Hokey Thoughts
from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,
-As Dallas grasped for overtime and Chicago won a shootout, the biggest question was: What will this mean for Vegas? Former Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president Richard Peddie often repeated the saying “The surest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour.” However, there’s no past behaviour to analyze, because the Golden Knights have never missed the playoffs before. Logan Thompson battled his heart out, making 14 of 17 saves in three straight shootouts. In the loss to the Stars, he stayed in despite a hard overtime collision with Vlad Namestnikov that clearly stung him. But Vegas got nothing for it, as its shooters went 0 for 17. (Watch the Knights make a point of consoling a clearly dejected Thompson after Tuesday’s loss in Dallas.) As the Robin Lehner-Vegas skirmish unfolded, one person with a really good handle on the situation kept warning: “Wait. This will evolve.” I think we’re looking at two distinct storylines in Nevada. The first is what are the repercussions, if any, for missing the playoffs? The second is, where is the Lehner story going? So far, we’ve heard brief commentary from head coach Peter DeBoer, clearly trying to make a point: “I’m concerned about the guys that are here, battling with us here tonight,” before the Dallas game, and, “We’ve got a lot of guys playing banged-up and they gave us what they had,” after. We haven’t heard yet from Lehner – who is never shy – GM Kelly McCrimmon, owner Bill Foley or the other players. Where does everyone stand? So, there’s the possibility this gets more flammable before it calms. Remember: Lehner is under contract for three more seasons.
- Don’t like how that Juuse Saros injury sounds – and looks. It’s a shame; trouble for him and the Predators. I don’t know if I remember a year where so many No. 1 goalies, including Frederik Andersen and Tristan Jarry, got hurt right before the playoffs. There are goalie coaches who aren’t crazy about the skates being used, thinking they contribute to the problem.
- One exec who recently watched Buffalo: “Owen Power, Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson on the blueline is going to be a problem.” And not for the Sabres.
-more Thoughts...
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