San Jose Sharks Legend Barclay Goodrow is a Stanley Cup Champion.
While that statement is a fact, it feels inevitable that this victory will always be tied to the circumstances under which it took place — a not-quite-regular season, the months-long break before the round of not-actually-playoffs, the precautions and more than 30,000 COVID-19 tests, all while in lockdown and in front of empty seats. If a Stanley Cup is awarded and the fans aren’t there to see it, did it really happen?
That’s a stupid question, of course, because we all saw it happen, and there’s video footage of it happening — though I’d say just skip to the last five minutes of Game 6, because it was easily the most boring game of the series, but regardless, it’s there and you can’t say that the Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t the 2020 Stanley Cup Champions.