In this week’s Avalanche journal, reflections on the Stanley Cup Playoffs and surrounding NHL topics as Colorado prepares to watch a Cup Final from home.
A regular season game with all-time ripple effects: Pittsburgh vs. Chicago was a Game 82 for the history books in April. All the Penguins needed was to beat the tanking Blackhawks to reach the playoffs for the 17th consecutive season. Instead they unraveled in a 5-2 loss, allowing the Florida Panthers to sneak into the second wild card spot on the final day. Barely a month later, the No. 8 seed Panthers are in the Stanley Cup Final after knocking off arguably the three best teams in the NHL. They have won 11 of 12 games since trailing Boston 3-1. They’re 6-0 in overtime games these playoffs. It’s an all-time underdog run.
In the Panthers’ wake is Toronto, which didn’t extend general manager Kyle Dubas after a dramatic and dysfunctional series of communications between Dubas and the team. Not to mention the Penguins, who fired general manager Ron Hextall and executive Brian Burke after their playoff streak was snapped.
That Game 82 even had a potential impact on the Avalanche. The Blackhawks’ win resulted in them finishing higher in the standings and therefore being assigned a different set of ping pong balls in the draft lottery … which ended with Chicago winning the No. 1 pick and the rights to Connor Bedard, the most anticipated prospect in years. There’s already premature hype calling Bedard the next Crosby or McDavid. If the next generational Hall of Famer is in the Central Division? Buckle up, Colorado.
Bobrovsky or Tkachuk for Conn Smythe?: If Florida makes it to the finish line, there’s an interesting debate unfolding for playoff MVP between veteran goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and forward Matthew Tkachuk.
Since the first round, Bobrovsky has a .954 save percentage and 1.51 goals allowed per game. He broke the record for most saves in a four-game series (168), mostly thanks to his Herculean 4OT effort in Game 1 vs. Carolina. But Tkachuk scored the game-winner that night — one of his three overtime goals this postseason, plus a Game 4 buzzer beater to clinch Florida’s spot in the Final. He has nine goals and 12 assists (nine primary) in 16 games, and the Panthers are outscoring opponents 14-5 at five-on-five when he’s on the ice.
I’m leaning Bobrovsky, whose resurgence came out of nowhere after he was widely considered one of the worst contracts in the NHL. But it’s not an obvious call, given Tkachuk’s sheer clutch factor.
Vegas’ quiet domination: Maybe we’ll never know the answer, if the Golden Knights keep this up. They’re sort of the NHL’s Denver Nuggets — a somewhat overlooked top seed in the West that has quietly cruised toward the championship series. Vegas was the only team to escape the first round in fewer than six games, then was the clear better team in a 4-2 series win over the mighty Oilers. By Game 3 of the WCF, Dallas fans were reduced to throwing trash on the ice after the Stars had to pull world-class goalie Jake Oettinger. As wild as these playoffs have been, there might have been a juggernaut all along.
Avs prospect signs in SHL: Avalanche forward prospect Sampo Ranta, 22, signed a two-year deal Thursday with Modo Hockey of the Swedish Elite League, the club announced. The Avs can qualify Ranta, allowing them to keep the rights to their 2018 third-round pick when his contract in Sweden expires.
Ranta has spent most of his time with the organization in Loveland, compiling 43 points in 110 games for the Colorado Eagles. He does not have an NHL point in 16 games with the Avalanche. Ranta has an NHL-caliber ceiling, but the change in scenery might be smart to prevent his development from stagnating. Modo general manager Henrik Gradin is an Avalanche scout, so Colorado will have close eyes on the prospect.
Goodbye to an idol: On my apartment bookshelf, I still keep the copy of “Commish & the Cardinals” that author Rick Hummel signed for me when I was 8. There’s a huge coffee stain across the paperback now — probably sustained one of the many times I’ve consulted its pages to draw inspiration from Hummel’s ability to turn a phrase — but his message on the inside cover is still clear. “To Bennett, a great baseball fan.”
Hummel, the 51-year Cardinals reporter for my hometown St. Louis Post-Dispatch, died last Saturday morning, eight months after he celebrated his retirement from the newspaper. He had a simple but brilliant style of writing, evident in his countless classic tellings of local sports history and in that six-word note. For someone known as “Commish” throughout MLB and with a Baseball Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown, he had a remarkable, warm-hearted way of making anyone feel important.
I couldn’t have imagined when he signed that book that I would someday be a Rick Hummel Intern. Under that title, I was set to cover the Cardinals for a summer until the pandemic canceled those plans in 2020. The kindness shown toward me by Rick and the other kind folks at the Post-Dispatch during that time resonated with me, just as much as his stories that I grew up reading. What an honor it was to be chosen for anything in his name, and what an honor it was to know him even a little bit. I’ll keep opening that book whenever I need a hand.
