William Nylander makes waves across the hockey world after his MVP performance on the world stage, Nashville celebrates its first ever Stanley Cup Final berth, Randy Carlyle voices complaint about the Ducks’ Round 3 scheduling, and more in the links.
Leafs/NHL Links
Loss at hockey worlds still stings for Maple Leafs’ Marner (Toronto Sun)
“It’s been an (eventful) year. Obviously, I didn’t know what was going to happen between Toronto and London. And then getting the opportunity to make the team. And then obviously playoffs and world championships, it’s been a pretty big thrill. Now it’s nice that I have no camps that I have to go to. I can relax and concentrate on getting my body ready for this season and really dial it in.”
Black: Watching Nylander at the Worlds was incredible (TSN1050)
TSN Host & Host of the IIHF World Hockey Championships Rod Black joined Scott MacArthur and Dave Feschuk to break down the MVP caliber play of William Nylander at the World Hockey Championships, the positives for young players playing in world tournaments and talk a little NBA.
LeBrun: Nylander has been playing on another level (TSN1050)
TSN Hockey Insider, Pierre LeBrun joined Scott MacArthur and Dave Feschuk on OverDrive to discuss the great play of William Nylander at the IIHF World Hockey Championships, the Senators & Penguins Series, and Game 6 of the Predators & Ducks series.
Why the Leafs, Lightning should be happy after worlds (National Post)
When it comes to GMs who were impressed by the showing of their players, Lou Lamoriello watched Nylander capture tourney MVP and Marner named one of Canada’s top three players. These are optimistic times in Leaf Land — and Auston Matthews didn’t even participate.
[Paywall] Nylander goes from unknown to MVP at worlds (The Athletic)
“The league has definitely gotten younger,” said Anton Stralman. “I can’t argue with it either because they’re so good coming in. They come in and play with confidence. When my generation came in with Crosby and Ovi — and Crosby and Ovi are arguably two of the best ever — they can’t even compare to these young guys in stick skills. It’s pretty impressive.” Enter William Nylander. He’s the one who prompted Stralman’s “back-in-my-day” reminiscing.
Jeremy Bracco willing to absorb as much as possible (Toronto Sun)
“He has been willing to come outside the box,” Thompson said of Bracco. “His play without the puck — it has been something that I know is on the agenda with the Leafs, and it’s the way I coach. “I think he is going to be a really good professional. The coachability, that’s what a player needs to go to the next level. You have to earn it, and you have to be coachable and have the foundation of skill and talent, and which he has.”
From Hockey 101 to a PhD in Nashville (New York Times)
Harden, 44, is now the senior vice president for ticket sales and youth hockey for the Predators, who reign supreme in a market that was long the impenetrable domain of football and Nascar. Having overcome wobbly attendance during their formative years, they sold out all 41 regular-season games at Bridgestone Arena and all eight so far in the playoffs, including Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against Anaheim on Monday night, when Nashville may advance to its first Stanley Cup finals since joining the N.H.L. in 1998.
Models of consistency: How the Predators and Ducks were built (ESPN)
Their rosters are replete with home-grown talent, almost all of which took a path through the teams’ minor league affiliates. Even the significant trade acquisitions — such as Nashville’s P.K. Subban, James Neal, Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen, as well as Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg — were obtained in exchange for homegrown products.
Ducks complain about playoff schedule after elimination (Puck Daddy)
His coach, Randy Carlyle, indicated that the schedule wasn’t in Anaheim’s favor, and that the NHL should reconsider it. “I don’t think we played poorly in the series. I think that the toughest part I have about the whole thing is that this was our seventh game in 13 days. Now, there’s various reasons for that, but I think there’s got to be some consideration in the scheduling in the future between series. We finished on a Wednesday and had to open again on Friday, whereas other teams had to open on Saturday. An extra day would have given us a chance to recover. And we know how tough these games are. And that was a tough hand that was dealt to us.”
Tommy Wingels avoids punishment for hit on Scott Wilson (Puck Daddy)
As we’ve seen this postseason, something you may think is deserving of a fine or suspension doesn’t end with that result. The game was already out of hand here and Wingels, as the NHL Department of Player Safety constantly notes in their rulings, should have delivered his hit through Wilson’s body, not clipped him in the head like he did.
Senators still trying to sell out Game 6 against Penguins (Ottawa Citizen)
During a mid-May interview with a Toronto radio station, Roenick, who now works as a studio analyst during NHL broadcasts on NBC Sports Network, said he was frustrated that “a conference final game is not sold-out. “Shame on the fans at Ottawa, not to buy every ticket and have lines waiting down the street. They’re acting like they get to the conference finals and have a chance at the Stanley Cup year after year.
Senators playoff run touchy subject for fan base: Arthur (Toronto Star)
“We have this super-defensive mentality right now, like the fan base feels slighted and disrespected throughout the whole run,” says Dave, another Ottawa professional who runs the fan blog SensChirp.ca. “First they were lucky to make the playoffs because they were the only team with a negative goal differential, and then they were an easy out against the Bruins, and if they got past the Bruins they’re definitely not going to beat the Rangers. There are a lot of good storylines around this team, but there was always the negative side that the national media — it’s the negative storylines that keep catching on, for some reason.”
