Blues Stanley Cup Plan: Do not expect the league to do the same

The Bruins, like the Jets, Stars and Sharks, have found the Blues too difficult to handle. The biggest difference for the Bruins in the seventh game, aside from their own staggering lack of pushback in the last two periods, was their keeper. Jordan Binnington.

Nothing new there, right? Goalkeepers too often, and some argue too systematically, will dictate failures and successes. Exhibit A: Otherwise for Tuukka Rask's In 2013 and in the spring, the Bruins are still looking for their first Cup final since 2011. Binnington was impossible to beat in the first 20 minutes of play. He still grew up with a 2-0 lead led by the first intermission.

All in all, the Blues have taken their first franchise history cup in terms of determination, strength and courage, factors that have been mitigated in the league, frankly, over the years since the Bruins won with their heavy roster in 2011. In a match now dominated by skill and speed – the latter sometimes playing against some skill – the Blues split this spring with a threatening and rigorous game, an imposing and sometimes daunting work along from the wall, a sandpaper and a mark encircling the net.

Will this model of energy and milling be followed by the other 30 teams in the NHL Original? Of course, to a certain extent, because there is no magic mojo in the determination and sharpness. If the coach preaches it and the players buy at the level that the Blues bought with Craig Berube, the cut is there for lifting.

Related: "I'll never come back from that": In the Bruins locker room after the seventh match

The Blues also mixed all this with an impressive touch of scoring from Jaden Schwartz (12 goals), Vladimir Tarasenko (11) Ryan O'Reilly (8) and David Perron (7). That's 38 goals from their top four forwards. The Bruins had about the same advantage of their top four: Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, and Charlie Cole, with nine each.

In itself, there is no secret sauce to play hard. Do not forget, aside from the fact that Bérubé gave Binnington a net, apparently as a last resort, mid-season, the same St. Louis roster ranks last in the standings at the date January 3, about six weeks after the coach. Mike Yeo was canned. The buy-in of the entire group did not occur until Binnington showed net worth. Suddenly, worth playing hard rewarded, the way a house heats up once someone decides to close the window and the door.

But if you think that St. Louis has a model that is easy to reproduce, think again.

Playing hard and heavy, although simple in theory, is not the way the talent pool is grown in 2019. It has never been the game taught in Europe, which offers so many fast and skilled players to the NHL . It is no longer taught in the United States, either as part of the NCAA National Team Development Program or Division 1.

Related: What the Blues did well, it's the score

The top three Canadian junior leagues have their pockets of this old-school tradition (some would say it's charm), but overall, from Quebec to Ontario via The Dub (WHL), the mantra has grown to speed and skill, superimposed on more speed and more skill.

So, even if the NHL's executive directors thought they were taking a more realistic approach, it's hard to imagine them being able to find players who fit the model. The tastes of Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, Dennis Seidenberg, and Johnny Boychuk, all the critical members of the title of the 2011 Boston Cup, do not cross this door. If they are, all the others will get around them like traffic cones.

In fact, it would not be surprising to see the Blues next year, especially in the regular season, struggling to regain the kind of discipline and energy that delivered the Cup, even though Binnington is solid at net. The 82-game regular season is long and the 8-9 week cup is grueling. Playing this game over a nine-month period is too much to ask, even for a Blues team that will return to work in October, while enjoying the reaffirmed glory that all the hard work has provided.

Speed ​​and skill will continue to dominate the NHL day, informing and guiding the general managers in the establishment of their list. They will continue to appreciate the skating, the puck move, the stick and the players capable of handling the game at a steady pace. All the other crushing factors, even if they are not to be taken into account, are for the most part curiosities that accompany it in the puppy mill, known as the "amateur pool".

It was largely an attempt to go back, with Bérubé, a coach who scored 3,149 penalty minutes during his NHL career, which delivered the 2019 Cup. Admirable, of course, and although it's not impossible to duplicate, it's just not the direction the game takes.

TIMES OF CRISIS

Two weeks critical for front offices

Outside of the playoff season, these next two weeks may include the most critical dates on the NHL calendar. The two-week buyback period began Saturday. It will be followed by this week's project in Vancouver (Friday-Saturday), followed by the annual free flea market, which opens Monday, July 1st.

July 1, which will see again ridiculously excessive payments paid to unrestricted free agents, is technically the same day, restricted free agents may also be the subject of an offer of sale. We say technically because the restricted free agent leaves now arrive with less frequency than the UFO sightings in Zone 51 or Exeter, N.H. (see: Barney and Betty Hill). Maybe if we look enough at the sky, will something happen?

In the era of wage ceilings, which began after the "lost" season of 2004-05, there were only eight RFA tender sheets, and only one resulted in the departure of A player.

In 2007, Anaheim refused to align the Edmonton offer (five years / $ 21.5 million) on the harness Dustin Penner. The good news, when Edmonton finally unloaded the unproductive Penner in Los Angeles more than three years later, the package included a first-round pick for the Kings, which allowed the Oilers' blue lining to win. Oscar Klefbom.

It was the same month of July, remember, the Oilers played an even more aggressive game with an offer sheet Germany-era-Saber Thomas Vanek. But the Sabers equalized, retaining Vanek at the then colossal price of seven years / $ 50 million. After just two seasons in the NHL, it went from $ 942,000 to an average of just over $ 7 million, with a $ 10 million payout for the first year.

This year, four names including the Maple Leafs forwards Mitch Marner and Kasperi Kapanen, lead the rumor as possible targets for RFA leaves. The same for the front Brayden Point (Tampa Bay) and William Karlsson (Vegas).

All arrive at the end of their entry-level contracts, with the exception of Karlsson, who opted a year ago for a year-old bridge and endowed $ 5.25 million after failing to reach a long-term deal with the Golden Knights. Its overall output has fallen by about 30% to 24-32-56 in 2018-2019. He is therefore unlikely to benefit from this huge salary that he had envisioned just a year ago.

Again, given the history of the RFA sheets, everything will remain in their current clubs, but it will be interesting to see how the Leafs will deal with the Marner-Kapanen tandem, especially after the 58.2 deal. million dollars that they have made for five years. Auston Matthews's portfolio in February.

Marner, 22, led the Leafs scoring in the past two years. Do you think he will want one of those deals of $ 11.6 million a year, like Matthews', no? Kapanen, acquired from Pittsburgh in the Phil Kessel second most productive winger of the club (20-24-44). Give at least $ 5 million to this man.

In Tampa, Point continues to improve, with the points total of the last three seasons (40, 66 and 92). The two Bolts that precede him on the list of goals last season, Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, on average $ 9 million a year. At a minimum, Point must be looking for the six-year / $ 40 million pact David Pastrnak signed with the Bruins in September 2017.

If someone receives an offer card, it will be the first in six years. Calgary in 2013 tried to defeat Ryan O'Reilly away from the Avalanche with a two-year contract totaling $ 10 million. Fortunately for the Flames, the Avalanche was up to the task.

Due to the technical nature of the ABC, the Flames, if they had acquired O'Reilly, would have been forced to give it up before adding it to their list. Surely O'Reilly would have been claimed, even with the $ 5 million sticker a year, and the Flames would have released the two preliminary choices, series 1 and 3, because of the avalanche.

ETC.

The ex-bruins could be back

In the June 2017 expansion project that stored Vegas, the Bruins were grieved when the Knights chose not to take Adam McQuaid and instead claimed Colin Miller, which they acquired during the transaction two years earlier Milan Lucic to kings.

A little over three months later, the Bruins were again grieved to lose the prospect of the number one goaltender. Malcolm Subban to the Knights via waivers on the eve of a new season. The Bruins had invested heavily in the athletic subban, the club's No. 24 pick in the 2012 draft, and had shown promising lightning streaks in his four seasons at AHL Providence.

Less than two years later, it seems the Bruins could have another chance to tackle both players.

The Knights, with the most expensive payroll in the league (everything goes fast in today's NHL), will at least need to clear money in order to get William
Karlsson under contract.

Subban, only 25 years old, will be a restricted autonomous player as of July 1st. His payroll number ($ 650,000 minimum in the league) is not taken into account in the already inflated list of Knights.

However, Miller, 26, is in the books for an additional three years at $ 3.875 million. A right-handed shot, he earned an average of 35 points in two seasons in the desert. Torey Krug Miller's pay rate is also significantly lower than Krug's balance of $ 5.25 million for the last year of his contract.

Miller is not as agile or fast as Krug, but he has a powerful and heavy slapper. If the Bruins were to move Krug, with the idea of ​​doing Charlie McAvoy Their quarterback on the power play at the right time, Miller could be referred to as the # 2 man, or provide relief to McAvoy, if necessary.

To land at Subban, the Bruins would probably forgo a draw, unless the Knights choose to release him. With Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak locked in academic jobs, that would mean a return to Subban from AHL Providence. Not ideal, but not the worst place to settle and grow your sport.

Loose washers

Not to be missed in the disappointing Bruins finish: Krug only outshot Rask for his overall playoff performance. The 5-foot-9 dynamo finished 2-16-18, third in the team scoring, and earned a spot in the Black and Gold traditions with his own hit and blowing on the Blues Robert Thomas in the first game of the Stanley Cup final. In the last three playoff seasons, Krug had 30 points, second behind the unrestricted free agent. Erik Karlsson (34 points) and a check mark in front of capitals
John Carlson (29). The trade winds persist as ex-Bruins Lucic and Loui Eriksson will change shirts, Lucic returning to his hometown of Vancouver and Eriksson joining the Oilers Challenge. Both should give up their transactions without a transaction, considered likely, given the similarity of their business since the signing of their onerous contracts. Eriksson has another three years with a cap of $ 6 million, while Lucic has four more with $ 6 million. The Canucks could use Lucic's attack on the wings, if he's still willing to hit, and the Oilers need help to score. Of course, the Canucks did it when they signed Eriksson, but they saw him score 31 goals over his three seasons in British Columbia. . . The July 1 Blue Jackets may lose their top three free agents –
Artemi Panarin, Matt Ducheneand goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky. With the former boss of the Blue Jackets John Davidson Now president of the Rangers, it is possible that Panarin and Bobrovsky follow him on Broadway. This can only happen if the king Henrik Lundqvist, with $ 8.5 million a year for two years, agrees to give up its non-trading contract. . . Phil Kessel remains in Pittsburgh (but for how long?) after apparently signing an agreement with Minnesota that would have brought the left wing Jason Zucker to the penguins. Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford He is believed to remain keenly interested in Kessel's move as a way to help coaches. Mike Sullivan reshape and revitalize the offense. A move to nature would have brought Kessel back to his home country, but he would have canceled the exchange because he did not think that nature was ready to play a Cup. It sounds like a fair calculation, but he might also have said the same thing about St. Louis a year ago. . . Patrice Bergeron will participate in the NHL Awards show on Wednesday night in Vegas, where he will again be nominated for the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward. Last June, he lost to Anze Kopitar. A win would give Patrice The Thief a fifth Selke record. . . Trapped, the Predators may have to go to the left wing Viktor Arvidsson, which is stuck at a comfortable ceiling ($ 4.25 million) for the next five seasons. It averages around 55 points per season and would seem like a perfect second-line fit with David Krejci as a distributor. . . The Bruins announced Friday that their development camp will be held June 26-28 at Warrior Rink in Brighton. Finally, hockey is finally back in the center. The revealing cold is in the air.