I hung in with the Utica Comets till the very end yesterday, and Cal O'Reilly made it a little bit interesting when he scored to make the game 2-1 with 15 seconds left in the third period. In the end, Utica was no match for the Manchester Monarchs, who hoisted the Calder Cup on Utica's home ice.
The Monarchs lost just four games in their entire playoff run, while the Comets may have run out of gas after three long series to get to the Finals.
No player seemed more excited about yesterday's victory than our old pal BizNasty2Point0, a victim of the tough-guy purge at the NHL level who managed to carve out a role for himself in Manchester this year.
In his euphoria, Bissonnette had time to dish out some heartfelt compliments to the Comets:
Going into the Finals, there was some talk that Jacob Markstrom should be named playoff MVP whether the Comets won or lost. I guess the six goals against in Game 4 put an end to that line of thinking, because the honour ended up going to Manchester center Jordan Weal—of North Vancouver.
The diminutive center—listed at 5'10" and 179 pounds—tied with teammate Michael Mersch for the lead in playoff scoring with 22 points and was a solid plus-12. It'll be interesting to see if the 23-year-old, who was taken by the Kings in the third round in 2010, will be able to translate his play to a big-league level.
Elliotte Friedman has a new edition of
30 Thoughts up at Sportsnet.ca today, and includes this thought from Jim Benning about the Monarchs and the Kings' player development process.
“Have you ever been to the rink in Manchester?” Canucks GM Jim Benning said Saturday. (No.) “They have a banner showing all of the players who played here on their first Stanley Cup team. Then, they have a banner with all of those who played on the second one. They are the gold standard of our business, drafting and developing. That’s what we want to get to.”
I guess this means we're now following the Kings model—although hopefully without the legal issues that have swirled around L.A. this year!
Elliotte asked Benning how many Comets he thought could make the jump to the NHL next year:
“I’d say, three-to-five of them,” Benning replied. My guess is that includes goalie Jacob Markstrom, defencemen Adam Clendening and Frankie Corrado and forward Sven Baertschi.
Jake Virtanen and Alex Grenier are the other two Comets that Benning has frequently name-checked during the playoff run.
Utica captain Cal O'Reilly ended the playoffs ranked fourth in scoring, with 19 points. The 28-year-old really was the glue that held the team together in front of Markstrom. O'Reilly's an unrestricted free agent this year. I wonder if he'll look around for a team that might give him another shot at the NHL?
Sven Baertschi wrapped up the playoffs with a team-leading eight goals and was tied for second overall in scoring with 15 points, along with Grenier. Brendan Gaunce was the team's top rookie with four goals and nine points.
Markstrom finished the playoffs with a 2.11 goals-against average and .925 save percentage—ironically, the identical goals-against number that Manchester rookie Patrik Bartosak posted in his three games in relief of injured Monarchs starter J.F. Berube.
The Comets had a tough time generating offense against a tight Monarchs defense but outshot Manchester 32-19 in Game 5 last night, with Bartosak making big saves all night long. The 22-year-old did an outstanding job of stepping into a high-pressure situation, especially considering that he'd been dealing with an injury himself right before Berube went down.
Back to "30 Thoughts." While Elliotte confirms that Ryan Miller is not on the trade block, he suggests that the idea of the Canucks trading a goalie for a draft pick is not a sure thing—a "hockey trade" is possible. "So, if it is Eddie Lack, for example, it’s not guaranteed to be Lack for a pick. Possible, but not a lock."
Maybe that does leave open the possibility of a package deal with a player like Kevin Bieksa? It shouldn't be long now until we find out.
Would Bieksa waive to go to a storied organization like Detroit?
Hearing Detroit is looking for a defenceman who can take some of the physical responsibility from Niklas Kronwall. While the Red Wings like their prospects, they see too many similarities to what is already there. Wanted: someone with a bit of mean.
As usual, there's plenty more fodder in Friedman's column about potential moves that could be made by other teams—which leaves room to speculate if any of those groups would be a good trade partner for Vancouver.
I liked this comment, about the prospect of a team signing Boston's RFA defenseman Dougie Hamilton to an offer sheet:
“I’d like to see the guy who does that to Jeremy Jacobs,” one GM said.
Let's leave it here for today. We've got one—maybe two—more games of Stanley Cup Final, then the hockey-free abyss opens up for the next three months. Sigh.
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