April 10, 2015

steve laidlaw

2015-04-10

Gee, sorry there. Excuse me, eh. A spectacular night for Canada as Flames/Jets punch playoff tickets

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We will have a new Stanley Cup champion this season as the Calgary Flames did everyone a favour knocking the LA Kings out of the playoffs. It was about time the Kings lost an elimination game. They must have won six or seven in a row last spring on their road to the Cup final.

The Kings certainly had their chances, outshooting the Flames 34-24 for the game and 26-10 over the final two frames. They just couldn't get the equalizer. You could certainly second guess Darryl Sutter's indecision with pulling the goalie. They had a number of chances to do so and hem the Flames in with a tired line during the final three minutes but didn't end up pulling Jonathan Quick until the final minute.

The flip side is that the Flames are so damn good breaking out of their zone quickly that you can understand Sutter's pause in making a pull. Indeed, the Flames scored within seconds of Quick coming out of the net to ice the game and a playoff berth.

Naturally, Jiri Hudler was in on all three goals for Calgary including netting the game-winner. Six points total for the Flames top line.

In the end the Kings just didn't have enough juice to make it and maybe it's for the best. They probably could have made a bigger push but they'd have had to give up an asset like Tanner Pearson to do so. They paid a steep enough price for Andrej Sekera whose injury status leaves them wondering what could have been.

Of course, this means the Kings did not meet the condition of their trade with Carolina and will defer the first round pick until next season, when they plan on being more competitive. Cue the paranoia that the Kings will beat the odds and win the McDavid lottery with just a 2% shot. Wouldn't that be something.

Let's get real for a second, though. Basically every team outside of the bottom six gets scary in a hurry if they win the lottery and it's just south of a 30% chance that the lottery swings that way. Between 1/3 and 1/4 odds of a super team? I don't know whether to get excited or terrified.

Three straight shutouts for Ondrej Pavelec!!! And somehow he lost last night. The good news, Calgary gave them a pick-me-up and kept the Kings off their back, which means we get playoff hockey in Winnipeg for the first time in two decades. But also, THREE STRAIGHT SHUTOUTS FOR ONDREJ PAVELEC!!! Yeah but, PLAYOFF HOCKEY IN WINNIPEG FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO DECADES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which one of those is more unlikely? I don't even care. This is awesome. Let's all make piñatas with the likeness of the Kings logo and have a freaking fiesta!

The Senators are now in a playoff spot and control their own destiny thanks to a shutout victory by Andrew Hammond with a couple of big scores from the top line of Kyle Turris, Clarke MacArthur and Mark Stone. It's always nice when your big guns come to play in such a key game.

The Rangers made it easier for the Senators resting Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Marc Staal. Whether or not this was some nefarious plot to try to help the Senators oust one of the Penguins or Bruins is a fun idea but I don't lend much credence to it. The Rangers have home ice throughout the playoffs locked up so why not rest some key players who are likely nursing some nagging injuries. Part of the reason you go all out all season is to gain that advantage. Plus, considering how banged up the Penguins/Bruins are there's no saying that the Senators are even the favourable potential matchup of the group.

The Senators now control their own destiny. It's true that they can fall out of a playoff spot but if they can just get to overtime on Saturday then they clinch. What a run. I think you can pretty well sew up another Norris for Erik Karlsson if the Senators hang on. People love a good narrative.

That would have opened up possibilities for prospects like Calle Jarnkrok (read more on him here), Viktor Arvidsson (read more on him here) and Kevin Fiala (read more on him here) but Moses adds a little more complexity to the situation. You have to figure the Predators plan on using him since they gave him a one-way deal, which pushes the prospects down a rung.

Moses will suit up for the US at the upcoming World Championships which will give us a chance to see him perform on a big stage and get properly hyped. He scored two goals and four points in three games for the US at last year's tournament.

For what it's worth I'm not too excited about Moses as a prospect. As gaudy as his KHL numbers this season were (36 goals and 57 points in 60 games) his college numbers were pretty underwhelming. If 40 points has value in your pool then I can see getting after Moses. Otherwise, the hype will probably outweigh the value.

The Blues are expected to add top prospects Robby Fabbri (read more on him here) and Ivan Barbashev (read more on him here) to their playoff roster. I doubt either one sees action unless the injury situation in St. Louis becomes dire but it's a good experience for those two and could help them crack the league a bit quicker.

Something you want to keep in mind with Blues prospects is that they are always slow to bring them along. Think about the time they took with Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko or even now with Dmitri Jaskin. Fabbri and Barbashev might be beauties but it could take a while. If the Blues have another first-round loss and Ken Hitchcock gets canned then maybe things change. On the flip side, a lot of this slow development could be directed from above and it's hard to see the front office making changes.

It should be mentioned that Jaskin scored last night and has looked good in a larger role.

Solid interview with Martin St. Louis on his contract status and plans for next season:

"It does cross my mind from time to time, but I've also done a good job of putting it to the side and not allowing it to become a distraction or an issue for me," St. Louis told me before Thursday's Garden finale against the Senators. "I thought about it more at the start of the season but less and less as the year progressed to the point where it really was never a factor for me."

I know St. Louis wants to stay with the Rangers but it's going to be tough. They already have over $62 million committed for next season with St. Louis, Derek Stepan, Carl Hagelin and JT Miller all due new deals.

On the plus side, the latter three are all restricted free agents so the Rangers have leverage. Still you have to figure they want a long-term deal for Stepan, which means anteing up. You might see St. Louis become a bargain in salary cap leagues if he's determined to stick around but maybe he retires a champion if the Rangers go all the way.

The AHL announced their first and second All-Star Teams. The two names that stand out for me are Pittsburgh goalie prospect Matt Murray (read more on him here) and Detroit wing prospect Teemu Pulkkinen (read more on him here). Both were named to the first team. Everyone else strikes me as less interesting, although I suppose there is a chance any of them could make an impact.

Since Thomas Greiss is not getting re-signed by the Penguins we might see Murray make the leap next season but the cautious approach would be for Pittsburgh to sign a veteran backup and let Murray shred the AHL once more just to be sure. It also keeps him fresh in case of injury. Still, it wouldn't be the worst idea to grab Murray in a keeper league if you are a Fleury owner, especially if you can stash him. I made a move for Murray earlier this season with that exact plan. You can definitely envision the Penguins riding Murray in the event of a Fleury injury.

Blue Jackets prospect Mike Reilly (read more on him here) announced that he will not return to college next season meaning he will sign with a pro club at some point once his season ends. He didn't say who he would be signing with and it's possible that he hasn't made up his mind yet. Like Justin Schultz a couple of years ago Reilly can become an unrestricted free agent if he doesn't sign with the Jackets by June 1 and could thus choose his destination.

One wrinkle to consider, Reilly will suit up for the US at the upcoming World Championships. The coach of the US team will Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards. Good opportunity for some recruiting.

Excellent profile on Tyler Johnson from ESPN's Craig Custance.

Interesting note out of the NBA: the NBA Players Association is going to create their own Players Choice Awards this season. The NHL already does this with the Ted Lindsay award for MVP as voted by the players. It's not often that the Lindsay winner isn't the same as the Hart trophy winner (MVP as voted by the media) but in general the Hart winner is still viewed as the more prestigious award.

That got me thinking, should we maybe be considering the Lindsay as a bigger deal? The players are hockey geniuses and watch more hockey than any of us. Fans and media like to say they eat/sleep/breathe hockey but these guys actually do. They know better than anyone who the toughest guy to play against is. Sure, there might be biases but the media (myself included) have glaring biases of their own.

Of course, it's the media who reports on the award winners so it's no surprise that the Hart trophy is lauded as the more important of the two MVP trophies. If I had an awards ballot I'd probably want to trumpet the merits of the media-voted awards too. I don't so I don't really have a stake in the matter, which leaves me wondering if the perception isn't backwards. Perhaps the advent of The Players Tribune, a player ran and written media site, couldn't help to sway favour towards player-voted awards.

Sean McIndoe hands out some Down Goes Brown-style NHL awards.

These are my last ramblings of the season. It's been fun musing about fantasy hockey with you four times a week. I'll still check in with the odd article throughout the summer and more importantly I'll be back full time in the fall to keep bringing you the fantasy hockey goodness. I hope you had a great season. Best of luck with your playoff pools. Most importantly, have a happy and healthy summer.

You can follow me @SteveLaidlaw.