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Poll: Who Will Win The 2021 Stanley Cup?

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The 2020-21 NHL season has been an adventurous one and that’s putting it lightly.  From a delayed start to rapid in-season scheduling changes, there have been plenty of hiccups along the way but they managed to make it through the abbreviated regular season schedule and the first three rounds of the playoffs.  Included in the schedule this season, of course, were new divisions with the end result being that a team that’s normally in the East won the trophy that typically goes to the winner of the Western Conference.  In a year like this though, there have been stranger things than that.

In the end, there are just two teams remaining.  One is the defending Stanley Cup champion that many expected to be in the mix to win it again.  The other is a team that lost more games than it won during the regular season and virtually no one expected them to make it anywhere near this far.

Let’s start with Tampa Bay.  The defending champs added a healthy Nikita Kucherov to the mix for the playoffs after he missed the entire season due to hip surgery and he hasn’t missed a beat; his 27 points not only lead the team but lead the entire league in scoring so far.  Brayden Point just had a nine-game goal stretch snapped in Friday’s series-clinching victory over the Islanders and the end result is an attack that is averaging the second-most goals per game of any playoff team at 3.22 (Colorado was first, averaging 3.8 in their two series).  They’re also one of the stingiest defensive teams with Andrei Vasilevskiy pitching four shutouts already.

As for Montreal, they’ve won with a balanced lineup that has taken turns scoring just enough in key moments to get them over the top.  Cole Caufield – who was playing college hockey three months ago – has turned into a key cog offensively while Nick Suzuki has elevated his play in the playoffs for the second straight year as well.  Carey Price is playing some of the best hockey of his career and their penalty kill has been nothing short of outstanding.  They haven’t allowed a power play goal in 13 games – an NHL playoff record – and have killed off 30 straight opportunities (outscoring their opponents 3-0 along the way).

That theme may very well be the most interesting one of the series (even more than the goalie matchup) – Montreal’s dominant penalty kill versus Tampa Bay’s elite power play which is clicking along at a whopping 37.7%.  While there haven’t been a lot of penalties called in the playoffs, special teams have been game-changers for both teams so far.  Will that trend continue for one of them?

It’s a unique Stanley Cup matchup, one that we’re unlikely to see again since the league is going back to its usual conference format for 2021-22 and beyond.  Which team will come out victorious?  Will the Lightning make it two in a row or will the Canadiens pull off one more upset?  Make your prediction by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Poll: Who Should Win The 2021 Jack Adams Award?

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All of the finalists for the major regular season awards have been announced, meaning it’s time for the NHL to start naming winners. That will begin on Monday with the King Clancy Memorial Trophy awarded to one of Kurtis Gabriel, Pekka Rinne, and P.K. Subban.

It’s hard for fans to really know the nuances of each finalist for the first three awards that will be announced next week. The King Clancy and Masterton are given to players just as much because of their off-ice interactions and leadership as their performance during the season. The Willie O’Ree, which will be awarded on Wednesday, is given to a community hero.

So let’s look ahead a few days to Thursday and the Jack Adams Award to see what the PHR community thinks should happen. Does the honor belong to Rod Brind’Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes, Dean Evason of the Minnesota Wild, or Joel Quenneville of the Florida Panthers?

The year before Brind’Amour took over behind the bench in Carolina, the Hurricanes weren’t very good. Even though they had strong performances from young players like Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, and Jaccob Slavin, the team didn’t have the goaltending to compete in the tough Metropolitan Divison, which had five teams finish with at least 97 points. Carolina finished the year with a 36-35-11 record, missing the playoffs. Assistant Rod took over (along with several major trades to shake up the roster) and the team took off. Three years later and Brind’Amour is a Jack Adams finalist following a 36-12-8 regular season, good for third in the NHL.

Evason perhaps performed an even more impressive turnaround in Minnesota. Sure, the Wild made the playoffs six seasons in a row from 2012-2018, but the core that took them to many of those postseason appearances was either long gone or in a dramatic decline by the time he took over in 2020. He had just a taste during the 2019-20 season before COVID shut things down, but it was obviously a good move for the Wild to bring him back. A year after losing in four games to the Vancouver Canucks in the bubble qualification round, Minnesota was reborn under Evason into an exciting, must-watch hockey club. Kirill Kaprizov has a lot to do with that transformation, but so does the rookie head coach, who posted the best winning percentage in Wild history at .670 this season. Minnesota’s record of 35-16-5 tied them with Tampa Bay for eighth-best in the league, but they just were unlucky enough to run into the powerhouse Vegas Golden Knights in the first round (and pushed them to the limit to boot).

’Quenneville was lucky enough to have one of the best young cores in the league, anyone could have won those Cups with Chicago’ said many of his detractors when he signed a massive contract with the Panthers in 2019. Maybe that young Blackhawks core was lucky to have him, too. The legendary head coach had another outstanding year behind the bench, capitalizing on some savvy front office moves from Bill Zito to take the Panthers to the fourth-best record in the NHL. Incredibly, the .705 points percentage that Florida managed this season is the second-highest of Quenneville’s Hall of Fame career, only trailing the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season (which happened to end pretty well).

Of course, these weren’t the only strong head coaching performances this season. The New York Islanders’ recent playoff run would likely make Barry Trotz the favorite, but it is of course a regular season award. Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins navigated injuries to nearly his entire roster and had his club in a position to do some damage in the postseason. Even someone like Rick Bowness in Dallas should get some credit for managing a winning record in a year that nearly everything went wrong for the Stars (just imagine if a handful of those 14 overtime/shootout losses had gone their way).

So, PHR faithful, we ask you who you would give the Jack Adams to this season. Is it one of the finalists, or another one of the league’s head coaches? Cast your vote and make sure to explain it in the comments!

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Poll: Who Should Win The 2021 Vezina Trophy?

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Last week, the NHL released the finalists for the 2021 Vezina Trophy. The award for most outstanding goaltender is voted on by the general managers around the NHL, but let’s see what the hockey community thinks.

Marc-Andre Fleury kicked things off among the nominees, becoming a Vezina finalist for the first time in his 17-year NHL career. The highest he has previously finished is fourth, but he’ll set a new bar at age-36 after posting a .928 save percentage in 36 appearances. Fleury went 26-10 for the Vegas Golden Knights, taking home the Jennings Trophy along with Robin Lehner as the goaltenders for the team with the league’s lowest goals-against average. Among goaltenders with at least 20 starts, he trailed only Alex Nedeljkovic and Semyon Varlamov (neither of whom are finalists) in save percentage.

Next came Philipp Grubauer, almost exactly seven years Fleury’s junior. The 29-year-old has been excellent in the past as a tandem option but has never played enough to get into the Vezina conversation. That changed this year when Grubauer played 40 games for the Colorado Avalanche, posting a 30-9-1 record and .922 save percentage. He led the league in shutouts with seven and actually had a slightly lower goals-against average than Fleury (though still not as low as Nedeljkovic). For years the Avalanche goaltending was questioned, but Grubauer answered all the doubters with a legitimate Vezina-level campaign.

If either of the first-time finalists are to take home the trophy, they’ll have to topple a goaltender who lives in the final three. Andrei Vasilevskiy is a finalist for the fourth consecutive season after leading the league in wins once again. The Tampa Bay Lightning netminder won the award in 2019 and is the almost-unbreakable last line of defense behind a strong roster. While his name and pedigree will obviously make him a tough competitor in award voting, Vasilevskiy’s .925 save percentage trailed Fleury and his 2.21 goals against average was much higher than his fellow finalists.

All three goaltenders have incredible statistics and play for some of the best teams in the league. Who deserves to take home the Vezina? Cast your vote below–if you think it should have been someone else, make sure to explain why in the comment section!

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Poll: Where Will Jack Eichel Begin The 2021-22 Season?

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The Buffalo Sabres didn’t have a great Monday. After Rasmus Ristolainen and Sam Reinhart both sparked some hot stove speculation with their media availability comments, a perturbed Jack Eichel lit the building on fire. Not only did Eichel express frustration at how his medical situation has been handled by the team, but he left the door wide open for trade speculation, saying his focus was on getting healthy and playing hockey “wherever that might be.”

That became the biggest story of the week, even as teams prepare for the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs that will begin on Saturday. Eichel’s future has been discussed every offseason since he landed with a franchise in Buffalo that has underperformed for years. Now it seems more likely than ever that the team will trade him by next season, with Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reporting that there was a “contentious exit interview” between the injured star and the organization.

So where will Eichel go?

The most common teams listed as potential suitors are the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers but there will be many more teams interested even with the injury concerns. Friedman suggests that the Boston Bruins will likely try, while also listing Philadelphia Flyers, Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators, and Montreal Canadiens as teams that have enough young pieces to get a deal done. Pierre LeBrun said today on TSN’s Insider Trading that the Minnesota Wild are another potential fit. That will not be an exhaustive list of potential buyers if the Sabres truly make Eichel available this offseason.

Of course, there is that injury to worry about. Eichel’s camp seems set on surgical repair for his neck injury, which could scare off some teams, at least from paying the full price. Is trading him under that cloud of uncertainty really in the Sabres’ best interest? Or could Eichel start the year in Buffalo to prove his health and worth?

It’s certainly not clear at this point where he will end up, so give us your thoughts on the situation. Cast a vote below on which team will have Eichel to start the 2021-22 season and make sure to explain yourself in the comment section below.

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Poll: Grading The Red Wings-Capitals Trade

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While trade deadline day itself was largely quiet with most of the big moves being made the night before, one of the final moves on Monday was a significant one with the Capitals acquiring winger Anthony Mantha from the Red Wings for wingers Jakub Vrana and Richard Panik, a 2021 first-round pick, and a 2022 second-round pick.

The move came as somewhat of a surprise considering Detroit wasn’t in a position to sell high on Mantha, who had been a healthy scratch recently.  Meanwhile, the same could be said for Vrana while Panik had recently cleared waivers.  On the surface, none of these players seemed like potential change of scenery candidates and yet combined for the biggest deal of the deadline.

From Washington’s standpoint, while Mantha is the bigger name, the numbers between him and Vrana are relatively similar in recent years.  Going back to 2018-19, Mantha has averaged 0.70 points per game and Vrana 0.65 despite Mantha logging nearly four minutes more per game in ice time.  Mantha has battled multiple injuries over that span and has played in 38 fewer games.  So why do they do the deal?  Finances would seem to have a lot to do with it.

Vrana is a restricted free agent this summer and is in line for a raise on his $3.35MM AAV; it’s not entirely implausible to think he could look at Mantha’s $5.7MM price tag through 2023-24 as the ballpark range for a target.  At that price, he’d be more difficult for the Capitals to move and they’d have had a hard time fitting him in with Panik’s $2.75MM for two more years on the books as well.  Now they have Mantha in that spot for three years at a fixed price tag with an underperforming contract gone as well.

As for Detroit, their motivation is a bit clearer.  They get a similarly productive player in Vrana who they hope can be more productive with more ice time.  With plenty of cap space, they can easily afford the raise he’ll get this offseason and it’s worth noting that the 25-year-old does have arbitration eligibility.  It also allowed them to absorb Panik’s deal without any concerns and the veteran should be able to contribute as well.  Getting those two assets plus first- and second-round picks gives them the potential for comparable production now and future pieces of the puzzle down the road.

How do you feel both teams made out in this swap?  Vote in the polls below to award your grades.

(Poll links for the Red Wings and Capitals for app users.)

Poll: Who Is The Top Rental This Season?

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The trade deadline is coming quickly, with just a month left before teams are locked for their postseason run. Clubs like the Nashville Predators, Buffalo Sabres, and Detroit Red Wings seem to already have for sale signs up outside the front office, with speculation pouring out all over the hockey world. Like every year, there is a group of players on expiring contracts that will be front and center in the next few weeks, as contenders can acquire them without committing to anything past this season.

Last season Taylor Hall was one of those rentals. The 2018 Hart Trophy winner was on a struggling New Jersey Devils team and seemed destined to hit the free agent market regardless of where he ended up. The Arizona Coyotes, with their eyes set on the postseason, decided to strike well before the deadline and shipped out a big package for Hall in mid-December. The hope was that with the added time they would be able to convince him to stay, but stay he did not. Instead, Hall is now on the rental shelf again after signing a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres.

But this year if he is sold, it won’t be for nearly as much as the Coyotes paid. Not only has Hall struggled to provide any offense for the Sabres this season—he has just two goals, one at even-strength—but he also carries a higher cap hit ($8MM to last year’s $6MM) and has a full no-movement clause, meaning he has to be involved in whatever trade is presented. All of that will limit Buffalo’s market, meaning Hall may not be the easy choice as this year’s top rental.

In fact, the Sabres might even have a more attractive option further down the lineup. Eric Staal comes with a championship pedigree and, perhaps more importantly, a cap hit of just $3.25MM. He can play center or the wing and has provided nearly as much offense as Hall (in fact, Staal has three goals this season). Already, one of his former teams has discussed a reunion.

But the names found in Buffalo aren’t the only rentals that will be drawing interest.

In Detroit, Bobby Ryan has scored six goals and 13 points in 27 games and comes with just a $1MM cap hit. One of the most well-liked teammates in the league, Ryan went to Detroit to try and rebuild his career after some trying years in Ottawa. He could likely be had for nothing more than a mid-round pick if the fit is right. Another Staal, this time Marc, is also a potential rental in Detroit, though his $5.7MM cap hit would have to be sorted out for any real contender. The veteran defenseman could provide some depth on the back end for one playoff run, without a commitment that extends down the line.

Mikael Granlund is the name that many come back to, though he’s not alone in Nashville. Erik Haula is another rental that could be easily flipped, given his versatility and relatively low cap hit. The Devils have more rentals again this year, with names like Sami Vatanen and Kyle Palmieri both leading the way. The latter is a candidate to be retained in New Jersey, but if he were to be put on the market, likely more than a handful of teams would show interest.

So who is the best rental? We’ve included some of the top names on the teams already out of the playoff race, but be sure to give your thoughts in the comments if you think it will be someone else!

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Poll: Do You Like The Draft Lottery?

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The NHL is making changes to the draft lottery again. Reports emerged today that several tweaks to the process are being put forward to the league’s board of governors for a vote, with some coming into effect for 2021 and some for 2022. But is it changes the league needs, or to do away with the lottery entirely?

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic wrote a piece on the potential changes last month and noted how frequently over the last few seasons teams have moved up a considerable number of picks. He notes that the “final straw” for some was Detroit failing to receive even a top-three pick after finishing dead last in the NHL with a historically-bad record. 17-49-5 was good for the fourth selection, a brutal punishment for a team that is really just starting a true rebuild. The idea that the Red Wings “aren’t tanking” may rub people the wrong way, since it’s obvious their management wasn’t trying to make the playoffs last season, but many believe there’s no way the team should have been pushed that far down.

While the proposed changes would help somewhat—holding the lottery for only two picks instead of three means the Red Wings would have been guaranteed a top-three selection—the question still remains: should the league do away with the lottery entirely?

Should the worst team in the league be rewarded with the top pick every year? Should there be simple restrictions like no first-overall two years in a row? What other ideas are there for how to tweak the lottery to make it better? Cast a vote below but then make sure to share your thoughts in the comments.

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Poll: Was Firing Claude Julien The Right Decision?

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The Montreal Canadiens have made the first coaching change of the season, firing veteran bench boss Claude Julien and replacing him, at least for now, with Dominique Ducharme. Julien was hired by the Canadiens in 2017 after being let go by the Boston Bruins, inking a new expensive five-year deal with Montreal. He didn’t make it through that full contract (it has a year left), but his tenure there wasn’t actually all that unsuccessful. Sure, the Canadiens didn’t make it very deep in the postseason, but they did get there in two of his four chances.

Overall, the Canadiens were 129-113-35 under Julien this time around, but back-to-back losses against the Ottawa Senators eventually sealed his fate. General manager Marc Bergevin told reporters including Arpon Basu of The Athletic today that when the Canadiens had last week off between games, he gave Julien and his staff the benefit of the doubt that he would turn things around. Three straight losses out of the break obviously showed things hadn’t changed, so he made the move to give the younger Ducharme a chance.

The former CHL Coach of the Year has obviously been groomed for this role and will be given the rest of the 2020-21 season to make his case to continue as head coach into the future. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Bergevin won’t even be reaching out to other coaching candidates for the time being, giving Ducharme his chance instead. LeBrun also notes that Gerard Gallant, who has been thrown around as a potential replacement in Montreal, would not be willing to take an associate or assistant coach role–he’s waiting for a head coaching position.

Even though Julien’s recent history wasn’t great, it’s important to remember just how successful he’s been as a coach in the NHL. His overall record of 667-445-10-152 gives him a .587 points percentage, meaning his teams average over 96 points a season. He sits 13th on the all-time wins list and lifted the Stanley Cup as head coach of the Bruins in 2011.

Was it the right move for Montreal? Will this be able to turn their season around, given how readily available a playoff spot seems in the North Division? Is Ducharme the right coach to lead them moving forward? Vote on the poll below and make sure you leave your thoughts in the comment section.

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Poll: NHL’s “Thanksgiving Trend” Revisited

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Fans of the NHL are sure to be familiar with the deeper meaning that American Thanksgiving holds each season. With unrelenting consistency, the NHL’s standings on the final Thursday of November have had great predictive ability when compared to the final regular season standings. In fact, over the past seven years the Thanksgiving standings have been about 75% accurate at forecasting eventual playoff teams, predicting 12 of 16 spots on average. Even though American Thanksgiving only rolls around less than two months into the season, three out of four teams in a playoff spot at that time will have retained their postseason berth when the season ends.

The 2019-20 season of course did not have a standard postseason, but if it had then the Thanksgiving trend would have proved even more prophetic in a shortened campaign. Last year, in which teams were limited to between 68 and 71 games apiece prior to the early termination of the regular season, the Thanksgiving standings would have predicted 13 of 16 playoff teams in the standard format. Of the three teams that would have slid out of the postseason, the Florida Panthers trailed the Toronto Maple Leafs by .014 points percentage in the Atlantic Division and the Winnipeg Jets missed out by a measly .001 points percentage behind the Calgary Flames as the final Western Conference wild card. The Thanksgiving standings were that close to predicting 15 of 16 playoff teams in the shortened season, with the unexpected slow start for the Vegas Golden Knights and hot start for the Arizona Coyotes being the other unsurprising course correction.

But how does this trend impact a season that didn’t even begin until well after American Thanksgiving? Based on total games played by Thanksgiving over the past few seasons, Thanksgiving represents about the 30% progress through the NHL season. In the current 56-game season, that comes out to about the 17-game mark. Although postponements and rescheduling have created a wide discrepancy in games played among teams this year, the league as a whole passed that 17-game average on Saturday: Happy Thanksgiving. Admittedly, the 2020-21 campaign does have a different playoff model as well, one that is somewhat stricter than the last few years without the fallback of a wildcard spot for a team on the fifth-place fringe in their division. Yet, it is still a 16-team postseason and the Thanksgiving trend should hold. Using points percentage to rank the standings (the stat may end up determining playoff position for a second consecutive season anyhow) and adjusting for the season’s makeshift divisions, here is the current “Thanksgiving” outlook:

North Division                                                             East Division

Toronto Maple Leafs (.789)                                    Boston Bruins (.733)
Montreal Canadiens (.625)                                     Philadelphia Flyers (.679)
Winnipeg Jets (.618)                                                 Washington Capitals (.594)
Edmonton Oilers (.600)                                          Pittsburgh Penguins (.594)____
Calgary Flames (.472)                                                        New Jersey Devils (.583)
Vancouver Canucks (.405)                                                New York Islanders (.559)
Ottawa Senators (.237)                                                      New York Rangers (.469)
                                                                                                Buffalo Sabres (.429)

West Division                                                                Central Division

Vegas Golden Knights (.700)                                   Carolina Hurricanes (.781)
Colorado Avalanche (.679)                                       Florida Panthers (.750)
St. Louis Blues (.611)                                                  Tampa Bay Lightning (.700)
Minnesota Wild (.571)                                                Dallas Stars (.583)                    
Los Angeles Kings (.531)                                                    Chicago Blackhawks (.579)
Arizona Coyotes (.500)                                                       Columbus Blue Jackets (.526)
San Jose Sharks (.500)                                                       Nashville Predators (.412)
Anaheim Ducks (.417)                                                         Detroit Red Wings (.325)

Now this begs the question, especially seeing how accurate the Thanksgiving standings were in last year’s shortened season but also accounting for the many disruptions for a number of teams early this season, who is the trend currently overlooking? Which teams currently outside the playoff picture, if any, do you think will make the postseason when all is said and done later this season? Use the comments section below as well to discuss which teams may fall out of the postseason and whether you feel the Thanksgiving trend will apply this season.

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Poll: Grading The Jets-Blue Jackets Trade

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For a season that wasn’t supposed to have a lot of notable trade activity, there was certainly a big trade made on Saturday with the Jets acquiring center Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2022 third-round pick from the Blue Jackets in exchange for wingers Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic with the latter soon agreeing to a two-year, $3.8MM bridge deal.

It’s a swap of two star players that were looking for a change of scenery.  The deal allows both teams to acquire a top talent in return but given their disenchantment where they were, it’s also fair to wonder if this will be the ideal fit for everyone involved.  Both Laine and Dubois have a new home but are they in a more preferable spot than they were before?

For Winnipeg, adding Dubois should put to an end to GM Kevin Cheveldayoff’s attempts to add another impact center, a process that started with the acquisition of Paul Stastny in 2018, was continued a year later with Kevin Hayes before ultimately re-acquiring Stastny this offseason.  With Bryan Little’s playing future in serious jeopardy and Stastny’s contract up, they needed a longer-term solution.  Dubois can be that player although he’ll move from a top-line role down to the second line with Mark Scheifele ahead of him on the depth chart.

Meanwhile, Columbus gets one of the top goal-scorers in the league in Laine and a young roster player in Roslovic, one who was drafted as a center and will presumably get an opportunity to play down the middle.  However, they lose a year of team control moving from Dubois to Laine, who is owed a $7.5MM qualifying offer this summer while being eligible for salary arbitration.  While Winnipeg retained on his salary in the deal to get his price tag nearly identical to Dubois, that certainly won’t be the case for long.

How do you feel both teams made out in this blockbuster?  Vote in the polls below to award your grades.

(Poll links for the Jets and Blue Jackets for app users.)

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