The Stanley Cup Final kicks off Monday in Tampa.
My bracket was busted long ago; I don't think any of my teams made it past the second round. Looking at this series on its own, I'm taking the Lightning in seven, with Brayden Point as my Conn Smythe winner.
Who do you have?
Obviously, by projecting a seven-game series, I don't think this is going to be a blowout by any means. Last week, I started thinking that this Montreal group bears some resemblance to the 1994 Canucks. Do you see it? How the first-round comeback from 3-1 lights a fuse that carries the team all the way to the Final?
Today, I stumbled upon another interesting tie-in between the two teams while working on
this Stanley Cup Final preview for Forbes:
(Montreal's) .527 points percentage in the regular season ranked them 18th out of the league’s 31 teams, and is the lowest such number for a Stanley Cup finalist since the 1994 Vancouver Canucks (.506).
Though I picked the Leafs to win in Round 1, I thought the Habs might have a chance once they started to mount their comeback. Maybe it's partially because of how good they looked against Vancouver all year. I know I never bought into the 'weak North Division' narrative when there's no way we can judge that without an interlocking schedule.
Now, I think they'll be tough to play against in the Final. The Lightning have the depth, the top-end talent and the experience, but Montreal has the
je ne sais quoi, right?
I think (hope?) it'll make for an entertaining series.
Watching the players on both teams get trotted out two-by-two for Media Day on Sunday got me thinking about roster construction, particularly through the draft.
That's where the Canucks have been strongest over Jim Benning's tenure. How do Vancouver's draft picks stack up against Montreal and Tampa?
This is a fairly lengthy exercise. So I'm going to cover the first two seasons today, and follow up in future blogs.
2014
Benning's first five picks from the 2014 draft all reached the NHL. Thatcher Demko still has a chance to improve this report card if he takes the next step to star status. But with 100 points in 317 career NHL games, Jake Virtanen is now officially a disappointment. Jared McCann and Gustav Forsling have been solid — but for other teams — and Nikita Tryamkin is now a forgotten man.
Montreal: By 2014, Marc Bergevin was in his third season in charge of the Canadiens, and the draft was basically a dud. Seventh-rounder Jake Evans is still with the team, and is just starting to become an everyday player. He appeared in 47 games in the regular-season and has dressed for four in the playoffs this year.
Only two other draft picks have logged NHL games. Nikita Scherbak, 26th overall, went back to Russia for two years and spent last season with the AHL's Texas Stars. And third-rounder Brent Lernout played 21 games with the Habs. He spent last season with the AHL Colorado Eagles.
Tampa Bay: In 2014, Steve Yzerman was in his fourth year as GM for the Lightning and Jon Cooper was in his first full year as coach. The Lightning had seven picks in the 2014 draft. Four of them didn't play any NHL games, while fourth-rounder late bloomer Ben Thomas is still with the organization and got into his first five NHL games as a defenseman this season. The one-time Vancouver Giant is in his sixth season as a minor-leaguer with the Syracuse Crunch — impressive perseverance!
In the first round, Tampa Bay picked up defenseman Tony DeAngelo at 19th overall. He played just one season with the Crunch before being sent to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a second rounder.
But of course, Yzerman's
pièce de résistance in 2014 was picking up Brayden Point in the third round, at No. 79. At Media Day on Sunday, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois talked about how the knock on Point in his draft year was his skating, and gave Point credit for turning himself into the big-game player we see today. As for Point, he admitted that he didn't think his skating was *that* bad. But when he got to work with Barb Underhill, she was able to identify and correct deficiencies that he wasn't even aware of.
In addition to that Stanley Cup ring he already has, compare Point's regular-season numbers to Virtanen's and weep:
351 GP, 139-171-310
2015
The 2015 draft delivered an embarrassment of riches, and the Canucks scooped up a terrific player when they snagged Brock Boeser at 23rd overall. With 98-112-210 in 253 career games, Boeser ranks ninth in scoring in his draft class, despite having played the fewest games of anybody in the top 16. Considering he was a late first-rounder and has dealt with some injury issues, he has panned out as an outstanding selection.
But the Canucks had seven picks in 2015, and the only other player to have played meaningful games was fifth-rounder Adam Gaudette. He has 56 points in 160 career games and is now, of course, a member of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Just one other player from the 2015 draft class has any NHL experience — defenseman Guillaume Brisebois, who has played nine games and is still looking for his first NHL point.
Lukas Jasek was also selected in the sixth round that year, but after signing to go back to the Czech Republic next season, I'm assuming his time as a Canucks prospect has come to an end.
Montreal: After a run to the Eastern Conference Final in 2014 and a second-round loss to the Lightning one year later, the 2015 draft was rough for the Canadiens. They had just five picks, and only two of those five players have played any NHL games.
Drafted in the third round, Swedish centre Lukas Vejdemo is still with the organization, currently skating as a Black Ace. He suited up for seven games with the Canadiens last season, but spent this year with the Laval Rocket and on the taxi squad.
The Canadiens had high hopes for defenseman Noah Juulsen, the Surrey-born defenseman drafted 26th overall, three spots behind Boeser. He had some injury issues which kept him out for long periods, so he managed just 44 games with the Canadiens. This season, he was placed on waivers and claimed by the defenseman-hoarding Florida Panthers, who got him into four NHL games.
Tampa Bay: Coming off a first-round sweep at the hands of the Canadiens in the 2014 playoffs, the Lightning lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Despite having traded their first-rounder to Philadelphia for Braydon Coburn at the 2015 trade deadline, the Lightning still managed to make nine picks in 2015.
Out of that, they got a couple of quietly useful players: winger Mathieu Joseph, a fourth-round pick, is now up to 163 regular-season games, with 52 points, and second-rounder Mitchell Stephens has now played 45 games.
The prize here is Anthony Cirelli — the tenacious two-way centre who was picked 72nd overall. He's now up to 116 points in 218 NHL games. That's 19th in his very good draft class — and offense isn't even his calling card!
It's incredible to think that the Lightning filled out their centre depth with a pair of third-rounders who have turned out to be this good. And with their second-round selection lost to Calgary in the Sven Baertschi trade, the Canucks took Brisebois six picks ahead of Cirelli in Round 3.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda...
I'll move on to 2016 and 2017 in the next blog.
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