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Is it important to have a winning farm team? Pettersson headed to Worlds |
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When I posted my bracket before the playoffs began, I warned that I tend to get crushed on this exercise because I pick too many underdogs.
This year, my underdogs are doing pretty well so far. The Islanders are through; the Avs and Golden Knights are one game away from advancing. And most of my favourites are in decent shape—the Caps, Preds, Bruins and Jets are tied or better.
But my bracket is busted in six days because I believed in the overwhelming favourite: I had the Tampa Bay Lightning to win the Stanley Cup. Oops.
The silver lining for Canucks fans: the Blue Jackets’ four-game sweep becomes the biggest rout ever over a Presidents’ Trophy-winning team—even worse than when the Canucks got crushed by the Kings in five games in 2012. It’ll be fascinating to see if Columbus ends up on a run like L.A. had on their way to winning the Cup that year. It’s not out of the question.
Though I thought Tampa would advance easily, it’s not like Columbus isn’t without a large arsenal of weapons. We saw that firsthand when they steamrolled the Canucks at Rogers Arena on March 24—after the team meeting that seemed to finally set them on course. In the first month after the trade deadline, they were 6-7-1 and at risk of missing the playoffs entirely. Their 5-0 shutout of Vancouver kicked off a 7-1-1 stretch to close the season.
They came in hot against the Lightning, kept their composure after that tough first period in Game 1 in Tampa, and haven’t looked back. Sergei Bobrovsky showed that he does deserve top dollar as a UFA this summer, with a 2.01 GAA and .932 save percentage through Round 1. Offensively, the Blue Jackets have enjoyed balanced scoring but have been led by Matt Duchene, who went 4-8-12 in 23 regular-season games after joining Columbus but has been on fire with 4-3-7 in the Blue Jackets’ first four playoff games.
Meanwhile, it’s Oliver Bjorkstrand whose two goals have both been game-winners, and 19-year-old Alexandre Texier of France who has been taking a regular shift and was rewarded with his first two playoff goals on Tuesday, barely a month after he landed in North America when his Finnish League season ended.
Bjorkstrand came onto my radar when he scored the overtime winner that delivered the Calder Cup to Columbus' AHL farm team, then called the Lake Erie Monsters, in 2016.
A few days ago, I posted some comments from Calgary GM Jim Treliving about how the only thing that matters for his farm team is developing players; he doesn't care if they win or not.
On the other side of that coin, the Monsters' success in 2016 seems to be bleeding into what's happening now with the Blue Jackets. In addition to Bjorkstrand, other key players now on Columbus who got a taste of a title three years ago include Josh Anderson, Zach Werenski, Dean Kukan—and Jaime Sifers, who just hung up his skates after two seasons in Utica.
Another team that seems to be reaping the rewards of recent minor-league success is the Dallas Stars, whose farm team lost to the Toronto Marlies in last year's Calder Cup Final.
That group included Roope Hintz, Justin Dowling and Jason Dickinson, who have all been skating with the Stars in the playoffs. Dallas is being led offensively by Mats Zuccarello, who has three goals. Hintz and Alexander Radulov each have two.
Here's the opposite perspective from Treliving's, from one-time Canuck goaltender Mike McKenna:
Let the debate continue about how the Canucks should operate their farm team in Utica!
Elsewhere—have you been watching Calgary/Colorado? What a series! There was so much speed on display in Denver on Wednesday night, I felt like my TV feed was on fast forward. It was reminiscent of that 7-6 overtime thriller that the Canucks played against the Avs back in November, which remains one of the most breathtaking games I've ever seen live.
I'm such a fan of the way Colorado plays—and of course, their coach Jared Bednar was the man behind the bench for those 2016 Lake Erie Monsters, too.
One other note I wanted to mention: there's some nervousness among Avs fans about the fact that the team has burned a year of Cale Makar's contract by inserting him straight into the lineup after his Hobey Baker win last week. He has been fantastic—he scored in his first game and logged more than 20 minutes of ice time on Wednesday, including some crucial minutes with the outcome on the line late in the third period and in overtime. But because Makar is already 20—one year older than Quinn Hughes—these playoff appearances mean that he'll now need to be protected in the Seattle expansion draft.
How far does Colorado need to advance in order to make that decision seem worthwhile?
A few other quick hits to wrap up today:
Petey's in for Team Sweden in Slovakia next month.
Tyler Madden is named Northeastern's rookie of the year.
Will Lockwood will spend his senior season as captain of the Michigan Wolverines.
Another Canuck who was once a captain in Michigan? Brendan Morrison.
And finally, don't forget—today's the first day of the World U18 Championship in Sweden.
Two games are televised, both at 10:30 a.m. PT. Canada is taking on Finland on TSN5, while the U.S. faces Sweden on TSN3.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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