Category: Ian Palmer

The St. Louis Blues just raised the Stanley Cup banner to kick off the 2019/20 NHL campaign and may be headed to the White House to celebrate last season’s victory, but they’re going to find the going to be awful tough this year. In the eyes of many experts, defending a championship is a heck of a lot tougher than winning one. This doesn’t bode too well for a club that took just over 50 years to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time.

Looking at the facts, the NHL’s silverware has been defended successfully just once in the salary-cap era, twice over the past 20 years and on five occasions in the last 35 seasons. It’s not impossible to achieve, but it’s certainly against the odds. The odds were against the club last season too though when they suddenly caught fire at the turn of the 2019 calendar year. The Blues resided in the league basement in early January then catapulted up the standings to make the playoffs and capture the Stanley Cup in seven games on the road in Boston.

The Blues more or less have the same lineup as last season with a couple of exceptions. Forward Patrick Maroon, who hails from St. Louis, left the team as an unrestricted free agent during the summer and inked a deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. General manager Doug Armstrong then pulled the trigger on a significant trade by sending defenceman Joel Edmundson to the Carolina Hurricanes along with a seventh-round draft choice in 2021 and prospect Dominik Bokk for offensive blue liner Justin Faulk and a fifth-rounder in 2020.

The 27-year-old Faulk was signed to a $45.5 million, seven-year contract extension. In addition, Armstrong just gave forward Brayden Schenn a new eight-year deal worth $52 million. This leaves head coach Craig Berube with an arguably better squad than last season with the addition of Faulk, but with many other teams making several changes it’s possible the Blues haven’t done enough to keep up with them. Their season started on a sour note as they blew a 2-0 lead to the Washington Capitals in their season opener at home and lost 3-2 in overtime just hours after hoisting their championship banner to the rafters.

For the Blues to hold onto their title and repeat as champions they’re going to have to get better regular seasons from just about everybody. They can’t afford to wait until the campaign is three months old and then suddenly switch gears and make a run at the playoffs.  They need to play consistently from day one and stay in the thick of the playoff hunt at all times. Their key players will be netminder Jordan Binnington, captain and defenceman Alexander Pietrangelo and forwards Schenn, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly and Jayden Schwartz.

Binnington had a remarkable 2018/19 season as the Blues fortunes turned around when he was called up from the American Hockey League in January. He handled the transition physically and mentally and simply shrugged off losses and bad goals. He ended up setting an NHL record for winning 16 playoff games as a rookie and it will be interesting to see if he suffers from the so-called ‘sophomore jinx.”

Berube himself was also a catalyst for the team last season as he replaced former coach Mike Yeo on November 19^th when Yeo was fired. It took the team about six weeks to get used to Berube’s ways and once everybody was on the same page they gelled. Once they reached the playoffs, the team collectively dug in even deeper and their gritty play combined with excellent goaltending and timely scoring resulted in the Stanley Cup. The Blues defending their title isn’t likely this season, but what they achieved last campaign was perhaps even more unlikely.

With the 2019/20 NHL season knocking on the door, fans of the New Jersey Devils should be anxious to see how their team performs. The club made the Stanley Cup Final five times from 1995 to 2012 and won the silverware three times in that span. However, they haven’t done much since. That could all change this season though if everything falls into place. They failed to make the postseason five consecutive years after their last appearance in the final before making it in 2017/18, but missed out again last year.

They went 31-41-10 last season for an eighth-place finish in the Metropolitan Division and were also third-worst in the entire league. Fans felt it was a setback especially since the club won the 2017 draft lottery and selected forward prospect Nico Hischier first overall. In addition, they acquired some elite scoring from the Edmonton Oilers when they landed Taylor Hall in a trade for defenceman Adam Larsson. Hall came over in the summer of 2016 and would win the Hart Memorial Trophy for 2017/18 as the league’s top player. He missed most of last season due to injury but still posted 37 points in 33 outings.

General manager Ray Shero worked hard at improving the roster during the offseason and also had a bit of luck go his way. The Devils won the draft lottery again and selected young scoring sensation Jack Hughes from the American hockey program. The 18-year-old Hughes of Orlando, Florida, scored 116 in 2017/18 skating with the U.S. Hockey National Team Development Program and posted 112 points last season in just 50 contests. Hughes set a new record for scoring with the program by posting 228 points and the 5-foot-10-inch center spent the preseason with New Jersey proving he’s ready for the NHL.

Shero traded for 30-year-old defenseman P.K. Subban in the offseason as he sent a second-round draft choice this summer and next to Nashville along with prospects Steve Santini and Jeremy Davies. Subban was named the best defenceman in the NHL in 2012/13 and took home the Norris Trophy for his efforts and is also a three-time NHL All Star. Davies had yet to play an NHL game and fellow rearguard Santini had 21 points in 114 career contests.

Shero also landed 21-year-old forward Nikita Gusev from Russia from the Vegas Golden Knights for a third-round draft pick in 2020 and a second-rounder in 2021. Gusev was originally drafted in 2012 by Tampa Bay in the seventh round as the 202^nd overall selection. He’s yet to play in the NHL though as he remained in Russia to play with in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Vegas took him in the league’s expansion draft when the club entered the NHL.

Gusev played 391 games in the KHL with 332 points on 119 goals and 213 assists and added 28 goals and 40 assists in 67 postseason outings. He led the KHL in scoring in 2018/19 with 17 goals and 65 helpers in 62 games for 82 points. He was MVP of the league and honoured as the best forward at the 2018 Olympics with four goals and eight assists in 12 games. Shero managed to sign Gusev for $9 million over two years.

The GM wasn’t finished there though as he signed 31-year-old power forward Wayne Simmonds as an unrestricted free agent from the Nashville Predators. Simmonds was inked for a season at $5 million after struggling in 2018/19 with 17 goals and 30 points. On the bright side, he’s notched 74 goals with the man advantage since 2012/14 to rank second behind Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals with 120 power-play markers.

Simmonds played eight campaigns with the Philadelphia Flyers before Nashville traded for him at the deadline last season. Simmonds scored a minimum  24 goals in six of his seasons with the Flyers and cracked the 30-goal plateau on two occasions. He’s scored 243 NHL goals up to now with 94 of them coming on the power-play, so should be a big help in that department as New Jersey were 21^st in the league with the man advantage last season.

The Devils appear to have solid scoring with Gusev, Hughes, Simmonds and Subban added to the lineup while Hischier has an added year of experience and Hall should be healthy. If they can get good enough goaltending and play well inside their own blue line the team should still be in the thick of things when the 82-game schedule concludes.

Forward Evgeny Kuznetsov of the Washington Capitals will get an unwanted extended summer break as the 27-year-old Russian star has officially been suspended for the first three games of the 2019/20 NHL season. This follows the four-year ban he recently received from the International Ice Hockey Federation for testing positive for cocaine during the 2019 World Championship earlier this year in Slovakia.

Kuznetsov was more or less caught red handed by a third party when a video surfaced on social media which appeared to show him using cocaine in a hotel room during the tournament. The NHL took notice of the video and met with the player when training camp started and shared the news of the suspension with him. However, he was given permission to attend training camp and play in preseason games.

When the video first surfaced Kuznetsov said through a media release that he didn’t take drugs and the footage was filmed in Las Vegas in 2018 after the Capitals had hoisted the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. He also volunteered to undergo another drug test at the time to back up his words. Well, Kuznetsov failed the first test which was administered to him back on May 26th at the World Championships. He was given an indefinite suspension after the test results came back and it was later announced in August as a four-year ban.

Since then he has voluntarily entered the NHL’s  drug and alcohol program and met with NHL brass when he was given three games without pay. Kuznetsov, who’s contract is $7.8 million against the salary cap, will miss the Capitals’ first three contests and will be eligible to return to the lineup on October 8 when Washington takes on the Dallas Stars. He was inconsistent last season but still managed to score 21 goals and 72 points in 76 games. However, it was an off season considering he notched 12 goals and 32 points in 24 playoff games the year before.

Kuznetsov can’t play in any IIHF events until the summer of 2023 which means he’ll have to sit out the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. It may not really matter as far as the Olympics are concerned though since the NHL hasn’t decided yet if its players will be participating. The reason he was handed a four-year ban by the IIHF is because cocaine is deemed to be a performance-enhancing drug by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). However, the NHL doesn’t consider it to be performance-enhancing.

The current drug policy in the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement with the player’s association enables the league to drug test every team member during training camp as well as once during the regular season. Also, a player can be tested randomly at any time in the regular season and the playoffs while up to 60 players may be given a drug test in the off-season. These tests are typically for  performance-enhancing substances but recreational drugs can also be tested. Any player who has a high level of any recreational drug in their body is asked to explain the reason to a doctor.

The player may then be sent to the league’s Substance Abuse and Behavioural Health Program. In general, the NHL focuses on player treatment when failing a recreational-drug test, but Kuznetsov’s suspension is for what the league called inappropriate behaviour. The NHL has suspended players in the past when they admitted to using drugs and introduced the Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program in 1996. Kuznetsov is the first player suspended for drug use since then.

This summer’s longest running NHL soap opera, at least in the Greater Toronto Area, is finally over as 22-year-old Mitch Marner came to terms on a new deal with the Maple Leafs. After posting 61 points in his rookie season and following it up with campaigns of 69 points and a team-high 94 last year, he inked a six-year, $65.358 million deal on September 13^th which will see him paid an average of $10.893 million a season. He’s also notched 17 points in 20 career playoff outings but the Leafs have yet to get past the first round in the past three seasons.

The new contract means there are currently 13 NHL players making at least $10 million per year. But interestingly, nine of those players failed to make the playoffs last season. The Maple Leafs now boast three $10 million-plus players in Marner, and fellow forwards Auston Matthews and John Tavares. On the troubling, something will eventually have to give as the Leafs are currently over the salary cap. That situation will likely escalate in the next couple of years too since five of Toronto’s blue liners will need a new contract next year and goaltender Frederik Andersen will need one two years from now.

When William Nylander is added to the list of Marner, Matthews and Tavares, Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas is paying approximately half of this year’s salary cap or $40 million on those four players. If the league’s salary cap doesn’t increase by much over the next few years then Dubas will have to get very creative or shed some salary by making player moves. NHL teams can sign a maximum of 50 players and they are typically used to fill out their NHL and American Hockey League (AHL) farm team rosters.

The Leafs also have three players on professional tryouts at training camp in Matt Read, Brandon Halverson and goaltender Michal Neuvirth. If one of them happens to make the lineup they will have to be signed to a contract to put further strain on the salary cap. At the moment the 2019/20 cap is $81.5 million with the Leafs being over it by $13,327,699. However, they are eligible to place the large contracts of Nathan Horton and David Clarkson on long-term injury relief (LTIR). In addition, forward Zach Hyman and defender Travis Dermott could start the campaign on LTIR to clear up more salary cap space.

This would give Toronto room for 23 players under the salary cap. But as soon as Hyman and/or Dermott return they will once again be over the cap by approximately $2 million. This means the team will have to go with 21 or 22 players unless Dubas makes a trade or loses somebody on waivers. With just 21 or 22 players the team could face injury problems during the season. This could force them to call up players on an emergency basis if their injured players aren’t out of the lineup long enough to be placed on LTIR, which is typically when they are expected to be sidelined for 10 games or 24 days.

It will be interesting to see how the Leafs handle their conundrum once training camp and preseason games end and the NHL celebrates opening night. It will also be interesting to see how Marner’s sky-high contract affects the rest of the league’s top unsigned restricted free agents such as Patrik Laine, Mikko Rantanen, Brayden Point, Matthew Tkachuk, Brock Boeser and Kyle Connor. With Marner signing for just under $11 million a season it looks like several of these players are likely to receive at least $8 million a year on new deals, if and when they eventually sign.

The Columbus Blue Jackets suffered through the worst offseason in club history and possibly in the annals of the NHL this summer as they lost all the top free agents they possibly could. Perhaps they have nobody to blame but themselves though since they could have easily shipped some of the players out at last season’s trade deadline. They hung onto them however even though they knew at least two of their biggest stars were likely to leave. When all was said and done, netminder Sergei Bobrovsky left the nest along with high-scoring forwards Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel and Artemi Panarin.

And to rub salt into the wounds, John Davidson left his post as the Blue Jackets’ president and took the same job in the Big Apple with the New York Rangers. The Montreal Canadiens also lured away free agent backup goalie Keith Kincaid. This could certainly come back to haunt Columbus since all those who took flight other than Duchene have hooked up with fellow Eastern Conference teams. Panarin also joined the Rangers while Dzingel signed with the Carolina Hurricanes and two-time Vezina Trophy winner Bobrovsky decided to try his luck with the Florida Panthers.

As for Duchene, he inked a deal with the Western Conference’s Nashville Predators. There was plenty of interest in Bobrovsky, Duchene, Panarin and Dzingel at last year’s trade deadline as teams were anxious to add some stars to their squads for the upcoming playoff run. Bobrovsky and Panarin had more or less let Columbus know they weren’t interested in signing new deals with them but general manager Jarmo Kekalainen decided to keep everybody on board as he felt Columbus had a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup.

Kekalainen could have traded the upcoming unrestricted free agents for draft picks, prospects and established NHL players, but he arguably gambled away the franchise’s immediate future and came out with the short end of the stick. The risk didn’t appear too bad at first as Columbus ousted Stanley Cup favourites and President Trophy winners the Tampa Bay Lightning in four straight games in the opening playoff round. It was the first postseason series win in team history but Columbus went out in six to the Boston Bruins in the second round.

In reality, Columbus lost all of their free agent stars with nothing to show for them and also missed their chance to stock up for the future at the trade deadline. If there is a bright side, Kekalainen was able to sign Gustav Nyquist of the San Jose Sharks and gave the 30-year-old free agent a $22 million, four year deal. There’s no doubt Columbus is a lot weaker than last season while divisional rivals the New Jersey Devils and Rangers have improved.

The Rangers signed Panarin, acquired defenceman Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets in a trade and landed highly-rated prospect Kaapo Kakko in the NHL Draft with the second overall pick. New Jersey took Jack Hughes first overall and landed PK Subban, a former Norris Trophy-winner, from Nashville in a trade. Nikita Gusev and Wayne Simmonds were acquired in trades and former Hart Trophy-winner Taylor Hall is back to full health.

It’s going to be hard for head coach John Tortorella to lead the Blue Jackets back to the playoffs but there are still some fine players on the roster such as Nyquist, Seth Jones, Zach Werenski, Cam Atkinson, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Josh Anderson and Pierre-Luc Dubois. They also have solid prospects in Emil Bemstrom, Alexandre Texier, Elvis Merzlikins and Veini Vehvilainen. However, talented rearguard Werenski is an unrestricted free agent and could miss training camp if he isn’t signed soon. With or without Werenski in the lineup, the Blue Jackets have a lot to prove to their critics this season though.

With the kids heading back to school just after Labour Day the NHL season isn’t too far behind as the regular season begins on October 2^nd. Training camps get underway in September and the league’s pre-season schedule faces off shortly after. The league will begin its pre-season games on Sunday, September 15^th and run until Monday, September 30^th. There will be a total of 107 games played over the 16-day span in 43 different locations across North America and in Europe.

There is a three month gap between the last game of the 2018/19 Stanley Cup playoffs and the first pre-season contest of the upcoming 2019/20 campaign. Of course, last season came to an exciting conclusion with the St. Louis Blues winning their first-ever Stanley Cup with a game-seven victory in Boston against the Bruins.

The league will once again travel over the Atlantic Ocean and hold a couple of pre-season contests in Europe. Both the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks will play a game against a European team before facing off for the regular season against each other on October 4^th in Prague, Czech Republic. Chicago will be taking on Eisbaren Berlin in their German hometown on September 29^th and Philadelphia travels to Laussane, Switzerland for a game against HC Laussane on September 30^th. Both games will be televised in North America on the NHL Network.

The NHL’s annual Kraft Hockeyville game will be held in the town of Renous, New Brunswick as the location won the Canadian competition. The winning community earns a pre-season game and this year’s tilt on September 18^th will see the Florida Panthers square off against the Montreal Canadiens. The game takes place in Bathurst, New Brunswick and will be broadcast nationally in Canada by TVAS and Sportsnet.

There will also be a Kraft Hockeyville in the USA on September 26^th in Calumet, Michigan. This encounter will see Stanley Cup winners the St. Louis Blues doing battle with the Detroit Red Wings. This game will also be aired across America on NBCSN.

While most NHL cities will be hosting pre-season games for their teams there are also numerous games held in neutral sites. These include Abbotsford, British Columbia; Bridgeport, Connecticut; St. John’s, Newfoundland; Salt Lake City; Tulsa, Oklahoma; University Park, Pennsylvania and Victoria, British Columbia.

There won’t be any games held in China this year even though Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals just returned from a five-day trip there as an NHL ambassador. The Capitals’ captain helped run hockey training sessions for children and said he enjoyed the experience immensely. Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner said logistics couldn’t be worked out in time for games in China this year but he hopes the league will return next season after holding two games in China in each of the last two years.

Daly added that the league likely won’t hold regular-season contests in China next year but hopes to in the near future. He also said he’s not sure if NHL players will participate in the 2022  Olympics in Beijing, China and it could depend on whether or not the current collective bargaining agreement between the league and NHL Players’ Association is terminated early in September of 2020 or runs its full course until September, 2022.

As usual, the majority of NHL unrestricted free agents were signed within the first 24 hours they became eligible on July 1^st. Several clubs appeared to strengthen their squads considerably while others took it on the chin and lost one or more key players. Perhaps the biggest surprise was an offer sheet to Carolina Hurricanes star forward and restricted free agent Sebastian Aho by the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal general manager offered the 21-year-old a five-year deal worth $42.27 million and was willing to give up a first, second and third-round draft pick to sign him.

However, Carolina GM Don Waddell basically had his work done for him by Bergevin as he announced  on July 7^th that the Hurricanes had officially matched the offer, which was their right to. This meant Waddell didn’t have to endure an agonizing contract-negotiation process with his team’s top scorer as he simply had to match the offer. It’s arguable if the player or club got the better of the deal as there are some experts who feel Aho may be worth more than the annual average of $8.454 million of the contract.

Montreal believed there was a chance Carolina may not match the offer since Aho is due half of the contract total in the first year. With an $11.3 million signing bonus he’ll be paid $21 million in year one of the five-year deal. Aho of Rauma, Finland, led his team in scoring this season with 30 goals and 53 assists in 82 games. He then added five goals and seven assists in the Hurricanes’ impressive playoff run. Aho has racked up 83 goals and 114 assists for 197 points in 242 career regular-season contests with Carolina with 12 points in 25 postseason outings.

There could be more offer sheets coming during the offseason as there are several other big-name restricted free agents who have yet to be re-signed by their clubs. These include forwards Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brayden Point of the Tampa bay Lightning, Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets, Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks, Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames, Kevin Labanc of the San Jose sharks and Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche. There are also some fine defenceman yet to sign including Jacob Trouba of the New York Rangers, Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins and Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis blues hasn’t re-signed either and has taken the Blues to salary arbitration. As far as the unrestricted free agents go, most of the big names have been signed but some are still shopping their services such as Toronto blue liner Jake Gardiner, San Jose forward Joe Thornton, St. Louis forward Patrick Maroon, Columbus forward Ryan Dzingel and Carolina forwards Justin Williams and Michael Ferland.

Since we’re in the middle of summer many fans may have missed the original flurry of unrestricted free-agent signings so we’ll recap the biggest moves so far.

The Buffalo Sabres signed forward Marcus Johansson of Boston to a two-year deal worth $9million. The Chicago Blackhawks lured goaltender Robin Lehner away from the New York Islanders and signed him to a $5 million one-year contract. The Columbus Blue Jackets inked veteran forward

Gustav Nyquist from the San Jose Sharks to $22 million over four years. The Dallas Stars gave forward Joe Pavelski $21 million over three years to give up his captaincy in San Jose and head to Texas. They also gave former Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry a year-long deal for $1.5 million.

The Detroit Red Wings inked forward Valtteri Filppula from the New York Islanders for $6 million over two years and gave Dallas blue liner Patrik Nemeth the same deal. The Edmonton Oilers signed netminder Mike Smith out of Calgary $2 million over one year. The Florida Panthers signed  goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, from the Blue Jackets Columbus for $70 million over seven seasons and added forward Brett Connolly from Washington for $13 million over four years.

The Panthers didn’t stop there as forward Noel Acciari was signed for three years for $5 million from Boston and veteran rearguard Anton Stralman came over from Tampa $16.5 million over three years. The Minnesota Wild gave former Dallas forward Mats Zuccarello $30 million for five seasons while the Nashville Predators inked forward Matt Duchene from the Blue Jackets for seven years at $56 million. The New Jersey Devils gave former Nashville forward Wayne Simmonds a one-year deal for $5 million while the New York Islanders signed goalie Semyon Varlamov from Colorado for four seasons.

The New York Rangers made a big splash by landing forward Artemi Panarin of the Blue Jackets for $81.5 million over seven years. The Ottawa Senators signed a couple of players from Toronto as blue liner Ron Hainsey agreed to a one-year deal for $3.5 million while forward Tyler Ennis signed for a year at $800,000. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed blue liner Brandon Tanev out of Winnipeg for $21 million over six years. Tampa Bay inked goalie Curtis McElhinney from the Hurricanes for two years at $2.6 million and Vancouver inked former Winnipeg defenceman Tyler Myers for $30 million over five seasons.

The NHL’s free agency season kicked in July 1^st and we’ll recap all the big signings next week. However, there were plenty of trades before free agency kicked in as teams were anxious to create salary cap room and open up some roster spots.

Toronto Maple Leafs’ defenceman Nikita Zaitsev requested a trade several weeks ago and the team accommodated him by sending the 27-year-old to the Ottawa Senators along with forwards Connor Brown and Michael Carcone in return for defencemen Cody Ceci and Ben Harpur as well as a third-round draft pick in 2020 and Aaron Luchuk.

Zaitsev spent three seasons in Toronto and posted 63 points but managed just 11 points this season. He was signed to a seven-year contract at $4.5 million a season following his rookie campaign. The 25-year-old Brown scored eight goals and 21 assists this season while scoring 14 goals last year and 20 the season before and has 99 points in 253 career games. Carcone, a 23-year-old, notched 27 points last year while playing for the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

Ceci spent six seasons with Ottawa and the 25-year-old racked up 118 points including seven goals and 19 assists this year. The 24-year-old Harpur, 24 scored just five five points in 51 contests this season while Luchuk, a 22-year old, posted 22 points in the ECHL this year in 32 games. Both Carcone and Ceci are unsigned restricted free agents. Harpur’s salary-cap hit is $725,000, Luchuk’s is $759,166 and Brown’s is $2.1-million.

Florida Panthers’ netminder Roberto Luongo retired last week with the third-most wins in history after 19 years in the NHL. They also lost James Reimer as the 31-year-old was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in return for fellow goalie Scott Darling and as a sixth-round draft pick in 2020. Reimer spent three seasons with the Panthers and has two years remaining on his contract at $3.4 million a season.

Reimer also played with the San Jose Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs and has appeared in 338 NHL games with a record of 144-120-39, 21 shutouts, a save percentage of 91.3 and a 2.81 goals-against average. As for Darling, the 31-year-old was placed on waivers by Florida and will have his $4.15 million annual contract contract bought out, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Darling played just eight NHL games this season while spending most of the year in the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers. He formerly played with the Chicago Blackhawks where he won a Stanley Cup in 2014/15. He has played 126 career NHL games with a mark of 54-42-18, four shutouts, a GAA of 2.72 and a 90.8 save percentage. Florida is expected to fill their goaltending vacancies by signing unrestricted free agent Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Montreal Canadiens traded 27-year-old Andrew Shaw and a seventh-rounder in 2021 to Chicago for a second and a seventh-rounder next year and a third-round draft choice in 2021. Shaw previously played five years for the Blackhawks and won Stanley Cups with the squad in 2013 and 2015. he was traded to Montreal three years ago and signed a six-year deal worth $3.9 million a season. Shaw played 63 contests this season and posted 19 goals and 47 points. He has 111 goals and 233 points in 504 career games with 35 points in his 72 playoff games.

Thirty-one-year-old forward Phil Kessel was traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Arizona Coyotes for forward Alexander Galchenyuk and defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Arizona also received rearguard Dane Birks in the deal as well as a 2021 fourth-round draft choice. Kessel won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017. His salary-cap hit is $8 million a year with the Toronto Maple Leafs paying $1.2 million of it each year. Galchenyuk’s cap hit is $4.9 million and he will become an unrestricted free agent next year.

Kessel posted 27 goals and 82 points this year and has played 996 career contests with Pittsburgh, Toronto and the Boston Bruins with 357 goals and 823 points. He’s also tallied 33 goals and 77 points in his 87 playoff appearances. The 25-year-old Galchenyuk registered 19 goals and 41 points this year and has 127 goals and 296 points in 490  career outings with Arizona and the Montreal Canadiens along with 13 points in his 28 postseason matches.

The New York Rangers cleared up $2.275 million in salary-cap space by trading forward Jimmy Vesey to the Buffalo Sabres for a third-round draft pick in 2021. The 26-year-old spent three years in the Big Apple and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. He played 81 games this season and tallied 17 goals and 18 assists for 35 points. He has 50 goals and 90 points in 240 career contests.

Finishing as high as they could in the NHL standings this season didn’t help several clubs in the playoffs this season as there were a number of upsets in the first round. For the first time in league history all four division champions were knocked out in the opening round by the four wildcard teams. In addition, four of the last nine Stanley Cup champions have now been sent packing in the first round the following season with each of them bowing out in seven games.

The biggest surprise was seeing the Tampa Bay Lightning swept in four games by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Tampa led the league in points this season as they topped the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division. Their 62 season wins also tied a league record. On the other hand, Columbus made the playoffs on the last weekend of the season as the second wildcard team in the East. Columbus came back from a 3-0 deficit in game one in Tampa to win 4-3 and won the second game 5-1. They then took care of business at home by scores of 3-2 and 7-3.

The Calgary Flames, who won the Western Conference and Pacific Division, were eliminated in five games by the Colorado Avalanche, who also made the postseason in the last week of the campaign and finished as the second wildcard club in the West. Calgary shut Colorado out 4-0 at home in game one, but were then beaten 3-2 in overtime in the second game in Calgary. The Avalanche then won 6-2 and 3-2 in overtime at home and 5-1 in Calgary to end the series in just five contests.

The Nashville Predators managed to win a close battle to top the Central Division this year by edging out the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues. However, they dropped their series in six games to the Dallas Stars who were the first wildcard team in the West. Dallas edged Nashville 3-2  on the road in the first game with the Predators bouncing back for a 2-1 overtime victory in game two. Back in Dallas, Nashville won 3-2, but then lost the next three games by scores of 5-1 in Dallas, 5-3 in Nashville and 2-1 in overtime in game six in Dallas.

The Washington Capitals, who were the reigning Stanley Cup champions and winners of the Metropolitan division, went the full seven games against the Carolina Hurricanes who were the first wildcard team in the East. The first six games were all won by the home team as Washington won the first two games 4-2 and 4-3. Carolina were 5-0 and 2-1 victors in games three and four with Washington winning game five 6-0. They had a chance to win the series but Carolina bounced back with a 5-2 win to force game seven. The Capitals blew leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the decider and were eventually beaten 4-3 in double overtime.

The St. Louis Blues finished the season in third place in the Central Division with the same points as the second-place Winnipeg Jets and therefore gave up home-ice advantage. There wasn’t much of an advantage in this series though as the first five games were all won by the visiting team. St. Louis then broke the trend by winning game six at home. The Blues won 2-1 and 4-3 in Winnipeg and then dropped a 6-3 and 2-1 decision in overtime at home. St. Louis won 3-2 in Winnipeg and at home in game six to take the series with all three of their wins and one of their losses being by just one goal.

The New York Islanders may have finished above the Pittsburgh Penguins by a few points in the Metropolitan Division, but considering the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017 their four-game sweep was generally considered and upset. The Islanders were making their first postseason in three years and won the first game at home 4-3 in overtime. They followed up with wins of 3-1, 4-1 and 3-1 to knock out Sidney Crosby and company in the minimum games needed and allowed just six goals against.

The other two series also went seven games and almost produced upsets, but the higher seeds ultimately prevailed. The Boston Bruins finished second in the Atlantic Division this year with the Toronto Maple Leafs coming third. They were meeting for the second consecutive season in the playoffs and for the third time since 2012/13. Like their last two clashes, this series also went the full seven games with Boston emerging victorious at home.

Boston lost home ice advantage in the very first game by losing 4-1 but then rebounded with their own 4-1 triumph in game two. The Leafs won 3-2 at home but gave home ice back to Boston by losing  game four 6-4 at home. The teams took turns winning though so Toronto retook home-ice advantage with a 2-1 win in the fifth game. They had two chances to eliminate Boston but couldn’t do it as they were downed 4-2 at home in game six and 5-1 in game seven with the Bruins scoring two empty-net goals.

The San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights finished in second and third place respectively in the Pacific Division and this series proved to be the most dramatic. The teams split the first two games in San Jose with the Sharks winning 5-2 and Vegas 5-3. Vegas then took a stranglehold on the series by winning 6-3 and 5-0 at home for a 3-1 series lead. The Sharks bounced back with a 5-2 home win and a  2-1 double overtime win in Vegas in game six via a shorthanded goal. The Golden Knights held a 3-0 lead in the third period of game seven when they received a controversial five-minute major penalty with just over 10 minutes to play.

The Sharks took advantage of the situation by scoring four power-play goals in the span of 241 seconds to take a 4-3 lead. However, Vegas fought back and forced overtime by scoring with 47 seconds remaining in the third period with their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker. The Sharks then won the game and series late in overtime to become just the second team in NHL history to erase a three-goal deficit in the third period of a game-seven playoff game and win it.

Ten games in the first round went to overtime while only seven contests needed an extra period last season. There are no Canadian-based teams left in the playoffs and three of the eight series went the full seven games. The Bruins, Islanders and Sharks are now the only top-10 teams from the regular-season remaining in the playoffs. The round two matchups will see the Boston take on Columbus and Carolina face the Islanders in the East. Over in the West we have Colorado facing San Jose and Dallas taking on St. Louis.

For some teams, the first round of the NHL playoffs isn’t likely to last very long at all. In fact, this appears to be the case for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins as they both trail their respective series 3-0.

This is likely to come as a surprise to many since Tampa tied an NHL record with 62 wins this season and finished first in the Atlantic Division, the Eastern Conference and the entire league. Things got off to a pretty healthy start for the team in their series against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who made the playoffs as the second wildcard team in the East.

Tampa stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first period of game one at home, but were then completely stunned to see the Blue Jackets score four straight goals, including three in a six minute span in the third period to win the game 4-3.

Columbus proved that was no fluke as they completely dominated the Lightning in game two to the tune of 5-1 to take over home ice advantage with their pair of road wins. The two teams then headed to Columbus, but Tampa’s luck didn’t change as they fell short 3-1 in game three. Tampa has managed to score just two goals in the last eight periods of hockey against Blue Jackets’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

To make matters worse, Tampa forward Nikita Kucherov, who led the NHL in scoring this season with 128 points, was suspended for game three for a dirty hit on Markus Nutivaara. Also, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy who led the league with 39 wins this year has struggled mightily in net. Tampa entered the series after beating Columbus in all three regular-season games this year as well as outscoring them 17-3 in the process.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are facing the same fate as Tampa after they dropped the first three contests against the upstart New York Islanders. The Islanders won game one 4-3 at home in overtime and followed up with a 3-1 win in their second home outing. They then took care of business in game three in Pittsburgh with a convincing 4-1 win.

The big story in the Islanders vs Penguins series has been the lack of production from Pittsburgh centre Sidney Crosby. The team captain was held pointless in the first three games and had a minus-4 rating. He was also charged with committing a total of eight giveaways.

Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh could possibly come back to win their series, but just four teams have ever managed to come back from a 3-0 hole. The combined NHL playoff record for teams losing the first three games of a playoff series is 4-186.

As far as the rest of the series go, there hasn’t really been too much in the way of surprises. The Toronto Maple Leafs managed to wrangle home ice advantage away from the Boston Bruins by winning game one 4-1 in Boston. The Bruins then returned the favour with a 4-1 win in game two. It was a rather nasty contests and Toronto forward Nazem Kadri was suspended for the rest of the series after his vicious crosscheck to Jake DeBrusk. Kadri could possibly miss five games and he was also suspended for three playoff games last season when the two teams met.

Reigning Stanley Cup champions the Washington Capitals won their two home games against the Carolina Hurricanes by scores of 4-2 and 4-3 in overtime.

In the West, the Conference champion Calgary Flames beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 in game one, but then lost home ice advantage by dropping game two 3-2 in overtime. The Nashville Predators also failed to keep their home ice advantage after falling 3-2 to the Dallas Stars in game one of their tilt and then rebounding to win game two 2-1 in overtime.

The San Jose Sharks were the third Western Conference team to give up their home ice edge as they beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 at home in game one, but were 5-3 losers in the second game. They were then doubled 6-3 in Vegas in game three to fall behind 2-1 in the series. San Jose veteran centre Joe Thornton has been suspended for game four after an illegal hit on Tomas Nosek.

The Winnipeg Jets followed the lead of the rest of the Western squads by giving up home ice advantage to the St. Louis Blues. The Blues edged Winnipeg 2-1 and 4-3 on the road, but then let the Jets back in the series by losing game three 6-3.