Where there’s a victor, there’s a loser, and sometimes certain athletes contribute to their team’s shortcomings. These athletes are favorably called bobbleheads.
The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is starting to wrap up, with the Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers punching their tickets to the conference finals.
While those teams had players who propelled them forward, those knocked out featured players who helped book their teams’ trips to Cancun.
Here are the bobbleheads who helped send their teams packing earlier than they’d hoped:
Washington Capitals: Connor McMichael
The Capitals were buzzing heading into the second round, coming off a well-earned series win against the Montreal Canadiens in five games.
McMichael posted three goals in that series and looked to build on his career-best 26-goal regular season.
But once Washington faced the Hurricanes, McMichael disappeared—along with most of the Capitals' offense. The team scored more than three goals only once, in a Game 2 win.
In the do-or-die Game 5, Washington fell behind early but responded quickly to tie the game at 1-1.
In the second period, Capitals forward Matt Roy appeared to score the go-ahead goal. But Carolina challenged the play for offsides, and the goal was overturned because McMichael had entered the zone too early.
Washington was shut out the rest of the way and surrendered the game-winning goal to Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov with just under two minutes remaining.
McMichael finished the series with just one goal and one point—both in the same game—a far cry from his productive regular season.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Vegas Golden Knights: Ivan Barbashev
Barbashev had the second-best year of his career during the 2024–25 regular season, with 23 goals, 28 assists, and 51 points.
Vegas won the Pacific Division but nearly met its match against the Minnesota Wild in a physical six-game first-round series.
Barbashev contributed just two points during that round, but Vegas advanced nonetheless.
The Golden Knights fell into an early 2-0 hole in the second round but stole Game 3 in Edmonton to cut the series to 2-1.
Edmonton responded with a win in Game 4, putting Vegas on the brink of elimination, down 3-1.
To that point, Barbashev had not recorded a single point in the series and had seemingly vanished.
In the crucial Game 5, Barbashev managed just one shot on goal, two penalty minutes, and no points.
The game was scoreless heading into overtime, where the Golden Knights were eliminated by a chaotic scrum goal tapped in by Oilers forward Kasperi Kapanen.
Simon Reseigh is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @simon_reseigh
