from Steve Simons of the Toronto Sun,

- The time to wonder about the Tampa Bay Lightning was a year ago.

That seems more apparent today than it might have seemed yesterday.

Tampa didn’t just lose in the Eastern Conference final to the Washington Capitals last spring. They stopped playing. They were shut out in Game 6 of the final and then again in Game 7.

They looked partially out of gas, partially out of emotion. Their best scorer, the obvious MVP, Nikita Kucherov, had one point in their final four playoff games last spring, and no points through two losses this year against the Columbus Blue Jackets....

- Looks like Jack Hughes will go to New Jersey with the first pick in the NHL draft. But wouldn’t it have been better had the New York Rangers won the lottery. The Rangers haven’t had a star forward in years.

- Looks like Todd McLellan has chosen the Los Angeles Kings over the Buffalo Sabres as coach, which is nice if weather is your criterion for choice. If you’re picking young hockey players, Buffalo is the choice, which tells you all you need to know about the Sabres ownership and front office, when weather is taking precedence over Jack Eichel, Rasmus Dahlin and more

- If the Edmonton Oilers have identified their general manager and coach for next season and are just waiting on announcements, that makes sense. If they haven’t, that makes no sense. If they go inside and hire Keith Gretzky, that’s just lazy.

more on the Lightning and other topics too...