If it weren't for one of the best rookie classes in NHL history, Marner would have gained some consideration for the Calder Trophy, as he finished the season with 19 goals and 61 points. The 19-year-old will be joining a Canadian team with a plethora of talent up front.
Defenseman Morgan Rielly will not be joining his Maple Leafs teammate overseas. Rielly won gold with Team Canada at last year's World Championship, played with Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey, and is coming off his first NHL playoff run. That's a lot of hockey in a calendar year.
"I feel like it's best for me to go home and get some rest, recharge," Rielly told Koshan.
The tournament is set to begin May 5 and will be played in both France and Germany.
McAvoy, who debuted impressively in the first round of the playoffs this month, will suit up for his fifth team this year, having represented both the Boston Bruins, Providence Bruins, Boston University, and USA's gold medal-winning world junior squad.
Van Riemsdyk, meanwhile, played in 58 games for the Blackhawks this season, and will serve as one of the more experienced members of a young D-corps.
Named the 19th head coach of the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, the 46-year-old British Columbia native is excited by the opportunity to get his home team back on the map.
"I want to develop a culture that will breed winning. That's a process and that will take time but it starts today," Green said at his introductory press conference. "To our fans, we share the same goal: to have a winning team that's exciting to watch. It's not an overnight process, but it begins now."
Green has spent the past four seasons with the organization as head coach of the Utica Comets, the Canucks' AHL affiliate. The Comets advanced to the Calder Cup Finals in 2015.
With Travis Green's hiring, 23 of the 29 current @NHL head coaches are former @TheAHL head coaches.
That familiarity with the organization paid off Wednesday, as the Canucks president of hockey operations, Trevor Linden, noted the club was focused on Green and did not interview other candidates for the head coaching position.
"Travis checked the boxes. We wanted to act quickly," Linden said. "There's no better interview process than the one we had for the last three years."
Linden also confirmed a 4-year deal for Green, as expected. #Canucks
He noted Wednesday that he expects to add Nolan Baumgartner to his coaching staff. A former NHL defenseman, Baumgartner spent part of four seasons on the Vancouver blue line. He has been an assistant coach to Green in Utica the past four seasons.
At present, then, only the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers positions remain open. Here's the latest on those fronts:
Panthers going to school?
On Wednesday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported the Panthers recently interviewed University of Denver head coach Jim Montgomery.
This falls in line with Montgomery having told Mike Chambers of The Denver Post that he was scheduled to meet with Florida brass after leading his team to an NCAA men's title earlier this month.
Friedman, however, added the Panthers may still be doing some legwork.
Sabres getting busy
Meanwhile, in Buffalo, the Sabres are looking for both a coach and a general manager, and owner Kim Pegula has confirmed the process - beginning with the latter - is well underway.
Kim Pegula confirmed that the GM and coach search has begun and they've been very busy with it
The Atlantic Division's second-seeded Ottawa Senators will take on the Eastern Conference's top wild-card team, the New York Rangers. Ottawa won the season series 2-1, outscoring New York 8-5. This series comes roughly nine months after the two teams made a trade involving centers Derick Brassard and Mika Zibanejad.
Here are three reasons why the Senators will take the series:
Ottawa's 1-3-1 trap will stifle New York
Senators head coach Guy Boucher deploys a very boring (from a viewers perspective), but effective system: the 1-3-1.
This means, when the opposition has control of the puck and begins to head up ice, one skater will wait in the neutral zone and attack the puck carrier, three will stay between the red line and their own blue line to prevent a zone entry, and one skater will sit back in the defensive zone in anticipation of a dump in.
When everyone on the team buys into this system - which it seems the Senators have - it can be very difficult for an opponent to generate offense.
Over a full series, playing against this system can become frustrating. Frustration can lead to sloppy play - something to which the Rangers are no strangers.
New York had the fourth-most giveaways in the regular season, and has the second-most giveaways in the playoffs, according to Corsica.Hockey. Ottawa ranked 15th in takeaways during the regular season, but has the most takeaways in the postseason.
If the Rangers turn the puck over in the neutral zone on a regular basis, Ottawa has enough speed up front to burn the Rangers' immobile defense in transition.
Rangers' poor shot generation could bite them
The Blueshirts ranked 21st in shot attempts during the regular season. The only other teams to qualify for the playoffs with fewer shot attempts were the Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues.
Another staple of a Boucher-coached team is elite shot-blocking. The Sens ranked third in blocked shots during the regular season.
Factoring in both of these statistics could mean a relatively light workload for Senators goaltender Craig Anderson. The Sens are 13-6-0 when Anderson faced fewer than 30 shots during the regular season and playoffs.
In addition to shot quantity, the Rangers could fail to generate quality shots. In the first round, Anderson faced just 4.04 high-danger shots per 60 minutes at 5v5 - the lowest among playoff goaltenders.
In comparison, Henrik Lundqvist faced 7.82 high-danger shots per 60 minutes at 5v5 - the highest among playoff goaltenders.
Though both goalies have the potential to rob a series, the one who projects to face fewer quality shots and fewer shots overall is more likely to succeed.
Erik Karlsson
In what projects to be a low-scoring series, games will often come down to one crucial play. This is where Sens defenseman Karlsson factors in.
The argument could be made that Karlsson is the biggest difference-maker in the entire league, let alone this series. He made three plays in particular that essentially won Ottawa's opening-round series against Boston.
The Rangers are a deep team with talent up and down the lineup, but they lack that one marquee player they can count on night in and night out. Ottawa has the X-factor in Karlsson. Even while playing through a foot injury, his first step is superior to anyone's in this series. Even in the muddiest of games, he can create offense and make plays.
Mike Yeo knows his St. Louis Blues are about to face a hungry bunch.
In advance of a second-round series with the Predators, the Blues bench boss said he was impressed with Nashville's aggressiveness in a four-game sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks.
It's something Yeo will have to stress over and over again, with the unlikelihood that the Blues will be as lucky this time around following a series win of their own against the Minnesota Wild.
Of the 16 teams that competed in the opening round, St. Louis ranked second in shots allowed per game (36.4) while coming in last in shots for per game (26.8).
Jake Allen came up huge with a .956 save percentage over the five games against Minnesota, but Pekka Rinne was even better against Chicago, stopping the puck at a success rate of .976.
Combine St. Louis' shot trends with Nashville's aggressiveness and general lack of respect for their opponents, and the Blues could find themselves being easy prey.
Green spent the past four seasons as head coach of the Canucks' AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.
"Travis is a talented head coach who's played a key role in the development of our young players through four seasons with the Comets," Canucks general manager Jim Benning said in a statement.
Before joining the AHL, Green spent one season as a head coach in the WHL, guiding the Portland Winterhawks to the championship.
"(Travis) has an intense desire to win and build a team identity that is hardworking, responsible on both ends of the ice and competitive," Benning added. "He has an excellent understanding of where we are as an organization and we're confident in his ability to help build our team and develop a winning culture."
While superstars often garner the hockey headlines, depth proves invaluable in the postseason, where players around the league have the opportunity to rewrite their story.
Here are five lesser-knowns who will play key roles in the second round of the playoffs:
Kevin Bieksa
The Anaheim Ducks defenseman is a dying breed - a blue-liner who plays a hard-nosed game and who isn't afraid to mix it up in defending his crease.
On a young and deep blue line that boasts the likes of Hampus Lindholm and Cam Fowler, and rising stars in Shea Theodore and Josh Manson, Bieksa's name is often shuffled to the back. But that's where he does his best work.
His game is simple: Bieksa helps keep pucks out of his own net, as his proficiency in the opposition's zone has waned in recent years - he finished with just 14 points in the regular season (To note, he tallied four points in the opening-round sweep of the Calgary Flames).
He certainly has the support of his coach. As Ducks bench boss Randy Carlyle told Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times on April 18, critics don't see the value Bieksa brings, noting, "We like Kevin Bieksa. I don't care what anybody else says about him, personally."
Bieksa's shutdown abilities were invaluable in Round 1, and the Ducks hope he can put together a similar performance in the second round against the Edmonton Oilers.
Nick Bonino
Bonino, Bonino, Bonino!
Introductions aside, the Pittsburgh Penguins center may have the most difficult task of the second round: keeping the scoring prowess of the Washington Capitals in check.
As for Bonino, the 29-year-old played a key role in last year's Stanley Cup win, putting up 18 points in 24 games. He had just one point in the opening round against the Blue Jackets, but where the Penguins truly need Bonino to contribute is in shutting down the opposition.
A strong two-way player, Bonino is regularly relied upon by Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, leading the team in important but less flashy categories, like defensive zone faceoff wins and short-handed time on ice.
Mattias Ekholm
It's a crowded blue line in the Music City, which leaves little spotlight for one of the Nashville Predators' most valuable defenders.
Behind the likes of P.K. Subban, Roman Josi, and Ryan Ellis, Ekholm is the behind-the-scenes blue-liner that keeps the machine roaring in Nashville. While Josi led the group in ice time through its opening-round sweep over the Chicago Blackhawks, the separation wasn't all that different:
Defenseman
Games
Points
Time on Ice
Josi
4
3
27:14
Ellis
4
4
25:49
Subban
4
2
25:17
Ekholm
4
1
25:10
Playing a simple and mistake-free game, Ekholm's value in the opening round came in shutting down the opposition's best, knocking out the highly-favored Blackhawks in a quick four-game sweep. Ekholm was a primary piece in stifling Chicago's scorers, as the Blackhawks exited the playoffs having scored just three goals.
The next challenge: a repeat performance in the second round against the St. Louis Blues, where the rival music town has no shortage of offensive support of its own in the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, and Alex Steen, among others.
Mike Hoffman
The Ottawa Senators rely on scoring by committee to get ahead of the opposition, and there's no more underrated producer than Hoffman.
The 27-year-old made his full-time debut with the Senators three years ago, and in the ensuring campaigns has put together consecutive 20-goal seasons. In all, he's amassed 82 goals in 231 games. Not bad.
Hoffman was somewhat quiet in the club's opening-round series against the Boston Bruins, scoring twice in Game 3, but held off the scoresheet in four other contests. Going back to the team's scoring-by-committee approach, that left the likes of Bobby Ryan and Derick Brassard to carry the mail for the Senators.
But now it's Hoffman's turn. Finishing second to Kyle Turris in goals this season, and behind only star defenseman Erik Karlsson in points, the Senators will need Hoffman to be a key contributor in their second-round matchup against the New York Rangers.
Here's the good news: Hoffman has saved some of his best performances when going toe-to-toe against the Broadway Blueshirts, having scored seven points in 12 career games against the Rangers.
Nate Schmidt
A healthy scratch to begin the postseason, Schmidt has made it a difficult decision for coach Barry Trotz to put him back on the sidelines.
Schmidt seized his opportunity when the Capitals lost top-pairing defender Karl Alzner to an upper-body injury after Game 2 in their opening round against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But Schmidt has held his own since becoming a regular, averaging more than 18 minutes a night. He's also picked up two assists, pulling even in points from the back end with more offensive producers like John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov.
Where Schmidt lands once Alzner is set to the return to the lineup is unknown, but he's no doubt made his case to stick around.
After knocking off the Maple Leafs in Round 1, Schmidt's extended audition will carry through to the second round as the Capitals look to take down the rival Penguins.
