fom Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- The essence of the Stanley Cup final: The best centres in hockey, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin vs. the best defence in hockey. Nashville has beaten the Blackhawks, Blues and Ducks on the way to the championship. The Preds are 12-4 through three series. They aren’t favourites against Pittsburgh. They probably should be.

- Subban may lead the NHL in magazine covers, documentaries, TV features, smiles, fan debate, discussion, fun and attention, but where does he really rank among league defenceman? On my list, I’d take Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Victor Hedman, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith, Josi, Ryan Suter, Alex Pietrangelo and Aaron Ekblad ahead of him. That’s puts him around No. 10 in the NHL. And that’s not including Kris Letang, who is hurt again or Marc-Edouard Vlasic, the veteran national teamer, who is a perfect fit-in piece or Ryan McDonagh or Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who rank alongside Subban as equals.

- . Poor Randy Carlyle. Biggest game of his season. Having to start Jonathan Bernier in goal. Like he hasn’t been there before.

more