The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a chance to win the Stanley Cup on home ice on Thursday night. They say the last game is always the hardest to win—and Canuck fans have memories of a 1994 team that rallied from a 3-1 deficit, only to come up a little short—but the Penguins have never trailed in this series and are getting goals from up and down their lineup. Seriously—Ian Cole? Eric Fehr? Those are some unlikely heroes right there.
I'm happy for the Pens, and I'm especially happy for Nick Bonino, but I'm also relieved that he probably won't win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Scott Burnside of ESPN ranks Bonino fifth among Pittsburgh's Conn Smythe candidates, which seems about right to me.
Burnside ranks the players like this: Crosby, Murray, Kessel, Letang, Bonino. I'd buy that. Crosby may not have been a superstar scorer in these playoffs but he has been an important leader in this series and I'd argue that he stepped up his offensive game against what was probably his team's toughest opponent, scoring three of Pittsburgh's four game-winning goals against Tampa Bay.
Crosby has also showed a new maturity this year. Remember when opponents used to be able to get under his skin, throwing him off his game and triggering complaints to the referee? We haven't seen any of that this year—he has been all business.
I will say, however, that it's going to be weird to think of Mike Sullivan as a Stanley Cup-winning coach. He was such a non-entity as John Tortorella's assistant during his time here in Vancouver, and he never showed any signs of this sort of coaching genius when he ran the Boston Bruins for two seasons. The Bruins had a 104-point regular season and won their division during his first year in 2003-04, but got bounced in the first round by Montreal in a seven-game series, then they imploded in the year after the lockout, falling back to 74 points. That got Sullivan fired at the end of the year—and got Joe Thornton traded to the Sharks on December 1, 2005. I'm a little surprised that we haven't heard more about how that deal came down during Sullivan's time behind the Boston bench.
The Penguins' coaching arc with Sullivan this year is the same as it was in 2009, when Dan Bylsma moved up from the AHL team in Wilkes-Barre Scranton at midseason to guide the team to a championship. Sullivan had a bit more time with his team—he was promoted in mid-December of 2015, while Bylsma didn't take the reins until mid-February of 2009.
I wonder how John Tortorella is feeling right now about seeing his old crony have so much success?
The Latest on Lucic
News1130 got ahold of Milan Lucic on Tuesday to talk about what he'll do if he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
If you go through the timeline, there are a number of other Tweets where Lucic talks about wanting to play in a good atmosphere and have a chance to win a Stanley Cup. I wonder if Jim Benning would be able to convince him that those criteria would be met in Vancouver next season?
After all their years of futility, I feel like the Oilers would have a tough time with their sell job, too. Edmonton in December isn't exactly on par with Manhattan Beach. Sure, they have Connor McDavid, but I feel like the Oilers are still at least a couple more years away from being competitive, assuming they iron out their issues on the blue line.
Vegas a Done Deal?
The NHL has declined to announce the recommendation on expansion that came out of yesterday's comittee meeting, but Las Vegas hockey fansite The Sin Bin says the recommendation is a done deal.
I guess we'll have to wait until all 30 teams vote at the Board of Governors' meeting on June 22—where 24 "yes" votes would be required—before the deal is rubber-stamped. It certainly looks like we'll have an expansion draft to look forward to next year, and that Vegas will be added to the...Pacific Division?...starting in 2017-18.
Meet Erik Gudbranson
I'll wrap up today by looping back to an
Ed Willes story from
The Province last week, in case you missed it.
New Canucks defenceman Erik Gudbranson was on an African safari with none other than his former teammate (and ex-Canuck) Shawn Matthias when he was traded a couple of weeks ago, but has quickly warmed to the idea of playing in Vancouver.
"I've never been traded before, not even in junior, and it came as a shock," he says. "After that subsided and I had a chance to think about it, the excitement grows and grows.
"Ever since I was a kid I've wanted to play in Canada. I've been warned Canada is a whole different animal, but I relish the opportunity. You see guys playing under that pressure and that's something that excites me. Why wouldn't it?"
The 24-year-old goes on to talk about how he is just starting to dial in the consistency that he understands is necessary to be successful long-term in the NHL. "To that end, former Canuck blueliner and Panthers captain Willie Mitchell was an invaluable resource," writes Willes. "Mitchell had gone through a similar patch early in his career before establishing himself as an ultra-reliable, ultra-competitive defensive defenceman."
Gudbranson also believes that he can help supply some much-needed offense from the defence for Vancouver this year.
"I know I can score," he says. "I'm very confident in what I do on the ice."
Now, here's hoping that confidence will help him settle in successfully when he suits up with the Canucks this fall.
"People ask me if I'm worried about what I'm walking into," he says. "I'm not. I'm here to play hockey."
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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