Weekly Reader Ranking the best Stanley Cup losers of the past 20 years

The Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights will play for the Stanley Cup, as we all predicted.
Another prediction: There will be people dressed as Elvis in Las Vegas, and Capitals fans will create a collection of lame "has left the building" jokes on poster board Taylor Hall Jersey, perhaps in correlation with Marc-Andre Fleury stickers placed in urinals. Another prediction: A hockey writer on press row will literally shriek when an empty netter in Games 1 or 2 gets him the over he wagered on. Hey, it's a Vegas Cup Final and we're degenerates. Brave new world.
One more prediction, and I'm fairly confident about this one: Someone is going to lose.
Being the runner-up for a championship is a conundrum. In some cases, teams can take solace in the fact that they accomplished more than could have been expected from them. In other cases, teams are driven mad by getting so close to the Stanley Cup that they can feel the fizz of the champagne bubbles, but then falling through a closing window.
Here's a look back at the last 20 Stanley Cup Final losers, in which we rank them based on their quality on paper and on the ice. Because there's no shame in being second best. You still get to raise a banner. Or, if the Capitals lose, a second banner next to their new "Beat The Penguins 2017-18" one.
Before an expansion team made the Stanley Cup Final Michael McLeod Jersey, the 2006 edition might have been the NHL's weirdest championship round: A rookie goalie leads Carolina against a No. 8 seed, albeit one that would have been seventh in the East Brian Gibbons Jersey. Forever remembered for Chris Pronger's Herculean effort to lift a middling team in the postseason Ken Daneyko Jersey, and then leaving town under a cloud of intrigue.
The perfect time capsule of Domink Hasek's career with the Sabres: He posted a. 939 save percentage and led Buffalo to the Final after just three losses in the previous three rounds... a Buffalo teams whose two leading playoff scorers were Jason Woolley and Alexei Zhitnik. They lost to the Stars in a series that I understand (from an unending parade of Brett Hull jokes) ended in some controversy.
A deeper dive on Gary Bettman than you probably ever wanted. "What if God forbid I get hit by a bus? " Bettman said. "Well, I've built an organization that, if need be, I'd hope they'd miss me somewhat, but if need be could carry on. ".