Game one of the Stanley Cup Final goes tonight, and it has the potential to be maybe the best matchup we have seen in at least the last 20 years. Regardless of your rooting interest, sit back and try to enjoy this one.

Jon Cooper: "there's a chance" Brayden Point plays Game 1. If it's not tomorrow, "really anticipate" Game 2
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 14, 2022

On a related note, it appears that Brayden Point may be good to go for the first time since round one, while the Avs also get some reinforcements in the form of Darcy Kuemper. Getting Point back for the Lightning is huge, whereas the difference between Kuemper and Pavel Francouz has been minimal through the playoffs. That having been said, both teams have the skill and depth that regardless of the injuries, there won't be an easy period of hockey to be had in the final.

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The Vegas Golden Knights wasted no time getting one of the big names on the coaching market, locking up Bruce Cassidy for their vacant spot. Michael Clifford covered the fantasy take here, and he touched on all the main points that I would have covered as well. I did notice that there wasn't really much to say on the defencemen though, so I did a little digging there.

Cassidy really leaned on his top guys, which will still fly well in Vegas with Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, and others. However, he also rarely played two defencemen on the top power play unit, and he often leaves that top unit out for most of the available time with the man advantage. The likelihood is that this might boost Theodore's value as the top guy, but it's also possible that Pietrangelo gets the top gig, so it's definitely something to keep an eye on in training camp, and jumping on the top PPQB a little earlier in your fall drafts.

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Sticking with the coaching carousel, I'll have some quick thoughts on each of the vacancies. It does seem likely that Barry Trotz will return home to coach the Jets, while it is rumoured that John Tortorella may be the front-runner for the Flyers. Both would help out shaky team defences from the past year, which would be a boon to all goalies involved. With Steve Yzerman at the helm, I think we can expect the Red Wings to find someone that isn't one of the recycled options, which hopefully is a boost for the skill that the team is grooming.

Whoever the Bruins bring in (or promote) is going to be coming into a tough situation with all of the talent that is starting the year on the IR. Personally I'm just hoping that the Taylor Hall, Erik Haula, and David Pastrnak line is kept intact, after the trio put up the best possession numbers of any non-Patrice Bergeron line that played at least 50 minutes together. The line came together for the second half of the year, and each of the trio saw a large bump in production as soon as the match was made.

I don't see what effect a coach would have on the Stars almost regardless of style. The top line is going to chug along, Miro Heiskanen is going to climb the ladder of Norris votes, and Jake Oettinger will continue to keep the team in games where they don't belong. Aside from the John Klingberg situation, one of the less-interesting spots for offseason news.

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The Nashville Predators re-signed Jeremy Lauzon to a four-year deal:

There's absolutely no reason that I should have had to check capfriendly to see that this was the total money and not the AAV, but a little part of my brain told me I had to do it anyways. https://t.co/VJCehRn09p
— Alex MacLean (@alexdmaclean) June 13, 2022

Anyways, after overpaying for a bottom-pair defenceman (again) the Predators now have almost a full roster heading into next season. After reviewing the Bruins, Bolts, and Sharks last week, let's do the same with the Preds today.

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Nashville Predators current roster: 10 forwards, seven defencemen, two goalies ($21M in remaining cap space).

In net things are set with Juuse Saros set to play another 65 games, while Connor Ingram will likely see the other 17. We know what we're getting out of Saros, but Ingram is a bit of a wildcard. He has six starts and seven appearances in his NHL career, with a combined GAA of 3.67 and a save percentage of .900. The team in front of him was overwhelmed by the Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs, while his regular season games oddly saw him beat the Wild and get whopped by the Coyotes. He has shown some flashes of upside, but the consistency really needs to be ironed out if he is going to be more than a backup at the NHL level.

With seven defencemen in the fold things are also pretty comfortable there. Philippe Myers is likely the odd one out, and his age plus back loaded contract mean that there would actually be a cap credit in 2022-23 for buying him out, so expect a few teams like the Maple Leafs and Golden Knights to come calling. Assuming Myers is not on the opening night roster, the top four of Roman Josi, Alexandre Carrier, Mattias Ekholm, and Dante Fabbro will be complemented by a physical bottom pair of Mark Borowiecki and Lauzon. Not a lot changes on the back end, though expect some regression to the norm for both Josi (down) and Ekholm (up).

The forward group is where things get interesting. Filip Forsberg is the obvious focal point, and whether or not he re-signs in Nashville has a big trickle down on the rest of the club. However, if Forsberg doesn't return, that money would then likely be thrown at a different UFA to fill the gap, such as a Valeri Nichushkin or Andrei Burakovsky, or the Predators could look to the trade market. Assuming either way that one more top-tier forward is added to the group, then along with Mikael Granlund and Matt Duchene we at least have a top line set. Furthermore, the Preds' uber effective Herd line of Tanner Jeannot, Yakov Trenin, and Colton Sissons will likely remain intact as the third line.

Ryan Johansen with his giant contract is going to get second line minutes, deserving or not, but his winger slots are still wide open. Luke Kunin, Nick Cousins, Eeli Tolvanen, and Philip Tomasino rotated there throughout the year. With another year under the belts of Tolvanen and Tomasino, it would be ideal for everyone involved for them to grab those spots and make for a second scoring line that other teams actually need to pay attention to. They both have the upside for it, but Tolvanen's leash is growing shorter, and he doesn't seem to have the trust of returning head coach John Hynes. More likely it ends up being Kunin and Tomasino, making the latter an interesting gamble in the late rounds of redraft pools for next year, and the former a streaky player that you keep your eye on while he spends most of the season on your waiver wire.

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T.J. Tynan #GoKingsGo
2 year extension
2-way year 1, and 1-way year 2
$787,500 cap hit

22-23: $800k / $500k ($525k guaranteed)
23-24: $775khttps://t.co/Kk73aRp9lw
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 14, 2022

After winning the AHL's MVP award in the shortened 2020-21 season, T.J. Tynan followed it up by scoring 98 points in only 62 games for the Ontario Reign. He may only be on a two-way deal for next year, but the two-year contract with the second year being one-way shows that the Kings do still think he has a chance to be an NHL regular as he passes the age of 30. He's not someone that will be on many radars as we enter next season, but if he does get a chance and start to run with it then don't wait too long, as Tynan has shown that he does have a talent for racking up points.

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And just because I can, here's more Canada over America hockey content: