The Lightning
-If we all had our way, the Tampa Bay Lightning would draft forward Jakob Pelletier with their #27 pick, writes Geo.
The Lightning certainly have more than enough forwards in the pipeline. But the reality is that you want to keep them coming in waves that are NHL ready every couple years. While we like the forward prospects currently in the organization, there’s still a lot of time for their development to stall and never reach the NHL.
-Writer Bryan Burns thinks Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman deserves to win the Norris Trophy for the second consecutive year. His argument came down to one heart-stuttering sentence:
Without Hedman against Columbus, the Bolts looked rudderless.
-As the Lightning face down the 2019 off season, who might they target for trades? Joe Smith identified 15 players that might fit the bill for the Bolts. (pay-walled)
-Are you ready to Run for the Oceans? Dave Andreychuk is!
.@Andy2525 & @ThunderBugTBL are ready to #RunForTheOceans with our friends at @adidas!
Learn more: https://t.co/4r14os3NPE pic.twitter.com/AzzJUferFQ
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) June 11, 2019
The Crunch
-The fourth episode of our Syracuse Crunch podcast Syracuse Speaks came out yesterday. Host Alex Ackerman (hey, that’s me!) took the time to answer some listener questions before continuing her recap of last season with the months of December and January.
-Looking for even more Crunch talk? Lukas Favale’s Crunch Time will be going strong all summer in podcast form:
We’ll have a new episode of #CrunchTime every week throughout the summer and we’ll chat with players, coaches and front office staffers to keep you informed on everything going on with the #SyrCrunch.
— Lukas Favale (@LukasFavale) June 11, 2019
Everyone Else
-The New York Rangers are probably going to be looking at a few names in the trade market this summer. But who? What? Where? Kevin Power of Blue Shirt Banter looked to answer some of those questions yesterday.
If the Rangers are going to jump into the busy trade market, there are a lot of names out there to consider. Which they consider depends on how they want to approach the offseason overall. Do they want to make incremental improvements? Make some big splashes and load up with their incoming young guns? Or do they use their cap space to take in bad contracts along with sweet, sweet draft picks and prospects?
-The NHL’s replay review system is broken. Sean McIndoe wants to fix it. (pay-walled)
-Defending Big D posted their definitive top 101 rankings for the 2019 NHL Entry Draft yesterday.
Pretty much everyone in the hockey scouting world is in agreement that Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko are the top two prospects available in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, held this year in Vancouver on June 21 and 22.
Immediately after that, however? All bets are off.
-Are the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers really looking to swap Loui Eriksson and Milan Lucic?
From the perspective of the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers, there’s an appetite to shed salary and jettison constraining contract add-ons — Lucic’s no-movement clause and Eriksson’s no-trade clause and modified elements in both pacts — while also getting something in return for taking on a problem.
-Yesterday’s NHL/NHLPA competition meeting resulted in some new rule proposals:
Rule recommendations out of today’s NHL/NHLPA competition committee meeting: pic.twitter.com/90RrpRsJA1
— John Matisz (@MatiszJohn) June 11, 2019
-Mike McKenna interviewed a familiar face on his podcast this week: Goalie Manon Rheaume!
🥅NEW PODCAST!🥅@ManonRheaume on her groundbreaking career in professional hockey!
Here on iTunes ⬇️https://t.co/waatbxTEAm pic.twitter.com/40SDsU68Vr— 6 Degrees with Mike McKenna (@6DegreesMM) June 11, 2019
-McKenna also lent his thoughts about game six of the Stanley Cup Finals to the NHL.com.
At the start of Game 6, the Bruins were on the defensive, allowing several point-blank scoring chances early, including three on a St. Louis Blues power play that began less than three minutes into the game. Rask was able to deny each one, frustrating the Blues and an Enterprise Center crowd that was ready to explode and celebrate.
-Oh my goodness, it’s NHL schedule news!
Looks like NHL schedule release is coming June 25 with home openers announced June 21, for the handful who have tweeted me asking
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) June 11, 2019
-The American Hockey League and its 31 teams raised $6 million for donation to various charitable causes and relief funds across North America. Money wasn’t the only thing teams and players donated this past season:
In addition to monies raised, AHL teams gave back to their local communities through numerous activities, including more than 1,300 visits by players and coaches to schools, hospitals, libraries and other locations and more than 2,700 mascot appearances. More than 200,000 game tickets were donated to local charitable groups, and items such as food, coats, holiday gifts and hockey equipment were collected at various drives organized by AHL clubs.
-The Ice Garden created their own fictional professional women’s hockey league solely to hold their own draft, and the results are just lovely.
There are six teams, each managed by a different writer at TIG. The Commissioner (Michelle Jay) picked herself, Mike Murphy, Meredith Foster, Hannah Bevis, Eleni Demestihas, and Casey Bryant as general managers. They were tasked with coming up with a team name and city. The only parameters were the team must by based in North America because even though this is a fictional league, the Commissioner didn’t want to deal with extensive travel.
