Predators' Juuse Saros, Team Finland Eliminated from IIHF Men's World Championship
How The Rangers Can Be Just Like The Panthers
Watching the Panthers maraud their way to the Stanley Cup Final round, some Rangers fans have asked me, "Well why can't our Blueshirts do that?"
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New York Times
41 minutes ago
- New York Times
How Edmonton Oilers' depth is already a factor in Stanley Cup Final
As the Edmonton Oilers entered the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers this week, one important piece to the team's formidable attack was unavailable. Zach Hyman is the team's top right winger. He's a goal scorer, aggressive checker, owns the high-danger chance column annually and hits anything that moves. It's not hyperbole to suggest Hyman is the best NHL free-agent signing in Oilers team history. How would the organization survive without him? Well, in Game 1 against the Panthers, the right wingers performed well. All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick Kasperi Kapanen was claimed on waivers from the St. Louis Blues in November and did enough to stay on the roster as a part-time solution over the rest of the season. In the first game of the final, coach Kris Knoblauch played Kapanen with centres Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (8:15, Evander Kane on the other wing) and Leon Draisaitl (6:31, again with Kane on left wing and a 1-0 goal edge). Advertisement Kapanen gives Knoblauch a speedy winger with offensive flair. With the game on the line on Wednesday, Kapanen split the seam between Florida defencemen and almost scored. He was also in on two goals (both assists) in Game 1. In the games since Hyman left the lineup, Kapanen has been useful at five-on-five, and is chipping in more offence playing higher in the lineup: All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick These are small samples (Hyman played all but the last two Oilers playoff games), but Kapanen has received a significant jump in playing time. His four-minute increase in five-on-five represents about the same increase as Corey Perry, and more of a push than Viktor Arvidsson (about two additional minutes). Connor Brown saw minutes increase from 12:26 to 17:01, although he has played in just one of the two games since Hyman's injury. Arvidsson was signed last summer to play on Draisaitl's line, but did not fit the role. He entered the postseason as a fringe player in need of an opportunity. Arvidsson scored an important goal in Game 1 against the Panthers. Relegated to a part-time role, even when he's in the lineup, the goal may spark opportunity and a move up the depth chart. Both men have been roster afterthoughts at times this season. Their performance in Game 1 of the final reflects a terrific depth chart for the organization this spring. It also shows the kind of depth required to win a championship. As the depth right wingers emerge as solutions to the issue of Hyman's absence, the defensive alignment is returning to normal due to the return of stalwart veteran Mattias Ekholm. The coaching staff relied on, and received, strong work from depth defenders Ty Emberson (nine games), Troy Stecher (six games) and Josh Brown (one game) leading up to the return of Ekholm. In the two games since the Oilers have been running the optimal pairings, results have been mixed: All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick In a small sample (two games), there are no warning signs that are actionable. Overall, Edmonton is winning the five-on-five share 7-4 in the last two games; that's a fantastic result against two elite teams. There is danger here, though, both at home and on the road in Sunrise, Fla. Advertisement The Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak tandem had a difficult night against the Panthers. In 20 minutes together at five-on-five, Florida outshot Edmonton 10-4, won the Corsi (31-14), Fenwick (23-6) and expected goal (87 percent) metrics. Knoblauch was able to feed the Aleksander Barkov line a steady diet of the Evan Bouchard pairing. The Oilers won the day in the head-to-head matchup, scoring 1-0 goals with a 65 percent expected share. On the road, Florida coach Paul Maurice will have the last change, and the Nurse-Kulak tandem could be the target. Both men are veterans, but are left-handed defenders, making outlet passes on the backhand the only option at times. Those backhand passes could result in turnovers and Florida goals. The suffocating Panthers forecheck took some advantage of it in Game 4, but Barkov versus Nurse head-to-head accounted for just 36 percent of the total time on ice. Knoblauch deployed the Bouchard pairing for 54 percent of the Barkov minutes, fading the Nurse and Kulak and Jake Walman and John Klingberg duos. Maurice is likely to alter the playing time his top line sees against Ekholm-Bouchard. The depth player who has enjoyed success with Nurse is Stecher. During the postseason, the two men have combined for 2-0 goals at five-on-five (in 74 minutes) with a 53 percent expected goal share. Nurse is a lefty, Stecher is right-handed and an effective (if undersized) option. For the Oilers, who are facing a team that exacts a physical toll on opponents, the Nurse-Stecher tandem may be necessary due to injury. When the Stanley Cup Final moves to Florida, it's possible the Oilers dress seven defencemen, so the option of inserting Stecher into the lineup is possible in-game. Those quick outlets, tape to tape, are that important. The list of names who have contributed to the Oilers through three rounds (and Game 1 against Florida) is long and has delivered impressive results. The injury to Hyman wasn't anticipated, and the club misses the wide range of skills the veteran delivered all season. Advertisement Since his absence, Edmonton has won both games. Kapanen is the most prominent fringe player on the Oilers today, but there's a good chance another member of the 'healthy scratch' group will emerge as the series moves deeper. Stan Bowman added some valuable pieces after being named general manager last summer. Some of those names stayed in the lineup, while others emerged and became possible options. When Klingberg was signed, and through his early games with the club, no one could have guessed he would be playing a prominent role in the final while Stecher and Emberson were in the press box. The strong play of Klingberg forced the issue, and in doing so, increased overall depth at the position. The Oilers' depth is already a factor in this series. Expect injury, and replacements who can handle the load when placed in the role. Kapanen is proof that this version of the Oilers has learned from past experience when it comes to having enough depth in every position. (Photo of Viktor Arvidsson and Mattias Ekholm: Codie McLachlan / Getty Images)
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Brad Marchand in '25 and Ray Bourque in '01: A breakdown of ex-Bruins and the Stanley Cup
Brad Marchand's quest to win the Stanley Cup as a member of the Florida Panthers has inspired a nostalgia-fueled discussion about something that happened in 2001 with his old team, the Boston Bruins. But even if you're not a Bruins fan, even if you hate the Bruins, you may know what I'm talking about. Advertisement It goes something like this: Marchand is an aging ex-Bruin playing for the Panthers in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, which is not unlike what happened nearly a quarter of a century ago when the great Raymond Bourque was an aging ex-Bruin playing for the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final. There are, of course, major differences between what Marchand is trying to accomplish versus what Bourque accomplished in the spring of 2001, and I'll get to those differences in a moment. But I need to get this out of the way first: It's a good thing whenever we can revisit June 13, 2001, which was the day Ray Bourque of the newly crowned Avalanche stepped out to a balcony at Boston's City Hall Plaza to be cheered by the thousands of Bruins fans who turned out for the occasion. How Bourque came to be holding the Stanley Cup over his head at City Hall Plaza is a story with all kinds of twists and turns, not to mention a years-later rollout of long-simmering grievances. Rather than rehash it all here, I invite you to read the oral history I wrote for The Athletic in 2021 commemorating the 20th anniversary of the event. I interviewed some 15 people back then, including Bourque and former Bruins president Harry Sinden, and everybody was remarkably candid and anecdotal. In short, the Bruins did Bourque a solid on March 6, 2000, when they traded the legendary defenseman to the Avalanche. The Bruins were rebuilding and Bourque had yet to win a Cup, and the trade was designed to be win-win for everybody. The Avalanche didn't make it to the Cup final that year, but they won it all a year later, toppling the New Jersey Devils. In an instant-classic hockey moment, Avalanche captain Joe Sakic was handed the Stanley Cup by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and immediately handed it off to Bourque, lest there be any doubt as to the identity of the most emotional man in the building. Advertisement Six days later, there stood Bourque at City Hall Plaza. It was an idea hatched by the office of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, after which it bounced to Bourque's agent, Steve Freyer, and then to Bourque himself. A call was placed to Sinden, who was fishing in Maine. He wasn't one bit happy about this City Hall Plaza idea. Again, read the original piece. But know this: While there may have been some hard feelings about the event, there were no villains. Everybody shook hands and went on with their lives. And I'll let you in on a secret: Bourque originally didn't want to be interviewed for the story but then said he'd take part only if Sinden agreed to be interviewed. To my surprise — and, I guess, to Bourque's surprise — Sinden did the interview. And away we went. I'm forever grateful to both men. So there. Thanks for indulging me as I invite you to read a story that was written at a time when we were all just beginning to dust ourselves off from the pandemic. (In fact, every interview I did was over the phone.) Now, back to Marchand. How is his pursuit of the Stanley Cup different from Bourque's 2001 vision quest with the Avalanche? Let us count the ways: • As a member of the 2010-11 Bruins, Marchand has already played on a Stanley Cup winner. The trade that sent him to Florida was not a goodwill gesture by Bruins GM Don Sweeney. The Bruins had tried to work out a contract extension; failing that, they dealt him to the Panthers, who were loading up for another Cup run. • Whereas it was not surprising when the 40-year-old Bourque retired after winning the Cup, Marchand has no plans to go gently into that good night. (Not that he's ever gone gently anywhere.) Marchand will be a free agent after this Cup final has ended, and as The Athletic's Chris Johnston points out, 'To say that the 37-year-old has boosted his market value this postseason is an understatement.' • Is Marchand a Hall of Famer? Well, yes, says me. But it's a discussion worth having. In fact, if you google 'Brad Marchand' and 'Hall of Fame,' you'll be directed to dozens of these very discussions. Bourque, on the other hand, is hockey royalty. In The Athletic's countdown of the top 99 players in modern NHL history, he came in at No. 10. Advertisement • Marchand has baggage. Bourque arrives for this discussion without even a carry-on. Put another way, Marchand has boiled the blood of many hockey fans over the years, from licking the faces of opposing players to speed-bagging the Vancouver Canucks' Daniel Sedin during the 2011 Cup final. Bourque? When Sakic handed him the Cup that night in Denver, it was one of hockey's all-time feel-good moments. If/when the Panthers repeat as champions, and if/when team captain Sasha Barkov hands the Cup to Marchand, crushed beer cans will be landing on flat screens across North America. Brad Marchand was one heck of a trade deadline pickup — The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) June 5, 2025 • While many Boston fans would enjoy seeing Marchand play on a Cup winner, it means rooting for the Panthers, which means rooting for the team that pushed the Bruins out of the playoffs (while also pushing them around) in 2023 and '24. There were no such hard feelings with the Avalanche when Bourque won his Cup. I suppose one could go all the way back to the days when the Avalanche were doing business as the Quebec Nordiques and get re-upset over Boston-born, future NHL referee Paul Stewart running up 27 penalty minutes (including an epic fight with Stan Jonathan) in Quebec's 7-4 loss to the Bruins on Nov. 22, 1979, at the Old Garden, but that's next-level grudge-holding. The Nordiques also knocked the Bruins out of the playoffs in 1982, but c'mon. • For Bourque to bring the Cup to City Hall of Plaza in 2001 made it possible for fans everywhere else to crow that things were so bad in Boston that their fans had been reduced to celebrating another city's championship. At the time, no Boston team had won a championship since the 1985-86 Celtics, nor had any Boston team played so much as a postseason game in nearly two years. Marchand is welcome to bring the Stanley Cup to Boston should the Panthers recover from their Game 1 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers and win it all, but he shouldn't expect Mayor Michelle Wu to order up a party. The Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins have combined to win 13 championships since the day Bourque held the Stanley Cup over his head.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Sami Kapanen on son Kasperi's Oilers surge and the ‘opportunity of a lifetime' to grow a family legacy
EDMONTON — Watching Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in the wee hours of the morning from his home in Finland, Sami Kapanen could hardly believe his eyes. He'd seen that stat line before. He'd seen that result before. It was exactly 23 years to the day, in fact, since the only other time someone carrying Finland's most famous hockey family's name had the chance to get it engraved in the rounded silver edges of the Cup. Advertisement 'Scary,' Sami told The Athletic on Thursday. 'It's scary how much is the same.' Consider that he was a 28-year-old forward playing for the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2002 Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings. That series began on June 4. He had a big hand in the Hurricanes' victory at Joe Louis Arena to open the best-of-seven. 'Game 1, we won in overtime,' he recalled. 'I had two assists.' On Wednesday, he watched from afar as his son Kasperi, a 28-year-old forward with the Edmonton Oilers, picked up two assists in an uplifting overtime victory over the Florida Panthers. History sometimes rhymes. The respective stat lines from their Stanley Cup debuts are eerily similar: Sami Kapanen, June 4, 2002: Two assists, two shots, 23 shifts, 21:22 ice time Kasperi Kapanen, June 4, 2025: Two assists, two shots, 26 shifts, 20:28 ice time Of course, both father and son hope the similarities end there. Sami's Hurricanes dropped the next four games to Detroit in 2002, and he still carries regrets about the experience. He picked up a gruesome injury that season when two six-inch pieces of fiberglass from a broken stick embedded in his palm just before the Olympic break. He never got his game on track during the playoffs that followed, scoring just once in 23 games following a 27-goal regular season. He was shouldering a heavy weight during what wound up being the only Cup Final appearance of a 12-year NHL career. 'I wish I could go back and just play,' Sami said Thursday. 'Just enjoy it. Don't worry about the numbers.' There are certainly some lessons to be found in there for Kasperi, a 2014 first-round pick who has twice been claimed off waivers during a twisting career in which he's never quite made good on his potential. That's how Kapanen arrived in Edmonton from the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 19, and he viewed the latest trip through the waiver wire as a potential make-or-break proposition on his NHL career. Advertisement To see the way he played Wednesday, you'd have trouble believing going on waivers was even possible. Kapanen used his speed to get in on the forecheck and disrupt the Panthers with some effective hits in Game 1 and split through defensemen Niko Mikkola and Seth Jones to create a partial breakaway in overtime before ringing a shot off the outside of the right post behind Sergei Bobrovsky. Couple that with his two assists, and it was about all you could ask for from a depth forward who spent nine games in the press box to open these playoffs for Edmonton. 'He's gaining more and more confidence by the period right now,' said Sami, adding that he doesn't think he's seen his son play this well since he was Evgeni Malkin's linemate in Pittsburgh during the 2021 season. Sami described Kasperi as an 'emotional player' who needs to feel the trust of his coach to perform at his best. Everything started to fall into place, he said, after the series-clinching overtime goal Kasperi scored to finish off the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 2. 'He kind of showed himself that 'I've still got it,'' said Sami. 'When he feels good, good things happen.' Kapanen the younger has scored more than his share of massive goals, from the overtime winner in Helsinki to win Finland a gold at the 2016 World Juniors to a double-overtime playoff winner for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Washington as an NHL rookie in 2017 to his series-clincher against Vegas. The Oilers pursued Kapanen as a free agent last summer, when he chose instead to remain with the Blues on a one-year contract. When he arrived off waivers, he found an incredibly close team of committed professionals who helped him rediscover his love of the game. 'It was just an eye-opener,' Kapanen said. 'It lit a fire under me. Just my love for the game has just grown ever since I've come here.' Advertisement By pursuing a career in hockey, he essentially got into the family business. His grandfather, Hannu, played for Finland at the 1976 Olympics, and Kasperi counts time spent in the Philadelphia Flyers dressing room with Peter Forsberg, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter among his childhood memories because of Sami's 831-game NHL career. The Kapanen Clan — as they're known in Finnish — are the only hockey family in the world that have had five different members represent the national team at a major international tournament. They are heavily invested in possibly seeing that name etched into the Stanley Cup this summer. 'I come from a pretty big hockey family,' Kasperi said. 'So after games, it's usually mom, dad, uncle, grandma, grandpa, cousins who will text me. It's a little overwhelming at times. They're just happy that I'm finally here and I've got a chance to win.' Sami hasn't allowed himself to start dreaming about what a Stanley Cup party might look like back home in Kuopio if the Oilers manage to finish the job. He doesn't want to get ahead of himself. He plans to travel to Edmonton to watch Game 5 of this series from the stands at Rogers Place and will continue pulling all-nighters from Finland to watch the other games on TV in the meantime. 'I'm so excited,' Sami said. 'I can see it. His game is coming. It's getting better and better. There's so many things that are kind of clicking right now. 'It's the opportunity of a lifetime and that's the time that you want to perform.' (Top photos of Sami and Kasperi Kapanen: Elsa and Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
