Considering her phenomenal skills on the ice, it's safe to presume Mirai Nagasu was grossly underpaid during her lone season as an employee of the Colorado Avalanche.
Prior to becoming the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel at the Winter Olympics, Nagasu made a modest living as an ice girl for the NHL team during the 2015-16 season.
She was congratulated by her former employer after her historic triple axel helped the U.S. secure a bronze medal in the team figure skating competition,
Mirai Nagasu is the first ever American woman to land a triple axel in Olympic competition.
Hedman's pedigree is well-established; the 6-foot-6 defenseman was the second overall pick in 2009 and has developed into one of the NHL's top blue-liners. But for the other three goal-scorers, the path to the NHL was significantly more daunting; all three were undrafted free agents, passed over for a variety of reasons before playing their way onto the Lightning's radar and, eventually, the roster.
Their role in Tampa's rise to the top of the league standings is nothing short of astounding. Entering Tuesday, the Lightning led the NHL with a 38-15-3 record while ranking first in goals per game (3.6), sixth in goals against (2.6), and third in power-play success rate (23.8 percent) - and they've done it with a lineup built largely out of spare parts.
Nearly a quarter of the players who've appeared in at least 20 games for the Lightning this season are undrafted free agents. Three others are seventh-round picks, including two they selected themselves. Nikita Kucherov, the league's leading scorer, was taken 58th overall in 2011. Brayden Point, chosen in the third round in 2014, played in this year's All-Star Game - in front of the home fans at Amalie Arena - in just his second NHL season.
Tampa has become the NHL's Island of Misfit Toys, getting major production out of players previously considered too small, too slow, or just not good enough for the league. And, in an era in which virtually every talented player is scouted multiple times per season, no team tops the Lightning when it comes to identifying the few hidden gems that do exist.
"The Lightning are an incredible story," Rogers Sportsnet and NHL Network hockey insider Chris Johnston told theScore. "It is a story of excellence at every level. The Lightning have one of the best and most committed owners in the league. They have a fantastic front office, which has made shrewd trades and navigated some tricky contract situations. And they have an innovative coaching staff and lots of great players. They've come a long way as an organization in half a decade."
Much of the credit belongs to general manager and master architect Steve Yzerman, who inherited a roster in May 2010 that had gone three straight years without a playoff berth. And, while a team that features Hedman and 2008 No. 1 overall pick Steven Stamkos is never truly hopeless, it was clear from the outset an injection of young talent was an absolute must.
Many were curious to see what Yzerman had learned about roster construction from his Hall of Fame career in Detroit, which served as the model NHL franchise for most of the 1990s and 2000s. And it didn't take him long to show what he picked up from his time in Hockeytown.
"What Steve Yzerman appears to have gleaned from his time with the Red Wings is the value of making your plan and sticking with it," Johnston said. "He doesn't waver when the winds start blowing in different directions."
Despite sharpening his skills in a two-year stint with the Red Wings' front office prior to joining the Lightning, Yzerman's first crack at the draft didn't go so well. Only two out of eight players Tampa selected in 2010 (Brett Connolly and Radko Gudas) appeared in an NHL game, and both were shipped out of town in separate deals on March 2, 2015.
But Yzerman hit the mother lode the following year, snagging Vladislav Namestnikov in the first round, Kucherov in the second, and Ondrej Palat with the 208th pick. The trio has combined for 672 career NHL points; Kucherov and Palat both rank in the top 10 in scoring in their draft class, while Namestnikov is enjoying a career year with 40 points in 56 games.
"When NHL teams basically stopped drafting Russian players out of fear they'd never leave the KHL, Yzerman didn't follow suit," Johnston said. "He selected Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kucherov, Namestnikov, and Nikita Nesterov over two drafts. Each of them became part of the Lightning team that went to the 2015 Stanley Cup final. In Detroit, of course, Yzerman played alongside some great Russian players, and he believed that the lure of the NHL would still be strong enough for the best players to come to North America.
"He trusted his instincts. (They) paid off."
Kucherov is the diamond of Yzerman's draft trove, entering Tuesday with 71 points in 56 games on the heels of an impressive 40-goal, 85-point showing last season. The 24-year-old Quebec Major Junior Hockey League alum is on pace to become just the third player not drafted in the first round to win a scoring title since the 2004-05 lockout, joining Lightning legend Martin St. Louis (2012-13) and Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn (2014-15).
That 2011 draft, which also yielded puck-moving defenseman Nesterov (148th overall) and forward prospect Matthew Peca (201st), established Yzerman and his scouting team as one of the savviest units in the NHL - and the mid-to-late-round hits kept on coming:
Cedric Paquette was taken in the fourth round of the 2012 draft; after starring for Blaineville-Boisbriand of the QMJHL, the hard-hitting center spent a year in the AHL before becoming a fixture in Tampa's bottom-six forward corps.
Towering defenseman Jake Dotchin was selected in the sixth round in 2012; Dotchin split his Ontario Hockey League tenure between Owen Sound and Barrie, then spent parts of three seasons in the AHL before getting promoted to the Lightning.
Point was drafted 79th overall out of Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League; passed over for being undersized, Point went on to play in a pair of World Junior Hockey Championships and has produced 87 points in 124 career NHL games, including 47 in 56 games this season.
Yet, for as much value as Tampa has mined from unheralded prospects, what truly sets the Lightning apart from the majority of the league is their faith in - and development of - players who never even made it to the draft stage.
Tampa's fascination with the underdog predates Yzerman's arrival by a decade. Signed as a free agent from Calgary in 2000, the diminutive St. Louis went from undrafted afterthought to two-time Art Ross Trophy winner and 2004 Stanley Cup champion; he retired in 2015 as the all-time franchise leader in assists (588), points (953), and game-winning goals (64).
Yzerman's first notable UDFA addition, forward Tyler Johnson, signed with the Lightning in March 2011 in the midst of a 115-point breakout with the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL. After two productive seasons in the AHL and a 14-game audition in St. Petersburg, Johnson made the Lightning full time in 2013-14 and promptly put up a 50-point season, finishing third in the Calder Trophy voting.
He has been one of the team's most reliable forwards since, setting a career high with 72 points in 2014-15 and having recorded 16 goals and 26 assists through his first 55 games this season.
Yzerman's UDFA success continued with the addition of defenseman Andrej Sustr, who signed with Tampa out of Nebraska-Omaha of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in March 2013. The 6-foot-7, 220-pounder has suited up in more than 300 regular-season games and 46 playoff contests.
Gourde, 26, is the latest undrafted free agent to make waves in Tampa. The former Quebec Major Junior Hockey League scoring champion and league MVP signed in 2014, and finally made it to the big club after spending the majority of the next three seasons with the Lightning's AHL affiliate.
Gourde is third in the NHL among rookie scorers with 42 points, behind only Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders and Brock Boeser of Vancouver. And while Gourde is a longshot to win the Calder Trophy, if he does, he'll be just the third UDFA in 27 years to do so, joining Chicago Blackhawks forward Artemi Panarin (2016) and Hall of Fame goalie Ed Belfour (1991).
"It's amazing," Gourde said following Monday's practice. "(But) of all the personal stuff, it's nothing compared to the team we have this year, and the accomplishment we're trying to do here. It's fun to be part of it."
For as well as the Lightning have made out with young UDFAs, Tampa has also invested smartly in veteran players who went undrafted.
Kunitz, 38, signed with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 2003; the Lightning are his fourth NHL team. Bruising defenseman Dan Girardi, 33, spent nearly 11 years on Broadway after joining the Rangers as a UDFA in 2006. Conacher, 28, is enjoying his second stint in Tampa after inking a deal in 2012; he had 24 points in 35 games before being traded to Ottawa the following April.
Having a mix of high draft picks and former minor-league grinders in the same dressing room could conceivably create problems when it comes to chemistry. But Johnson says one of the keys to Tampa's success is how none of the players dwell on where they've come from - only on how they're playing now, and what they hope to accomplish in the future.
"I think it's all about the kind of player you are today," Johnson said. "It doesn't matter if you're a first-round pick, if you're first overall, or if you're undrafted - everyone's treated the same, it just depends how you play.
"Everyone's treated the same, everyone has the same amount of input in what we do. I think everybody helps each other, even the young guys. Different things that they're doing, we can learn from, and as vets, we try to help them in certain situations because we've been there."
Gourde agrees.
"It's a big thing, and everybody in this organization gets along," he said. "It's a big part of this team. We work together, we want to get better together, and I think everything is team-oriented."
The Lightning boast the NHL's most eclectic player mix - and having the right man at the helm has been critical to their success. Head coach Jon Cooper took over in 2013 after spending three seasons in the AHL and winning the league title with Norfolk in 2012; that team featured Conacher (80 points), Johnson (68), and Palat (30).
Cooper's relationships with several of the Lightning's late picks and UDFAs - having coached many of them in the minors - have served him well. Tampa Bay won at least 42 games in each of his first four full seasons and is well on its way to surpassing that total this year.
"There aren’t many NHL coaches like Jon Cooper," Johnston said. "He's part-motivator, part-goofball, but all-in on doing the work necessary to win a Cup. Where Cooper seems to excel is connecting with his players - and that shows most with the way younger guys have been absorbed into this lineup.
"He's taken a teenager like Mikhail Sergachev, for example, and put him in a position to succeed with sheltered minutes at even strength and lots of power-play time. He's a coach that earns the trust of his guys, makes them comfortable, and gets more out of them as a result."
Yzerman has said relying on young players with friendly contracts is a must in today's cap era - and in that regard, the Lightning's sustained success might actually work against the team down the road. After all, someone is going to pay Kucherov, Point, Palat, and others - and, as we've seen with other teams, particularly the Blackhawks, keeping together a solid young core is incredibly challenging if everyone plays their way into a big contract.
But Johnston believes if any team is equipped to navigate the league's salary cap minefield, it's the Lightning.
"When you have as many high-quality players as Tampa does, the cap is always going to pose challenges," Johnston said. "But the Lightning have done an incredible job of holding the line with their guys. Yzerman got Kucherov to sign a bridge deal out of entry level and now he's one of the biggest bargains in the league.
"Even when Kucherov gets a big pay raise next summer, the GM will be able to point to an internal cap - with Stamkos at $8.5 million and Hedman at $7.88 million on long-term deals. It’s highly unlikely his next AAV (annual average value) is much higher than those. That, in turn, will establish a bar for Point, Sergachev, and future Lightning stars to come."
That the Tampa Bay front office likely faces some difficult contract decisions is a minor quibble for a team that was in total disarray just five years ago. Locked in as the prohibitive favorites to win their second Stanley Cup, Yzerman and the Lightning are in a truly enviable position - built both to win now and to compete for years to come, a finely-tuned machine that is so much more than the sum of its unconventional parts.
(theScore NHL editor Sean O'Leary contributed to this feature.)
GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) Mark Arcobello had a choice between shuttling to and from the minor leagues in North America and taking his talents to Europe.
Arcobello, who went to Europe a year for some stability before the NHL decided not to participate in the Olympics, said he is glad he took the path less traveled because it helped him make the U.S. national team.
''This opportunity kind of solidifies that I made the right decision,'' said Arcobello, who spent time with the Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Arizona Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs organizations. ''It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and if I'd still be going up and down between the minors and NHL right now, I'd be probably regretting it and wishing that I had left.''
Arcobello is one of the poster boys for this unpredictable, wide-open Olympic men's hockey tournament that begins Wednesday with the U.S. against Slovenia and Russia playing Slovakia. Even though current NHL players aren't taking part, 94 of the 300 Olympians have played at least one NHL game and every country has at least one former player.
''People say the NHL's not here, but it's all NHL talent,'' U.S. defenseman James Wisniewski said. ''Maybe it's not the All-Star talent that they're looking at like a Patrick Kane or (Jonathan) Toews or (Ryan) Getzlaf - those kind of guys. But it's still NHL talent. It's just the guys that you really never heard of because they decided to take the European route.''
A lot of them took the European route. Players at the Olympics come from 19 different professional leagues based in 13 countries plus the NCAA and Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps.
Canada has 23 former NHL players and the U.S. 16, down to Norway and South Korea with two and Slovenia one. Russia might have the two best former NHL stars in Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk, and Finland the best goaltender now who played in the NHL in Mikko Koskinen.
It's an NHL tournament. Just of the past and future.
''Everybody has a lot of talent here,'' said Kovalchuk, who leads the favored Russians after playing for the Atlanta Thrashers and New Jersey Devils. ''We have a great team. There are five, six teams I think that are in the same level who's got a lot of young kids who will be future NHLers, too.''
Soon-to-be NHL talent is everywhere. Sweden defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is expected to be the No. 1 pick in June, and U.S. college players Jordan Greenway and Ryan Donato, Finland defenseman Miro Heiskanen and forward Eeli Tolvanen, and Russia forward Kirill Kaprizov should be there in no time.
Combine that young skill with over 17,000 games of NHL experience, and players expect the quality of hockey to be better than expected.
''I think it's going to shock some people,'' said U.S. defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti, who played for the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes. ''Obviously with the NHL current players not coming, it's a little bit of a different scenario, but there's a lot of great players here that are excited to show what they can bring to the team and with the opportunity to play on the big stage and actually compete for a medal.''
Germany coach Marco Sturm, who played 938 regular-season and 68 playoff games in the NHL, said everyone will treat it the same because ''there is still gold, silver and bronze.''
Historically, the value of those medals will certainly be reduced compared to those given out in the five previous Olympics with NHL players. It's not what hockey people like to call a ''best-on-best'' tournament like the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 Olympics and the 1996, 2004 and 2016 World Cup of Hockey, though it's far more of a mystery.
''More unpredictable because not a lot of teams know about each other,'' U.S. coach Tony Granato said.
For all the scouting and video teams can use to learn about each other, one major question is who are the most dangerous players.
Kovalchuk leading the Kontinental Hockey League in scoring. Koskinen is among the KHL's best goalies and other season trends give an indication, though the motivation of this unique chance and the quirkiness of a short tournament provide the opportunity for the tournament to be a must-watch drama.
''I do not think it will be easier (without NHL stars),'' said Slovenia's Jan Mursak, who played 46 games for the Detroit Red Wings. ''It is sometimes even harder to play against the players from Europe who, for a lot of them, this is their first Olympics. I am sure they will be pumped up as much as we are.''
Facing the Blackhawks, the last-place Coyotes rallied for a season-high performance in a 6-1 romp over Chicago.
Arizona led 2-0 entering the second frame before Alex DeBrincat replied for the Blackhawks. However, Coyotes blue-liner Alex Goligoski quickly regained Arizona's two-goal margin.
Blackhawks netminder Anton Forsberg was chased after the third goal. He finished the night with just 10 saves and was replaced by Jeff Glass.
Wingers Max Domi and Tobias Rieder also chipped in on the Coyotes' offense, with both players snapping goal droughts that had extended into the double-digits prior to Monday's contest.
Arizona scored five goals in a game three times this season prior to Monday's win over the Blackhawks.
Undefeated in regulation in their past three games, the Coyotes will look to build on that when they face the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
If the Toronto Maple Leafs do indeed meet the Tampa Bay Lightning in the postseason, they'll take solace in knowing they can hang with the best team in the league.
The Maple Leafs beat the Lightning 4-3 on Monday night in a contest forward Nazem Kadri deemed a "measuring-stick game" earlier in the day, according to TSN's Mark Masters.
After getting blanked by the Lightning last month, the Maple Leafs entered Monday having won three straight games and seven of their last eight. And the timing couldn't have been better for the club - who has been playing some of its best hockey of the season - to test its mettle against the No. 1-ranked team in the standings.
"Of course, you want to play your best against the best teams," goalie Frederik Andersen said postgame. "These are fun games to be a part of and obviously it's great coming out with two points."
As for Auston Matthews - who finished the night with three assists - Monday felt like just another game since he expects his club to compete with any opponent.
"It's just another win," said Matthews. "We expect to win every night, doesn't matter who you play. Obviously, when you play the best team in the league you've got to bring your A-game, so I thought we played well tonight."
With the win on Monday the Maple Leafs now sit six points back of the Lightning - who have two games in-hand on Toronto. Meanwhile, the season series sits tied at one game apiece with two more head-to-head battles before the season is out.
While it's only a short punishment, it's one Brown feels is undeserved.
"No one knows what's fair anymore," Brown told Josh Cooper of LA Kings Insider. "I mean, I saw it differently than they did. They thought I stuck my knee out. I felt like I was going through and he's sidestepping me. So I hit him with my knee, yeah but it was the result of him making a move laterally when I'm trying to deliver a hit."
The incident is Brown's second run-in with the Department of Player Safety this season. Last month, he was fined $10,000 for cross-checking Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz.
"When I think of a knee, I think of a guy sticking his knee out to clip a guy," Brown added. "My play, I thought, was lower-leg contact because he's trying to get out of the way and I'm coming through on my original path but the league decided I stuck my leg out I guess. I don't know exactly what their official statement was."
Brown is eligible to return to the lineup Feb. 15 when the Kings face off against the Penguins.
Rick Nash is willing to leave the Big Apple for the Big Smoke.
With the New York Rangers prepared to enter a rebuild, the team approached the veteran forward - who carries a modified no-trade clause - to provide a list of clubs to which he'd be willing to accept a trade.
Earlier reports indicated Canadian-bound playoff teams are among the 12 places Nash is willing to go, while TSN's Frank Seravalli has since confirmed the Toronto Maple Leafs are among his approved teams.
"I included the teams that I think have the best chance of winning the Stanley Cup and are also places I think would be good for my family," Nash told Larry Brooks of the New York Post. "And, yes, that does include teams in Canada. I'm not excluding that as a possibility."
A move to the Maple Leafs would be a homecoming of sorts for Nash, who hails from nearby Brampton, Ontario.
The 33-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent who could provide playoff-bound teams, including the Maple Leafs, with some added size and scoring touch in a chase for the Stanley Cup.
Nash has tallied 17 goals and 10 assists through 56 games this season.
Stability at the top is often necessary for a successful rebuild.
That appears to be the course the New York Rangers will follow, as Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported the organization will keep its two most senior hockey decision-makers - president Glen Sather and general manager Jeff Gorton - in the fold through next season.
Sather has been with the Rangers since 2000 and later signed an extension to remain with the club through the 2018-19 campaign. The five-time Stanley Cup champion previously served as GM of the Rangers up until 2015, when Gorton assumed the role.
Gorton joined the Rangers in 2007, and was later promoted to director of player personnel and then to assistant GM before taking over the top job. Before that, he spent 14 seasons in the hockey operations department of the Boston Bruins.
The Rangers currently sit two points outside of a playoff spot, and the team's place in the standings has seen Sather and Gorton decide that a retooling is needed to build a winner.
That could mean the team loses some "familiar faces" ahead of the Feb. 26 trade deadline, which the two executives co-wrote in a letter to the Rangers' fan base on Thursday.
