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Good morning, all, I’m Max Bultman, once again filling in for James Mirtle, who is covering the Eastern Conference final. The Stanley Cup Final is nearly set, but the hockey world is in mourning after the sad news of Claude Lemieux’s death. We’ll cover that before taking a look at the playoffs.
Let’s go.
Claude Lemieux with the Devils in 1991. (Steve Crandall / Getty Images)
💔 In Memoriam
Claude Lemieux dies at 60
Claude Lemieux, whose death was announced Thursday, was one of the great playoff performers in the history of the sport. A four-time Stanley Cup champion with three different franchises — two with the New Jersey Devils and one each with the Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens — he won the 1995 Conn Smythe Trophy with the Devils and ranks ninth all-time with 80 postseason goals. In a league where coming up clutch is everything, that stat says it all.
His reputation as an agitator was similarly well-earned, most famously through his 1996 hit on Kris Draper that shattered Draper’s face and helped spark an era-defining rivalry between the Avalanche and Red Wings. But polarizing as he was, Lemieux was a true hockey lifer.
When his playing days ended, Lemieux made the transition to a successful player agent, and, devastatingly, just this week, he carried the torch into Bell Centre for Game 3 between the Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes:
As Dan Robson’s touching remembrance notes, “pest,” “agitator” and “dirty” were among the many words used to describe Lemieux. But there was so much more: “winner,” of course, and, in the words of Brendan Shanahan, “a big crier. A big softie.”
“Sort of hidden behind that reputation on the ice, he was a very sweet and sensitive man,” said Shanahan, who played with Lemieux in New Jersey before being on the opposite side of the Red Wings-Avs rivalry.
Lemieux is survived by his wife, Deborah, and his four children: Brendan (who played seven years in the NHL and who is named after Brendan Shanahan), Michael, Christopher and Claudia.
May he rest in peace.
(Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
Narrowing Field
Eye of the Hurricane
After a rocky start to the Eastern Conference final, Carolina is back to looking like, well, Carolina. The Hurricanes steamrolled the Montreal Canadiens, 4-0, in Game 4 of the series on Wednesday, taking a 3-1 lead, pushing Montreal to the brink and moving to 11-1 in this postseason.
The Canadiens fell in overtime in Games 2 and 3, and despite lopsided shot counts in both, Game 4 was the first time Carolina really ran away with one. Is that a sign that the Hurricanes are fully hitting their stride as a smothering, 200-foot force that has learned the right lessons from past shortcomings? Or is Montreal wearing down after two grueling series in the first two rounds? Or is it a simple gap in the rosters? Probably all of the above.
Despite all of that, this series isn’t over yet, and Montreal has shown an ability to respond to adversity all year. Before this current string of three straight Hurricanes victories, the Canadiens hadn’t lost consecutive games since mid-March. And the only time they lost more than two in a row came all the way back in November — when they lost five straight (one by shootout).
Can the Canadiens rally one last time and get this series back to Montreal for a Game 6? They’re led by a coach who has been in this spot as a player and who knows what it takes to come back in a series. It’s all about handling the pressure now.
Meanwhile, the Canes will be looking to close this out and get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006 — when they last won it all.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
Vegas, baby
That escalated quickly.
Even with injuries to the Colorado Avalanche’s star players, Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, seeing the Vegas Golden Knights dispatch the Presidents’ Trophy winners via a sweep was a stunning result out west.
But seeing Vegas succeed? That’s certainly nothing new. The Golden Knights have been as consistent a winner as any team in the league during their short franchise history, and as Jesse Granger writes, doubt them at your own peril.
Still, Vegas has taken a particularly notable route to the Stanley Cup Final. As Jesse noted on “The Athletic Hockey Show” this week, the Golden Knights spent more time trailing this season than any team besides the last-place Vancouver Canucks. They fired head coach Bruce Cassidy on March 29, just eight games before the playoffs began. And yet, here they are.
The coach who replaced Cassidy, John Tortorella, has proven to be the right man for the moment in Vegas, intentionally making only small changes that led to massive results.
Now? Vegas looks every bit like the serious Cup threat it was pegged as entering the season. In Mark Stone, Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner, the Golden Knights have three of the best two-way forwards in the league, and it showed in the way they shut down the Avalanche.
Just last week, only one member of our staff (out of 29!) picked Vegas to advance from the West. While we wait to see who the Golden Knights will face, here’s guessing that number will be quite a bit higher when we make our Cup picks.
That said, things aren’t going as smoothly for Vegas off the ice, and Cassidy took to the airwaves Thursday to express his frustration over not yet being granted permission by the Golden Knights to interview with other teams. Awkward.
(Candice Ward / Getty Images)
💡 Trivia Time
Although a sweep was a surprising way for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche to go out, history still tends to favor the field over the regular season’s top team.
In fact, since the trophy was introduced in 1985-86, Presidents’ Trophy winners have won the Stanley Cup only eight times.
How many can you name?
Hint: One team has done it twice.
(P.S.: Want more trivia from The Athletic? Look no further.)
Maple Leafs winger Matthew Knies and Rangers center Vincent Trocheck. (Claus Andersen and Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
Swap Season
🚨 Trade board alert
Chris Johnston’s first offseason trade board came out this week, and in a year light on premium free agents, at least the (potential) trade market has some star power!
The board has a bit of everything: multiple top-five selections in the upcoming June draft, recent high picks who could be in line for a fresh start, playoff-tested veterans, goalies, goalie prospects — plus a couple of outright stars.
Whatever your team is looking for this offseason, there’s someone (or something) on there that will turn your head.
Coast to Coast
🤪 If you’re a fan of noted Red Light author Sean McIndoe, and you should be, you know he thrives on weird reader ideas that anyone else would instantly delete and report as spam. The one he tackles in today’s mailbag is not to be missed.
👀 Pierre LeBrun has more on the potentially spicy trade market this summer in his latest rumblings column, including the latest on Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid’s futures.
🏓 It’s been six years since the New York Rangers held a lottery pick. They desperately need the help, of course, and Vincent Z. Mercogliano is having a field day with the possibilities at No. 5 and beyond.
🏒 Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and I came out with a twist on an NHL mock draft this week, putting ourselves in the GMs’ shoes and making the picks based on our own lists and views on team needs.
☎️ The PWHL is expanding in a big way, with four new teams next season in Detroit, Hamilton, San Jose and Las Vegas. Hailey Salvian explains the roster selection process for the new teams. Be warned: It’s complicated.
🧐 Harman Dayal examines four fascinating restricted free agent dilemmas that teams will face this offseason. If contract extension talks go sideways with these players, it could open the door to a trade.
🔁 Speaking of trades, the Chicago Blackhawks are open for business with their No. 4 draft pick.
📰 Just minutes before this email went out, the IIHF began to open the door to Russia’s potential return to international competition. More details here.
🫡 Mark Recchi played for seven teams in his 22-year NHL career. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017. These are the four best leaders he played with.
Patrick Kane in 2013. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Trivia Answer
The eight times a team has won the Stanley Cup in the same year it won the Presidents’ Trophy:
- Edmonton Oilers (1987)
- Calgary Flames (1989)
- New York Rangers (1994)
- Dallas Stars (1999)
- Colorado Avalanche (2001)
- Detroit Red Wings (2002)
- Detroit Red Wings (2008)
- Chicago Blackhawks (2013)
That, of course, means no team has accomplished this feat in 13 years — by far the longest stretch since the award’s inception.
Maybe next year?
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