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Snapshots: Suter, McLeod, Senators Logo

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Switzerland’s leading scorer is headed to the NHL, but to which team exactly is still a mystery. Pius Suter has opted into his exit clause for the 2020-21 season with the expectation of signing in the NHL, the ZSC Lions of the Swiss NLA have announced. Head coach Rickard Gronberg also thanked and congratulated the young star on his move to North America. A former OHL prospect who has played at home in Switzerland for the past five years, Suter had shown flashes of scoring ability before but truly broke out this season with a league-leading 30 goals and 53 points in 50 games. The NLA has slowly been climbing the ranks of the top leagues in Europe and several players who have graduated from Switzerland in recent years have found instant success in the NHL. Suter, 24, dominated the Swiss ranks this season and has shown an innate ability to create offense. This sounds very similar to Chicago rookie Dominik Kubalik, who had nearly identical stats to Suter in the NLA in 2018-19 and went on to record 30 goals and 46 points in 68 games in an incredible debut season this year. Kubalik’s success continues a trend of Europeans finding a good fit with the Blackhawks, which could be why The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that the club is considered a front-runner for Suter’s services. With little cap space and a relatively thin forward corps, a productive player on an entry-level deal would be an excellent addition for Chicago and Suter would also like the opportunity that the Blackhawks could offer. Suter is expected to make his decision in the coming days – and other teams are in the mix – but don’t be surprised if it’s Chicago who lands the exciting Swiss scorer.

  • Veteran grinder Cody McLeod is coming back for another year of pro hockey. The fan favorite agitator earned a one-way NHL contract for a decade before this season and instead settled for a one-year deal with the AHL’s Iowa Wild. To no surprise, McLeod was a hit in Iowa and a good leader for the young prospects as well and has earned an extension. The junior Wild announced that that they have signed McLeod to another one-year deal for 2020-21. McLeod only played in 21 games for Iowa, recording seven points (and 41 penalty minutes), but as long as McLeod remains a positive locker room influence and a menacing presence on the ice, he can play as long as he likes.
  • The Ottawa Senators are rewinding back to 2007. The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian reports that the franchise is returning to the two-dimensional logo that they debuted in 1997 – or at least one that looks very similar – next season. The 2D look was retired after a decade and replaced with the three-dimensional logo that the team donned this season. However, Salvian writes that the club has decided that they favor the more retro look. The two-dimensional logo does better represent the Roman style of their centurion logo in a way that the three-dimensional logo never could, and Ottawa fans are already excited about the return of the old logo. Salvian also writes that the new logo will be accompanied by redesigned jerseys, including a brand new third jersey. The Senators hope that these changes will drive merchandise sales and, more importantly, pair with a promising young roster, two top-five draft picks, and a long hiatus from hockey in the city to create an atmosphere of excitement in Ottawa ahead of the 2020-21 season and help to cure the league’s worst attendance numbers.

New York Islanders Sign Ilya Sorokin

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Tuesday: The Islanders and Sorokin have already agreed to terms on his next contract, less than 24 hours after he signed his first one. The Russian netminder will sign a one-year deal for the 2020-21 season worth $2MM according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.  This deal will still leave Sorokin as a restricted free agent in 2021 but gives the two sides a lot more time to work out a long-term deal.

The contract will carry a $1MM signing bonus and $1MM salary.

Monday: KHL star netminder Ilya Sorokin has made his much-anticipated leap to the NHL, albeit with a twist. Per agent Dan Milstein, Sorokin has signed a one-year entry-level contract with the New York Islanders, effective for the 2019-20 season. However, Sorokin is only eligible to join the team for training camp and cannot play in the upcoming postseason; yet, his contract will still be burned. This means that while the Islanders have finally signed Sorokin, he will need another contract this fall as a restricted free agent before he can ever suit up for the team.

Sorokin, 24, should be able to negotiate a pretty considerable deal for himself without any NHL experience, too. Like Igor Shesterkin of the rival New York Rangers, Sorokin has established himself as one the very best goalies outside of the NHL at a very young age. Stunningly, Sorokin made his KHL debut at just 17 years old, an unheard-of accomplishment for a goalie that young in any major pro league. His five games in 2012-13 jumpstarted his success in Russia, where he has a career .930 save percentage and 1.70 GAA in nearly 250 games. This included an unthinkable .953 save percentage and 1.06 GAA in 28 games in 2015-16 and a current streak of three straight seasons with a .930+ save percentage.

Sorokin will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Shesterkin in his rookie season in 2020-21, as the two bring their KHL duel to the Big Apple. While Shersterkin’s career KHL numbers are a tad better than Sorokin’s, they came in less than half as many games despite the two being the same age. Sorokin has a major experience advantage, so he should fair even better than Shesterkin with adjusting to the NHL. His Rangers counterpart recorded a .932 save percentage and 2.52 GAA in 12 games this season and seems to have won the starting role for his team. Expect Sorokin to aim for the same result and likely with more starts and better stats. Especially in an Islanders system that has elevated the play of keepers like Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss – who is now also likely to depart as a UFA – in recent years, it would not be shocking to see Sorokin with numbers among the league’s best next season as he splits time with Semyon Varlamov. In fact, Sorokin could have a strong case for the Calder Trophy in 2020-21.

So, while Islanders fans may be disappointed that they cannot see Sorokin sooner and that he cannot help out with a hopeful playoff run, they should still be excited for what is to come from the young Russian goaltender. With a deep, defensive-minded roster in front of him, Sorokin has the makings of a long-term, cornerstone keeper.

Danil Gushchin, Albin Grewe Sign In OHL

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Two notable NHL prospects and recent CHL Import Draft selections have joined the ranks of the OHL. 2020 draft eligible forward Danil Gushchin, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 Import Draft, has signed with the Niagara Ice Dogs, while forward Albin Grewe, a 2019 third-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings, has signed with the Saginaw Spirit.

Gushchin’s move signals a shift in his developmental path. A consensus second-round pick in the coming NHL Entry Draft, Gushchin is a very talented forward with great speed and stick skills. The one glaring concern about his game is his size: Gushchin stands just 5’8” and weighs in at around 160 lbs. For this reason, it seemed the Russian winger was favoring the collegiate development path, which can often be better for undersized players. The No. 7 overall pick in the CHL Import Draft last year, Gushchin instead opted to play another season in the USHL with the Muskegon Lumberjacks, preserving his NCAA eligibility. However, with questions about the likelihood of a college hockey season, Gushchin may have decided that the best choice for his development was to improve his level of play next season and the OHL was his safest bet. The question now, and one that NHL scouting staffs will have to decide, is whether the size and skill that made him a point-per-game player in the USHL will translate to the OHL and eventually to the pros.

As for Grewe, the move to the OHL is not unexpected following a disappointing 2019-20 campaign. A skilled and pesky two-way winger out of Sweden, Grewe was considered a great value for the Red Wings at No. 66 overall last year. He was expected to play a larger role with the SHL’s Djurgardens IF this year after getting into 15 games last season but failing to record a point. Instead, he was limited to just 19 games and managed just one point, while his production fell off considerably in the junior SuperElit as well. In fact, the only real statistical growth this year for Grewe was in penalty minutes. Grewe needs to work more on his offensive game and skill development and has a better chance of doing that playing meaningful minutes against his peers at the junior level rather than bouncing back and forth from a pro team where he was clearly not ready to compete. Although Saginaw waited to select Grewe until the second round of the Import Draft, both sides were happy to sign on for next year. Now Detroit fans just have to hope that the talented forward can get back on track with his new team and league.

Steven Kampfer Opts Out Of Postseason

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Slipping through the cracks of a refreshingly busy weekend for NHL roster news of many varieties was the announcement that Boston Bruins defenseman Steven Kampfer has joined the list of those players who have opted out of participation in the upcoming postseason. Kampfer took to Twitter to state that he has made the difficult decision not to return to the Bruins for their upcoming postseason run. The veteran revealed that his wife and son suffer from a congenital heart defect that can be complicated by the effects of COVID-19. For that reason, he made a decision that no one can fault him for to put his family’s health and safety first.

Kampfer, 31, is a veteran of 211 NHL games, including ten this season with Boston. While he had not played a major role this season with the Bruins, the team valued his presence last season as they dealt with consistent injury issues on the back end. Kampfer was one of a dozen defensemen to suit up for the Bruins in the 2018-19 season, playing in 35 regular season games as well as three playoff games. His experience and intelligent puck-moving came in handy in tough spots for the Bruins last year and the team rewarded him with a two-year extension last summer. They undoubtedly would like to have him this postseason in case the going gets tough again. Instead, they will have to make do without him for now and hopefully welcome him back next season.

However, the Bruins are in good shape on the blue line, especially given the time off to enter the playoffs fully  healthy for the first time in several years. While the team will be missing Kampfer and Kevan Miller, out all season due to injury, Boston’s training camp roster features ten defensemen with NHL experience. This includes their regular top five of Charlie McAvoy, Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug, Brandon Carlo, and Matt Grzelcyk, a trio of dependable options to fill out the starting lineup in John Moore, Jeremy Lauzon, and Connor Clifton, and top prospects Urho Vaakanainen and Jakub Zboril. 

Minor Transactions: 07/09/20

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The NHL off-season may not be starting until October this year, but AHL free agency is alive and well. While the league has not yet shared their plans for the 2020-21 season, that hasn’t stopped teams from extending players, signing new ones, and even importing players from overseas. Here are some recent notable minor league deals:

  • Defenseman Keaton Middleton has signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Eagles, the team announced, but the Avalanche and GM Joe Sakic definitely had a hand in this signing. A former captain of the Saginaw Spirit and OHL All-Star, Middleton has the makings of a future NHLer. At 6’5” and 234 lbs., Middleton is a true shutdown defenseman who plays a strong defensive game. His size and strength earned him a fourth-round selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2016, but the club opted not to sign him. However, his past two seasons with the San Jose Barracuda has shown that he has pro chops. Middleton was a +18 and added 26 points in 102 AHL games. The 22-year-old now moves to Colorado where he can continue to refine his two-way game in hopes of landing an NHL contract next summer.
  • Nathanael Halbert is getting another go with the Laval Rocket. The former QMJHL defenseman who spent the past four years at McGill University played in five games at the end of the season with Laval and apparently did enough to impress the club into extending him for one year, according to a team release. The 24-year-old has never been known for his regular season production, but his playoff numbers at the college and junior level show that he has that valuable clutch gene. A native of Nottingham, England, Halbert hopes to be an unlikely hero for Laval this season and possibly beyond.
  • Making his way back to North America is journeyman forward Jesse Mychan. The 28-year-old winger has signed a one-year deal with the Iowa Wild, as reported by his agency. Mychan is no stranger to the AHL, having suited up for ten games over three separate stints and nearly 200 more games in the ECHL. However, he has spent time in Wales, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, and most recently Denmark over the past few years. An experienced pro who has found great success in the ECHL in the past and starred for Denmark’s Esbjerg Energy for the past two year, Mychan hopes he is finally ready for an extended AHL stay in 2020-21.

NHL Announces Tentative Key Dates, Notable CBA Changes

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The NHL and NHLPA today released the details on their Memorandum of Understanding regarding the agreed-upon extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The memorandum, as detailed by TSN’s Frank Seravalli, reveals a number of potential key dates for the adjusted 2020 postseason and 2020-21 off-season and regular season. The dates are as follows:

July 10 – Beginning of training camp

July 24 – Travel to hub cities

July 25 – Beginning of exhibition games

July 31 – Beginning of qualifying round

Aug. 9 – Beginning of Stanley Cup Playoffs

Aug. 23 – Beginning of Second Round

Sep. 6 – Beginning of Conference Finals

Sep. 20 – Beginning of Stanley Cup Final

Oct. 2 – Last possible day of Stanley Cup Final

Oct. 6 – 2020 NHL Entry Draft

Oct. 9 – Opening of free agency

Nov. 17 – Beginning of training camp for 2020-21 season

Dec. 1 – Beginning of 2020-21 regular season

Not only are these dates of course pending a vote to ratify the CBA extension by the players, but Seravalli also notes that they are subject to change based on logistical delays. This has in fact already occurred, as training camps are listed as opening on Friday, when in reality they will open on Monday, July 13. Regardless, the NHL clearly has a plan to start play within a month and wrap the expanded postseason by early October. This would set the league up to take nearly two months off for the off-season but still begin the next season less than two months later than usual.

Seravalli also noted that there are some proration rules in place with regards to eligibility for player bonuses for this season but that does not extend to trades that were made with conditions for players reaching certain statistical thresholds, such as the James Neal–Milan Lucic trade.  The league will instead allow teams to make arguments and then potentially have it decided by an arbitrator.

Other key CBA notes revealed by Seravalli include:

  • An increase in maximum entry-level contract salaries from the current $925K to $950K from 2022-2024, $975K from 2024 to 2026, and finally $1MM beginning in 2026-27.
  • An increase in the minimum salary from the current $700K to $750K from 2021-2023 and $775K from 2023-2026
  • An agreement that the NHL and NHLPA will discuss abandoning the Return To Play plan if players opting-out on a league-wide or club-wide basis “materially impacts the integrity” of the postseason

The Ivy League Cancels Athletics In Fall Semester

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The Ivy League has become the first Division I NCAA conference to postpone all Fall sports participation for the upcoming school year due to COVID-19. The conference and its eight member institutions announced that all fall sports will be canceled while winter sports will not begin until after the end of the fall semester. The exact language is as follows:

With the safety and well-being of students as their highest priority, Ivy League institutions are implementing campus-wide policies including restrictions on student and staff travel, requirements for social distancing, limits on group gatherings, and regulations for visitors to campus. As athletics is expected to operate consistent with campus policies, it will not be possible for Ivy League teams to participate in intercollegiate athletics competition prior to the end of the fall semester.

While The Ivy League is known more for their prestigious academics than athletics, hockey is the sport that will undoubtedly feel the effect of the conference’s absence. Schools like Cornell and Harvard are perennial NCAA Tournament contenders out of the ECAC and numerous NHL prospects play on Ivy League teams. Additionally, The Ivy League’s scheduled opponents in the first half of the season will also be left scrambling. Of course, that assumes that other schools and conferences don’t also follow The Ivy League and postpone or cancel their early games.

The Ivy League’s move could have a lasting impression beyond this season as well. Former Harvard commit Trevor Kuntar, expected to be a mid-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, switched his commitment to Boston College yesterday citing concerns about missed games at Harvard, according to Jeff Cox of the New England Hockey Journal. It seems like only a matter of time before other Ivy League hopefuls follow suit. One interesting case is another Harvard commit, USNTDP product Matthew Beniers, who is expected to be an early first-round pick in 2021. Can Beniers afford the missed opportunity to perform for scouts in the first half of the season? This and many more questions are certain to arise with this major decision by the Ivy League.

Snapshots: Tanev, Miele, Barbashev

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Chris Tanev expected that by this point in the summer, his free agent fate would have already been decided. However, with the league on pause and his Vancouver Canucks still set to take on an expanded playoff field before he becomes a UFA in November, Tanev is using the time to continue expressing just how much he would like to remain with the team. Speaking to NHL.com, Tanev stated that he would “love” to re-sign with Vancouver, the only team he has ever known. An unlikely NHLer who signed with the Canucks after his freshman year at RIT in 2009-10, the 30-year-old has grown into a solid pro defenseman who has been a pivotal presence for Vancouver when healthy and a locker room leader as well. This season, he took on the role of mentor as well and found instant chemistry with star rookie Quinn Hughes. Tanev states that part of his excitement to stay with the Canucks is to keep playing alongside Hughes, who has also expressed a similar sentiment about Tanev. While Tanev is not the only key free agent in need of a new contract from the cap-strapped Canucks, with Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli in line as well, his tie to the franchise’s new cornerstone defenseman certainly helps his case. Tanev also stands a chance of boosting his stock in the upcoming postseason. He and Alexander Edler are the only holdovers from Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup Final run and could provide valuable experience that fuels another run for the team. Regardless of what happens, Tanev has made it clear that he does not want this to be his last season with the Canucks and it is up to the team to decide what happens next.

  • A Pacific Division peer who does not seem to be sticking around is Arizona Coyotes forward Andy Miele. The veteran returned from the KHL this season, signing a two-year deal with Arizona, but played exclusively with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. It appears that he plans to have the second year of his contract terminated, as Russian source Championat reports that he has signed a one-year deal to return to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Miele was one of the most productive players for Torpedo in 2018-19 and found the same success with Tucson this year, but it did not turn into any NHL opportunities and has prompted a return to the KHL.
  • Heading the other direction from Russia to North America is talented young forward Maxim Barbashev. The 16-year-old younger brother of the St. Louis Blues’ Ivan Barbashev, Barbashev has been highly touted out of Russia’s youth ranks, scoring at better than a point-per-game rate this year at the U-17 and U-18 levels combined. Now he will take his talents to Canadian juniors, joining the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. Agent Dan Milstein announced that a deal was done between the Wildcats and their first-round pick in 2020 CHL Import Draft. Barbashev will follow in his brother’s footsteps, as Ivan starred for Moncton for three years himself, and hopes that he might even surpass his No. 33 overall NHL Draft slot in a couple of years.

Details On The Daily Scheduling Of Postseason Games

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With training camps set to open shortly, the idea of live hockey is beginning to seem like more of a reality. While the players still must officially vote to approve the return to play plans, the NHL is all but ready to start the action on August 1st. With details of the qualifying round rules, round robin games for top seeds, and the subsequent playoff structure all hammered out, there are very few questions remaining. Thanks to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, one of those unanswered questions is also no more: how so many games will be played in so short a time in just two locations.

According to McKenzie, the plan is to play three games a day at each of the hub locations, Toronto and Edmonton, for a total of six game. This will include both qualifying round games and round robin seeding games. These games will be held at the same times – 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm – but offset by the two-hour time difference local time. On the east coast, this means games will be on at noon, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, and 10pm, while on the west coast things will get started a little earlier with games at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, and 7pm. As McKenzie points out, the possibility of extended overtimes in the qualifying round games could complicate this scheduling, but the league hopes to mitigate these risks by playing round robin games, which have regular season OT rules, during the 4pm slots to counteract early games that ran late and ensure prime time games start on time (or at least close to it).

At first glance, the amount of hockey that could be on display later this summer is exciting for fans who have been without the game for close to four months now. There will certainly be logistical issues with the scheduling of games and extended overtimes, but fans should be flexible with their schedules given the affect that COVID-19 has had on typical summer plans. This should also extend to days games, with many people around North America still working from home and able to watch games that typically they might find themselves in the office during. While the Pacific time zone definitely received the worst deal in terms of the daily schedules, it is worth noting that only the Vancouver Canucks and Vegas Golden Knights call that time zone home among 2020 playoff teams, while 75% of the field resides in the Eastern or Central time zones.

Hypothetically, this scheduling plan through the qualifying round and round robin games, a minimum of 44 games and maximum of 68 games, should mean that those series are over and the standard playoff structure is set in no more than 12 days. It may not be pretty cramming so much action into such a short time frame, but if the league sticks to six games a day they will be able to commence with the standard postseason by August 13. This should allow them to complete the postseason, award the Stanley Cup, and even host the 2020 NHL Draft before November 1, which has been proposed as the opening of free agency for the 2020-21 season.

Poll: Who Is Most Deserving Of The No. 1 Pick?

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We asked and you voted and the Pittsburgh Penguins are the team that readers least want to see win the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft by means of a second draft lottery. The Penguins were closely followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers and unsurprisingly these are three teams loaded with star power who finished in the top-five among teams in the qualifying round. Yet, the Carolina Hurricanes, who hold the second best record among qualifying round teams, gained just 1% of the vote, while the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks, the worst teams to qualify from each conference, finished fourth and fifth respectively in voting. This begs the question: who do you think is most deserving of the top pick?

Obviously, with the NHL Draft Lottery playing out as it did with each of the league’s bottom seven teams missing out on the top slot, the most deserving teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, or Buffalo Sabres won’t be an option for No. 1 this year. Instead, it will be one of the to-be-determined playoff teams out of the 16 who will play in a “knockout round” to open the expanded 24-team playoff field. All of these teams finished above .500 this season, so a good team will only get better in the form of Alexis Lafreniere, the elite talent at the top of the draft board. All eight losers of the qualifying round will have even odds in a second running of the lottery, but which franchise is most deserving of this boost?

The NHL has no shortage of teams with a history of losing, but the Florida Panthers have a strong argument for the title of unluckiest. Florida, who entered the league in 1993, has just 18 playoff wins in franchise history. A dozen of those wins came in the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1996, in which they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche. The remaining six wins have come in just four playoff series over the past 22 season, none of which have been won by the Cats. This series win drought is the longest current streak in the NHL. The team has also struggled with attendance over the years, due both to location and performance. The Panthers finished just 29th in capacity attendance this season and could use a young star player to draw more fans. The current Florida roster is not without talent but is strapped for cap space and set to lose some strong players in free agency. An affordable entry level deal for a top pick would go a long way to keep the Panthers competitive in the Atlantic Division.

The Winnipeg Jets have improved since moving from Atlanta, but the team’s legacy is still one of failure. The Thrashers franchise, which has since become the second iteration of the Jets, entered the league in 1999. In 19 seasons, the club has qualified for the playoffs just four times and has won only 11 games and two series. Like the Panthers, the bulk of those wins came in just one postseason as the Jets won nine games in 2017-18. Unlike Florida, they have never appeared in a Stanley Cup Final. The Jets playoff fortunes have increased since leaving Atlanta, where they failed to win a single postseason game in more than a decade. The club may be able to figure out how to get to their first Cup Final without luck, but playing in a remote city with a passionate but small fan base limits the Jets financially and they could definitely use an affordable superstar like Lafreniere, even though the roster already contains a number of strong young players.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have an identical 11-20 playoff record to the Thrashers/Jets and seeing as how they entered the league one year later in 2000, it would seem they have been slightly more successful. Additionally, all of those wins have come within the past six seasons and the team has qualified in each of the past three years. However, the Blue Jackets have the unfortunate distinction of never coming close to a Stanley Cup in a way that no other NHL team can claim. Columbus has won just one playoff series – just last year in fact – in their existence, the fewest in NHL history, and in that season was eliminated ten wins short of a title, the furthest distance that any team can claim is their best. Columbus also lost three of their best players from the team that finally won a series last season. The Blue Jackets may be improving, but their fans have seen less playoff success than any team in the NHL and their roster is not one that seem likely to produce a Stanley Cup any time soon. Lafreniere would be a boost to the franchise the likes of which have never been seen.

The Blue Jackets’ partners in the 2000 Expansion class, the Minnesota Wild presented a return to the State of Hockey for the NHL and have always had the benefit of immense fan support. Yet, the Wild have struggled to give their fans much to truly root for. While their 26 playoff wins since they entered the league is far better than some of their peers, Minnesota has never made it to the Stanley Cup Final and were swept out of their lone Western Conference Final appearance, which came back in 2002-03. Minnesota has largely been a one-and-done team, winning just four playoff series in their existence. Regular season success can only get you so far and it would be good for the team and the league for Minnesota to see some more results in the postseason. The timing could not be better to land Lafreniere either; the Wild snapped a six-season playoff appearance streak last year and their roster is one of the oldest in the league. The team could desperately use a young centerpiece.

The original Winnipeg Jets, who moved to Phoenix and became the Arizona Coyotes in 1996, also deserve inclusion among teams who could use some luck. The Coyotes franchise is the oldest to have never appeared in a Stanley Cup Final, dating back to the Jets’ birth in 1979-80. In that time, they have just 41 playoff wins overall have qualified for the postseason just three times in the past 16 years. They have one of the longest active postseason droughts in the NHL, dating back seven years. The team also has the very unfortunate distinction of having the highest cap payroll in the league this season while placing just 28th in capacity percentage attendance. While star players have been a part of the franchise from time to time throughout its history, the current roster is lacking a young superstar, which is exactly what they need to increase fan interest as well as affordably improve their roster. Lafreniere would be the perfect fit.

As for other teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the longest active Stanley Cup drought at 51 years and are second only two Florida with a playoff series win drought of 14 years, so while they have a young, loaded roster, they may still deserve some sympathy. Similarly, while the Montreal Canadiens are the winningest team in NHL history and don’t need any more titles just yet, they are technically the worst team in the qualifying round and could desperately use the boost, as maintaining relevancy in the 21st century has proved difficult for the once-great franchise. The Vancouver Canucks are the oldest team never to have won the Stanley Cup and got painfully close with a Game Seven loss in the 2011 Final and have not won a series ever since. The Nashville Predators have also never won the Stanley Cup, but have gotten close. Like several other teams, sustained success in Nashville would have a beneficial affect on grassroots hockey. Finally, the New York Islanders are a strong team this year and have staying power in the Metropolitan Division, but their glory days of the 80’s are long gone and they have not made a Cup Final appearance in 35 seasons. Lafreniere landing in the New York market could also be great exposure for the game.

What do you think? Which team is most deserving of the No. 1 pick?

[Mobile users vote here]

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