NHL Power Rankings: Separating the Contenders From the Pretenders

Before I get to the power rankings, I wanted to take a minute to personally thank Gary Bettman for shutting down the NHL over the Christmas holiday. It isn't everyday that a commissioner of a major professional sports league decides to remove his sport from all public exposure at a time when millions of fans are home with their families. Way to go, Gary.

And to think this league had the nerve to only raise the salary cap $1 million because the players still owed $70 million in back escrow. To quote Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Now onto the pièce de résistance.

Unlike traditional power rankings, which are typically league based, I've decided to break mine down by conference. Until the NHL goes to a 16 team playoff format, it doesn't make sense to do it any other way. I've also decided to break it down further by contender and pretender, and to omit the very worst teams in each conference. Why waste time on the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Chicago Blackhawks?

As always, don't take it too seriously. It's all done in fun.

Eastern Conference:

Contenders:

New York Rangers: They're off to their fastest start since the '94 Cup team. And they've managed to do it with only two scoring lines. Just imagine how much better they'll be once Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko return. With Igor Shesterkin regaining his Vezina-trophy form and Jonathan Quick in reserve, they will be very tough to beat in the postseason.

Boston Bruins: The retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí haven't stopped this team from once more ascending to the top of the standings in the Atlantic division. What they lack in offensive explosiveness, they more than make up for in grit. They have the defense and goaltending to go all the way.

Florida Panthers: Last year's Cup finalists are no fluke. With Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart, they are loaded up front; and with Sergei Bobrosky in net, they have a clear path back to the finals.

Toronto Maple Leafs: The fab four - Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares - might be the most talented quartet in the NHL. They are fast and lethal. The only question mark - and it's a big one - is their goaltending.

New York Islanders: Their minus 4 goal differential is a concern, but their offense - long a sore spot - is starting to percolate. They're tough as nails to play against, and with their goaltending, they will give any opponent they meet in the first round fits.

Philadelphia Flyers: If you had the former Broadstreet Bullies as contenders prior to the season, you're a better man than me. I didn't even have them as a "close but no cigar." But John Tortorella has somehow managed to get this team to believe in itself. The return of Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson hasn't hurt either.

Pretenders:

Washington Capitals: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The Caps are a painful reminder that no matter how good your defense is, you can't win in this league when you have the second worst offense.

Tampa Bay Lightning: One game they look like the team that won back-to-back Cups; the next they look like the San Jose Sharks. They are finally paying the price for manipulating the salary cap. Karma truly is a bitch.

Carolina Hurricanes: They've never had great goaltending or elite-level forwards, but now their defense is leaking like a sieve. Hard to believe this is a Rod Brind'Amour-coached team.

New Jersey Devils: Serves me right for picking them to win the Metro. Tom Fitzgerald was trying to create an east-coast version of the Edmonton Oilers. He seems to have succeeded, though not the way he intended.

Detroit Red Wings: Since Patrick Kane's arrival in Motown, the Wings are 2-6-1. Maybe Steve Yzerman should've gotten himself a legit goalie instead of a future hall of fame winger.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The oldest team in the NHL underachieving for the second straight season. Gee, who coulda seen that coming?

Buffalo Sabres: Don't beat yourself up. I, too, was taken in by their potential. They can score; it's stopping the other team from scoring that's the problem.

Montreal Canadiens: They're still a year or two away, but credit Marty St. Louis for turning around a locker room that had gotten used to losing.

Western Conference:

Contenders:

Vegas Golden Knights: They can role four lines and their defense is big and battle tested. Vegas's strength is their depth throughout the lineup. They won the Cup last season and are the odds-on favorites to repeat.

Vancouver Canucks: In just over a year Rick Tocchet has transformed this perennial underachiever into a bonafide contender. They have the best goal differential in the NHL, the number one offense and the sixth best defense.

Los Angeles Kings: Very quietly, Cam Talbot is making his bid to win the Vezina trophy this season, which would be quite a feat given he was supposedly washed up last season. They're deep down the middle and have the best defense in the league.

Dallas Stars: This is a team that can compete with the best in the league. The only concern is in goal where Jake Oettinger hasn't quite gotten back to the level of excellence he showed last season.

Colorado Avalanche: Their core is as elite as it gets; it's the rest of the roster that gives you pause. Still, they are quite capable of making a deep run in the playoffs.

Winnipeg Jets: They traded arguably their second best center and got better. Connor Hellebuyck might be the most under-appreciated goaltender in the league, and Mark Scheifele is finally emerging as a leader on this team.

Pretenders:

Nashville Predators: Like the Washington Capitals, they're using smoke and mirrors to conceal their deficiencies. It'll catch up to them eventually.

Edmonton Oilers: Don't be seduced by the wins in New York and New Jersey. This is not a team that is built to go four rounds. Would loved to have seen what they could've done in the '80s when defense was optional.

Minnesota Wild: As long as they have that dead cap weight on their books, GM Bill Guerin will struggle to fill out a roster that will be good enough to compete in the regular season, much less in the postseason.

St. Louis Blues: The only reason they might sneak into the postseason is because the Western Conference is so weak in the middle. Don't let that fool you. They're in rebuild mode.

Calgary Flames: Boy was I wrong about this team. I figured the problem last year was Darryl Sutter. Turns out it was the roster all along. Makes you wonder how the hell Brad Trelving got the gig in Toronto.

Seattle Kraken: After coming within a win of advancing to the conference finals last season, they are in contention for biggest disappointment of the 2023-24 season. Which is saying a lot given how many teams could qualify for that distinction.

Arizona Coyotes: How 'bout this for the storyline of the year? The Yotes are sellers at the trade deadline yet still manage to make the playoffs. Don't laugh, it could happen.

About That Slump

Turns out those storm clouds on the horizon were nothing but a sun shower. After dropping three out of four games in rather ugly fashion, the New York Rangers have rebounded, winning three in a row, two against playoff-caliber teams. 

But even more impressive, their Vezina trophy-winning goalie seems to have regained his form. Against the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, Igor Shesterkin stopped 52 of 55 shots. Three goals against in two games. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, doubters.

The puck management that had had alluded the Rangers over the last few games returned as if it had never been gone. The 2-1 OT win over the Bruins might be the best game this team has played in years; and after getting shellacked by the Maple Leafs 7-3 at the Garden last week, Tuesday's 5-2 win in Toronto was sweet revenge.

In retrospect, that 7-4 win over the Bruins last month might've been the worst thing that could've happened to this team; it gave them a false sense of accomplishment. By all accounts, it was one of the sloppiest games of the season, with both sides committing multiple turnovers. I have long held that a team that wins these types of games is like a kid who gets away with eating a chocolate chip cookie before dinner. He never pays the price, hence he never learns anything.

Well, let's just say that, unlike that kid with the cookie, the Rangers did learn something. They learned that pretending to be the 1985 Edmonton Oilers can lead to one helluva tummy ache. It's not that they don't have elite-level talent; they do. It's just that relying on that talent isn't enough; not in today's NHL. If it were, if talent alone was all a team needed, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews would each have at least two Stanley Cup rings by now. Think about it: the Vegas Golden Knights didn't have a single scorer in the top 70 last season; yet they still won the Cup. At the end of the day, hockey is a team sport. Fantasy teams may be fun and lucrative, but they seldom win championships.

So now that the Rangers have had their rude awakening, all appears to be well. Peter Laviolette no doubt had some choice words for his players after the Toronto loss, and since then the results have been self evident. No more track meets, no more run and gun, no more half-assed passes that lead to turnovers. Just structure, structure, structure, the way he and his staff drew it up on the black board during the preseason.

For their part, the Blueshirts have been attentive students. Over their first 30 games, they are 22-7-1 for 45 points. How good is that? Consider that the 1993-94 team that won the Cup went 21-6-3 for 45 points in their first 30 games. I realize some might think it sacrilegious to compare this team to such an illustrious group of athletes. Don't count me as one of them. The more I see this team play, the more convinced I become that we could be looking at something special come June.

Fundamentally, this is as sound a hockey team as you are likely to find. They are well coached and they are disciplined. They do whatever it takes to win. They go into the trenches, they take the body, they finish their checks, they block shots, they win face-offs, they convert on the power play. And on those rare occasions when they fail to do any of those things, their goaltending is good enough to bail them out. Games they lost last season they are finding a way to win this season. It isn't always pretty, but since when has hockey always been pretty?

They are in first place in the Eastern conference, only two points behind the league-leading Golden Knights. Can you say Presidents' Trophy? I knew you could.

They are no fluke; they have earned everything they have gotten so far.

Here's How the NHL Can Fix Its LTIR Embarrassment

By now it's become something of a punch line within the ranks of NHL front office executives. Need more cap space? Simple, just put one of your players on long-term injured reserve. Problem solved.

It worked so well for the Tampa Bay Lightning that they tried it twice. At the start of the 2020-21 season, GM Julien BriseBois placed Nikita Kucherov and his $9.5 million cap hit on LTIR for the entire regular season, thus allowing the Lightning to be under the salary cap.  But once the postseason began, Kucherov made a remarkable recovery. I don't know what's in the water down in Tampa, but ole Kuch led his team in scoring with 32 points in 23 playoff games.

During the ensuing offseason, BriseBois decided he couldn't count on one of his players coming down with a strong case of injuritis so he traded Tyler Johnson and his $5 million cap hit to the Chicago Blackhawks for Brent Seabrook, who, by the way, hasn't played an NHL game since midway thru the 2019-20 season and whose career, for all intents and purposes, is likely over. Seabrook, in case you're wondering, carries a cap hit of $6.875 million, all of which goes on, you guessed it, LTIR.

Now you know why BriseBois is the best GM in the league, as far as I'm concerned. No other executive manipulates the system as brilliantly as he does, all with the tacit approval of the suits who work at 1185 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY. 

Well, almost no one. Kelly McCrimmon of the Vegas Golden Knights borrowed a page out of BriseBois's playbook over the summer when he traded Evgeni Dadonov and his $5 million cap hit to the Montreal Canadiens for Shea Weber. Like Seabrook, Weber hasn't played in at least a year, which means his entire $7.85 million cap hit goes on LTIR. When the Golden Knights traded for Jack Eichel last season, Eichel was on LTIR. In order to activate him, McCrimmon was forced to move Mark Stone to LTIR. Talk about musical chairs.

If this charade weren't so embarrassing, it would be comical. The NHL, in its infinite lunacy, has not only failed to close a loophole in its LTIR policy; it is giving a wink and a nod to teams that are ostensibly gaming the system in order to get a leg up on their rivals. As for the damage such ambivalence is causing to the league's reputation, well we are, after all, talking about the NHL: the only professional sport in North America that still tolerates fighting and allows its top stars to be mauled, all to appease a fanbase that looks upon the Broadstreet Bullies as the Golden Era of Hockey.

If the NHL really wanted to fix its LTIR embarrassment, these are the steps I would immediately consider implementing.

1. The LTIR would be eliminated altogether. In its place, each team would be allowed to carry a reserve fund of $10 million to be used to replace players who sustain season-ending injuries. If, for example, the Rangers were to lose the services of Artemi Panarin for the season, Chris Drury would have upwards of $10 million to spend on a replacement without having to worry about going over the salary cap.

Teams would also be permitted to use part of that reserve fund to acquire players they feel would improve their team. However, for every dollar spent on one of those players, two dollars would be subtracted from the fund. For instance, if the Rangers wanted to acquire Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks at 50 percent retention, they would use up the entire $10 million reserve fund plus be on the hook for the remaining $250,000. They also would be shit out of luck if one of their players went down for the season.

See how this works? The league gives each team the same amount of money to work with and says to them, use this money as you see fit. Those who know how to spend their money responsibly will flourish; those who don't will suffer. But the shenanigans will finally be over.

Since I don't for a minute believe Gary Bettman and the Board of Governors will ever agree to this, let's proceed to the following steps.

2. Any player that goes on LTIR during the season must be activated at least five games PRIOR to end of the regular season in order to be eligible for the postseason. If a team does not have sufficient cap space to accommodate the return of said player than it must create that space by moving another player or players off its active roster. If the salary cap is $83.5 million during the regular season, it's $83.5 million during the playoffs. In other words, the Kucherov maneuver is now kaput.

3. A player who is on LTIR cannot be traded either during or after the season. In order to be traded, that player must be eligible to play the moment the trade is consummated. Trading contracts simply to get cap relief will no longer be allowed.

4. To avoid any ambiguity as to what constitutes eligibility, the player in question must have played in at least five games during the regular season and be examined by a league physician prior to the trade. He also cannot be placed on LTIR immediately upon his acquisition. In other words, no more "Gee, he was healthy when he got here and now, look at him, he can't play" horse shit. Either you're eligible to play or you're not.

5. Teams that violate this new league policy will be subject to any or all of the following: 

• The full amount of the cap hit will be subtracted from the team's salary cap the following season.
• The team will lose the services of said player for the entirety of the playoffs.
• The team will forfeit a draft pick or picks to be determined by the Commissioner's office.

Wow, that's pretty strict. You bet your ass it's strict. And it will send a message loud and clear to every general manager throughout the league. If you can't manage your cap, get a new job.

I submit that the vast majority of teams will have no problem complying. Teams like Tampa Bay and particularly Vegas, who are still over the cap and have only 16 players on the active roster, are going to have to rethink how they conduct their business.

The bottom line is that this has become an eyesore that the NHL can no longer afford to ignore. The powers that be have got to put an end to it.

Claude Giroux to Rangers Makes Sense

Normally, I am not a huge believer in making mid-season blockbuster deals. Almost invariably they don't pan out. The lone exceptions are a) when a team is close to winning it all and needs that extra boost to put it over the top, or b) when a team is on a downward trajectory and is looking to clean house.

The Rangers have gone through both. In 1994, then GM Neil Smith traded away young talent to acquire the final pieces for what he believed would be the franchise's best chance of capturing its first Stanley Cup championship since 1940. In 2018, then GM Jeff Gorton came to the conclusion that the team he and Glen Sather had assembled had run its course and it was time to tear it down and start over.

Both men, as it turns out, were right in their assessments. Smith's moves got him his Cup later that Spring, though it came at a steep price; and Gorton's rebuild, though he is not around to enjoy it, has produced a team that is turning heads and making some rather loud noise.

That 1994 Rangers team will always be treasured by its fans. As for this year's team, the jury is still out. There are times when they play like Cup contenders; then there are times when their flaws are exposed by better, more competent teams. 

The loss at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday night could be explained away as simply a team that was exhausted after playing the night before and not getting back to New York until early in the morning. And to be honest, they looked sluggish from the opening draw. When you play like that against the second best offense in the league with a rookie goaltender in net, you're going to get lit up. And that's exactly what happened; the Avalanche scored five goals in the second period on their way to a 7-3 thrashing.

But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that this team, as exciting and fun as it's been to watch, has a few holes in it that need filling. And if Chris Drury is half the GM I think he is, he will be working the phones between now and the trade deadline in March looking to address them.

First off, let's put the kibosh on the Patrick Kane talk. Yes, he's an upgrade over anything the Rangers currently have on right wing, but the cost of acquiring him would be prohibitive. For starters, you'd be looking at giving up Kaapo Kakko, Nils Lundkvist, and a high-round draft pick for a 33 year-old forward with a $10.5 million cap hit who is a UFA after 2023. Even if the Blackhawks were willing to eat half of Kane's contract through next season - and that's a big if - the Rangers would still be on the hook for the remaining $5.25 million.

And that means any hope Drury has of re-signing Ryan Strome is all but gone. You didn't seriously think Strome's agent would be dumb enough to let his client sign a team-friendly deal to keep him on Broadway AFTER that team moved heaven and earth to land a player who's five years older and making twice the money, did you?

So, if the Rangers do indeed acquire Kane, it's with the understanding that the window to win a Cup is this year, and this year only. Anyone who thinks this is the correct move for a franchise coming out of a four-year rebuild has taken one too many pucks to the head. At least when Smith sold off his team's future, he already had a division title and a President's trophy under his belt. All Drury has at the moment is a team that has gotten off to a surprisingly good start.

But if it's not Kane, then who? That depends on which position Drury thinks needs more fortifying. The defense looks set. After a rough start, Patrik Nemeth seems to be settling in as Lundkvist's partner on the third pairing. So that leaves right wing and center in most need of attention.

Since Sammy Blais went down with a torn ACL, the Rangers have been scrambling to find a replacement for him. Let's face it: Julien Gauthier is not it. He has the speed and he has the size, he just can't finish. I swear if he had an empty net to shoot at he'd hit the cross bar. His one and only goal of the season came as a result of a turnover he caused against the Montreal Canadiens. Between him and Dryden Hunt, at least Hunt knows what to do with the puck when he gets it on his stick.

With that in mind, I am on record as saying the logical move to make here is to acquire Reilly Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights. Unlike Kane, Smith is a UFA after this season, so he'd be a rental. No apple cart to upset, no cap hell to deal with after the season. And the cost should be considerably lower, say a mid-round draft pick and a prospect not named Braden Schneider or Will Cuylle. And best of all, he was on the team that went to the finals under Gerard Gallant in 2018 so he's familiar with his system. With 10 tallies already on the season, he'd be the second-leading goal scorer on this team. Gallant can slot him on the first, second or third lines.

Why would the Golden Knights give up a player like Smith? Because they're $10 million over the cap once Jack Eichel comes back from LTIR. Smith's contract is worth $5 million, so they'd have to shed an additional $5 mill to get compliant. That's Kelly McCrimmon's problem. With cap space to spare, all Drury has to concern himself with is getting the best possible player to help his team. 

But if Drury really wants to roll the dice and land the biggest fish in the pond that could actually help his team get to the finals, he should probably turn his attention south towards the city of brotherly love. It's no secret that the Philadelphia Flyers are not a good team. The moves Chuck Fletcher made during the offseason not only failed to address the biggest areas of concern the team has, they depleted the valuable draft capital he is going to need to rebuild.  

When Fletcher finally does decide to start his selloff - I figure by mid-January - the first to go will likely be Claude Giroux. At 33, and in the last year of a $8.275 million AAV contract, Giroux checks all the boxes. He can play center or wing, he can shoot, he can pass and he's a leader in the locker room. In 967 games - all with the Flyers - he has amassed 282 goals and 597 assists for 879 points. And best of all, his winning face-off percentage is an outstanding 62 percent this season. The last two years, it was 59 and 59.6 percent respectively. No one on this Rangers' team even comes close.

Just picture Giroux centering a third line with Alexis Lafreniere on the left and Julien Gauthier on the right. Imagine the nightmare having three scoring lines would create for opposing coaches. Every line would have a bonafide playmaker on it. And if you're wondering what this means for Filip Chytil, the answer is pretty obvious. This is now his fourth year in the NHL and far from progressing, he appears to be regressing. With the goal and assist he picked up against the Avalanche, Chytil now has 6 points on the season. To put that in perspective, Barclay Goodrow, the player Drury brought in for grit purposes, has 10. Like it or not, it's time to admit the painful truth: Chytil, like Lias Andersson, was a bust. When your fourth line is generating more scoring chances than your third line, that's a problem. 

But there are two obstacles standing in the way of the Rangers being able to get their hands on Giroux. The first concerns the center's no-move clause. Giroux has been emphatic: he wants to stay in Philly and he's not willing to waive his NMC. Fletcher would have to convince him that a trade is the best thing for him since it's unlikely the team would re-sign him during the offseason. And if his agent is good at basic math, he's probably already informed his client that the Flyers don't have enough cap space next year to retain him anyway.

So let's assume that Giroux has a change of heart and agrees to waive his NMC. What haul would Fletcher demand for his services? He already gave up a first and a second round pick to Buffalo in exchange for Rasmus Ristolainen, a defenseman who makes Nemeth look like Brian Leetch. I figure Fletcher probably wants to turn the tables on an opposing GM to recoup his losses. Under no circumstances should Drury part with his own number one for a rental. A fair trade would be Chytil and one of the Rangers' two second round picks. Drury should be firm and tell Fletcher to take it or leave it. If Fletcher still wants another body, Drury can throw in Tim Gettinger. The perennial Hartford product has 6 goals and 11 points for the Wolf Pack and at 6'6" and 218 lbs, would make an ideal Flyer.

How would trading for Giroux affect the negotiations between Drury and Strome's agent? Not nearly as much as trading for Kane would. If anything, by moving Chytil's $2.3 million contract, it frees up the cap space needed to re-sign Strome to an extension that would keep him paired with Artemi Panarin for the next four years. After this season, Goodrow could then move up and center the third line. He's already centering the fourth line so what's the big deal? With Lafrienere on the left and a healthy and re-signed Blais on the right, the Rangers would have a solid, if unspectacular, third line. And if they opt to move on from Blais, they have Cuylle waiting in the wings. The more I see of this kid, and this year's first rounder Brennan Othmann, the more impressed I become with this organization.

The bottom line is this: Giroux to the Rangers makes sense. In fact, either a Giroux or Smith rental would improve this team considerably without mortgaging its future, which is looking brighter and brighter by the day. And, dare I say it, transform it into a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

Yes, I dare.

2021-22 NHL Predictions

I'm not a big fan of regular season predictions because too many things can go wrong during the course of an 82 game schedule. Injuries, for one. Still, given this will be the first full schedule in three years, I thought I'd stick my big toe in the water. So, here we go.

Eastern Conference:

Atlantic Division:

Tampa Bay Lightning: Yes, they lost their entire third line and the center on their fourth. But this team is loaded with talent; their defense is intact; and they still have the best goaltender in the world, not to mention the second best coach in the league in Jon Cooper.

Boston Bruins: David Krejci's unexpected retirement hurts, as does the loss of Tuuka Rask. Still, the Marchand line is the best line in the league and that should carry them to a solid second place.

Florida Panthers: They went all out to acquire the depth they believe will get them over the hump. The only problem is their best goaltender is the guy not making $10 million a year. Hard to see them making a deep run with this group.

Metropolitan Division:

New York Islanders: They lost Jordan Eberle in the expansion draft, but Lou Lamoriello was able to keep the rest of this core intact, including their "identity" line which has given every team in the league fits the last three years. The defense is lights out, the goaltending is solid and, oh yes, they have Barry Trotz.

Carolina Hurricanes: Hard to figure what they were thinking letting Dougie Hamilton go in free agency. Tony DeAngelo can score, but as Rangers fans know all too well, his defense leaves a lot to be desired. The forwards are deep enough to keep them in the hunt.

New York Rangers: Chris Drury overhauled the lineup just enough and hired the right coach for this still very young team.

Wild Cards:

Toronto Maple Leafs: Replacing Zach Hyman with Nick Ritchie won't help a team that relies too much on finesse. Yes, they'll qualify for the playoffs again, but then that's not the problem, is it?

Washington Capitals: This team is starting to show its age but they'll be good enough to squeak in.

Western Conference:

Central Division:

Colorado Avalanche: They were forced to let Brandon Saad go because of the salary cap, but they have the best one-two punch in the league with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, plus Darcy Kuemper is an upgrade in goal.

Winnipeg Jets: They have arguably the second best goalie in the league in Connor Hellebuyck and one of the best centers in Mark Scheifele. Defense is good if unspectacular.

St. Louis Blues: They have the goaltending to contend and they added a couple of solid forwards to an already deep lineup.

Pacific Divison:

Vegas Golden Knights: What's there not to like? They play an uptempo, physical-style of play, and assuming the guys in white coats don't come for Robin Lehner, they should run away with the division.

Edmonton Oilers: Zach Hyman was a good pickup, albeit at a high price. But the operative question remains can this top heavy team advance in the postseason?

Vancouver Canucks: They have a future super star in Elias Pettersson and former Ranger J.T. Miller. Questions remain, though, in goal and on D.

Wild Cards:

Chicago Blackhawks: Hoping to squeeze the last ounce of life out of the careers of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, they went shopping during the offseason and bagged a couple of nice additions; the biggest one being Marc-Andre Fleury.

Seattle Kraken: Ron Francis was smart to stock up on quality defensemen in the expansion draft. They still don't have a number one center and will likely lead the league in one-goal games, but at least they won't embarrass themselves.

Playoffs:

Eastern Conference Finals: New York Islanders over Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2

Western Conference Finals: Vegas Golden Knights over Colorado Avalanche 4-3

Stanley Cup Finals: New York Islanders over Vegas Golden Knights 4-3

Year End Awards:

Art Ross Trophy: Connor McDavid, Oilers

Hart Trophy: Artemi Panarin, Rangers

Norris Trophy: Cale Maker, Avalanche

Vezina Trophy: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning

Conn Smythe Trophy: Mathew Barzel, Islanders