All right, if I were Hanlon, I'd take the following and use it to motivate the team:

 

***** National Hockey League Stanley Cup Odds *****
                       Courtesy of World Sports Exchange
                                  www.wsex.com
                        St. Johns, Antigua, West Indies


TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6TH (12/6/2005)


ODDS TO WIN NHL STANLEY CUP

                           Line
                           ----
Ottawa                    3-1
Detroit                   6-1
Philadelphia              6-1
Vancouver                 9-1
Calgary                  12-1
Los Angeles              15-1
Carolina                 15-1
Tampa Bay                18-1
Montreal                 18-1
Nashville                18-1
Colorado                 22-1
San Jose                 22-1
NY Rangers               22-1
Dallas                   28-1
Toronto                  30-1
New Jersey               33-1
Boston                   35-1
Pittsburgh               40-1
Edmonton                 45-1
Atlanta                  45-1
Anaheim                  50-1
NY Islanders             60-1
Minnesota                60-1
Buffalo                  60-1
Florida                  60-1
Phoenix                  66-1
Chicago                 100-1
St Louis                250-1
Columbus                250-1
Washington              250-1


ODDS TO WIN EASTERN CONFERENCE

                           Line
                           ----
Ottawa                    3-2
Philadelphia             14-5
Carolina                  8-1
Tampa Bay                 9-1
Montreal                 10-1
NY Rangers               15-1
Toronto                  16-1
Boston                   18-1
New Jersey               18-1
Pittsburgh               22-1
Buffalo                  28-1
Atlanta                  28-1
Florida                  30-1
NY Islanders             33-1
Washington              175-1



ODDS TO WIN WESTERN CONFERENCE

                           Line
                           ----
Detroit                   3-1
Vancouver                19-5
Calgary                   5-1
Nashville                 6-1
Los Angeles               8-1
Colorado                 10-1
San Jose                 10-1
Dallas                   12-1
Edmonton                 20-1
Anaheim                  22-1
Phoenix                  25-1
Minnesota                28-1
Chicago                  50-1
St. Louis               175-1
Columbus                175-1



Odds Courtesy of World Sports Exchange (www.wsex.com)

12/06 13:21:06 ET

The two times I've gone to Vegas, I've laid money down on the Caps- not a lot, mind you, but at the odds given, a tidy sum if they ever come through. Won't get back there this year, but maybe next spring I'll put a little down on the '06-'07 season for the Conference.

I do the same with horses- I once saw a horse in a claiming race at Laurel Park, and knew the move the horse made on the turn would catch some trainer's eye (and did- a guy named Dale Capuano); while in Vegas, I bet the horse to win the Kentucky Derby, before I even knew he would run in it. Capuano did enter the horse in the Derby, but as luck would have it, he got boxed in out of the gate, and never got it in gear. Horse's name was Windsplitter.

 

ODDS TO WIN WESTERN CONFERENCE

Washington 175,000,000,000,000-1

 

With one dollar, you can become the richest man in the world if the Caps manage to win a conference they don't belong to (not to mention that they're already trying to avoid being dead last in the NHL, but it's only a detail).