Quick Strikes: Why is the Stanley Cup Final taking so long?

The Bolts

The 2011-12 Norfolk Admirals were one heck of a team, and they put a stamp on an unmatched back half of the season with a Calder Cup victory over the Toronto Marlies. Jon Cooper was of course the coach of the team that had many current Tampa Bay Lightning players. Trust the process, the shiny thing will come soon enough.

Fishing with Nikita Kucherov! In other news, why does it seem like Russian hockey dudes are always shirtless?

Finally in Tampa, Joe Smith talked about the ever-changing salary cap situation for teams around the league could affect the summer for the Lightning. The header for his article was Erik Karlsson. [The Athletic]

The Lightning are entering a fascinating summer, one where they have to navigate a salary cap crunch and remake their blueline.

Whether it’s trying to land the big fish on the free-agent market — Erik Karlsson — or attempting a trade for the likes of Jacob Trouba, there could be some roster shuffling.

And that promises to add another wrinkle to the Lightning’s potential expansion protection list for the Seattle franchise in the summer of 2021.

Pride Month

Take it away, Gritty.

The Game

*Narrator voice* “They did not.”

Instead, the Boston Bruins beat Jordan Binnington and the St. Louis Blues in a 5-1 Game 6 win on the road to force Game 7 at TD Garden. Here’s a recap of last night’s game, since it’s pretty clear from the TV ratings no one actually watched it. [Stanley Cup of Chowder]

Before the game, much of the talk was about how the Bruins’ big names needed to step up. They did tonight. Brad Marchand got on the board early, David Krejci had his first 5v5 point of the series, David Pastrnak got a goal...can’t complain there. Ideally, the big names can keep it going into Wednesday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins SB Nation blog Pensburgh is doing a day-by-day look back at their 2009 Stanley Cup championship. On June 9th, they won Game 6 of the SCF. [Pensburgh]

While everyone remembers - with good reason - Max Talbot and Marc-Andre Fleury’s heroics in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, on this date in 2009 Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy scored goals to help the Penguins force that Game 7.

The salary cap goes up every year, meaning our perception of contract AAVs every year should also go up. Despite that reality, we tend to forget that $8.7 million in 2012 was a lot different than $8.7 million now. [Hockey Buzz]

Each year the NHLs salary cap continues to rise. Some years it goes up more than others, but as the number creeps towards a projected 83M there is something to keep in mind when you hear about new deals being signed. The raw cap hit totals are going to seem more and more jarring. For those that have been following the league since the salary cap began back in 2005 the newer contract figures seem like they are in stark contrast to those that were signed in the past. They are not. The reason is because the percentage of the cap players are eating up is still in line with how it used to be.