It’s a BIG-TIME episode this week, as the guys welcome Mr. Tod Leiweke, CEO of the Seattle Kraken. You will hear from a side of Tod in this interview that you likely have not heard before, as he truly lets his passion and fandom for the sport of hockey shine through in this very fun conversation. Of course John, Andy, and Darren ask about the arduous process of naming the 32nd NHL franchise with Tod, but they also take a trip down memory lane that you won’t want to miss. This is an all-timer.
Also in this episode, plenty of discussion about some of the early outcomes and controversies from the Qualifying Rounds, some disagreements between John and Darren, and a very solid Re: Torts.
Other segments this week include Goalie Gear Corner, Bad Boys, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
The Seattle Kraken are a season away from playing but the NHL playoffs feature players who cut their teeth in the Northwest. There are guys who played junior hockey locally – we’re just talking Washington and Oregon here, not British Columbia which is technically Southwest Canada – or are natives of the area.
As the playoffs progress, we’ll check in with guys who stood out on the ice.
Carolina Hurricanes center Morgan Geekie has played four NHL games during his budding career but is making an impact.
Two of those games have come in the NHL’s Qualifying Round that began this weekend and Monday morning, Geekie recorded his first postseason point.
Centering the Hurricanes fourth line the former Tri-City American picked up an assist in the second period to help pad a Carolina lead as the Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series against the New York Rangers.
Geekie, 22, picked the puck up low and battled his way to the front of the net where he slid it to Jordan Martinkook for a score that made it 3-1, Carolina. The Hurricanes would go on to win 4-1.
“I think it starts from even before the pause,” Martinook said of Geekie’s NHL start. “You saw in the short time he was with us…I think he had five or six points. He’s poised, he holds onto pucks and he works…he’ll hold on to it and he makes plays. It was a great play by him and that was a big goal in the game.”
Martinook was being generous as Geekie scored three goals and added an assist in his brief two-game regular season stint. While not six points, or even five, picking up four in two games is impressive.
He had a stellar career with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans and was a third-round draft pick of the Hurricanes in 2017 – he was selected by Ron Francis, who was the general manager in Carolina at the time and of course is now running the Seattle Kraken.
Geekie was with Tri-City from 2014 through 2018 and scored 78 goals for the Americans – 65 of which came in his last two years in Kennewick. He was a member of the Tri-City club that ran to the Western Conference Finals in 2018 before losing to the Everett Silvertips.
He was also a big part of the AHL’s Charolette Checkers team that won the Calder Cup in 2019. Geekie scored eight goals while recording 18 points in 19 postseason games that spring.
Geekie and the Hurricanes will look for the sweep in Game 3, Tuesday evening.
Carter Hart doesn’t flinch in NHL playoff debut
Carter Hart has always been calm. The pressure cooker of the NHL playoffs hasn’t changed anything.
The former Everett Silvertip star became the youngest Philadelphia Flyers goalie to win a postseason game with his 34-save performance against the Boston Bruins Sunday afternoon. The win gave Hart and the Flyers a 1-0 record in the round robin portion of the postseason.
Hart, 21, was at his best early and then late when the Bruins pulled their goalie for the extra skater. That generated a number of shots for Boston, but Hart was there to kick away them all.
“He doesn’t look 21 to me, he’s pretty poised,” Flyers forward Nate Thompson said afterwards. “Even off the ice he carries himself well beyond his years. He’s a true pro and he reminds me a little bit of a goalie I used to play with in Montreal…he’s our backbone back there.”
Hart played for the Silvertips from 2014 through 2018 and led Everett to the WHL Championship Series in his final season. Along the way he twice won CHL Goalie of the Year and was named WHL Player of the Year in 2018. He was a second-round selection of the Flyers in the 2016 NHL Draft and is no stranger to big games as he twice played for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships, winning gold in 2018.
“Once you get out there and start playing, the game really slows down,” he said Sunday about his first NHL postseason start. “Obviously it’s a little different playoffs where we don’t have fans…but when the game’s going, and the puck drops, its all the same. You just have to prepare and play your game.”
Thompson , who played with the Seattle Thunderbirds from 2001 to 2005, scored a big goal in the second period to stake the Flyers to a 2-0 lead. While his goaltender was just seeing his first postseason action, Sunday was Thompson’s 63rd such game.
He started the season with the Montreal Canadiens before being sent to Philadelphia at this year’s trade deadline – which feels like a lifetime ago.
“It’s always nice to get a big goal,” Thompson said. “Just trying to get it on net and hopefully I can chip in with some big goals as we get going here in the playoffs.”
The Flyers are off until Thursday when they’ll continue the round robin in a match up with the Washington Capitals.
Former Americans goalie Carey Price puts Canadiens on his back
Carey Price, who played with the Tri-City Americans from 2003 to 2007, was masterful Saturday night to lead the Montreal Canadiens to an 3-2 overtime upset of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He set the tone in the first ten minutes, making unbelievable saves, and would end the night with 39 stops.
Monday, he did all he could to put Montreal in a command position against Pittsburgh, only allowing two goals while turning away 35 Penguins bids. Price didn’t get help from the guys in front of him as Montreal couldn’t score until late in the third period and fell 3-1 to even up the series at a game each.
The swing Game 3 will be Wednesday night as Price will try to put the Penguins’ backs against the wall.
Other Northwest notables
Former Spokane Chiefs defenseman Jared Spurgeon scored a power-play goal and an empty-net tally to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 3-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, Sunday. With the win, the Wild take a 1-0 lead over Vancouver in the best-of-five series.
Radko Gudas, who played his junior hockey with the Everett Silvertips, picked up an assist during the Washington Capitals 4-3 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Capitals first round robin game.
Oilers defenseman, and former Seattle Thunderbird, Ethan Bear had an assist during Edmonton’s 6-3 win over Chicago in Game 2 of their qualifying round. The helper was his first NHL postseason point.
With the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting today here are some players to watch that could be wearing Kraken jerseys in our inaugural season.
Pittsburgh Goalie Situation
If the expansion draft were to happen this summer, Pittsburgh would have a tough decision to make between who to protect and who to expose in the draft, Tristan Jarry or Matt Murray. Murray played the majority of the games this year, starting 38 out of the 69, but had a career low .899 save percentage. He got to start in 4 of the last 5 games before the pause, but head coach Mike Sullivan has refused to name the game one starter. Jarry had a higher save % of .921 compared to Murray’s .899 save %. The expansion rules state that a team can only protect one goalies. If we assume the Penguins do not trade one of these goalies before the trade deadline next season, one of them will be exposed. Pittsburgh is not afraid to use two goalies in the playoffs and they are certainly not afraid to hold on and expose a goalie going into an expansion draft.
The quiver of talent in St. Louis Blues
Sammy Blais, Zach Sanford, Ivan Barbashev, and Justin Faulk. (I am forecasting Schenn, Schwartz, Kyrou, Sundquivst, Thomas, O-Reilly, Tarasenko for forwards & Pieterangelo, Parayko, Dunn for defensemen will be protected). Good chance 2 or 3 of them are exposed in the expansion draft and and that is a pretty good lineup to choose from. If pending UFA Alex Pietrangelo does not resign this offseason, the Blues will probably protect Faulk. There are scenarios where the Blues could expose a higher salary forward and protect the likes of Blais/Sanford/Barbashev, but then that could mean picking from Schenn, Sundqvist, and Tarasenko. All those guys are expected to play and if St. Louis wants to put another run together so we should get a lot of opportunity to see these guys play.
Nashville Depth
Calle Jarnkrok, Craig Smith, and Rocco Girmaldi. If Calle Jarnkrok is exposed, how does a team named the Kraken not draft him on name alone? Ok, in all seriousness, I love this crew of players. They are playing down the line up a bit, so getting more opportunity on the ice will help those guys could shine.
The young guns in Carolina
Morgan Geekie (21yo), Jake Bean (21yo), and Hayden Fleury (24yo) are likely to be exposed to Seattle’s Expansion Draft next summer. All of them are tracking to become every day NHLers and they could be a good opportunity to get some young blood on the Seattle squad. They might not start on the Hurricanes squad when the playoffs begin, but if the Canes move past the qualifying round, then you should expect one or two of them to step in should there be injuries. It will be hard to draw many conclusions from the small sample size of ice time and games, but hopefully we get a glimpse of their capabilities.
It’s here, it’s here! It’s finally here! Hockey makes its triumphant return to play in its bubble cities this week, and the Sound of Hockey guys are here for it.
This week’s episode features some of the stories that came to light after the reveal of the Seattle Kraken team name, such as Ron Francis’s polo shirt fiasco.
John, Andy, and Darren also do a deep dive into the bizarre soap opera that is playing out between the Arizona Coyotes and their now former GM, John Chayka. This is a bizarre and spicy story that you will want to hear.
The guys also give their best predictions for the upcoming Qualifying Round, before moving into segments, which include a robust Goalie Gear Corner, Weekly One-Timers, and Tweets of the Week.
Kraken fans, we have our name, but the expansion draft is still a year away, so with no team in Stanley Cup Playoffs that begins Saturday, who should we be rooting for? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with a “high-tech” computer algorithm to evaluate how strong each team’s ties are to our beloved PNW Kraken region. Trust me, this is very scientific and who would dispute science these days? Without further ado, here is the definitive ranking of your allegiances this playoff season.
#1 Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton has volume and value. They not only have a lot of Northwest connections, but the connections are also diverse; four of the US WHL teams are represented.
Kailer Yamamoto – The algorithm always values the Washington born players just a little bit more. Yamamoto was born in Spokane and would play four seasons with the Spokane Chiefs. He was the first round pick of the Oilers in 2017 and established himself as a full time NHLer this year after spending the first half of the season in Bakersfield, Edmonton’s AHL affiliate, rehabbing a wrist injury. Since the call-up, Yamamoto has averaged close to a point a game with 11 goals and 15 assists in 27 games.
Ethan Bear is one of the Seattle Thunderbirds fan favorites. Bear was a big part of the Thunderbirds WHL championship in 2017 and played for the team for four seasons. 2019-20 was Bear’s first full season in the NHL and he has already established himself as a regular Top-4 defenseman. Ethan Bear is not only a dynamo on the ice, but he is also a great human off the ice.
Jujhar Khaira has been a steady winger for the Oilers the last 3 years. He played one full season for the Everett Silvertips and put up 43 points in 59 games.
Caleb Jones is defenseman that played 2 seasons with the Portland Winterhawks during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. He is the brother of elite NHL defenseman, Seth Jones, and is just establishing himself in the league. He played two thirds of his season in the NHL with only a brief stint in the AHL. His comfort seems to be growing in the NHL and I imagine he should get some significant playing time in these playoffs.
Dave Tippettjoined NHL Seattle in the summer of 2018 to take care of a lot of the hockey operations items and strategy, including locker room designs, AHL affiliate, just to name a few. Everything from locker room layout to evaluating the AHL franchise location. Tip would make several public appearances either on TV shows, WHL Games, and even a podcast. (check out this interview with tip on the Sound of Hockey podcast)
#2 Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals ties to Washington State have been significant with the TJ Oshie trade in the summer of 2015. They also added a Silvertip and a Thunderbird over the last year.
TJ Oshie is Seattle’s native son of hockey. Born in Everett and growing up in Mt Vernon, TJ played in the Seattle Junior Hockey association before moving to Warroad Minnesota at 15 to further develop his hockey talents. TJ became a legend in Sochi in 2014 and won the Stanley Cup in 2018.
On this day, 4 years ago, we witnessed one of the greatest Olympic hockey moments of all-time.
Brendan Dillion was a huge fan favorite when he played in Seattle for 4 seasons including the Key…er Climate…or let’s just say the Arena that existed prior to Climate Pledge Arena. As discussed on the Sound of Hockey podcast, Dillion would be part of the TBirds team that would play the first ever season in accesso ShoWare Center. (Find out why the called him Zeus in Seattle)
Radku Gudas may have only played one year in Everett, but it was a memorable one. Gudas had 37 points as a defenseman and would also log 151 penalty minutes.
#3 Columbus Blue Jackets
Seth Jones played for the Portland Winterhawks during their WHL Championship season of 2012-13 and is now one of the NHL’s elite defensemen. He suffered an injury in February that kept him out of the last 6 weeks of the regular season, but the NHL pause has proved beneficial to his recovery.
Oliver Bjorkstrand was also part of that Portland Winterhawks team. In addition to the Championship 2012-13 season, Bjorkstrand would play an additional 2 years with the Winterhawks where he would put up over 50 goals and 100 points in each of those 2 seasons.
Ryan Murray played 4 seasons with the Everett Silvertips. He was picked second overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. When healthy, Murray is a very reliable top-4 D-man. Unfortunately, for the last few years he had been dealing with back issues that have kept him out of quite a few games including all of last year’s playoffs for the Blue Jackets. He has been a full participant during the return to play training camp which bodes well for him in the post season.
#4 Tampa Bay Lightning
Tyler Johnson is Spokane born and raised. He played 4 years with the Spokane Chiefs and was part of the Memorial Cup winning team back in 2008. This undrafted forward is a gamer. I would not shut up about him back in the 2015 playoffs and if you follow me on Twitter, you will probably get sick of me talking about him there.
Brayden Coburn is a grizzled veteran and the type of player you would love to see hoist the cup. He played 4 years with the Portland Winter Hawks from 2001-02 to 2004-05.
Jason Berger is not someone you will see on a game sheet, but he is the Assistant Equipment Manager, but in a prior life he was the Head Equipment Manager for the Seattle Thunderbirds. Don’t believe me? Check out his fun interview about spinning laundry on the Sound of Hockey podcast.
#5 New York Islanders
Mat Barzal is good at hockey. Mat Barzal played 4 seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds from 2013-14 to 2016-17 and was obviously a huge part of the 2017 WHL Championship Team. He will be a lot of fun to watch in the playoffs and the only downside is we won’t get to see him possess the puck for 2 minutes straight in a 3on3 overtime scenario.
Thomas Hickey also played with the Thunderbirds from 2005-06 to 2008-09. Hickey had a rough year on and off the ice dealing with injuries and his brother’s health issues and eventual death. Hickey has been with the team during return to play training camp and appears to be part of the “top 6” defensemen which translates to being a regular once the games begin.
#6 Philadelphia Flyers
Carter Hart, ever heard of this guy? Hart was 2-time CHL Goaltender of the Year while playing for the Everett Silvertips for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. Hart will turn 22 during the first round of the playoffs and is the youngest regular goalie in the league.
Nate Thompson played for the Seattle Thunderbirds from 2001-02 to 2004-05. Thompson was traded to Philadelphia at the trade deadline from Montreal. He won’t put up huge numbers, but he is the type of unsung hero that tends to pop up during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nate is a great person and the type of person you just can’t help not to root for.
#7 Winnipeg Jets
Luca Sbisa played 12 regular season and 13 playoff games for the Portland Winterhawks during the 2009-10 season. It is pretty slim pickens on Winnipeg’s roster.
Eric Comrie played 4 seasons with Tri-City Americans between 2011-12 to 2014-15. Comrie is at best 3rd on the Jets goalie depth chart and might not see the ice during the playoffs, but there have been several teams that have used three goalies in a Stanley Cup Playoff before.
Wade Flaherty. Excuse me…who? Flaherty is the goalie coach in Winnipeg. He played 9 games for the Seattle Thunderbirds and 5 games for the Spokane Chiefs during the 1985-86 season. Now that is a player with some strong connections to the Northwest, am I right?
#8 Calgary Flames
Derek Ryan, a Washington native, flies under our local radar. Ryan’s path to the NHL is a story worth knowing and is another one of those guys that you just love to root for. Here are the Cliff Notes on Ryan’s journey: After 4 years with his hometown Spokane Chiefs from 2003-04 to 2006-07, the undrafted center would play 4 years in the Canadian University system where he would get his degree. He then played 3 years of pro hockey in Austria which he parlayed into a season in Sweden which then earned him his first North America pro contract with the Carolina Hurricanes organization. After one year in the AHL in 2015-16, Ryan would be a regular in the NHL with 3 years with the Hurricanes and the last 2 years with the Flames.
Juuso Valimaki was a 1st round draft pick of the Calgary Flames in 2017. He played 3 seasons for the Tri-City Americans and averaged a point per game in his last 2 years. That is good for a forward, but he is a defenseman. Valimaki suffered an ACL injury last summer and was expected to miss the entire season. It sounds like he will be ready to go for the playoffs, but the team might keep him out to make sure he is exempt in next year’s expansion draft.
#9 Carolina Hurricanes
Nino Niederreiter played 2 years with the Portland Winterhawks during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons where he averaged over a point per game.
Morgan Geekie played 3 full years with the Tri-City Americans. During the 2017-18 WHL playoffs he would put up 17 goals over 14 games. He has been averaging over 20 goals per season in his 2 years in the AHL. He has only played 2 NHL Games to date, but the Canes could inject some fresh legs into the lineup if they win a few rounds.
Jake Bean also played for the Tri-City Americans for a half of a season in 2017-18. Bean only played half a season + 14 playoff games. Like Geekie, he has also played the last two years with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL and is on the edge of breaking onto the roster and is probably an injury or two away from making his Stanley Cup Playoff debut.
#10 Minnesota Wild
Jared Spurgeon played 5 seasons with the Spokane Chiefs from 2005-06 to 2009-10 and was part of the WHL Championship and Memorial Cup winning team in 2008. This 6th rounder NHL draft pick has over 650 games and is one of the Wild’s top defensemen.
Matt Dumba played half of a season with the Portland Winterhawks in 2013-14 and was part of the team that reached the WHL Final. Dumba is another top defenseman on the Wild and has a bright future in this league.
#11 Vegas Golden Knights
Shea Theodore played with the Thunderbirds for four years from 2011-12 to 2014-15. Theodore ended up in Vegas via a side deal during the 2017 expansion draft. Since then he has been stellar on the blue line for the Golden Knights and has been getting better with every season. Even with the shortened regular season, Shea had a career high on goals (13) and assists (33) before the stoppage.
Keegan Kolesar was a big part of the Seattle Thunderbirds 2016-17 WHL Championship Season. Keegs has only logged one NHL regular season game, so he might not play much in the early rounds. But, if Vegas makes a deep run and by the law of attrition due to injuries, you might see him suit up in the playoffs.
Dylan Coghlan played 4 years with the Tri-City Americans from 2014-15 Season to 2017-18. This undrafted defenseman has yet to play in the NHL, but he was invited to return to play training camp. Coghlan will travel to the Edmonton bubble, but is almost guaranteed to be further down the depth chart.
#12 Nashville Predators
Ryan Johansen played 2 seasons with the Portland Winterhawks during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. He centers the top line for the Predators which will need to produce should Nashville expect to advance past the first round of the playoffs.
#13 Boston Bruins
Brandon Carlo has been a steady blueliner for the Boston Bruins over the last 4 seasons. He played 3 seasons for the Tri-City Americans from 2013-14 to 2015-16 and should get plenty of ice time during these playoffs.
#14 Pittsburgh Penguins
Patrick Marleau played two seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 1995-96 & 1996-97. In his last season in Seattle he put up 51 goals and 125 points over 71 games. Not bad for an 18 year old. Marleau is one of the local’s favorite Thunderbirds ever and is the NHL’s 5th all-time in games played with 1,723. I know there are a lot of Sharks fans and Tbirds fans that will be big Penguins fans this playoff.
#15 Arizona
Michael Grabner played 3 seasons with the Spokane Chiefs from 2004-05 to 2006-07. This speedy winger has been inconsistent over the last couple of years, but can score flashy goals from time to time.
Adin Hill played 2 seasons for the Portland Winterhawks during 2014-15 & 2015-16. He is the 3rd goalie in the depth chart for the Coyotes heading into the playoffs, but their starter, Dacey Kuemper, had some injuries that have sidelined him for a bit. With the NHL’s long pause, you wonder if goalies could be more vulnerable this playoff season and therefore trigger an opportunity for Adin Hill. Additionally, Adin Hill could be an expansion target for Seattle next year. Keep an eye out.
#16 Montreal
Carey Price has established himself as a legend in the NHL, but before that he played for the Tri City Americans from 2003-04 to 2006-07. Price doesn’t need much of an intro, but for those that don’t know, he is largely considered one of the best goalies in the league. Canadiens will probably need Carey Price to stand on his head to have any chance in these playoffs.
Noah Juulsen played 4 seasons with the Everett Silvertips from 2013-14 to 2016-17. Juulsen is having a bit of a rough road to the NHL and has yet to establish himself as a permanent fixture in the NHL. Despite not playing any NHL games this season, he did get a training camp invite, but it might be a stretch to get in a game this playoff season.
#17 Florida Panthers
Colton Sceviour played 2+ seasons with the Portland Winterhawks from 2005-06 to 2006-07. He plays further down the line on the Panthers forward lines and will play important minutes on the 3rd or 4th line.
#18 St. Louis Blues
Derrick Pouliot played 4 seasons with the Portland Winterhawks from 2010-11 to 2013-14. He ended up playing most of the 2019-20 regular season with the Blues AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, yet was invited to Phase 3 training camp. It would not be unheard of for the Blues to go deep into playoffs and rely on some of their depth as injuries happen in the playoffs.
#19 Dallas
Landon Bow played half of a season in Seattle during the 2015-16 season and would mind the pipes during the Tbirds run to the WHL Championship final where they would lose to the Brandon Wheat Kings. He was not in Seattle long, but it was an impressive and important time in Seattle Thunderbirds history. Being that he is roughly the 3rd or 4th goalie for the Stars, he is unlikely to see the ice. But if either Bishop or Khudobin go down with an injury, we might be able to get a glimpse of him on the bench.
Deep Cut: The Stars assistant coach, Derek Laxdal played 39 games for the Portland Winterhawks his rookie WHL season back in the 1982-83 season.
A bit of a stretch
#20 Colorado
Jared Bednar – The Avs head coach played for the Spokane Chiefs for 2ish years from 1991-1992. In his only complete season with the Chiefs, he amassed 200 penalty minutes in 62 games played. (https://www.nhl.com/avalanche/team/jared-bednar)
#21 Toronto Maple Leafs
I may or may not be reaching here, but Assistant Coach, Dave Hakstol, was the head coach of the University of North Dakota while Seattle’s native son of hockey, TJ Oshie attended UND from 2005-06 to 2007-08. In addition to Hakstol, the Leafs Director of Pro Scouting, Troy Bodie, is the nephew of Seattle Kraken CEO, Tod Leiweke and son in law of OVG CEO Tim Leiweke.
Teams with no Northwest Fandom whatsoever
#22 Chicago Blackhawks
There are a lot of Blackhawks fans out here, but for the life of me I could not find a connection to our region. What this tells me…it is time for you Blackhawks fans to move on.
#23 New York Rangers
Unfortunately, I could not find any Seattle connection to this franchise. I tried; you know I tried.
#24 That team to the north
That team might be the closest team to Seattle, but they have no players or coaches that have ties to our territory. This is fate! We did not want to root for them anyway!
WESTERN CONFERENCE #6 NASHVILLE PREDATORS #11 ARIZONA COYOTES ROGERS PLACE EDMONTON, ALBERTA
Game 1 – Sunday, 8/2 – 11AM PT – USA Network Game 2 – Tuesday, 8/4 – 11:30AM PT – NBCSN Game 3 – Wednesday, 8/5 – 11:30AM PT – NBCSN Game 4 (if necessary) – Friday, 8/7 – Time/TV TBD Game 5 (if necessary) – Sunday, 8/9 – Time/TV TBD
This Qualifying Round series will likely fly under the radar of the national media, but mark your calendars, because this is going to be a fun one. There’s a lot to like about both of these teams, from the Roman Josis and Filip Forsbergs of Nashville, to the Taylor Halls and Jakob Chychruns of Arizona.
The Predators are certainly the bettor’s favorites here, but there are some interesting aspects to consider with both teams’ respective netminding situations, and oddly a lot of drama currently playing out in the desert. Those facets should make this matchup hotter than Phil Kessel’s favorite meal, which is of course a hot dog.
Good one, Randy. Good one.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
Nashville looked primed for a deep playoff run at the onset of the season, but struggled to get its legs under itself, and ultimately saw a coaching change of John Hynes taking over for Peter Laviolette. Hynes is still only the third coach in Nashville’s 22-year history as a franchise, and his hiring was an enigmatic one.
After New Jersey splashily landed P.K. Subban and drafted Jack Hughes with the top overall pick last offseason, expectations were elevated for Hynes and his Devils, but that franchise slowly slid into a hellish abyss (which I guess is an appropriate place for a team called the Devils). Hynes was finally shown the door out of… Hell… with an overall record of 150-149-5, but his middling results didn’t deter Nashville GM David Poile from quickly snatching him up. Poile told the Associated Press in January, “We’re confident that he’s the guy to cultivate a winning culture in our locker room.” The jury remains out on whether this will end up being true – Hynes went 16-11-1 in 28 games behind the Predators’ bench – but at a minimum, he has gotten his new squad into the postseason.
John Hynes took over as coach of the Predators in January.
What should give Nashville fans hope heading into this series is that they have great skill at both forward and defense, and plenty of postseason experience. The top line of Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, and Victor Arvidsson is, at least on paper, one of the best forward lines in all of hockey. And the top defensive pairing of Norris Trophy nominee, Josi, and Ryan Ellis happens to be one of the strongest in the league in its own right. Josi remarkably led the whole team in scoring with 65 points (16 goals, 49 assists), while superstar Forsberg had the most goals with 21. Guys like Arvidsson, Johansen, and Matt Duchene had underwhelming seasons, but one can expect big things from them coming out of the layoff.
What could derail this team is goaltending. It’s odd for this to even be a concern, as Pekka Rinne has been one of the most consistent backstops in the NHL for more than a decade. But at 37 years old, his age seemed to finally catch up with him during this regular season, as he posted a 3.17 GAA and abysmal .895 save percentage in 35 games. Unsurprisingly, 25-year-old backup Juuse Saros was given a fair shake to take over the crease, and played great in the three weeks leading up to the league’s March shutdown. Though he remains unproven in postseason play, Saros is expected to get the nod.
ARIZONA COYOTES
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the Coyotes in the postseason, and in fact, the last time this franchise qualified, it was still calling itself the Phoenix Coyotes.
John Chayka, the youngest GM in the league, finally seemed to have the Arizona Coyotes on the right track with a very analytical and out-of-the-box approach. New owner Alex Meruelo had bought into Chayka’s philosophies to the point that he had reportedly extended Chayka’s contract by three (or maybe four?) seasons. But something happened in the past couple of weeks to sour the relationship between the two, and Chayka ended up resigning in ugly fashion over the weekend. Regarding the split, an NHL source told AZ Coyotes Insider’s Craig Morgan that, “John Chayka is a liar and a quitter.”
Um… what?
The front office issues became apparent last week when Craig Custance and Elliotte Friedman began reporting that Taylor Hall was discussing a new contract not with Chayka, but with Meruelo and his recently hired COO, Xavier Gutierrez.
Further to this, word is there was a dinner meeting last week between Hall, Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo, son Alex Jr and new COO Xavier Gutierrez. Chayka was not present. Team has declined comment. As for Hall’s plans…(1/2) https://t.co/WcH0bpJRtN
Read Craig Morgan’s whole story on the messy breakup here. It’s a doozy. Technically none of this should have any impact on the outcome of this series, but whenever there’s dirty laundry in an organization, and it’s being aired publicly, it certainly doesn’t help a team’s chances. The timing of this whole fiasco is very unfortunate for Arizona.
Off-ice issues aside, this Coyotes squad really is quite solid. While Nashville has questions in net, Arizona has answers. Darcy Kuemper had a fantastic season in goal, despite missing about half of it due to injury. When he was in, he posted a 2.22 GAA and .928 save percentage, and when he was out, Antti Raanta served as perhaps the best 1B goalie in the league. This is a formidable tandem that should give the skaters oodles of confidence to play aggressively against a powerful opponent.
Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta make up one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL.
Speaking of the skaters, there’s good skill up front too, with guys like Hall, Kessel, Conor Garland, and Clayton Keller spread throughout the team’s top three lines. Meanwhile, stalwart blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the defense corps with young Jakob Chychrun quietly rising through the NHL’s young stud ranks on the second pairing.
PREDICTION
A few days ago, I would have said the Coyotes would be surprise winners because they match up well with Nashville in general, but hold the advantage in goal. Now, with all this drama in the front office, I can’t help thinking that it will be enough of a distraction to give the edge back to Nashville. Still, this one will be close.
bit more. Yamamoto was born in Spokane and would play four seasons with the Spokane Chiefs. He was the first round pick of the Oilers in 2017 and established himself as a full time NHLer this year after spending the first half of the season in Bakersfield, Edmonton’s AHL affiliate, rehabbing a wrist injury. Since the call-up, Yamamoto has averaged close to a point a game with 11 goals and 15 assists in 27 games.
the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. He is the brother of elite NHL defenseman, Seth Jones, and is just establishing himself in the league. He played two thirds of his season in the NHL with only a brief stint in the AHL. His comfort seems to be growing in the NHL and I imagine he should get some significant playing time in these playoffs.
Silvertips. He was picked second overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. When healthy, Murray is a very reliable top-4 D-man. Unfortunately, for the last few years he had been 
