Penguins advance to the Stanley Cup Final, Chris Phillips retires & more in this morning’s collection of NHL headlines.
Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin pose with the Prince of Wales Trophy.
TRIBLIVE.COM/TAMPA BAY TIMES: For the first time since 2009, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to the Stanley Cup Final. Rookie forward Bryan Rust scored both of his club’s goals in a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. Not even the surprising return to action of captain Steven Stamkos could help the Lightning, who got their only goal from Jonathan Drouin and a 37-save performance from goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins victory in this series showcased their resiliency throughout this season. It was also fitting that it was one of their rookies who scored both goals. That injection of youth and speed played a significant role in the Pens overcoming a poor start to this season.
As for the Lightning, their depth in young talent means their championship window remains open for the next few years. The big question is whether Stamkos will be a part of that. An unrestricted free agent in July, he may have played his final game for the Lightning.
DEADSPIN: The NHL reportedly threatened to fine the Lightning if they didn’t cancel their planned Game 7 watch party for their fans. “The NHL and NBC pressured the team to cancel tonight’s event because of worries about low TV ratings”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Yeah, that’s a great way to attract and retain fans. Way to go.
NHL.COM: The 2016 Stanley Cup Final schedule is out.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Plan your watch parties accordingly…provided you’re allowed to have watch parties. Consult the NHL and NBC.
CBS SPORTS: A shutdown defense and terrifying power play are among the reasons why the San Jose Sharks are going to the Stanley Cup Final.
OTTAWA SUN: After 19 seasons and 1,179 career NHL games. long-time Senators defenseman Chris Phillips officially announced his retirement yesterday. He finished with 71 goals and 217 assists for 288 points. Phillips will be employed by the Senators in a front-office role. He’s also the co-owner of Big Rig Brewery.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Best wishes to Phillips and his family in his retirement.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes are eyeing a one-year contract for long-time captain Shane Doan, who’s eligible on July 1 for unrestricted free agency. Doan said he has no desire to play anywhere else.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Got to admire Doan’s loyalty toward the Coyotes. He and his family set down roots in Arizona and have no willingness to move now. Scratch him off your club’s list of potential free-agent targets, folks, as he’ll likely re-sign with the Coyotes for one more season.
VANCOUVER SUN: Despite the howls of criticism from the analytics community over the Vancouver Canucks acquisition of rugged defenseman Erik Gudbranson, GM Jim Benning defended his move. “To be quite honest, I don’t get it sometimes,” said the Canucks GM. “There’s a place for analytics. We use analytics. But you use analytics like vitamins — to help you out, not as your staple. Decisions have to be made by hockey people who know what winning teams look like and how to build them.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I believe advanced stats are a vital part of analyzing performance, but they’re not the end-all and be-all. Regarding the criticism of the Gudbranson trade, I think TSN and ESPN analyst Pierre LeBrun sums it up best: “I know what the analytics community is saying, but not every single player has to be a puck possession superstar. You do need some physicality and some guys that can move people around. So I wouldn’t be so quick to judge this either way. I think you’ve got to let this play out.”
THE DETROIT NEWS: The Detroit Red Wings acquired prospect Dylan Sadowy from San Jose for a 2017 third-round draft pick.
NEWSDAY: For the first time since 2007, the New York Islanders will face the New York Rangers in preseason action this fall.
Congreats to Phillips. And thanks for opening the Big Rig Micro Brewery just down the street on Iris. Great selection of beer and a great menu.
His burgers are awesome too!
I think its more than the analytics that make this trade seem a little one sided…yes adv stats are not everything but thats a pretty hefty price to pay for a guy like Gunbranson who is a ufa i1 year.
Agreed Shticky. You don’t need analytics to see this was a bad trade. Old world stats paint the same ugly picture. Gubranson was Florida’s #4 Dman last season by TOI/GP! He’s a big body that hits. Other than that he doesn’t bring much to the ice.
Benning is the most inept GM I can think of & that takes me back as far as 1981. His asset management & handling of player personal decisions has been beyond brutal.
Lets see what u say when hockey is played.
Habs sank like a rock of epic proportions. MB sux
Edm another 29th.
ChiaPet sux
Winnipeg missed the playoffs. Pathetic
Calgary in reverse.
Ladd signing. WASTE
AVS r hopeless
1981 after 2 seasons & misses playoffs once?
Jump off the ledge often or simply out to lunch?
I don’t agree. Florida got a 2nd pick and that is really all of value. McCann is a Centre who was pathetic in the face off circle something like 36% last year. If you wanna be a centre in this league you gotta at least be able to take a faceoff. He is destined to be a bottom 6 player in my opinion. Gudbranson is top 4 D. So Vancouver who is getting the better player (in my opinion) compensates florida by swapping a 4th pick with a 5th. Yet those picks don’t have great chances of obtaining a quality player. So at this point florida has a young guy who may beable to become a top 6 guy but likely a bottom 6 player and a 4th round pick which is only a slight upgrade over a 5th round pick. It makes sense to me for another pick to be added. Perhaps a 2nd was to rich and Vancouver should only of given a 3rd.
The trade when I first saw it didn’t stick out to me as one sided. That only happened after reading the analytic guy’s numerous critiques. This trade will be fun to analyze as time goes on. I’ve been hearing how all the fancy stats problems of Gudbranson yet McCann doesn’t seem to bring in regards to fancy stats to the table his self.
Analytics vs Hockey sense. Should be fun.
How old is McCann? Has he hit the wall already?
Dont’ think so but Gudbranson is only 24. Defense is education where offense is intuition. Which tends to require defensemen to be older before they come into their own.
Well maybe stay up & watch games out west & see what a tough division is. Kills me Easterners in bed don’t see what it takes in the Western conference to be successful.
The East lags behind & has for many years.
But with 2 less teams to climb over it isn’t as hard to get to a playoff spot is it?
Lol a guy from out west that thinks the rest of the country is in bed by 10 EST surprise…
It was game 7, not game 6 of the Stanley cup playoffs between Tampa and Pittsburg
I love the NHL’s policy to not allowing fans to congregate as massive parties because NBC is worried about ratings. Really. 10000 people in front of 1 set is worse than 10000 people in front of 10000 tv’s? The NHL pushes for fans to show their moments from watching playoff hockey. What is better than seeing a huge crowd go nuts when their team scores or wins. (Look at the films of when Villanova won on the last shot). Fans in bars, the Villanova arena and others went nuts. But the NHL, no. Got to make sure everyone can hear that annoying 1-877-Kars-4-Kids tune. Dumb.
Just one more reason why NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox are losing ground fast to things like Netflix and PC downloads.
Add Sportsnet and CBC for those of us here in Canada on that. I understand there were a few firings over ratings that were not quite up to expectations.
This whole NBC thing is a farce. Imagine any other business where you would make it harder for someone to consume your product in a free society – they would be out of business so fast!
it does seem ridiculous, narrow sighted, and plain stupid. As far as any policy goes.