After a disappointing 67-point season, changes could be coming in Canada's capital.
The Ottawa Senators will likely make a decision about head coach Guy Boucher's future with the club after the draft lottery April 28, general manager Pierre Dorion said at his end-of-season press conference Thursday, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
If Boucher is back behind the Senators' bench, he'll have to change two parts of his coaching style.
Dorion adds that if Boucher is back, they will ask for two changes: 1) implementation of younger players in the lineup and 2) more practice. Says if he hears “rest is a weapon,” he will go crazy
The Sens took their time bringing along some of their younger players. For example, 21-year-old Colin White - who dominated the 2017 world juniors - received less ice time than Tom Pyatt, and just a tick more than Alex Burrows. Meanwhile, Thomas Chabot - the team's future on the back end - and veteran castoff Johnny Oduya played nearly identical minutes.
Dorion, unsurprisingly, thinks highly of Chabot.
"We think Thomas Chabot can be a star in this league. We think he's just scratching the surface," Dorion said, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.
But if Boucher isn't willing to give Chabot - and the Senators' other young players - a role that can maximize development, it's clear Dorion will find someone who will.
The Ottawa Senators appear to be keeping their 2018 first-round pick in-house.
As part of the blockbuster trade that landed Matt Duchene in November, the Senators dealt a conditional first-round pick to the Colorado Avalanche, which Ottawa could choose to keep if it ended up in the top 10. It obviously will be, as the Sens finished in 30th place this season, and general manager Pierre Dorion said the club is "99.9 percent" holding onto the lottery selection, per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.
By holding onto the pick, the Senators will instead forfeit their 2019 first-rounder to the Avalanche.
The Senators own the second-best odds at securing the first overall pick at 13.5 percent.
Despite finishing with a franchise-record 105 points - tied for the third most in the Eastern Conference - the Toronto Maple Leafs come into their first-round series with the Boston Bruins as the underdog.
That's because the Bruins finished with the fourth-best record in the entire league, and were easily the NHL's best team in the second half of the season - even with a glut of injuries.
With that being said, the Leafs have the talent and the ability to go toe to toe with the Bruins, but in order to come out on top, the following will need to take place:
1. Agitate Marchand
Everyone knows Brad Marchand is not only the league's best super-pest, but also one of the game's best overall players. Yet, there's a way the Leafs can neutralize him.
They need to agitate him, specifically by giving him a taste of his own medicine. Marchand himself will stir the pot, but in every post-whistle scrum, the Leafs need to get up in his face and do whatever it takes to get him thinking about revenge, rather than scoring goals. While the Buds aren't known as a physical team, they do have players like Nazem Kadri, Zach Hyman, and Leo Komarov who can drive opponents up a wall.
Marchand plays with a ton of emotion - and it's part of what makes him great - but he's also very undisciplined because of it, as evidenced by his 329 penalty minutes over the past four seasons (302 games). He hasn't toned it down in the playoffs, either, with 87 PIMs in 72 career postseason games.
If the Leafs can get Marchand to take stupid penalties, not only will it leave one of Boston's best players - if not its very best - in the box rather than on the ice, but it will also allow Toronto's second-ranked power play to go to work.
2. Zaitsev has to be better
To say Nikita Zaitsev endured a sophomore slump would be a massive understatement:
Stat
16-17
17-18
GP
82
60
PTS
36
13
PIMs
38
31
+/-
-22
+8
TK
33
21
GV
58
76
CF% rel
-1.8
-4.1
The Leafs will likely try to get their top defensive pairing of Morgan Rielly and Ron Hainsey out against Boston's top line of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak as much as possible, but when Boston's at home and has the last change, Zaitsev and Jake Gardiner will see their fair share of time against the NHL's best trio.
As a right-handed shot, Zaitsev will see a heavy dose of Marchand, a left winger. He doesn't need to rack up points, but he certainly needs to be better with and without the puck in his own end. Simply put, if Zaitsev plays like he did in the regular season, it could be a short series.
3. Andersen must outplay Rask
Goaltending is key in every playoff series, but between two streaky netminders, it seems especially important in this matchup.
Both Frederik Andersen and Tuukka Rask got off to shaky starts this season, but played exceptionally well through the middle portion of the schedule. However, both stumbled down the stretch - in their last 15 games, Anderson posted an .899 save percentage, while Rask was at .906.
Given how prolific both offenses are, whichever goaltender carries their poor play into the postseason could get shelled. The Leafs are capable of winning by scores of 5-4 and 6-5 - even though those games make Mike Babcock lose his hair - so Andersen doesn't necessarily have to stand on his head ... he just needs to be better than Rask.
It took the expansion club just one game to notch a first-ever postseason victory, as it edged the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 in Game 1 of the teams' first-round series Wednesday night.
It was an evening full of firsts for the Golden Knights, who needed less than four minutes to score their first-ever postseason goal off a Shea Theodore shot. It was also the first playoff game at T-Mobile Arena, where a raucous crowd witnessed a quintessentially Vegas pregame introduction.
"He's our guy," Hakstol said, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen, adding that his gut instinct is to go back to Elliott.
Elliott gave up five goals on 19 shots in Wednesday's 7-0 drubbing, before being mercilessly pulled in the second period. Unfortunately, Petr Mrazek didn't fare much better in relief, as he gave up two goals on 14 shots in just under 31 minutes of work.
Hakstol will have Thursday to mull over his decision before Game 2 of the series on Friday.
Matt Murray wasn't exactly overworked, but he kept his playoff shutout streak intact nonetheless.
The Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender stopped all 24 shots he faced as he notched his third consecutive postseason shutout in a 7-0 shellacking of the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their first-round series Wednesday night.
Murray also recorded shutouts in Games 5 and 6 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, in which the Penguins prevailed over the Nashville Predators.
He turned aside all 24 shots he faced in Game 5 and stopped all 27 that came his way in Game 6 last June.
Down 2-1 early in the third period of Game 1 of a first-round series against the Minnesota Wild, the Winnipeg Jets scored twice and held off a late push from the opposition, winning their first playoff game in franchise history.
That dates back to the Atlanta days, of course, when the franchise played as the Thrashers and made one postseason appearance in 11 seasons, which resulted in a four-game sweep at the hands of the New York Rangers.
After moving to Winnipeg and adopting the Jets nickname in 2011, the club qualified for the playoffs once prior to this year, again resulting in four losses, this time against the Anaheim Ducks.
These aren't those Jets, though, and the team that finished second overall in the NHL standings this season with 114 points has its sights set on bringing the Stanley Cup to Winnipeg for the first time in the history of the Manitoba capital.
when you're programmed to do ridiculous feats of athletic greatness but still don't really know how to experience human emotions pic.twitter.com/mPJJRo7rpQ
