It’s the season of countdowns and the NHL Network is rolling through their annual rankings of players at various positions. They kicked things off with their Top 10 goaltenders with Andrei Vasilevskiy ranking third (down from the top spot the year before). Their latest list tackles the top 20 wings in the game and a couple of Bolts made the cut.
Newly acquired Jake Guentzel comes in at #16, just ahead of Clayton Keller and behind Kyle Connor. The network points out that he has three straight 30-goal seasons and 67 playoff points (38 goals, 29 assists) in 69 games. Those are some nice numbers that Lightning fans are hoping he improves on next season.
Old friend Steven Stamkos shows up in the 13th spot (the second year in a row he’s made the cut at the winger position), but sitting on top of everyone is Nikita Kucherov. The reigning Art Ross champion was third last season, but a MVP-caliber season vaulted him to the top over Matthew Tkachuk and Mikko Rantanen.
It’s doubtful that Kucherov cares much for an honor like this, he’d rather see another Stanley Cup on the trophy shelf, but it’s always nice when the national media acknowledges his excellence on the ice. We might complain from time to time that the big media folks tend to overlook Lightning players, but when a player puts together a season like Kucherov did last year, it’s impossible to ignore.
Congrats to Jake and Nikita on these pre-season honors. Hopefully, we’ll see them top the list again next summer.
Other Hockey News
Lightning Top 10 Prospect Pool [Daily FaceOff]
Steve Ellis is not a fan of the Lightning’s prospect pool. “There isn’t a defenseman in the system that I like”. He backs that up by listing nine forwards and one goalie in his top 10 rankings. Newly acquired Conor Geekie tops the list followed by Ike Howard and Ethan Gauthier.
Arctos expected to exit Lightning ownership stake [Sports Business Journal]
While Jeff Vinik works to enlarge the ownership group, one of his more recent partners is likely exiting from the organization. Arctos Partners, which bought a 20% stake in 2022 and then added another 10% in 2023, is rumored to be cashing out their investment. The private equity firm still has investments in the Devils, Wild, and Penguins.
Getzlaf joins NHL Department of Safety [TSN]
Ryan Getzlaf is joining the league operations as part of the Department of Player Safety. Getzlaf managed to make it through a 17-year career without getting suspended, but was fined $10,000 for using a homophobic slur during Game 4 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals.
NCAA sued over major-junior hockey player ban [ESPN]
Rylan Masterson filed a class action suit against the NCAA and several universities claiming that the collegiate association is violating anti-trust laws by not allowing any players who have played at least one major junior hockey game to compete at the college level. Currently the NCAA considers major junior hockey as a professional league since there are players on teams that have signed contracts with NHL teams.
How Auston Matthews became the next captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs [Toronto Star]
Brad Treliving knew he had to shake things up after another playoff disappointment for the Maple Leafs. First he swapped coaches, then he talked to his captain, John Tavares, about shifting the captaincy from the veteran to Auston Matthews. After thinking about for a bit, Tavares was on board.
