Category: Ian Palmer

With all the excitement of NHL free agency and the recent spate of trades, many fans may have missed the announcement of this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame inductees. For those of you who may not be quite up to date, let’s recap the nominees who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this coming November.

Goaltender Martin Brodeur of Montreal, Quebec definitely isn’t a surprise inductee as he’s the all-time leader in regular-season wins with 691 and shutouts at 125. He’s one of just 15 netminders who managed to record at least a dozen shutouts during a season and posted a 2.24 career goals-against average along with a save percentage of 91.9. Brodeur won three Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils while winning 113 postseason games and posting a 90.9 save percentage in the playoffs. He won the Jennings Trophy five times for the league’s lowest goals-against average and took the Vezina Trophy home four times for being the NHL’s best goalie. Brodeur was nominated to seven All-Star Teams overall, was one of just seven goalies to be named rookie of the year since 1967 and added two Olympic gold medals to his collection of awards.

Right-winger Martin St. Louis of Laval, Quebec was deemed by many experts to be too small for the NHL and was never drafted. But he proved the naysayers wrong by scoring 391 goals and 642 assists for 1,033 points in his 1,134 regular-season contests for the Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers. St. Louis took home the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP in 2004 as well as the Ted Lindsay Award as the best player in the NHL voted on by his peers. He led the league in scoring twice and helped Tampa win the Stanley Cup in 2004. St. Louis scored a minimum of 25 goals in 10 different seasons and took the Lady Byng Trophy home on three occasions as the league’s most sportsmanlike player. The five-time NHL All Star also helped Canada win the 2014 Olympics and the 2004 World Championships. St. Louis added another 42 goals and 48 assists for 90 points in 107 playoff games.

Eighty-two-year-old Willie O’Ree of Fredericton, New Brunswick was inducted as a builder and was the first African-American player in the NHL. He made his debut in January of 1958 for the Boston Bruins and would end up playing just 45 NHL contests. However, after breaking the colour barrier O’Ree also went on to play in over 1,000 games in the minor leagues even though he was legally blind in his right eye. He won the 2003 Lester Patrick Trophy for helping develop the sport of hockey across America and in 2008 was named to the Order of Canada. O’Ree led the Western Hockey League in scoring twice and posted over 800 points during his pro career.

Alexander Yakushev of Moscow, Russia was one of the best left-wingers in the world during his career and proved it while playing against Canada in the 1972 Summit Series. Yakushev starred for the Soviet Union and led the team in scoring during the eight-game event with 11 points from seven goals and four assists. He played with Moscow Spartak during the 1960s and 70s and once notched 50 goals during a 44-game season. He won a pair of Olympic gold medals as well as seven more golds at the World Championships. After hanging up his skates, Yakushev coached the Soviet national squad and Moscow Spartak and also worked as a referee. 

Trenton Ontario’s Jayna Hefford was a right-winger who began playing hockey at the age of six years old and set several scoring records while playing minor hockey in Kingston, Ontario. Hefford later starred for the women’s team at the University of Toronto before playing in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League where she became the first player to score 100 points in the league. She also won seven gold medals in various international tournaments while suiting up for Canada along with four Olympic gold medals. Hefford scored the gold-medal winner at the 2002 Olympics and racked up a dozen points in five outings at the 2010 Games. The CWHL trophy for the league’s most outstanding player is named after Hefford.

Current NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman of Queens, New York will be inducted as a builder. The 66-year-old has been running the league since 1993 and has added 10 expansion franchises since then. Under his watch, the NHL now generates over $3 billion U.S in revenue per year. Bettman has also helped build the NHL brand across the world by signing numerous television broadcasting contracts across Europe and other parts of the world. He’s also organized regular-season and preseason contests across the globe and came up with an assistance plan to help out franchises that were struggling to survive. Bettman is the longest-serving commissioner in professional sports and has led the NHL to its most lucrative period in history. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs landed the biggest available unrestricted free agent this summer by signing 27-year-old centre John Tavares to a seven-year $77 million contract. Tavares was drafted by the New York Islanders with the first overall pick back in 2009 and spent nine seasons with the team The native of Mississauga, Ontario leaves the Islanders with 272 goals and 349 assists for 621 points in 669 regular season games and 11 goals and 11 assists in just 24 career playoff contests. Tavares led the team with 37 goals and 47 assists for 84 points in 82 outings last season.

It’s unclear how the acquisition of Tavares will affect the Leafs’ payroll situation over the next year or so as the club needs to either re-sign or trade young stars Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and/or William Nylander. And while the Leafs gained 37 goals by signing Tavares they lost 47 goals from last year’s lineup as free agent centre Tyler Bozak (11 goals) signed with the St. Louis Blues on a three-year $15 million contract and left-winger James van Riemsdyk (36 goals) signed a five-year deal, $35 million with the Philadelphia Flyers.

There was plenty of other activity on July 1^st, which was the first day of free agency, and we’ll recap the biggest moves of the day.

Anaheim Ducks: Signed defenceman Luke Schenn of the Arizona Coyotes to a year-long deal.

Arizona Coyotes: Signed forward Michael Grabner from the New Jersey Devils to a three-year deal. Defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson was re-signed for two years.

Boston Bruins: Signed goaltender Jaroslav Halak from the New York Islanders to a two-year contract and signed forward Chris Wagner from the Islanders to a two-year deal. They also inked defenceman John Moore of the New Jersey Devils to a five-year contract.

Buffalo Sabres: Signed goaltender Carter Hutton of the St. Louis Blues to a three-year contract and goaltender Scott Wedgewood from the Arizona Coyotes to a one-year deal.

Calgary Flames: Signed centre Derek Ryan of the Carolina Hurricanes to a three-year contract and inked forward James Neal of Vegas to a five-year deal.

Carolina Hurricanes: Signed goaltender Petr Mrazek of the Philadelphia Flyers to a one-year deal.

Chicago Blackhawks: Signed goaltender Cam Ward from Carolina to a one-year contract as well as forward Chris Kunitz of the Tampa Bay Lightning and defenceman Brandon Manning of Philadelphia.

Colorado Avalanche: Signed defenceman Ian Cole and forward Matt Calvert of the Columbus Blue Jackets to three-year contracts.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Signed defenceman Adam Clendening of Arizona to a one-year contract and centre Riley Nash of Boston to a three-year contract.

Dallas Stars: Signed defenceman Roman Polak of Toronto to a one-year contract and goaltender Anton Khudobin of Boston to a two-year contract. Forward Blake Comeau of Colorado was signed to a three-year deal.

Detroit Red Wings: Signed goaltender Jonathan Bernier of Colorado to a three-year contract and forward Thomas Vanek of Columbus to a one-year contract. Defenceman Mike Green was also re-signed to a two year deal.

Los Angeles Kings: Signed forward Ilya Kovalchuk of the KHL to a three-year contract.

Minnesota Wild: Signed goaltender Andrew Hammond of Colorado to a one-year deal and forward Eric Fehr of the San Jose Sharks to a year-long deal. Forward Matt Hendricks of the Winnipeg Jets also signed on for a season. Defenceman Greg Pateryn was signed from Dallas for two years.

Montreal Canadiens: Signed forward Tomas Plekanec from Toronto to a one-year contract and inked
forward Matthew Peca of Tampa Bay to a two-year contract.

New York Islanders: Signed forward Valtteri Filppula of Philadelphia to a one-year contract and forward Leo Komarov of Toronto to a four-year contract. Defenceman Thomas Hickey was re-signed to a four-year deal.

New York Rangers: Re-signed forward Vladislav Namestnikov to a two-year contract.

Philadelphia Flyers: Signed forward James van Riemsdyk from Toronto to a five-year contract.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Signed defenceman Jack Johnson of Columbus to a five-year contract, forward Matt Cullen of Minnesota to a one-year contract and forward Jimmy Hayes of New Jersey to a one-year deal.

San Jose Sharks: Re-signed forward Logan Couture to an eight-year deal.

St. Louis Blues: Signed centre Tyler Bozak of Toronto to a three-year contract, goaltender Chad Johnson of Buffalo to a one-year contract and forward David Perron of the Vegas Golden Knights to a four-year deal.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Re-sign defenceman Ryan McDonagh to a seven-year contract.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Signed forward John Tavares of the New York Islanders to a seven-year contract as well as forward Josh Jooris of Pittsburgh. Defenceman Martin Marincin was re-signed to a one-year deal and defenceman Jordan Subban of Los Angeles signed for a season.

Vancouver Canucks: Signed centre Jay Beagle of the Washington Capitals to a four-year contract and

forward Antoine Roussel of the Dallas stars to a four-year deal.

Vegas Golden Knights: Signed defenceman Nick Holden of Boston. Forward Paul Stastny of Winnipeg was also signed for three years while forward Ryan Reaves was re-signed.

In addition, there was also a trade between the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues as Buffalo sent centre Ryan O’Reilly to the Blues for Vladimir Sobotka, Patrik Berglund, prospect Tage Thompson, a first-round draft pick in 2019 and a second-round pick in 2021. O’Reilly was the top faceoff man in the NHL last season and chipped in with 24 goals and 37 assists. Berglund had 17 goals and nine assists with the Blues while Sobotka had 11 goals and 20 assists.

The NHL draft has come and gone for another year with few surprises in the first round. Let’s recap the top 31 picks for 2018.

1- As expected, the Buffalo Sabres selected 18-year-old Rasmus Dahlin of Sweden with the first overall pick. He’s a fine puck-moving defenceman who scored 20 points in 41 contests with Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League last season. He also played at the World Junior Championships and PyeongChang Olympics.

2-The Carolina Hurricanes took Andrei Svechnikov of Russia with the second pick after the 6-foot-2 winger scored 40 goals as a rookie for Barrie of the OHL in 44 games. He led the league at 0.91 goals-per-game even though he missed several weeks of the season with an injury. He also racked up five assists in five outings at the World Junior Championships

3-The Montreal Canadiens used their first pick to choose centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi of Finland. He had 10 goals and 19 assists last season and won’t turn 18 until July 6^th.

4-The Ottawa Senators took left-winger Brady Tkachuk of Boston University. He’s 6-feet-3-inches tall and finished the season with with 31 points and a plus-15 rating. He led his team with 23 assists and was fourth in overall scoring on his squad. The power forward also had three goals and six assists at the World Junior Championships for America.

5-The Arizona Coyotes chose centre Barrett Hayton of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL. He posted 21 goals and 39 assists for 60 points in 63 games and was also used on the special teams as he’s considered a fine offensive and defensive player.

6- The Detroit Red Wings selected forward Filip Zadina after he scored 44 times in 57 games with Halifax of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Zadina was named the top prospect in the league last season as he led all rookies in scoring with 44 goals and 38 assists for 82 points in 57 games. In addition, he added seven goals and an assist for the Czech Republic at the World Junior Championships.

7- The Vancouver Canucks took defenceman Quinn Hughes of the University of Michigan. The 18-year-old played at the 2018 World Championships for the U.S. And could be a fine power play specialist. He scored five goals and 24 assists last season in 37 games.

8- The Chicago Blackhawks took defenceman Adam Boqvist of Brynas Jr. in the Swedish junior league. He netted 14 goals and 10 assists in 25 games last season and added three goals and two assists in just three playoff games. The 17-year-old also had six points at the IIHF World U-18 Championship,.

9- The New York Rangers selected right-winger Vitali Kravtsov from Chelyabinsk in Russia. He was one of the youngest players in the KHL last season and he chipped in with four goals and three assists in his 35 contests. He then netted six goals and five assists in his 16 postseason games and was the rookie of the year in the KHL.

10- The Edmonton Oilers chose defenceman Evan Bouchard from the OHL’s London Knights. His 25 goals and 62 assists ranked him seventh overall in league scoring and was tops for blueliners. He’s known for his hard shot and on-ice smarts.

11- The New York Islanders too right-winger Oliver Wahlstrom from the American Under-18 squad and Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Minnesota. He scored 48 goals and 46 assists for 94 points last season along with six game-winning goals and 13 power-play goals in 62 games.

12- The New York Islanders also had the 12^th pick and selected defenceman Noah Dobson from Acadie-Bathurst of the Quebec Major Junior League. The First-Team All-Star scored 17 goals and 52 assists for 69 points along with 11 power play goals. He added three goals and 10 assists in 20 postseason outings to help Acadie-Bathurst win the title.

13- The Dallas Stars took centre Ty Dellandrea from Flint of the OHL after he led his team with
27 goals and 32 assists for 59 points in 67 games. The 17-year-old also led the squad with 10 power-play goals and played for Canada at the IIHF World U-18s.

14- The Philadelphia Flyers chose left-winger Joel Farabee from the USA U-18 team. He scored 76 points on 33 goals and 43 assists last season and added five shorthanded markers in 62 games. He was also a plus-41 on the year.

15- The Florida Panthers took Russian left-winger Grigori Denisenko of Yaroslavl 2. He played for the junior Loko team for most of the year and posted nine goals and 13 assists in 31 games and added five more goals and a pair of assists in 12 postseason contests.

16- The Colorado Avalanche drafted right-winger Martin Kaut from Pardubice in the Czech Republic. He scored nine goals and seven assists in 38 games in the Czech League and added three goals and two assists in his seven postseason games. He also posted two goals and five assists at the World Junior Championships.

17- The New Jersey Devils chose defenceman Ty Smith from Spokane of the Western Hockey League. Smith had 14 goals and 59 assists for 73 points last season and was a plus-44 with 27 power-play points.

18- The Columbus Blue Jackets selected centre Liam Foudy from the London Knights of the London OHL. He posted 24 goals and 16 assists for 40 points in 65 games along with four game-winners and five shorthanded tallies.

19- The Philadelphia Flyers took centre Jay O’Brien from Thayer Academy High School in the U.S. He led his league with 43 goals and 37 assists for 80 points in 30 games.

20- The Los Angeles Kings drafted speedy centre Rasmus Kupari from Karpat in Finland. He scored six goals and eight assists last season in 39 games in Liiga and also played at the World Junior Championships.

21- The San Jose Sharks took defenceman Ryan Merkley from Guelph of the OHL after he racked up 67 points in 63 games last year. The 17-year-old was third in scoring for OHL defencemen with his 13 goals and 54 assists and posted 1.06 points-per game.

22- The New York Rangers chose defenceman K’Andre Miller from the USA U-18 team. He’s 6-feet-3-inches tall and posted nine goals and 20 assists last season and was a plus-23. Miller also scored two shorthanded goals.

23- The Anaheim Ducks took centre Isac Lundestrom from Lulea in Sweden after he scored six goals and nine assists in 42 games last season along with a plus-7 rating. He added two goals at the World Junior Championships.

24- The Minnesota Wild drafted defenceman Filip Johansson from Leksand Jr. in Sweden. He posted four goals and five assists in his 29 junior games. And added a goal and three assists at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament along with two goals and an assist at the U-18 World Championships.

25- The St. Louis Blues took German-born right-winger Dominik Bokk from Vaxjo Jr. in Sweden. He played 35 games as a rookie and scored 41 points on 14 goals and 27 assists and added five goals and six assists in his eight postseason games.

26- The Ottawa Senators chose defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker from Okotoks in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. He scored 20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points in 47 games and will play at the University of North Dakota next season.

27- The Chicago Blackhawks selected defenceman Nicolas Beaudin from Drummondville in the QMJHL. He was ranked second in defenceman scoring with 69 points on 12 goals and 57 assists and posted 28 assists on the power-play in 68 games.

28- The New York Rangers took defenceman Nils Lundkvist from Pitea in Sweden where he posted three goals and 11 assists in 26 contests as a 17-year-old.

29- The Toronto Maple Leafs took Swedish defenceman Rasmus Sandin from the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. The rookie scored 12 goals and 33 assists for 45 points last year and was a plus-35 in 51 games.

30- The Detroit Red Wings chose centre Joseph Veleno from Drummondville of the QMJHL. He posted six goals and 25 assists for 31 points in 31 games last year with Saint John and was then traded to Drummondville where he added 16 goals and 32 assists for 48 points in 33 games. Veleno added five goals and six assists in his 10 postseason contests.

31- The Washington Capitals drafted last in the first round and took Russian defenceman Alexander Alexeyev from Red Deer of the Western Hockey League. Alexeyev is 6-feet-4-inches tall and scored
seven goals and 30 assists last season in 45 games. He then added two goals and three assists in three playoff matches.

The NHL held its annual awards ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 20^th with Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils taking home the Hart Memorial trophy as the league’s most valuable player. Hall is the first Devils player to capture the honour and it was his first tome as a finalist. He finished the season with a career-high 93 points on 39 goals and 54 assists with 37 points coming on the power play. He also racked up 41 more points than the next highest Devil this season. Hall edged out Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche and Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings in the voting as well as Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers and the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid.

However, McDavid was named the winner of the Ted Lindsay Award for the second straight season. The young Oilers’ captain was named the league’s outstanding player by his peers after scoring 41 goals and adding 67 assists for 108 points. McDavid became the first player to win the award twice before reaching the age of 22. He’s also the third Oiler to win the honours along with Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky.

The Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender went to Finnish native Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. It was his first win and fourth time being a finalist. Rinne posted the third-most wins in the league this season at 42 and also had an 11-game winning streak this season as he helped Nashville win the President’s Trophy as the league’s top team. Rinne beat out Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Frederik Andersen of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights. He becomes the first Predators’ goalie to win the award.

The Frank Selke Trophy was handed out to Anze Kopitar of Los Angeles as the league’s best defensive forward. Kopitar has now won the award twice and he’s been a finalist four times in the past five seasons. He led all forwards in the NHL in total ice time in 2017/18 and was third in both faceoff wins with 983 and total faceoffs at 1,816. Kopitar also chipped in with 35 goals and 57 assists for 92 points and helped the Kings to the best defensive record in the league. He beat out Sean Couturier of Philadelphia, Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins, Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers and Mikko Koivu of the Minnesota Wild.

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The Vegas Golden Knights had four winners on the night as forward William Karlsson of Sweden won the Lady Byng Trophy as the league’s most sportsmanlike player. The 25-year-old scored 43 goals and added 35 assists and served just 12 minutes in penalties during the regular season. He also led the NHL in plus/minus with a plus-49 rating. Karlsson beat out Ryan O’Reilly of the Buffalo Sabres, Aleksander Barkov of Florida, Anze Kopitar of Los Angeles and Jared Spurgeon of the New York Islanders.

Twenty-one-year-old Mathew Barzal of the Islanders was named the winner of the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie. The forward led all first-year players in scoring with 22 goals and 63 assists for 85 points and is the fifth Islander to win the award. Barzal beat out Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks, Clayton Keller of the Arizona coyotes, Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets and Charlie McAvoy of Boston on the ballot.

Victor Hedman of Tampa Bay was named the best defenceman in the NHL for 2017/18 and took home the James Norris Memorial Trophy for his efforts. He’s the first Lightning player to win the award and the third Swedish defenceman to take it home after finishing the year with 17 goals and 46 assists for 63 points. Hedman beat out Drew Doughty of Los Angeles, P.K. Subban of Nashville, Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets and John Carlson of the Washington Capitals.

Gerard Gallant of Vegas took home the Jack Adams Award as the league’s best coach after leading the expansion club to the Pacific Division Title and the Stanley Cup Final. It’s the first award for Gallant after being a finalist while coaching the Florida Panthers in 2015/16. He became the first head coach in the modern era to lead an expansion franchise to a division title in any of North America’s major pro sports leagues. Gallant beat out Bruce Cassidy of Boston, Jared Bednar of Colorado, Paul Maurice of Winnipeg and Peter Laviolette of Nashville in the voting.

There was no surprise when George McPhee was named the General Manager of the Year as he put together the roster of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights who posted a season record of 51-24-7 and reached the Stanley Cup finals in their first year of operation. The club became the most successful first-year team in NHL history. McPhee beat out Kevin Cheveldayoff of Winnipeg, Steve Yzerman of Tampa Bay, Don Sweeney of Boston and Joe Sakic of Colorado.

Swedish twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin of Vancouver were the recipients of the King Clancy Trophy as the players to best exemplify leadership qualities and humanitarian contributions to their community. The Sedins were drafted number two and three in 1999 and are the only brothers in NHL history to record at least 1,000 points each.

Forward Brian Boyle of New Jersey won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for his dedication, perseverance and sportsmanship to the game of hockey. The 33-year-old Boyle was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia just before the start of the season, but made his way back into the lineup by November 1^st and finished the campaign with 13 goals and 10 assists and also represented New Jersey at the All Star Game.

The Mark Messier Leadership Award was won by forward Deryk Engelland of the Vegas Golden Knights as he exemplified great leadership qualities on and off of the ice this season and also helped grow the game of hockey in his community. Engelland organized many events following the mass shooting in Las Vegas last October and also worked with local firefighters to raise money for children that couldn’t afford to play the game of hockey.

With the NHL playoffs being in full gear over the past several weeks fans may have missed out on all the front office changes that have taken place since the regular season ended. Let’s go over these moves so we know just who’s in charge when the teams head into the upcoming NHL Entry Draft on June 22/23 in Dallas, Texas. Since the season came to an end there have been four coaching changes and three general manager moves.

Bill Peters took over the head coaching duties with the Calgary Flames on April 23^rd after he resigned from the same position with the Carolina Hurricanes. He compiled a 137-138-53 record in Carolina and never made the playoffs in his four seasons at the helm. The 53-year-old Alberta native will now be taking over a Calgary club which missed the postseason this year. The coaching job became vacant with the Flames after Glen Gulutzan was fired.

The Dallas Stars named Jim Montgomery as their new head coach on May 4^th to replace 66-year-old Ken Hitchcock who announced his retirement a few weeks earlier. Hitchcock remains with the team as a consultant after 22 years of coaching in the NHL which included a Stanley Cup triumph with Dallas in 1998/99. Hitchcock ranks third in NHL history in coaching wins with 823. The 48-year-old Montgomery has over 10 years of college coaching experience and won the national title in America in 2017, but this is his first crack at the NHL.

Former NHL star Rod Brind’Amour was named the new head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes on May 8^th, shortly after former bench boss Bill Peters left the club. Brind’Amour has been with the team as an assistant coach since 2011, a year after he retired as a player, and helped out with player development. This will be the 47-year-old’s first head coaching job in hockey.

The latest head coach to be hired was David Quinn as he joined the New York Rangers on May 23^rd. The 51-year-old takes over from Alain Vigneault who was fired on April 8^th right after the season ended with the club missing the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Vigneault spent the last five years with the Rangers and led the team to the Stanley Cup Final and also won a Presidents’ Trophy. Quinn’s previous jobs include being a development coach with USA Hockey as well as coaching in the college ranks and the AHL. He has NHL experience as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche.

As for the general managers, Carolina named Don Waddell as the club’ president and GM back on May 8^th as the 59-year-old replaces Ron Francis. Waddell is a former pro player, scout, NHL coach and general manager. He’s been the president of the Hurricanes for the past four years and the club hasn’t made the playoffs for the past nine seasons now.

The Toronto Maple Leafs named 32-year-old Kyle Dubas as the club’s new general manager on May 11^th. Dubas was formerly an assistant GM with the club to 75-year-old Lou Lamoriello. However, Lamoriello wasn’t re-signed by the team as they hoped he’d take a consulting job with the club. Lamoriello then jumped ship and ended up with the New York Islanders as president of hockey operations. Dubas was previously a general manager with Sault Ste. Marie in  the OHL and the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. The Leafs also lost assistant general manager Mark Hunter after Dubas was promoted as he left the club. Dubas then promoted Brandon Pridham and hired Laurence Gilman as assistant general managers. 

The newest general manager is Paul Fenton as he was hired by the Minnesota Wild on May 21^st. The 58-year-old former NHL player was previously an assistant GM with the Nashville Predators and general manger of the Milwaukee Admirals AHL team. Fenton takes over the reins from Chuck Fletcher who was let go by the team a few weeks earlier.

With the Stanley Cup final between the expansion Golden Vegas Knights and the Washington Capitals set to begin on Monday, May 28^thuntil Wednesday. June 13^th at the latest, now is a great time to check out some fun and interesting facts about the series.

* The only previous final series between two clubs that had never won a Stanley Cup final playoff game before was between the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers in 1995/96.

* The last club to win a Stanley Cup in their first ever final series was the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003/04.

* If Vegas wins the cup, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury would be the first player to win it in three consecutive seasons since members of the New York Islanders achieved the feat between 1981 and 1983. 

* If Washington wins the cup they will be just the seventh team in history to lose the first two games of the playoffs and win the trophy.

* Las Vegas has never won a professional championship, simply because the city has never had a franchise before. Washington hasn’t celebrated a victory since 1992 when the Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl. The Washington Bullets last won the NBA title for the city in 1977/78 and the city hasn’t won an MLB crown since 1924.

* Capitals’ goaltender Braden Holtby is just the third goalie in history to win game six and seven of a semifinals series by shutout. The other goalies to achieve it were Dominik Hasek in 2002 and Harry Lumley in 1950. Both of those goalies went on to win the Stanley Cup those seasons.

* Lars Eller of Washington is hoping to become the first Danish-born player to win a Stanley Cup. Meanwhile, Pierre Edouard Bellemare of Vegas is hoping to become just the second French-born player to hoist the trophy after Cristobal Huet won the cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2009/10. In addition, if Nathan Walker of Washington plays in the series against Vegas he’ll become just the first
Australian-born player to play in the final since 1915/16.

* Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin is the only NHL player to have won the Hart Trophy more than once as the league’s most valuable player and never win a Stanley Cup.

* The only player to score more goals during his career before finally playing in a Stanley Cup final was Hall of Famer Dave Andreychuk who had 634. Andreychuk then captained the Tampa Bay Lightning to the trophy in his first final appearance in 2003/04.Ovechkin entered this year’s playoffs with 607 regular-season goals to his name.

* Teams playing in their first ever Stanley Cup final such as Vegas, have gone 10-17 in the series. Teams which are playing in the final for the second time and have never won the cup, such as Washington, have gone 8-4. The Capitals were swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings in their one and only final appearance in 1997/98. 

* If Vegas wins the cup, head coach Gerard Gallant would be the seventh coach in history to win the CHL’s Memorial Cup and a Stanley Cup.

* If Washington wins the cup, head coach Barry Trotz would become the seventh coach to win both the AHL’s Calder Cup and the Stanley Cup.

* The last NHL franchise to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in its history was the Los Angeles Kings in 2011/12. 

* If Vegas wins the cup they’ll be just the third team ever to capture the trophy without a captain. The Boston Bruins didn’t have a captain either when they won the cup in 1969/70 and 1970/71.

This is the last chapter of the season for the Cinderella-story Vegas Golden Knights as the first year NHL expansion team will be going toe to toe with the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Finals starting Monday, May 28th. The Golden Knights were longshots to even reach the playoffs before the season faced off and were as high as 500/1 underdogs to win the cup. However, they’re now just four wins away from becoming the first team in league history to win Lord Stanley’s silverware in their inaugural season. Of course, they’re also four losses way from finishing as runners up as well.

But even losing in the finals is somewhat an historical accomplishment for the club since just two previous expansion franchises have gotten that far in their first season. They’re also the first major professional sports team in North America to reach the finals in their first year of operation. The last team to do it was the 1967/68 St. Louis Blues. The Blues had a bit of an advantage though since the NHL had expanded to 12 clubs from six that season and one of the six expansion teams was guaranteed to reach the finals.

In comparison to fellow NHL teams and other sports, the Florida Panthers reached the Stanley Cup finals during their third season in 1995/96. The Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA title in 1971, three years after joining the league and the Arizona Diamondbacks of MLB captured the World Series in 2001 during their fourth season. On the other hand the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the richest teams in the NHL, haven’t reached the Stanley Cup finals since the 1966/67 campaign when they last hoisted the trophy. Vegas swept the Los Angeles Kings in four games then downed the San Jose Sharks in six and the Winnipeg Jets in five to reach this year’s final series.

The Golden Knights will be taking on a club which has never won a Stanley Cup either and will be making their first appearance in the finals since 1997/98. The Capitals downed the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins in six games each in the first two rounds and just defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven in the Eastern Conference Final. The Caps won the first two against Tampa, then lost three in a row before winning the final two games by shutouts. The Capitals also won three of four games in Tampa and scored the final nine goals of the series.

Vegas won the Pacific Division and finished the 2017/18 campaign with 109 points for the fifth-best record in the NHL. Meanwhile, Washington reached 105 points, won the Metropolitan Division and were tied for sixth-best with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The two teams met just twice during the regular season with Vegas winning 3-0 at home on December 23rd and 4-3 in Washington on February 4^th. Heading into the finals, Vegas will have the home ice advantage. They’ll be facing a Washington team which has scored 3.47 goals per game in the playoffs to rank second and has allowed 2.47 goals against to rank tied for third. Vegas has the second-best goals-against average at 1.80 and have scored 2.87 goals per contest to rank ninth. 

It may be hard to believe, but the Washington Capitals are competing in their first Eastern Conference Final in the past 20 years and have made the final four for just the third time in franchise history. Yes, two entire decades have passed by since their last appearance back in 1998. One of the main reasons Washington hasn’t reached the semifinals lately has been because they’re usually ousted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first or second round, losing nine of 10 previous series against them. They’ve also been ousted in game seven on four occasions in the second round in the past 10 years.

However, they turned the table on the defending Stanley Cup champions this year by knocking them out of the postseason in six games. The Capitals definitely won’t take anything for granted right now, but their chances of reaching the Stanley Cup Final also look pretty good. They hold a 2-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final with both wins coming on the road and they now return home for games three and four. Most fans have been surprised at the team’s lack of success in the postseason over the years since the club has been consistently strong during the regular season. It also boasts one of the greatest players in NHL history in Alexander Ovechkin.

The seven-time-Rocket Richard Trophy winner as the league’s top goalscorer hasn’t had any luck at all in the playoffs until now. Ovechkin, who has never made it past the second round, has produced 10 goals and nine assists in 14 postseason outings this year and is a plus-5. He’s been getting support from  Evgeny Kuznetsov (8 goals, 11 assists) Nicklas Backstrom (3 goals, 10 assists), Lars Eller (5 goals, 6 assists) T.J. Oshie (5 goals, 5 assists), Tom Wilson (3 goals, 6 assists) and defenceman John Carlson (3 goals, 10 assists). Unfortunately for the Caps, Backstrom has missed two games and is currently injured.

Things looked dire for Washington early in the postseason as they lost the first two games of the opening round to the Columbus Blue Jackets at home. They were then hanging on by their fingernails in game three, but managed to stay alive by winning in overtime. They then won the next three in a row to reach the Penguins and the second round. In addition, head coach Barry Trotz decided to go with veteran Braden Holtby in net in game three against Columbus after starting Philipp Grubauer in the first two contests and he’s been between the pipes ever since. Holtby leads the playoffs with 10 wins with a 2.04 goals-against average and a 92.6 save percentage

The Capitals have scored an average of 3.79 goals per game during the playoffs to lead the NHL with the league average being 2.71 goals per contest. When it comes to special teams, their power play is ranked number two at 32.6% with the league average being 21.2% while their penalty killing is ranked just ninth at 76% with the average being 76.9%. The last time the Capitals made it to the third round of the playoffs they went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, only to be swept by the Detroit Red Wings in four games. Their fans are hoping this year’s team can hoist the cup for the first time ever in franchise history.

The Cinderella story of the Vegas Golden Knights continues to grow as the NHL expansion franchise is half way to the Stanley Cup. After the most impressive first-year regular-season performance in league history, the Golden Knights have been just as impressive in the postseason so far by going 8-2. This includes a four-game sweep over two-time Stanley Cup champions the Los Angeles Kings and a six-game conquest of the San Jose Sharks. The Nevada-based squad now awaits the winner of the Winnipeg Jets vs Nashville Predators series to see who they’ll face in the Western Conference Final.

Before the 2017/18 season faced off, the Golden Knights were approximately 500/1 to win the Stanley Cup with the oddsmakers. However, they surprised everybody, perhaps even themselves, by finishing the season with 59 wins and 109 points. The squad is made up of players who were deemed expendable by their original clubs as they were left unprotected in the expansion draft. In addition, head coach Gerard Gallant had recently been let go by the Florida Panthers before Golden Knights’ general manager George McPhee picked him up. The players and coach then took to the ice as if they had something to prove to their previous employers.

The Golden Knights added a few solid players to the roster during the draft with the most well-known of the bunch being forward James Neal and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. There’s no doubt the team is getting the exceptional goaltending a Stanley Cup contender needs as the three-time Stanley Cup winner Fleury has already posted a league-leading four shutouts in the playoffs. He was also ranked number one in goals-against average at 1.53 and was best in save percentage at 95.1. The offence has also been pulling their weight and combined with their speed and physical play the Golden Knights are a legitimate contender to win it all.

The playoff scoring has been evenly spread out as forward Jonathan Marchessault leads the way with four goals and seven assists in 10 games and is followed by William Karlsson at four goals and six assists. Reilly Smith has also chipped in with a goal and 10 helpers. With Alex Tuch, David Perron and James Neal each contributing with seven points. Team-wise, the Golden Knights are the top defensive side in the postseason with a GAA of 1.70 while the league average is 3.13.  They’ve scored 2.90 goals-per game with the average being 2.76 and the penalty kill is working at an 85 per cent rate which is the second-best in the playoffs and the average being 77.5 per cent.

If there is any room for improvement it’s on the power play where the team has been successful just 17.5 per cent of the time while the league average is 20.7. There’s no doubt the Golden Knights will have their hands full with either the Predators or Jets as the next opponents. But if they can keep up the pace and physicality and Fleury continues his Conn Smythe-calibre goaltending then it looks like the sky’s the limit in 2017/18 for this exciting club.