With Mark-Edouard Vlasic, it's always the same: Consistency, smart decisions and tough minutes - game in and game out.

The San Jose Sharks defenseman is one of the best the league has to offer, but hardly garners any time in the spotlight. It could be the market he plays in, or it could be his modest style of play. But whatever it is that pushes the deserved attention away from him, he doesn't care.

"I'm here to play my game, help the team win," Vlasic told The Canadian Press. "If I get credit or I don't I'm not worried about that. I get it from the players, the coaches, the GMs throughout the league. That's the No. 1 thing. In order to make teams (like Canada) the GMs have to like the way you play and that's where I get my credit."

Vlasic won gold with Team Canada in Sochi, and was one of four defensemen named to the Canadian preliminary World Cup roster.

On top of Hockey Canada's brain trust, his teammates take notice of his play, too. Especially his playing partner, Justin Braun.

When people wake up on the East Coast and they watch highlights he might not be on there for a good stick, a blocked shot, or shutting guys down all night," Braun said.

"He'd probably be known as one of the best shutdown D-men in the league (if he played in a major market) more than he already is."

Vlasic is facing the unenviable task of shutting down the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final, and though he was minus-2 in Game 1, the hockey world should be able to catch a glimpse of his talents on the game's biggest stage as the series wears on.

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You rather wanna be one day as Lion than 100years as a lamb👍👏💪😜

A video posted by Teemu Selanne (@sel8nneteemu) on May 30, 2016 at 7:10pm PDT

NHL legend Teemu Selanne spent Memorial Day weekend golfing with some friends, one of whom took an unfortunate tumble into a pond.

The friend was attempting to hit a shot while balancing on the edge of the water when he fell backward, completely submerging himself. Everyone had a good laugh about the mishap, especially this cigar-smoking fellow:

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Free-agent center Mark Arcobello has signed a two-year contract with SC Bern of the Swiss League.

Arcobello, who was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, spent this past season in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization on a one-year, $1.1-million contract. He appeared in 20 games for the NHL club, with three goals and one assist to his credit.

The majority of 2015-16 was spent with the AHL's Toronto Marlies, for whom Arcobello recorded 25 goals and 34 assists in 49 games.

The undrafted 27-year-old heads to Europe with 139 NHL appearances on his record since 2012-13.

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With head coach Ken Hitchcock officially back in the fold for one more season, the St. Louis Blues will turn their attention to roster composition.

During an end-of-year press conference Tuesday, general manager Doug Armstrong addressed key decisions facing the club this summer, saying signing restricted free agent Jaden Schwartz is priority number one, while remaining less sure about the ability to re-sign captain David Backes.

"I'd love to keep him here. But it has to work out for David and his family and work out in our math equation," Armstrong admitted.

Armstrong, to be sure, is demonstrating some forward thinking when it comes to Backes.

Based on the strength of his 2016 playoff performance, the 32-year-old is expected to command much attention on the open market - and a raise over his $4.5-million cap hit - and re-resigning Backes with a much younger and talented Schwartz in need of a new deal would limit the already high-spending Blues.

Troy Brouwer, Steve Ott, Kyle Brodziak, and Scottie Upshall are also scheduled to become unrestricted free agents this summer.

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Vladimir Tarasenko needed time to gather himself.

Called out in St. Louis for not addressing the media on locker clean-out day, the 24-year-old spoke Tuesday and cleared the air in regards to his silence immediately following a Western Conference Final loss at the hands of the San Jose Sharks.

Tarasenko said he was "too pissed off" to talk the other day. Sting of losing in playoffs had him upset. #stlblues

— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) May 31, 2016

Tarasenko also laughed off the suggestion of growing friction with the club, exacerbated by being called out by head coach Ken Hitchcock after Game 5 of the series with San Jose.

The winger - who carries a cap hit of $7.5 million through to the end of the 2022-23 season - is seen as a key piece to the puzzle in St. Louis moving forward, and rightfully so.

Over the past two regular seasons, he's scored 77 goals in 157 games, with 15 tallies in 26 playoff contests.

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The St. Louis Blues have signed head coach Ken Hitchcock to a one-year contract extension, the club announced Tuesday.

The 2016-17 season will be Hitchcock's sixth behind the Blues' bench, and 20th as a NHL head coach. He has a lifetime 757-453-194 record, and a 224-103-36 record in the Gateway City.

Ken Hitchcock's last rodeo? Don't be surprised if Hitch says next season and his new 1-year contract will be his last as head coach in NHL.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) May 31, 2016

After three straight first-round playoff exits, the Blues advanced to the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season. They were defeated by the San Jose Sharks in six games in the Western Conference Final.

St. Louis enjoyed a tremendously successful regular season, their 107 points the fourth-highest in franchise history, despite a myriad of injuries to key contributors.

They knocked off the Chicago Blackhawks, the reigning Stanley Cup champions, in seven games, and eliminated the Dallas Stars - the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference - in another seven-game series.

The Blues have finished first or second in the Central Division in each of Hitchcock's five seasons at the helm, and his .667 winning percentage is the highest of any St. Louis coach in franchise history.

Hitchcock won a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999, and has a lifetime 76-72 record in the postseason.

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Lost in the San Jose Sharks' defeat in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was another multi-point game from Brent Burns, his eighth of the playoffs.

Burns and his beard assisted on both Sharks goals Monday, and he now has 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) this spring, which puts him in elite company. Only four defensemen have put up more points in a single postseason dating back to 1986 - and they were great ones.

D-Man	Postseason	Points
Brian Leetch	1994	34
Al MacInnis	1989	31
Ray Bourque	1991	25
Larry Murphy	1991	23
Burns	2016	22

There's a good chance Burns ends up third on that list, behind only Leetch and MacInnis, by the time the Cup is awarded.

Considering how much the game has changed since the late 1980s and early 1990s, and how much better goaltenders are today, Burns' playoffs are that much more impressive.

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PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Marc-Edouard Vlasic doesn't care if anyone knows his name. The San Jose blue-liner was one of the first four defencemen named to the Canadian World Cup team and a key member of Canada's gold medal-winning squad at the 2014 O...

The Golden State Warriors punching their ticket to the NBA Finals Monday night ensured that for the first time since 2003, one region's NHL and NBA franchises would be involved in their respective leagues' championship series at the same time. About 35 miles separate Oracle Arena in Oakland and SAP Center in San Jose.

The hard part: No city or region has ever won both a Stanley Cup and an NBA title in the same spring. The closest it came to happening was 1994, when the New York Rangers hoisted the cup while their MSG counterpart, the Knicks, fell to the Houston Rockets in seven games.

Year	City/Region	NBA team	NHL team
2016	Bay Area	Warriors	Sharks
2003	New Jersey	Nets	Devils*
1994	New York	Knicks	Rangers*
1992	Chicago	Bulls*	Blackhawks
1980	Philadelphia	76ers	Flyers
1974	Boston	Celtics*	Bruins
1972	New York	Knicks	Rangers

(* - won championship)

Up until now with the Warriors and Sharks, all other teams shared arenas. The last time a city came away empty-handed after having both teams in the final round was Philadelphia in 1980.

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The Carolina Hurricanes have hired Ulf Samuelsson to serve as head coach of the team’s minor-league affiliate, the AHL's Charlotte Checkers.

"Ulf has built a very strong coaching resume during a decade behind the bench in the AHL, NHL, and Swedish league," said Carolina general manager Ron Francis. "He has a proven history of helping to develop young players and understands the organizational culture that we are building here."

The former NHL defenseman and Stanley Cup winner (Pittsburgh Penguins - 1991, 1992) spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers, helping the club reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 and the conference final in 2015.

Prior to that, he coached Modo of the Swedish Hockey League, served as an associate with the Arizona Coyotes from 2006-07 until 2010-11, and cracked the coaching ranks as an assistant with Hartford (AHL) back in 2005.

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