My pick is the Tampa Bay Lightning, with the Vegas Golden Knights, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins in the mix.

How about you?

Full standings in case you need any assistance.

via Sportsnet's YouTube page,

The Blues honoured David Backes in what will probably be his last game in St. Louis, and after the game, Backes was emotional as he hugged his former teammates.

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

While there have been routs here and there, the Wings, on the whole, have worked hard under Blashill. There has never been chaos in the locker room. His players respect him. From all appearances, he has a good relationship with Yzerman.

There’s also the fact that Blashill doesn’t command the higher-end salary of more experienced coaches, and that’s not an insignificant factor at a time the coronavirus pandemic has left teams scrounging for revenue.

Lastly, there’s this: If Yzerman didn’t think Blashill was doing a good job developing the players who are key to the rebuild — Larkin, Bertuzzi, Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina, to name a few — there’s no way Yzerman would have kept Blashill behind the bench.

Missing the playoffs five straight seasons would cost many a coach his job, but nothing in Yzerman’s history indicates he’ll make a change just to make a change. It comes down to whether Yzerman thinks Blashill is the right guy to continue coaching the rebuild. The Wings don’t project to be a playoff team next season — not even with Moritz Seider on defense and Joe Veleno joining the youth movement up front. They should be better than this season’s team, though, the way this season’s team was better than last season’s.

Yzerman isn’t yet at a point where he’s looking to hire the guy he thinks can coach the Wings towards Stanley Cup-contender status. His old linemate and longtime buddy, Gerard Gallant, has been available for more than a year, and Yzerman hasn’t bit. Is there an in-between coach Yzerman has in mind? We should know shortly.

more ($$$)

from Mark Whicker of the Daily News

For a long time the Ducks were able to withstand the downforces. Beginning in 2006, they qualified 11 times in 13 seasons. In 2017, they lost the Western Conference Finals to Nashville, a six-game collision that bruised every crucial body part, the heart included.

But as they limped home, they still had much to anticipate.

Ryan Getzlaf was a point-a-game dynamo in those playoffs. Richard Rakell, 23, scored 33 goals that season. Goalie John Gibson and defensemen Josh Manson, Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler and Brandon Montour were all 25 or younger.

Four years later, in the merciful emptiness of Honda Center, the Ducks have produced the worst hockey in their 28-year history.

They have won three home games in regulation. Their current power-play percentage of 9.24 would be the worst in league history, wiping the ‘98 Lightning (9.38) off the books. In starker terms, Anaheim has scored 11 goals on its power plays and given up five.

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NEW YORK (May 6, 2021) – The Clorox Company, a global leader in cleaning and disinfection, and the National Hockey League (NHL) today announced a new multiyear North American partnership, naming Clorox the Official Cleaning and Disinfecting Product Partner of the NHL®.

from Neil Best of Newsday,

So, what happened? The real story figures to unfold over time.

But the fact it followed a series of recent humiliations surely did not help, the nadir coming on Monday when the Capitals’ Tom Wilson threw around and/or pummeled various Rangers, who seemed powerless to respond.

The league did not help with its inadequate $5,000 fine and non-suspension of Wilson, which led directly to at an embarrassing, 1970s-style spectacle early in Wednesday night’s rematch at the Garden, which the Capitals won, 4-2.

There were six fights in the first five minutes, three at the drop of the puck. The first time Wilson came onto the ice, Brendan Smith went after him. There were 100 minutes of penalties assessed in the first period, 141 overall.

"I thought that it should have been handled before this game and it wasn’t," Smith said later, "so unfortunately it had to be kind of on my shoulders, and I thought I took it."

Said Ryan Strome, who had a rare fight, too, "We felt the need to take matters into our own hands a little bit and I thought it was a great response, really showed a lot from our team . . . My only wish was that the Garden was full to be rockin’ after what happened the first five minutes."

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THREE HARD LAPS

* The Jets blanked the Flames and became the third Scotia North Division team to clinch a berth in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* Marc-Andre Fleury passed Roberto Luongo for sole possession of third place on the NHL’s all-time wins list, while Anze Kopitar had an assist to reach the 1,000-point milestone.

* The League-leading Hurricanes look to match their longest point streak in franchise history as the club continues to pursue its first-ever Presidents’ Trophy.

With a hat trick.

from Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News,

When the Red Wings were threatening new lows a few weeks ago, dropping the occasional 7-1 stinker, the coaching verdict seemed clear. Progress was minimal, and with Jeff Blashill’s contract expiring after his sixth season, change was needed.

And then some things did change. The Wings’ defense tightened and their young players competed harder and they even beat Tampa Bay three times. The Wings don’t have the worst record in the NHL — sixth-worst at 18-27-9, for the record — and with two games remaining, it’s time to ask: Have they improved enough to buy Blashill another year?

By a slim margin, I’d say yes. Not a full-throated endorsement but an acknowledgement he’s faced challenges beyond the massive rebuild, and on most nights, the Wings are competitive. Steve Yzerman hasn’t indicated anything, other than to say he’ll sit down with Blashill “very quickly” after the season, which means a resolution could come soon after the Saturday finale in Columbus.

Yzerman doesn’t make decisions based on loyalty or sentiment, and doesn’t make mandates or threats. He also doesn’t veer suddenly from a charted plan, and in two years as GM here, he has pleaded for patience.

continued (subscription)

18 teams in action tonight, I will be monitoring Caps/Rangers along with all the other games.

Tonight's schedule is below.

added 7:31pm, The first fight of the night between Caps/NYR is below. added 7:34pm, Smith/Wilson fight is below. added 7:38pm, more fights added below.

I guess the track record of Player Safety vis a vis Tom Wilson kind of proves your suggestion, that you know, look he’s put himself in this position but the spotlight’s on him and everything he does is scrutinized to the nth degree and probably far more than other players doing similar things. And again he’s earned that. He’s put himself in that position. But the fact of the matter is that is how the Department of Player Safety has treated him over time. I can’t get into the rationale for this particular decision other than I think it was a little bit different than anything else he’s ever done. But the fact of the matter is he is held to a higher standard and probably rightly so.

-Bill Daly. Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside have more (paid) topics from Daly in a Q & A.

NEW YORK, May 5, 2021– The New York Rangers announced today that team President John Davidson and General Manager Jeff Gorton are leaving the organization, and Associate General Manager Chris Drury has been promoted to President and General Manager, effective immediately. Senior Advisor Glen Sather will work with Drury during this transition and continue to consult with the team.

”We want to thank JD and Jeff for their contributions to the organization. They are both great hockey professionals who worked hard for the Rangers, however, in order for the team to succeed in the manner our fans deserve, there needs to be a change in leadership,” said James L. Dolan, executive chairman, MSG Sports. “Chris is a very sought-after executive and a strong leader, who has proven himself to be one of the top young minds in hockey. We are confident he will effectively guide the team to ensure the long-term success we promised Rangers fans.”

Two games for boarding.

added 2:56pm,

With the clock ticking down to only a month away from the 2021 National Hockey League (NHL) season, the teams have already begun their training regimens to see who will take the top spots as one of the Stanley Cup contenders.

Below, Jeff Blashill after practice and Bobby Ryan.

Ansar Khan tweets,

RedWings return to practice after two off days, wrap up season at Columbus Friday and Saturday in games that will determine 7th/8th place in Central and affect draft lottery odds.

Robby Fabbri no longer practicing in blue non-contact jersey, so might return Friday after missing 15 games with an upper-body injury.

added 11:31am, below is the live stream of The Word on Woodward.

Topics include prospects in the organization and some of the champions of youth hockey in the Detroit area.

from Sean McIndoe of The Athletic,

So today, we’re going to break out a gimmick I’ve tried a few times in the past and see if we can come up with three positive thoughts for each of the 15 teams that will miss the playoffs. That’s it — no nitpicking, no complaining, just three nice things to say about each team.

Detroit Red Wings

The negative: They’re going to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year, and while their record will be better than it was during last year’s disaster, it’s on pace to be worse than in any of the first three years of the rebuild.

Positive thought #1: They finally escaped the bottom five! That was good, right? (Please don’t read this week’s rankings, where they might be right back in.)

Positive thought #2: The whole Yzerplan thing is going slowly, sure, but progress is being made. They’ve got some prospect help on the way, a ton of picks this year, lots of cap room to work with, and (maybe) a new set of eyes behind the bench to help it all along. The pain isn’t over yet, but you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Red Wings fans seem like they’re willing to be patient.

Positive thought #3: The new draft lottery system means they’ll only drop two spots this year instead of the customary three.

14 more ($$$) teams...

Watch the incident below.

THREE HARD LAPS

* Sebastian Aho found the score sheet yet again to help the NHL-leading Hurricanes pad their lead in the standings and extend their point streak to 12 games.

* Sidney Crosby leads the NHL with 151 three-point games since debuting in 2005-06 and helped Pittsburgh overtake Washington for first place in the MassMutual East Division.

* Connor McDavid inched closer to 100 points in 2020-21 and Leon Draisaitl scored twice as the duo collected multiple points in the same game for the 18th time this season.

Tom Wilson's antics on the ice overshadowed another big story in Washington: That Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Samsonov were benched for disciplinary reasons and as Pierre LeBrun explains, the Capitals may explore their options with Kuznetsov in the summer.

Plus some Norris talk.

Watch at TSN.

Evgeny Svechnikov mic'd up against his brother on April 29th.

Svechnikov remains on today's Covid list.