Adam Proteau discusses the quadruple-overtime win for the Florida Panthers, the Arizona Coyotes' week and the Toronto Maple Leafs parting with their GM.
Welcome back to Screen Shots, THN.com’s ongoing web series consisting of our analyses of different hockey topics broken down into smaller numbers of paragraphs. Let’s get right to it.
If you had the stamina to stay awake until approximately 2 a.m. ET on Friday, you got to see an exercise in classic Stanley Cup playoff hockey. The Florida Panthers outlasted the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in quadruple-overtime to win Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final.
Defense was the name of the game for both teams through the first three periods, with Florida limiting Carolina to just five shots on net in the second period and the Hurricanes subsequently holding the Hurricanes to only two shots in the third frame.
And after forward Stefan Noesen tied the game at two goals apiece at 3:47 into the third period, both sides turned it up a notch, as Florida generated 35 shots after the first overtime, and Carolina posted 27 shots in that same span. The teams played more than two games with no time for rest, and you could see the relief in Florida’s players after star forward Matthew Tkachuk scored with only 14 seconds left in the fourth overtime period. They didn’t take the Hurricanes by surprise, but they did outlast them because of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s solid play and because they matched Carolina’s speed and skill.
We still like the Canes to win the series, but Florida served notice Thursday they still intend to be the last team standing. The Panthers’ heavy forecheck, savvy play in the neutral zone, and first-rate netminding from Bobrovsky continue to win them games. Carolina’s challenge now is to bring a smarter transition game for Game 2 and continue to limit Florida’s forwards from having their way in the Panthers’ offensive zone.
The Toronto Maple Leafs shocked the hockey world Friday afternoon when they announced they were parting ways with GM Kyle Dubas. Many in the hockey world believed Dubas would return for his sixth season as Leafs GM. But in Leafs president Brendan Shanahan's press conference following the decision not to bring back Dubas, he made it clear that, somewhere along the lines of negotiating a contract extension, Dubas overplayed his hand this week and wound up out of a job because of it.
Dubas is a smart human being, but it sure looks like he misjudged his relationship with Shanahan, who has accrued all sorts of credit with Toronto’s board of governors and who has earned their trust.
Regardless of what transpired from Dubas’ perspective, there is now a giant opening in hockey’s biggest mecca. The Leafs also announced their AHL affiliate Toronto Marlies team was not bringing back coach Greg Moore and his assistant coaches, so Dubas’ departure clearly had ramifications beyond the GM position.
But nobody can say who the favorite is to replace Dubas. Perhaps it’s longtime hockey man Mark Hunter, who used to be part of the Leafs' management structure from 2014 to 2018. Perhaps it’s a fresher face and internal promotion – someone like Leafs assistant GM Brandon Pridham (it likely won't be Jason Spezza, as insider Pierre LeBrun reported Spezza tendered his resignation on Friday).
Perhaps it’s someone outside the organization – Kevin Weekes? Brad Treliving? Patrick Roy? Mike Futa? None of those four guys has direct ties to the organization, and Shanahan did mention he valued experience in a new GM, but maybe he’s blown away by what he sees from someone new who the Leafs consider to replace Dubas.
One thing is clear – we haven’t seen a Leafs press conference like Shanahan’s Friday presser in a very long time. For the first time in Shanahan’s tenure, things are really up in the air in Toronto on very important fronts, and the near-future promises even more drama. But it underscores, once again, that Shanahan was fearless as a player and just as fearless as a management member.
Finally, it was a sad scene earlier this week in Arizona, where the NHL’s Coyotes have a murky future in Tempe/Phoenix thanks to the public’s rejection of the team’s plans for a new, partially publicly funded arena. And although Coyotes fans are some of the primary people affected by this news – the prospect of relocation is very strong, and everybody knows it – the other party this news hurts are NHL players, who have their bottom line of Hockey-Related Revenue affected in part by the Arizona franchise.
The sooner the team plays in a regular-sized NHL arena and gets strong attendance, wherever it may be, the better it is for Hockey-Related Revenue and for the players inside and outside of Arizona as well. If the franchise can either lose less money or make more than they are, that can help raise the HRR, lead to a higher salary cap and can eventually lead to players getting paid more.