With a day off in the Stanley Cup Final, the hockey world gathered in Tampa to celebrate the 2021-22 season and hand out a few awards. While the Tampa Bay Lightning were shut out (so far) they did garner a passing mention from host Keenan Thompson:
“They’ve had their two Cups, and now they’re going back for their booster Cup.” -Keenan Thompson on Tampa Bay Lightning
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) June 21, 2022
Auston Matthews was the big winner as he took home the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award. Basically everyone associated with hockey considered him the MVP for the season.
In the least shocking surprise of the night, Igor Shesterkin won the Vezina Trophy. He took 29 of 32 first place votes and won handily. Andre Vasilevskiy finished fifth, but did get one of the first place votes.
Victor Hedman was really the only member of the Lightning that had a shot at hearing his name called, but instead it was his Cup counterpart, Cale Makar, that was awarded the Norris Trophy in a close vote. Makar edged out Roman Josi (who had more first place votes) by just 25 points, making it the closest race since Erik Karlsson edged out Shea Weber in 2012. Hedman finished third.
Moritz Seider was your 2021-22 Calder Trophy winner, proving that the voters value defense over showy goals. Trevor Zegras finished second. Hugo Alnefelt did not receive any votes.
There was some good news for the Lightning. First, Hedman was named to the NHL All Star Second Team:
NHL All-Star teams.#Flames Johnny Gaudreau on the first team. Jacob Markstrom and Matthew Tkachuk second team. pic.twitter.com/5zXacbroYi
— Hailey Salvian (@hailey_salvian) June 22, 2022
Second, Julien BriseBois was named a finalist for Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award along with Joe Sakic and Chris Drury. The winner will be announced during the NHL Draft in early July.
Colorado’s Joe Sakic, New York’s Chris Drury and Tampa Bay’s Julien Brisebois have been named Jim Gregory GM of the Year finalists for 2022.https://t.co/xpyEd1jhMI
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) June 22, 2022
If you’re keeping track, in the playoffs the Lightning have defeated the team featuring the Hart Winner and the team featuring the Vezina winner. Can they complete the sweep and take out the newly crowned Norris winner as well? Stay tuned!
Lightning / NHL News
Coach Cooper updates media on Nikita Kucherov’s injury [Raw Charge]
Coop expects Kucherov to give it a go, let’s face it, unless Kuch was missing a limb he would want to be out there. The question will be how effective he can be if he’s hampered by an injury.
Embrace the response, but there is still a ways to go [Raw Charge]
The Lightning weren’t going to go easy into the humid night, but they still have a lot of work to do to put the pesky Avalanche away.
If Vasilevskiy is back at his super-human level, this Cup Final is far from over [Sportsnet]
An early, acrobatic save on J.T. Compher in Game Three indicated that Andrei Vasilevskiy was back in his goal-saving form. Now that the schedule is back to it’s normal every other day schedule that could spell bad times for Colorado.
How Tampa Bay Finally found some offense [Sportsnet]
J.T. Bourne brings his ex-hockey player analysis to the Lightning’s Game Three performance and breaks down five of their goals.
Will this Cup run have a happier ending for Corey Perry [Tampa Bay Times]
On Monday he became the first player in NHL history to score a Stanley Cup goal for four different teams, later this month can he break his streak of being on the wrong end of the Stanley Cup handshake line?
Nick Paul loves the big moments [The Athletic]
His tenure in Tampa may end up being temporary, but Nick Paul is well on his way to becoming legendary in The Big Guava. In the first playoff run of his career he’s found his way to the spotlight.
The Lightning have not allowed a 5-on-5 goal at home since Game 6 of the first round against Toronto.
(Six straight home games — 2 vs. Panthers, 3 vs. Rangers, 1 vs. Avalanche.)
Last 5-on-5 goal they allowed at home was scored by Tavares late in second period of Game 6.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) June 21, 2022
Is that good? That seems good. This also seems good.
Nikita Kucherov becomes the 4th player in NHL history with 25+ points in 3 straight postseasons#GoBolts pic.twitter.com/R179A4OBXi
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) June 21, 2022
Not good? That article from The Denver Post. You know the one I’m talking about, I’m not linking to it. No free clicks for them! Don’t get super mad about it, though. It’s just a local writer pandering to his fan base. In fact, I’m a little impressed that he was still harping on the Nikita Kucherov salary cap thing. I think the Lightning might have taken residence in his head without having to pay for rent.
A couple of Lightning prospects have been invited to the U.S.A. Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp. There will be some paring down of the roster before the 2022 World Junior Championship starts later this summer, but it’s nice to see some prospects getting a little national love.
The 60 players that will attend the 2022 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp have been announced!
Details → https://t.co/WHs3tb7xSG pic.twitter.com/LxbK7PlOJH
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) June 21, 2022
Wolves’ Warsofsky calls officiating “absolutely ridiculous” [Daily Herald]
The Chicago Wolves defeated the Springfield Thunderbirds in Game Two of the Calder Cup Finals. That didn’t prevent Wolves’ head coach Ryan Warsofsky (who is getting some attention as a possible NHL coach) from going off on the officiating in the game:
“It’s a joke really. It’s an absolute joke,” Warsofsky said. “I’m shocked because it’s disappointing that we don’t get officiating in this type of game better than that.”
If you’re going to get fined, might as well make it worth your while.
Oilers extend Head Coach Jay Woodcroft [Copper and Blue]
Another organization solidified their coaching situation as the Edmonton Oilers officially removed the interim tag from Jay Woodcroft’s title with a three-year extension. Edmonton was plummeting out of the playoff race before Woodcroft took over for Dave Tippett. They turned things around, winning 26 of their last 38 games and making it all the way to the Western Conference Final.
