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Poll: Who Wins The 2022 Stanley Cup Final?

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With the only multi-day break in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final occurring between Games 1 and 2, both the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning have plenty of time to process the events of a tight first game and adjust for the rest of the series. The Colorado Avalanche took a crucial overtime win at home to kick off the series, but both teams had their own flashes of brilliance to open the series.

As the Lightning have shown so far in these playoffs, though, no series lead against them is safe. One thing they can count on is the improvement of two important players: Brayden Point and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Point had an assist in 17:59 of ice time in Game 1, his first game in over a month and first game since the First Round. As he gets back to game speed, his ice time and compete level will only go up throughout the series, making the matchups tougher for the Avalanche and Jared Bednar. Vasilevskiy was also noticeably off his game at points on Wednesday, having issues tracking some pucks early in the game. He settled in, though, and as he has throughout these playoffs, will only get better as the series goes on.

The Avalanche are still waiting on Nazem Kadri to return to the lineup, who continues to practice and improve as he battles a thumb injury. Even if/when Kadri returns, he won’t be at 100%, and with how well the unit of Valeri Nichushkin, J.T. Compher, and Andre Burakovsky performed in Game 1, it might be better to try Kadri in a more limited role regardless. That would surely help the matchup game for Bednar, who would suddenly have a huge weapon to throw out with his depth forwards. Andrew Cogliano was also a full participant in today’s practice and could return for Game 2 on Saturday.

The question remains: will the Avalanche be able to hold onto their series lead and end the Tampa Bay run of championships despite their injuries and disadvantage in the crease? We ask you, PHR readers, to give us your take. Vote who you think will win the 2022 Stanley Cup Final in the poll below.

[Mobile users, click here to vote!]

Tampa Bay Lightning Extend Sean Day

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While the Lighting’s main focus has to be on tying their Stanley Cup Final series against the Colorado Avalanche, that hasn’t stopped their front office from getting some offseason work done early. Today the Lightning announced that they have re-signed defenseman Sean Day to a one-year, two-way contract. Per CapFriendly, the deal carries a $750k cap hit, a $750k NHL salary, a $200k AHL salary, and $225k in total guarantees.

Day, 24, is perhaps best known for being one of the few players granted exceptional status by the Ontario Hockey League. As an “exceptional player,” Day joined an elite group of OHL players including John Tavares, Connor McDavid, and Aaron Ekblad. Unfortunately, Day did not live up to his exceptional-status billing. While he wasn’t a bad OHL-er by any means, he struggled to be a true difference-maker until he got older and ended up on three different OHL teams during his five-year major junior career.

Day was drafted with the New York Rangers’ top pick at the 2016 draft, going 81st overall. The Rangers signed Day to his entry-level deal and at the conclusion of his OHL career plugged him into their minor league system. He bounced between the AHL and ECHL levels for his first two professional seasons before his contract was terminated, he became a free agent and signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. With the Lightning’s affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, Day become an AHL regular and this past season registered his most successful year as a pro, scoring 40 points in 69 games. Day averaged just under 19 minutes of time on ice per game, and his breakout AHL year led him to his first NHL call-up. Day got into two NHL games this year and averaged 10:43 time on ice per game.

Day’s one-year extension gives him the chance to stay in Syracuse and continue a career trajectory that’s pointed upwards ever since the start of 2021-22. While he may never end up fulfilling the potential he held as a junior, he seems to be on his way toward carving out a role as dependable organizational depth for one of the top franchises in the NHL.

Brayden Point Could Return For Game 1 Of Cup Final

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Jun 14: There’s finally confirmation that Brayden Point will be back within the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup this season. Point took practice today with the team, practicing on the first power-play unit. Head coach Jon Cooper said after practice that “there’s a chance” Point will play in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final tomorrow night, and that he “really anticipates” Point being available for Game 2.

Snapshots: Point, Mock Draft, Kassian

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As the Stanley Cup Final is set to commence in two days, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche will retake the ice today to practice ahead of their last four to seven games of the season. Of note from Tampa’s side of things is that injured star center Brayden Point continued to take part in practice today and took line rushes for the first time, centering a line between Nick Paul and Ross Colton, per The Athletic’s Joe Smith. However, assistant coach Jeff Halpern said after practice that “he didn’t know if you could read too much” into Point’s status, noting that it was a light session.

Tampa will be waiting anxiously to get an answer on when Point can return. Given the uncertain health of Nazem Kadri on the other side for Colorado, Tampa Bay having their full center depth available to them would give them a much greater chance at winning their third straight Stanley Cup.

  • With the 2022 NHL Draft now within a month, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, one of the top public prospect evaluators, released his 2022 NHL Mock Draft, taking team needs, consensus, and intel into account aside from just his own rankings. Although more and more doubt remains around the status of Kingston Frontenacs center Shane Wright as the Montreal Canadiens’ no. 1 overall pick, Wheeler still has Wright listed in the first spot. Rounding out the top five is winger Juraj Slafkovsky to the New Jersey Devils, center Logan Cooley to the Arizona Coyotes, defenseman Simon Nemec going first off the board among d-men to the Seattle Kraken, and defenseman David Jiricek headed to the Philadelphia Flyers.
  • The first buyout window of the offseason opens July 1, and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli has Edmonton Oilers winger Zack Kassian at the top of his list of 10 buyout candidates for this summer. Kassian, who carries a cap hit of $3.2MM through 2024, mustered just 19 points in 58 games this season and averaged under nine minutes per game in the playoffs. With the 31-year-old forward only set to continue declining, Edmonton could take the buyout penalty to free up more space to improve their depth scoring. The buyout for Kassian is relatively benign, per CapFriendly, with a cap hit of $666,667 in 2022-23, $1,866,667 in 2023-24, and $966,667 in 2024-25 and 2025-26. It offers $2.5MM in savings upfront in 2022-23, an appealing number for general manager Ken Holland.

Brayden Point Doubtful For Game Six Of ECF

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  • After earlier reports that Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point could be a game-time decision for tonight’s Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals, it appears he is now considered doubtful, says Seravalli. Though it would be disappointing for Tampa to again be without one of their best players, Seravalli does add that Point is very likely to play in Tampa’s next game, whether that be in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals, or in Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals, depending on the result of tonight’s game. Point was injured during Game Seven of Tampa Bay’s first round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs and has not played since. As crucial as Point has been to Tampa Bay’s recent playoff success, the team has managed to go 8-2 since he went down, including the game against Toronto, losing only the first two games of the conference final.

Brayden Point Likely To Be Game-Time Decision

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  • Lightning head coach Jon Cooper told reporters, including ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, that center Brayden Point will officially be a game-time decision. He took the gameday skate and will later decide whether or not to take part in pregame warmups with a call on whether or not to play to come after that.  Point has missed the last nine games with a lower-body injury sustained in the final game of the opening round against Toronto.

Free Agent Focus: Tampa Bay Lightning

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Free agency is now less than six weeks away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in mid-July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. Next up is a look at the Lightning.

RFAs: F Tye Felhaber, F Simon Ryfors, F Otto Somppi, F Odeen Tufto, D Sean Day, D Alex Green, G Alexei Melnichuk

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Ondrej Palat — Entering his 30s now, the Czech is in line for the second payday of his career as his five-year, $26.5MM contract signed in 2017 expires this offseason. Palat remains a dominant playmaking winger on the top line of a team entering the dynasty conversation with a third consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearance within reach. While injuries have somewhat artificially lowered his regular-season point totals, he’s remained remarkably consistent, notching between 15 and 20 goals for three consecutive seasons. It’s in the playoffs where Palat has done his best work, though. He’s really shone through on Tampa’s current run, scoring eight goals, six assists, and 14 points in 16 games, the best points-per-game rate in his playoff career. He was equally as impressive during Tampa’s first Cup run in 2020, scoring 11 goals in 25 games and playing 20:55 per game. He’s been leaned on heavily in the second and third rounds this year with Brayden Point’s injury, and his performance is only boosting the number he’ll receive on his next contract. Whether Palat becomes the latest player to fall victim to Tampa’s constant cap crunch remains to be seen.

F Nick Paul — The Trade Deadline acquisition from the Ottawa Senators has done it all for the Lightning in his short tenure, most notably with his two-goal performance to knock out the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 in the First Round. Paul’s shown his ability to stick out on an already talented team, as his defensive game (especially on the penalty kill) has fortified Tampa’s depth in a much-needed way. While a defensive specialist first and foremost, he did have 14 points down the stretch in 21 games for Tampa and he’s added seven points in 16 playoff games. If that’s a sign of what Paul can really produce on a good team, he should be a hot commodity in free agency among contenders who have a little more cap flexibility. In the same way that Yanni Gourde broke out and flourished in the same third-line center role, few would expect Tampa to be able to retain Paul’s services as a UFA. It’s never a good idea to count out general manager Julien BriseBois and his team’s expert cap management, though, and he’d continue to play an important depth role moving forward.

D Jan Rutta —  A latecomer to NHL action, making his NHL debut at 27, Rutta’s been used as the partner to Victor Hedman at even strength and gotten the job done. While his special teams minutes are nonexistent aside from a small amount of penalty-killing time, he’s been an important depth piece for Tampa, although maybe not to the degree of someone like Paul. He’s demonstrated that he can be reliable in limited minutes or with sheltered competition, making him an ideal, cheap complementary veteran for a team’s top players. If Rutta demands a raise on his current $1.3MM cap hit, though, it could be tough for the Lightning to keep him around. Teams are constantly willing to pay up for right-shot UFA defensemen, and Rutta could benefit financially from that market elsewhere.

Other UFAs: F Riley Nash, F Remi Elie, F Charles Hudon, F Anthony Richard, D Fredrik Claesson, D Darren Raddysh, G Maxime Lagace

Projected Cap Space

At first glance, things really don’t look good for the Lightning this offseason. CapFriendly already projects them in the red for this offseason with a -$2MM figure for their projected cap space. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story, as the potential LTIR relief from Brent Seabrook’s $6.785MM figure isn’t incorporated into that total. Tampa likely has closer to $4.5MM to work with this offseason, which, if they do plan on keeping Palat around, will likely all go to him (if he’ll take a discount).

It’s likely that the Lightning lose another key piece this offseason, whether it be due to Palat walking or the team trading away another player. Some eyes would look at Ryan McDonagh and his $6.75MM cap hit as juicy trade material to free up space, especially considering the team still has Mikhail Sergachev stuck behind Hedman and McDonagh on the depth chart. He still plays an incredibly important role on the team, though, and it would be a tough goodbye considering the team’s lack of real depth on the right side.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

NHL Announces Stanley Cup Final Schedule Scenarios

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With time winding down on the Eastern Conference Final and the Colorado Avalanche already punching their ticket through, the NHL is beginning to prepare for the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. Today, the league announced the schedule scenarios for the penultimate series, which is dependent on whether the Eastern Conference Final goes to six or seven games.

If the Tampa Bay Lightning, who hold a 3-2 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final, win Game 6 and advance tomorrow night, the Cup Final will commence on Wednesday, June 15th. If the New York Rangers force a Game 7, the series will begin Saturday, June 18. In either scenario, every Stanley Cup Final game will begin at 7:00 p.m. CT.

The Colorado Avalanche, who missed out on the Presidents’ Trophy this season by just three points, hold the home-ice advantage in both scenarios. The last possible day for the 2021-22 NHL season is Thursday, June 30, which is when Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final would occur if the Eastern Conference Final stretches to seven games.

The games are spaced evenly, and played every other day, aside from Games 1 and 2 of the six-game Eastern Conference Final scenario, where Tampa Bay and Colorado would play Game 1 on June 15 and wait until June 18 to play Game 2. In the United States, the 2022 Stanley Cup Final will be broadcast on ABC for the first time in 18 years.

Brayden Point Remains Out For Game Five

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June 9: A few days later and the story remains the same. Cooper has ruled Point out for game five, despite him once again taking morning skate with his teammates.

June 6: Though he was on the ice again today, Brayden Point still won’t be able to make his return to the lineup for game four. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward was ruled out immediately by head coach Jon Cooper, who spoke to reporters including Joe Smith of The Athletic.

It’s not that anyone really expected Point to be back in the lineup, given how Cooper has discussed the situation so far, but with the Lightning winning game three there is at least hope now that he’ll be able to make an appearance. The New York Rangers still have a lead in the series but after being thoroughly outplayed yesterday afternoon–the Lightning recorded 52 shots against Igor Shesterkin–there is now some momentum for the defending champs.

Perhaps more notably, should it get to that point, is a report from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period that the Stanley Cup Final will start on either June 15 or June 18. That could potentially give someone like Point plenty of time to get back to health before the series starts, should they be able to get past the young, upstart Rangers squad.

Given that the Conference Finals could potentially be over by June 9, that would be nearly a week before the final kicked off, long enough to mend many of the bumps and bruises that players are dealing with these days, or at least give them a brief period of relief.

Jake Dotchin Signs Extension In Czechia

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A former up-and-coming, top-pairing fill-in for the Tampa Bay Lightning has signed a two-year extension in Czechia. Defenseman Jake Dotchin will continue with Rytíři Kladno of the Tipsport Extraliga for two seasons, as the team announced today.

Dotchin, a sixth-round draft pick of the Lightning in 2012, broke into the NHL in 2016-17 when injuries limited the Lightning to missing the playoffs entirely. He played 35 games with the Lightning that year, notching 11 assists and notably saw time with Victor Hedman on the team’s top pair. It earned him a two-year contract extension to keep him within the organization.

As the Lightning regained their elite status as a team, Dotchin saw only 48 games in 2017-18 as he remained a full-time member of the NHL club. Then, as Dotchin reported for camp prior to the 2018-19 season, the Lightning terminated his contract, citing a material breach of contract. It was later reported that Dotchin had shown up to camp extremely out of shape and was not fit for game action. Dotchin did sign with the Anaheim Ducks but played only 20 NHL games that year before seeing only AHL action in 2019-20. He sat out from professional hockey entirely during the COVID-stricken 2020-21 season before signing with Kladno last year.

Dotchin scored 21 points in 50 games this past season with Kladno and tallied 98 penalty minutes as well. He scored an additional goal and four assists in five qualification games to help Kladno stay in the top-tier Czech league for one more season. He’ll remain a core part of that Kladno team for the foreseeable future, possibly alongside former NHL stars Jaromir Jagr and Tomas Plekanec, who were both active for the club last year. Regardless, considering Dotchin will be 30 at the expiry of the contract, it likely marks a clear end to his NHL career.

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