was a big day for Tampa Bay Lightning fans. Taking to waterways of “Champa Bay,” the Lightning set sail on their second Stanley Cup boat parade of the last 10 months (and the city’s third such pleasure cruise in the last year). The Stanley Cup was borne aloft on a jet ski . . .
. . . a version crafted entirely of Bud Light made its maiden voyage . . .
. . . and Nikita Kucherov could be found dumping beers all over innocent reporter’s heads.
But the real highlight of the afternoon—and perhaps the most indelible image of the entire 2021 NHL season—was Russian goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy donning his newly minted Conn Smythe trophy like a king wears his crown.
To quote one Michael Scott: LAMPSHADE ON HEAD!
In all seriousness, however, this is great for Vasy. Just last week, Kucherov spent the majority of his post-Stanley Cup victory press conference ranting to reporters about Vasy was “MVP” and had been robbed of the Vezina trophy, calling it, and we quote, "number one bullshit." In addition to giving birth to the iconic t-shirt seen here, the comments clearly helped to right that wrong. That said, if this isn't the new NHL logo by the start of the 2022, a lockout may be the only solution. Sorry folks, we don't make the rules.