“Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. It’s what we’re trying to accomplish. We think we’ve built our best team. … It has been a six-year journey. It’s been a process that has been calculated.”
-Kelly McCrimmon, GM of the Vegas Golden Knights. Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal has more on the Knights.
from George Richards of Florida Hockey Now,
The Florida Panthers did not want to hear about the Presidents’ Trophy Curse last season as the Boston Bruins did not entertain any thoughts on it as the playoffs approached this season.
There could be something to it, however, as the top regular season team in the NHL has not won the Stanley Cup since Chicago did so in 2013.
But what about the Presidents’ Trophy Rebound?
The Panthers certainly hope that’s a thing....
Since 2003, only two teams which won the NHL Presidents’ Trophy won the Stanley Cup that season.
During the same time, three teams which won the trophy the previous season and did not win the Cup did so the following season — and they have all come recently as Colorado did it last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and the Washington Capitals in 2018.
That means of the past six Presidents’ Trophy winners — not counting the Panthers — three won the Cup the following season.
Florida would not mind becoming the fourth member of that club.
Who do you have to win the Stanley Cup Final?
Your choices are the Vegas Golden Knights (home ice advantage) or the Florida Panthers.
Leave your decision below and to show your hockey expertise, how many combined total goals in the SCF.
Results from the Conference Finals are here. Pay no attention to the guy named Paul who went 0-2.
original post was on 6/1/23 at 3:06pm
via the YouTube page of the NHL,.
From Eric Desjardins to Nazem Kadri, watch the last 30 years of overtime goals from the Stanley Cup Final
* After 32 teams battled through 1,395 total games – inside 34 arenas, including Prague and Tampere, and outdoors at baseball and football stadiums – the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers will leave it all on the ice in a best-of-seven championship showdown to determine which club will hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time.
* The drastically different paths the Golden Knights and Panthers took to the Stanley Cup Final will converge for Game 1 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena, but before they take the Las Vegas spotlight GRAMMY-nominated artist and producer Marshmello will perform for fans outside on Toshiba Plaza. The concert begins at 2:45 p.m. PT and will be free and open to the public.
* Golden Knights fans packed the club’s practice facility Friday before the focus shifted to Media Day at T-Mobile Arena ahead of the 66th unique Stanley Cup Final matchup in NHL history, which begins at 8 p.m. ET on TNT, TBS, truTV, Sportsnet, TVAS and CBC.
via the NHL's YouTube page,
Hear from the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights at Media Day, as players join Stanley Cup Live prior to Game 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.
from Justin Bourne of Sportsnet,
So now it’s Auston Matthews’ moment here. His actions and ultimate decision in the next few weeks ahead will be part of what defines his legacy, both in Toronto and for the first half of his career. It will reveal his priorities, which have always been a little hard to read with him.
Every player will have their own priority list of factors to consider when it comes to signing a new contract, particularly with a UFA superstar in their prime. But it’s safe to say that three of the biggest factors are often: maxing out money, potential to win with a team, and the city itself.
So, for Matthews, what are his priorities?
Unfortunately, in a hard salary cap system, it’s not always possible to prioritize Nos. 1 and 2 on that list. The salary cap for the 2022-23 season is going to be something like $83.5 million (maybe higher with some NHLPA/NHL negotiating, but let’s use that as a baseline here). A single player can be paid no more than 20 per cent of that total, which means Matthews can be paid no more than $16.7 million season on his new deal.
I’m not suggesting Matthews should get that amount; that’s just his pay ceiling. But make no mistake, if he were hitting free agency this summer, there would be teams willing to offer him close to that number (overpaying Matthews and getting an elite 1C at the cost of not losing an asset is a lot easier to accept and more certain than trying to bottom out in the right year and hoping to win the draft lottery).
from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,
- On Alex DeBrincat and the idea of “cut-rate” arbitration: If a team elects to go through this process, it can argue for a salary reduction — which can’t be lower than 85 per cent of the previous season’s salary. When New Jersey traded for Timo Meier, multiple sources said they believed that’s exactly what the Devils would do if: a) they kept the winger in 2023-24 and b) he hadn’t signed an extension. So, in theory, Meier could drop from $10 million in 2022-23 to $8.5 million, and DeBrincat from $9 million to $7.65 million. Colorado went down this road with Ryan O’Reilly in 2014, before agreeing on a two-year extension. (The first season of that contract actually saw a drop from $6.5 million to $5.8 million.) It’s rare, but it happens. But does it happen with someone you want to keep?
- One Toronto source said something very interesting on Thursday: the true tell to whether the Maple Leafs core stays together is more about their contract wishes than anything else. As I’ve said many times, I believe Matthews will extend, but not at maximum term (could be anywhere from three to six years, I’d guess). Treliving’s true challenge is trying to get it done before July 1, when his no-trade clause kicks in. It’s going to be a big number, likely the highest AAV in the NHL. So, the question then becomes: what does that mean for Mitch Marner and William Nylander? I think that’s the real question.
- Boston is exploring what it needs to do to keep Tyler Bertuzzi, who is slated to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
- I think Tampa Bay made Alex Killorn a looooong-term, lower-AAV contract offer, but he’s in demand and that will be tough to do.
more Thoughts...
from Travis Yost of TSN,
The Jonathan Marchessault Revenge Tour has arrived at the doorstep of the Florida Panthers.
It’s a story six years in the making and may be one of the most intriguing storylines of the Stanley Cup Final.
The now-infamous expansion draft trade sending Marchessault and Reilly Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights in order to protect players like Mark Pysyk and Alex Petrovic dramatically shaped the future of the expansion club. It was a shockingly bad decision by the Panthers brass at the time, and it was one of the biggest tailwinds for the Golden Knights as the franchise built an instant contender.
Six seasons later, Marchessault remains a key cog in the Vegas machine. He’s scored 180 goals over his Vegas career and has arguably saved his best hockey for when it has mattered most. Marchessault has already amassed nine goals and 17 points this postseason, including a Game 6 natural hat trick against the Edmonton Oilers.
But those counting numbers understate how dominant he and his line have been in these playoffs. Allow me to put the spotlight on something that I find striking – so much so that it gives him an inside shot at winning the Conn Smythe Trophy.
continued
from Dave Hyde of the Sun-Sentinel,
Their head coach once was locked out of team practices by the general manager. Their owner once tried to use the No. 1 draft pick on an underage player by claiming he was eligible if you factored in leap years.
They let fans in free to games one year by showing a Florida driver’s license. Another year, they set a stack of free tickets for each home game at a sub shop by the arena. They then stopped such giveaways, but draped off empty sections of the upper deck for games.
To fully appreciate the Florida Panthers’ path to the Stanley Cup Final starting in Las Vegas on Saturday, understand the comic falls and you-can’t-make-this-up moments they’ve taken fans over the previous quarter century.
The Panthers didn’t just lose liberally. They didn’t just go a quarter-century between winning playoff series. They didn’t just go 12 years without making the playoffs and play in a way a team official privately joked their best year in that stretch was a season canceled due to a labor lockout.
They did it all in a way that almost put the fun in dysfunction.
GMBM:
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) June 1, 2023
"We’ve had a couple conversations about where he is health-wise. I think he’s deserved a chance to see what he can do in the offseason & come into camp & see where he’s at health-wise. It’s a major surgery, so I don’t know that anybody knows exactly where he’s going to be”
* Only one more sleep until Game 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, which is slated for Saturday in Las Vegas at 8 p.m. ET. It will open the first-ever Final televised on TNT, with the contest also carried on TBS and truTV in the U.S. as well as on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports in Canada.
* Kelly McCrimmon and Bill Zito, who had a hand in acquiring nearly all players set to compete in the Final, look to capture a Cup after winning championships as general managers in the WHL and AHL, respectively.
* Paul Maurice and Bruce Cassidy will make the second Final appearance of their NHL head coaching career after first reaching the championship series in 2002 and 2019, respectively.
On his experience as a guest studio analyst with HNIC during the Toronto/Tampa series.
"Those guys make it so easy over there. They're so professional. They're so good at what they do. It was probably my one-time chance to do it; they asked me because I was in that same series a year ago (when Lalonde was a Tampa assistant) and I'm glad I did it. It was a great experience and there was some growth out of that, too.
"It was my first time doing anything like that. It helped (dealing with) the media all the time (this season), but the workflow, and the producer, and turning things around, it's not as easy as it looks."
-Derek Lalonde, head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News has more ($) from Lalonde, including the World Championship and Detroit related topics.
from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
Perhaps Drury is waiting for the conclusion of that tournament to schedule an interview with Roy, his teammate in Colorado for four years that included the 2001 Stanley Cup championship.
That would be the only logical explanation for why the Blueshirts have not yet reached out to Roy after dog-paddling for weeks in this shallow pool of candidates.
Unless, that is, Drury believes that Roy has too large of a personality and is unsure of his ability to work with the Hall of Fame goaltender in light of Roy’s clashes over personnel decisions and lines of responsibility with general manager Joe Sakic, also a one-time teammate and friend, during his three years behind the Colorado bench from 2013-16.
The Rangers are in need of a coach who will instill structure to the group while being able to maximize the team’s offensive creativity. Roy has brought structure to the Remparts.
The Rangers are in need of a coach who will make it his business to get the most out of their kids, and that starts with Alexis Lafreniere. Roy has been coaching teenagers for last the last five years and 13 years overall in two separate stints with Quebec in which he has also been GM.
The next puck invention should be a Dubas
— Stan Fischler (@StanFischler) June 1, 2023
Detector. When the new ice prince of Pittsburgh makes a statement we slip it in the detector -- give it two weeks to wilt -- and pull it out so he can pull our naive, believing legs one more time. It's as funny as Pitt's playoff chances.
via the Pittsburgh Penguins,
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced today that Kyle Dubas has been named President of Hockey Operations. Dubas becomes just the second person to hold this position in the history of the franchise.
Dubas, 37, will oversee all aspects of the Penguins hockey operations department including establishing the strategic vision and philosophy for the franchise. Fenway Sports Group Principal Owner, John Henry, and Chairman, Tom Werner, issued the following joint statement:
from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,
There is no shortage of problems and issues for Treliving to immediately deal with, which is a touch unusual when taking over a team that finished with 111 points.
This isn’t the way most new GMs have to work. Normally, the team is replacing a GM when everything goes bad — the way it did with Brian Burke or John Ferguson Jr. or Dave Nonis, or any of those who came after Pat Quinn. Those firings were expected and hardly questioned.
The chain of events that led to the dismissal of Kyle Dubas was full of drama and speculation and pathos, the way so many Toronto hockey decisions seem to be made amidst difficulty.
A case can be made today that keeping Dubas over Treliving was something that should have been further considered. But once a replacement had to be made and that experience was prominent on Brendan Shanahan’s list of requirements, he made the easy and convenient hire.
He brought in a GM with as many warts as the GM he let walk. He brought in a GM with little history of playoff success, cutting loose the GM who had a similar resume. He brought in a GM who had 219 points worth of Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau on his Calgary roster a year ago and lost one to free agency and the other in a deal for the disappointing Jonathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar.
MUST SIGN BY - June 1, 2023 @ 5pm ET
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 1, 2023
Reminder that today at 5pm ET is the deadline for clubs to sign the following drafted players on their reserve lists to entry level contracts, otherwise they will lose their exclusive signing rights window.
https://t.co/nXfmDT1fO4pic.twitter.com/rQfep5MbVJ
* The culmination of the 2022-23 season will start in just two days with Game 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. The Golden Knights, who finished with the fifth-best record during the regular season, will welcome the Panthers, the postseason’s lowest-seeded team, to T-Mobile Arena as both franchises continue their chase for their first-ever championship.
* Matthew Tkachuk and Mark Stone are two of a few star players ready to participate in a Stanley Cup Final for the first time in their careers when the puck drops on the NHL’s championship series on TNT, TBS, truTV, Sportsnet, CBC and TVAS Sports.
* Alex Pietrangelo and Carter Verhaeghe are two of several players set to make their return to the Stanley Cup Final after having won the championship previously.
from Matt Levy of the New York Post,
Either Jonathan Marchessault’s Golden Knights or Matthew Tkachuk’s Panthers will emerge victorious and get to hoist the famed silver trophy above their heads for the first time.
And if you want to be there to witness hockey history, we’re happy to report that last-minute tickets are still available for all seven games.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any bargain prices available for the high-profile series.
The cheapest tickets available we could find at the time of publication were $349 before fees on Vivid Seats for a game at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Ticket prices start at $424 before fees at Sunrise, FL’s FLA Live Arena.
Want to go to a game?
Here’s everything you need to know and more about the 2023 Stanley Cup between the Golden Knights and Florida Panthers.
Both teams playing for their first Stanley Cup.
via the Seattle Kraken,
Just 32 people have had the chance to spearhead building hockey operations for an NHL club from the ground up. Ron Francis is one of them. In just under four years as inaugural general manager of the Kraken, the two-time Stanley Cup champion and NHL Hall of Famer has laid foundations for success at all levels of the organization. And now, with the announcement today that the organization has extended Francis' contract, he'll continue that work through at least the 2026-27 season.
"Ron has done remarkable work over the last four years and deserves this recognition," said Seattle Kraken co-owner, Samantha Holloway. "He has built a tremendous team, putting Seattle hockey on the map. He is building for long term success and is dedicated to our city, our fans, and our community." Francis was hired in July 2019, two years before the 2021 Expansion Draft and with a lot to do. He had to build out a staff that included research and development, coaches, scouting and ultimately players. There was also the need to construct a quality group of prospects that could evolve and sustain success at all levels of play.
Toronto Maple Leafs press release,
Toronto Maple Leafs President and Alternate Governor Brendan Shanahan announced today that Brad Treliving has been named the hockey club's General Manager. Treliving becomes the 18th General Manager in Maple Leafs history.
"I'm very pleased to welcome Brad into the Maple Leafs organization," said Brendan Shanahan. "Brad brings a wealth of knowledge from his years of experience as a General Manager and hockey executive in Calgary, Arizona and beyond. He has earned tremendous respect amongst his peers throughout his years in the NHL and has built excellent relationships at all levels within the game. We are confident that Brad's leadership and strategic vision will elevate the Maple Leafs in our continued pursuit of a championship."
from Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff,
Anthony Mantha
Left Wing, Washington Capitals
Age: 28
Contract: 1 more season, $5.7 million AAV
Buyout Structure: 2 seasons at $1,366,667 and $2,166,667
Scoop: Has there ever been a trade with both teams more dissatisfied in the result than Mantha for Jakub Vrana, a 1st, 2nd and Richard Panik? Probably not. The Capitals have let teams know that they’re ready to move on from Mantha, who was a healthy scratch at times last season. They’re likely going to have to attach a sweetener to that deal, so the buyout factor will probably have to be weighed. The thought might be that the only thing worse than Mantha for one more year at $5.7 million is two more seasons on your cap with Mantha. It all depends how aggressive GM Brian MacLellan wants to be reshaping the team. The argument could be made that the Caps are better off taking the buyout, finding a third line player at $3 million that they like better, and they’d still be $1.5 million south of Mantha’s current $5.7 million.
four more names...