The Colorado Avalanche iced the best lineup they could on paper, with Nathan MacKinnon in the lineup, and Mackenzie Blackwood in net. Unfortunately though, Valeri Nichushkin was still out. Mackinnon played over 22 minutes which wasn't out of line with his usual ice time. Meanwhile Blackwood and his big contract got the start for the Avs in what turned out to be the final game of their season, even though Scott Wedgewood had the better numbers and had started the majority of the playoff games to this point. Blackwood stood tall, making some incredible saves, but even this one below wasn't enough as Colorado's offence didn't show up in the 2-0 loss.

Cale Makar quite obviously was passing up open shots (pardon the pun) that Vegas is giving him because they know his injury has taken that part of his game away. Hopefully he can make a full recovery this summer.

Mark Stone opened the scoring for Vegas on a breakaway created by a nice flip pass from Brayden McNabb (one of only three remaining original Golden Knights).

Cole Smith put the game on ice with a redirect past Blackwood late in the third. Gabriel Landeskog scored one late, but it wasn't enough.

With Vegas done already, Carolina and Montreal could finish by Friday at the earliest to set up a Cup Final that would start sometime between Sunday (May 31^st) and Tuesday (June 2^nd). However, the series goes to seven the winner would be set on June 2^nd, pushing the final back even further. Vegas hasn't dealt with much time off through these playoffs, while Carolina would certainly be in for a change if they made it through from the East. The rest vs rust debate could come into play again,

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Evgeni Malkin re-signed with the Penguins yesterday, inking a deal with a $5.5 million cap hit, that goes up to $9 million with performance bonuses.

Malkin showed last season that he was still an elite creator on offence, and that's what we need him for in fantasy as well. Even at 39 he's worth rostering in all but the shallowest of leagues.

That leaves Pittsburgh $37 million to fill out both goalie slots and two or three more forwards. They have the cap space and the incentive to go big-game hunting this year, and that might be a way to pry a bigger cap hit player out for a smaller return. Perhaps Hintz out of Dallas or one of Colorado's middle-six forwards.

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In working to update the Cap League Goalie Rankings, it was a bit of a surprise to see Jakub Dobes at the top of the list. I get used to consistently seeing the same name at number one, and for a couple of years it was Logan Thompson, and then it was Dustin Wolf. With their new contracts though, it pushes them down the list. That makes room for Dobes to jump into the spotlight as a full and productive starter with another year remaining on his contract with a $965K cap hit.

It's stories like Dobes' that make goalies decent options to sit on in deep prospect dynasty leagues, as the payoff can be immense, and if you grab a few guys at 22 or 23 years old, you might not even have to wait that long either. After top first, second, and maybe even third tier of skater prospects are picked over, you're unlikely to even come up with someone who plays irregularly on the 4^th line, and that's not the kind of upside you want on your farm system. For the deeper leagues where you get to that level of prospect, owning more goalie prospects gives you a better chance of actually having a meaningful contributor (or useful trade bait) pop up. Fourth-string goalies are only one or two injuries and a stretch of bad play from one other goalie away from playing meaningful NHL games. One of those little philosophy tweaks you can look at when assessing your farm systems.

Back to the cap league rankings, it was also fascinating to see both Colorado goalies listed as tier 1 options. It harkens back to the Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman tandem from the 2022-2023 Bruins team. Both fantastic goalies, both on relatively decent contracts, and the team in front of them so solid that they were going to rack up enough wins that even in only 40 starts they would be relevant in every kind of league.

In Boston, Linus Ullmark eventually had to get pushed out because Swayman was growing into the role of an everyday starter. Mackenzie Blackwood is already in his prime and doesn't have quite the same ceiling as Swayman. However, the writing nonetheless appears to be on the wall for Scott Wedgewood, as the career backup is signed to only a one-year extension, which would time things well for top prospect Ilya Nabokov to spend a year in the AHL and then move up to the Avalanche for the fall of 2027.

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The Buffalo Sabres are going to be fascinating to watch this summer after their trip to the second round. They have two goalies in the top-32 by our Salary Cap League Rankings, in addition to Colten Ellis who probably deserves more playing time as well. That means we could see some kind of goalie move from Buffalo to move at least one out, though I do also wonder about them as maybe the second-best landing spot for Connor Hellebuyck after Carolina. That would likely mean sending out two goalies in a very busy summer.

It's a position where it sounds like it's better to have too many goalies rather than not enough, but the problems from having one too many goalies seem often to have more of a bite to them. Buffalo could also look to improve their top-six (especially dependant on Alex Tuch's free agency decision), and solidifying their bottom pairing would be ideal as well.

If Tuch and Benson both re-sign, then Buffalo is looking at some cap trouble as well, which might make an Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen deal more likely. With a deep prospect cupboard and most of their picks remaining, there's kindling here for a fiery offseason.

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One of the other interesting UFA stories comes from Darren Raddysh, and we have all heard enough about how he came out of nowhere just in time for his big pay day. Well, at this point it's very possible that the big contract doesn't come in Tampa Bay, meaning he heads out for greener pastures. In the meantime, we don't know exactly what level of play Victor Hedman is going to return at next season (assuming and hoping he has been able to properly manage his mental health struggles in order to be back on the ice). All of that could lead to a sizeable void on the blueline in Tampa.

Behind Raddysh's 70 points, no other Bolts defenceman reached the 30-point mark this season. Charle-Edouard D'Astous and J.J. Moser each had 29, while Hedman put up 17 in 33 games. If 35-year-old Hedman can't go at full strength and/or for a full season, then someone is going to have to mop up the points. The last time Tampa Bay had their top offensive defenceman pace for less than 60 points in a full season was a full decade ago in 2015-16 [have to qualify it in that way because of the Covid years]. Between Hedman, Raddysh, and Sergachev, there has been a 60-point floor and an 85-point ceiling for the top Dman in Tampa for a decade.

With Hedman looking to pass the torch, who might take it up? Well, D'Astous and Moser look like the best internal candidates. Neither has much of a history of power play production, but the big contract and the bigger career year point towards Moser. However, D'Astous did receive more PP time this past season, which shows where the lean is with the current roster and coach. Looking down the depth chart, there just aren't any other names that look like they have any chance of stepping into that role this year or next, which would mean that we could be looking at a big production jump from one of Moser or D'Astous if Raddysh and Hedman are suddenly out of (or less in) the picture. There could be an external acquisition too, but it feels less likely due to the number of contracts the Bolts already have signed.

Moser is also playing over at the World Championship going on right now, and as of the May 26 games he had four points in five games for Switzerland. Perhaps this leads into some added confidence with the puck for next season.

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If you're in need of a few other games to fill the attention span, then the AHL Calder Cup third round (conference finals) gets underway tonight with the Toronto Marlies against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Easton Cowan and Rutger McGroarty have been notable producers for both teams, and Alex Nylander is looking to stick it to his old team.

Additionally, the Memorial Cup is ongoing as well, for perhaps the last big on-ice event on the scouting calendar prior to the draft. Kitchener (OHL champs) and Chicoutimi (QMJHL champs) played last night with Kitchener coming out on top to remain undefeated. Kitchener looks like the team to beat, being led by highly-touted 2026 draft pick Chase Reid. Sam O'Reilly, Jack Pridham, and Jared Wooley are the other possible names of interest to fantasy poolies in deeper leagues. O'Rielly, Pridham, and Dylan Edwards each had two points last night in the win.

Tonight will be the final round robin game between Kelowna (host) and Everett (WHL champs), with Kelowna looking for their first win, and Everett looking to lock in a higher seed for the playoff rounds.

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You can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean.

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