Sergei Bobrovsky is indeed up for the award - given to the best goalie in the regular season - but once again proved to be a bit shaky in the postseason, allowing 20 goals in five games against the Pittsburg Penguins.
Still, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen believes regular-season Bobrovsky and playoff Bobrovsky will merge at some point down the road.
"He will be better (in playoffs)," Kekalainen said Monday per, Aaron Portzline of the Post Dispatch. "I'm convinced about it. I'm 100 percent confident in it."
Bobrovsky has made 11 career playoff appearances for the Blue Jackets, posting a save percentage of .897 in a pair of first-round series losses. Over five regular seasons in Columbus, however, his save percentage sits at .923, with a Vezina win back in 2013 to go with this year's finalist nod.
Ideally for Columbus, Bobrovsky will prove Kekalainen right by this time next year.
An early playoff loss has put the San Jose Sharks at a bit of a crossroads.
With the team unable to build on last year's Stanley Cup Final appearance and achieve the goal of being the last team standing, general manager Doug Wilson now faces the dilemma of what to do with longtime Sharks Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, both of whom are set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
Both players expressed a desire to re-sign with the club on Monday.
Thornton says he wants to come back. "We'll have to see. I'm sure we'll be talking." #SJSharks
Marleau and Thornton rank in the top three in franchise history in games played, goals, assists, and points, and have both served as captain during their tenures. They've both seen their leadership roles reduced in recent seasons, however, with trade rumors swirling as recently as just prior to the Sharks' run to the Final last season.
Whether Wilson and the Sharks decide to retain their services or keep trending younger remains to be seen.
The NHL playoffs are well underway - and with them, the greatest tradition in sports begins. I'm talking about playoff beards. Other sports have tried to copy the phenomenon, but no one does it quite like the NHL.
That said, not all playoff beards are created equal. In this article, I narrow them all down to the five different kinds you'll see over the course of the Stanley Cup playoffs:
The Jumbo
Joe Thornton and Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
How can you not love the two shaggiest, longest, dirtiest beards in the National Hockey League? Growing beards like this takes serious commitment - years of it, in fact. If you want one of these, you have to be all-in, which doesn’t surprise me with these two. They are two of the best players and characters in the league.
Unfortunately for the Sharks, these beards don’t have fatigue-fighters. After a long playoff run in 2016, a World Cup, and 82 regular-season games, these two stars and their teammates ran out of gas en route to a first-round playoff knockout at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.
The Kassian
Zack Kassian, Edmonton Oilers
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Here you have the Elvis Presley style, where you grow the mutton chops on the sides with a clean shave down the middle. This beard will scare the life out of the other team, get you two game-winning goals, and throw some huge hits in the first round of the playoffs. It also captures the resurgence of a career, in which you reward the team that gave you a shot after others had given up on you.
The Crosby
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
This is the beard you sport when you’re still the best player in the NHL, but no matter how old you get, the damn thing just won’t grow (I'm more of a Crosby beard guy, minus the skill). This configuration gets you two Stanley Cups and 144 points in 129 career playoff games - and that's not all.
It also has superhero powers, allowing you to score a playoff goal on Vezina nominee Sergei Bobrovsky with a one-timer from an impossible angle. It goes crossbar down and helps your team advance to the second round. Who needs a thick playoff beard when you can do that?
The McMatthews
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers; Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
This is what you get when you’re not old enough to grow a full beard. In fact, you can’t grow one at all, but you can still lead the NHL in scoring with 100 points or score 40 goals as a rookie.
The future of the NHL is in good hands. McDavid has led his team to the second round of the playoffs, while Matthews has given Leafs Nation a future to get excited about. With all the money these two teams save on razors, maybe both can sign a No. 1 defenseman, because that’s all they're missing.
The Holtby
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
This lumberjack-style beard is thick and bushy - and looks as though it’s a full-body beard grown from the chest up. This beard will get you a Vezina trophy nod, and will carry you through the first round of the playoffs against a young Leafs team that had nothing to lose.
It has mental toughness as well, since being a huge favorite to an underdog team comes with all sorts of pressures as a goalie. Holtby handled Round 1 with a few bends, but he never broke, which is why, to me, the Capitals are still the odds-on favorite to win the Stanley Cup.
So which is my true favorite?
It’s definitely the one on a player that has scars, missing teeth, and captures the pure exhaustion of pouring your soul into finally hoisting the Stanley Cup.
Case in point, San Jose Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer has revealed Joe Thornton appeared in four playoff games against the Edmonton Oilers while playing with tears in his MCL and ACL.
"I've never seen a guy play with a torn MCL and ACL," DeBoer said. "It's a courageous effort as I've ever seen."
Thornton missed the first two games of the series after suffering the injury April 2, and managed to record two assists while seeing almost 19 minutes of ice time.
Thornton himself said he's scheduled to see doctors Monday, and will undergo surgery later in the day, reports Darren Dreger of TSN.
Bought out by Boston a year ago, Seidenberg jumped on with the Islanders following a strong showing with Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup.
Seidenberg, who will turn 36 on July 18, appeared in 73 games for the Islanders this season, recording five goals and 17 assists while averaging 19:26 a night.
Shaw was held out of the game due to concussion-like symptoms, and was not made available to the media as the team cleared out the locker room on Monday, per the Canadiens.
In the five previous playoff games in which he appeared, Shaw recorded 13 shots and seven penalty minutes, including five earned in a fight with Brendan Smith during Game 5.
The news comes days after Chicago was swept out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in an opening-round loss at the hands of the Nashville Predators.
"We believe this decision is best for our organization moving forward," general manager Stan Bowman said. "Mike had an impact on two different Stanley Cup championship teams during his tenure in Chicago. We appreciate his many contributions and wish he and his family success in the future."
Kitchen joined the Blackhawks as an assistant coach in 2010 and was on the staff for two Stanley Cup championships (2013 and 2015). He also previously worked with head coach Joel Quenneville with the St. Louis Blues.
Mike Kitchen has coached with Joel Quenneville from 1998-2003 and 2010-17. Hawks making a major move to break them up again.
Just hours after assisting Marcus Johansson's overtime winner in Game 6 - sending the Washington Capitals to the second round of the playoffs - Justin Williams received a speeding ticket from Virginia police.
The Stanley Cup could very well be decided in the second round.
Now that eight teams remain in the fight, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins - who will meet in the second round for the second straight year - are favored to win it all, according to Bodog.
Out West, the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers have risen to the top, with those two teams also set to face off in the next stage of the postseason.
