The Stanley Cup Final has barely begun, but the NHL is already taking care of business that usually gets done in the offseason.
On Saturday, Gary Bettman and Bill Daly held their usual start-of-the-final media address. Both men are now in Edmonton — in the bubble and out of quarantine. The press conference, as usual these days, was conducted via Zoom.
If you like, you can watch the whole thing here:
The key points: obviously, everybody's very happy with how the playoffs have turned out — exciting, competitive hockey in a safe environment that has been free of coronavirus. And, if you think back to last year, a lot less controversy surrounding the officiating protocols, too. The changes the league brought in this season have most been effective.
I'm here in Edmonton for another week or so, until the Stanley Cup gets handed out. Game 1 between the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning was fun to watch on Saturday night — fast-paced, hard-hitting and entertaining, as I wrote in my game story:
A rested and confident group of Dallas Stars played two terrific periods, then hung on to earn a well-deserved 4-1 win in Game 1 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.
It was pretty fascinating to see unheralded 29-year-old blueliner Joel Hanley and much-maligned Jamie Oleksiak score the Stars' first two goals in that game. With all the time that Rick Bowness has put in as an assistant who works with the defense, I think he's got a trick or two in his pocket that is going to change the way other teams operate going forward, now that he's having this success.
The Stars had trouble scoring goals during the regular season: they finished 26th offensively, with 2.58 goals per game, while the Lightning were first (3.47). After the game on Saturday, Bowness talked about how one of the ideas he worked to implement from the first day of training camp when his group reconvened in July involved getting more of an offensive contribution from his defensemen — not just the ones you'd expect, like Miro Heiskanen or John Klingberg, but everybody on the roster.
It's a strategy that has paid off, big-time. Goals usually become harder to come by in the playoffs, but the Stars are now up to 3.00 goals a game in the postseason — tying them for fourth with the Blackhawks, the Islanders...and the Lightning. With five goals, Oleksiak has tied his regular-season career high and is also now tied with Heiskanen for third in goals from a defenseman in the playoffs — behind only Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman (nine goals) and Shea Theodore of Vegas (seven).
With Quinn Hughes, the Canucks have a blue-chip building block for their own blue line. They've also got a lot of flexibility this offseason, with Alex Edler, Tyler Myers and Jordie Benn as the only other experienced defensemen under contract, and Troy Stecher as a restricted free agent.
Seeing Bowness get such great efforts out of players who don't have big reputations makes me think that, when done right, it's possible to build a good blue line without spending a ton of money. I wonder how much that will factor into Jim Benning's planning for the offseason.
When Hughes spoke to the Vancouver media last week, he expressed confidence that the Canucks would not only find a way to bring back his defense partner, Chris Tanev, but also the team's other two big unrestricted free agents — Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli.
"Chris is a huge part of the team on the ice and off the ice as a leader and I don't want to see him gone," he said. "I don't think that'll be the reality of the situation. I think that Jim and John (Weisbrod), they're gonna do whatever they can to get Chris signed up, and the same goes for Marky and Toff.
"I mean, that's their job. I don't really worry about it too much but I think they're gonna do whatever they can because they realize the value those guys bring to the team, so hopefully they get that done and I think they will."
It's not very often that you hear any player express such a strong opinion about personnel decisions, especially a rookie. Usually, answers to these questions come more in the form of "That's not something I can control." But with their dad's heavy involvement in the hockey business throughout his life, both Quinn and his brother Jack tend to be a lot more comfortable than most when addressing the business aspects of the game. They've literally been on a first-name basis with the NHL's movers and shakers since they were kids.
I'll be very interested to see if Quinn gave us a glimpse of inside intel with that remark. Or, maybe he's just expressing the kind of youthful innocence that I remember from my college days, or that we see in high-school set romantic comedies — that these are the best days of our lives and nothing will ever change.
I'm also interested to see whether or not Quinn brings home a second-straight Calder Trophy for the Canucks when the winners of the last five NHL Awards are announced on Monday.
Sportsnet's Scott Oake and NBC's Kenny Albert are hosting a 30-minute awards-show broadcast from the bubble in Edmonton, airing at 3:30 p.m. PT Monday on Sportsnet ahead of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at 5 p.m. PT on Monday night.
Quinn's main competition, of course, is Cale Makar of Colorado, with Dominik Kubalik of Chicago as the third finalist. In addition to out-pointing Makar in the regular season, Quinn also edged him out in the playoffs, with 16 points in 17 games while Makar went 15 in 15.
Both have now been passed in the playoff rookie scoring race by Denis Gurianov. He has nine goals and eight assists in 22 games for Dallas, including two game-winning goals, and is still playing.
Five awards will be handed out on Monday, presented by five 80s Oilers greats:
• Calder Trophy - presented by Wayne Gretzky
• Hart Trophy - presented by Wayne Gretzky
• Norris Trophy - presented by Paul Coffey
• Ted Lindsay Award - presented by Mark Messier
• Vezina Trophy - presented by Grant Fuhr
Two Lightning players who are still here in the bubble are nominees: Victor Hedman for the Norris and Andrei Vasilevskiy for the Vezina. I wonder if they'll be allowed to accept in person if they win?
I'm still not sure about Quinn's chances. I think the results will be very close when the final balloting is revealed, but that Makar might have the slight edge.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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