Lightning Rumors & News

Bleacher Report "Evgeni Malkin has played nearly 1,000 regular-season games and another 177 in the playoffs while establishing himself as one of the most prolific players in recent history. Three Stanley Cups, two scoring titles, a most valuable player award and better than 500 goals and 1,300 points..." May 17

Daily Faceoff "In Round 1, Daily Faceoff resident coach Jon Goyens identified eight key battlegrounds that had significant impacts on the outcome of each series. He was the first to use the word ‘boring’ to describe the start of that Calgary-Dallas series, which ended up being..." May 17

Daily Faceoff "Okay. That was extreme. Pretty sure the hockey universe is still measuring its collective heart rate after five Game 7s over two days to close out the first round of the NHL playoffs. Early on in those series, though: I have to admit to being disappointed in the quality of the games on the ice...." May 17

Pro Hockey Talk "1. How healthy are Point, Kucherov, Verhaeghe? We’re only through one race in the marathon that is the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even so, there are already injuries that could swing a series between two dominant teams in the Panthers and..." May 17

Complex "The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Game 7 curse lasted well after the final buzzer rang on Saturday night. After the team failed to advance to Round 2 of the playoffs yet again, their fans began to take out their anger on each other.  A video shot from section 319 of the..." May 16

Clutch Points "The Toronto Maple Leafs were defeated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That’s a phrase attributable to any of the past six NHL seasons and still holds true in 2022. The Leafs blew a 3-2 series lead against the Tampa Bay Lightning and were defeated 2-1 in Game 7, once again..." May 15

The Hockey Writers "The Minnesota Wild had high expectations for the playoffs following a franchise-best campaign in the 2021-22 NHL season. Unfortunately, the St. Louis Blues proved to be too tough of a task to handle in the opening round as they eliminated the Wild in six games. Outside of Kirill..." May 15

Pro Hockey Rumors "Despite relatively low fanfare, one of hockey’s biggest names is set to be become an unrestricted free agent this summer. New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban will become a UFA for the first time in his career, having just finished the final year of an eight-year, $72MM..." May 15

Larry Brown Sports "The Toronto Maple Leafs had their best team in years, but they still were unable to shake a difficult streak that has been plaguing them. The Leafs lost 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference first round playoff series. The heartbreaking Game..." May 15

The Hockey Writers "The Chicago Blackhawks are expected to be one of the busiest teams this offseason. General manager (GM) Kyle Davidson has made it clear that the club is rebuilding and more moves should be on the way. However, although this is the current state of the team, that doesn’t..." May 14

Clutch Points "The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs have an extremely important date this Sunday night, as they will be playing Game 7 of their scintillating first-round series. The Bolts are looking to keep their hopes alive for a three-peat, having won the last two editions of the Stanley Cup..." May 14

The Hockey Writers "One game for all the marbles. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning get set to duel it out one more time as their first-round series is going the distance. It’s been a back-and-forth affair to say the least and each game has been so different. Entertaining as hell, Game 7 is..." May 14

The Athletic "Welcome to a weekend of Game 7s. If your favorite team isn’t playing in one, prepare to be entertained. If they are, well, prepare for pain. Whenever I make a ranking, I know what I’m in for. It’s a fun format to play with, and readers usually enjoy them, but..." May 13

ESPN "While the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs has included a few too many blowouts for our liking, it has also provided at least three Game 7s, the ultimate "tension convention." According to ESPN Stats & Information, Saturday will be the first time..." May 13

The Score "You can blame the officiating. Or you can blame the costly mistakes. Your call. The fact of the matter is the Toronto Maple Leafs woke up Friday still alive in the NHL postseason. They again failed to close out a first-round series Thursday, this time against the back-to-back champs,..." May 13

Daily Faceoff "And just like that, just when the moment seemed to be at hand for the Toronto Maple Leafs to banish their many ghosts to purgatory, poof, the moment was gone. Stop us if you’ve heard this before. As the Tampa Bay Lightning surged onto the ice at Amalie Arena to..." May 13

ESPN "The 2021-22 NHL season included a great deal of highlights, from the dominance of the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers to the goal-scoring prowess of Auston Matthews and Chris Kreider to spectacular goaltending from Igor..." May 13

Daily Faceoff "A few months back, I wrote an article for The Coaches Site about a term I coined: ‘Trap Goals.’ I came up with the idea after working remotely for an NHL head coach during the 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. During pre-scouts and analyzing in-game..." May 12

ESPN "Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said something absolutely astonishing before Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes. He announced a goalie change from Linus Ullmark to Jeremy Swayman, which was to be expected when one is down in a series. But to justify his..." May 12

The Hockey Writers "The Toronto Maple Leafs have no shortage of motivation heading into Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Leafs are just one win away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2004. They are just one win away from silencing the haters who have been..." May 12

TSN "Thomas Chabot will serve as Team Canada's captain at the 2022 IIHF World Championship in Finland. Hockey Canada announced Thursday that Chabot will wear the "C," while Montreal Canadiens winger Josh Anderson, Winnipeg Jets forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois and Adam Lowry,..." May 12

Pro Hockey Rumors "After being traded earlier this season and finding himself in the ECHL, it seemed likely that Alexei Melnichuk’s time in North America was coming to an end. That was made official today, as HC Sochi in the KHL announced that the young goaltender has signed a contract with..." May 12

Sportsnaut "The Vegas Golden Knights suffered a disappointing end to the 2021-22 NHL season, tumbling out of a playoff spot over the final few months. This is the first time in franchise history that they’ve missed the playoffs. As a result, head coach Peter DeBoer has found his name swirling in the..." May 11

The Score "Will demons be exorcised at Amalie Arena on Thursday? Following a wild 4-3 victory Tuesday, the same Toronto Maple Leafs core that's failed to close out consecutive series against the Boston Bruins, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Montreal Canadiens now has a chance to eliminate the..." May 11

Daily Faceoff "For 23 minutes and 35 seconds, Game 5 was Hell on ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Especially for goaltender Jack Campbell, whose supposed redemption was quickly and mercilessly contorted in a funhouse mirror. After being pulled by coach Sheldon Keefe in Toronto’s 7-3 Game 4..." May 11

Maple Leafs Hot Stove "Jon Cooper addressed the media after his team’s 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. On giving up a 2-0 lead: We are not really making them earn it. We are kind of giving it to them. Two..." May 11

The Athletic "This has been a strange first round on a number of fronts. Scoring is up, penalties are being called, teams are holding onto multi-goal leads, the margin of victory has never been higher, and series have never been closer. It’s been a very different Stanley Cup playoffs. The..." May 10

The Hockey Writers "You’ve heard the news. Jeff Blashill will not be behind the Detroit Red Wings’ bench next season, and now the search for Hockeytown’s next head coach has begun. General manager Steve Yzerman has the ultimate say in who will fill that vacancy, but he did say this..." May 10

ESPN "The 2021-22 NHL season included a great deal of highlights, from the dominance of the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers to the goal-scoring prowess of Auston Matthews and Chris Kreider to spectacular goaltending from Igor..." May 10

Daily Faceoff "For this week’s edition of McKenna’s Musings, I decided to stay in my lane. All goalie. During the Stanley Cup playoffs, there’s never a shortage of crease-related topics. So here’s a closer look at two of the major goaltending..." May 10

ESPN "Each series in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs has now gotten through Game 4, with no shortage of goalie drama, blowouts and controversy with on-ice officials. This postseason has certainly been thrilling, and following wins Monday by the Florida..." May 10

The Score "Scorers can't be stopped Disregard the old saying that it's harder to score in the postseason. Offense surged in 2021-22 to heights unseen in 26 years, and the trendline has kept rising in May. Teams combined to score 6.28 goals per game..." May 10

Daily Faceoff "The Montréal Canadiens picked the Wright time to bottom out in the NHL standings. Yes, the pain of finishing in 32nd place some 300 days after skating in the Stanley Cup Final is real, but the payoff is the Canadiens now hold the best odds in the history of the NHL Draft..." May 10

The Athletic "How many NHL coaches woke up on Monday, heard that Barry Trotz was freshly unemployed and audibly groaned? Fifteen? Twenty? Thirty-one? Yep, a big, unexpected name has cannonballed into the coaching carousel. It seems we can thank Lou Lamoriello for that. Now,..." May 10

Daily Faceoff "The NHL announced the finalists for the Norris Trophy for the league’s top defenseman on Monday. The finalists, who are the players that finished top-three in voting, are Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, and Cale Makar of the..." May 09

ESPN "It's round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Boston Bruins are facing the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tensions flare early, as Boston winger David Pastrnak collides with Carolina goalie Antti Raanta,..." May 09

Pro Hockey Rumors "The roster is set, with just a few days to go before things kick off for Hockey Canada at the 2022 IIHF World Championship. The defending gold medalists will be icing a rather youthful roster this season, highlighted by some of the league’s up-and-coming stars, along with some established..." May 09

The Hockey Writers "The Toronto Maple Leafs lead their best-of-seven first-round series two games to one following their gutsy hard-fought 5-2 victory over the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Friday night. While it was not a picture-perfect game or as dominant a game as they had in their 5-0 win in Game 1, it was a nice..." May 08

Bleacher Report "The regular season is the main measuring stick for evaluating an NHL player's performance when he's eligible to become a restricted or unrestricted free agent. However, a strong effort in the postseason can also provide a significant boost to their stock. The..." May 07

Daily Faceoff "Two years ago, Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo delivered an all-time performance during the Stanley Cup playoffs. In an agonizing five-overtime defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their Round-1 matchup, he stopped 85 shots. That broke Kelly Hrudey’s..." May 07

ESPN "After back-to-back Stanley Cup championships for the Tampa Bay Lightning, coach Jon Cooper couldn't believe he was uttering these words: "We're going for three." The last time an NHL team won three straight Stanley Cups was from 1981-83, as part of..." May 06

NHL.com "Shane Wright, a center with Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League, is No. 1 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters for the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft. Central Scouting on Thursday revealed its final list of the top North American skaters and goalies, and..." May 06

The Athletic "Since the NHL regular season came to a close last weekend, three head coaching vacancies have opened up already, with possibly one or two more to come. NHL teams are rarely as cutthroat as their NFL counterparts where on Black Monday, non-playoff teams cut a swath through coaching..." May 06

Daily Faceoff "Momentum. It’s a word we hear a lot during the Stanley Cup playoffs, far more often than we do during the regular season. If you’ve watched all 16 games in Round 1 so far, you’ve probably heard “momentum” discussed several or even dozens of times per..." May 06

The Score "With the 2022 NHL Draft just two months away, New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald has made it clear his team's first-round selection could be in play. "I said this two drafts ago when we had the three first-round picks, I'm open to whatever can help..." May 05

The Score "While other leagues have expanded their postseason pictures in recent years, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday he wouldn't change a thing about the Stanley Cup Playoffs. "The reason this is as good as it is is because the regular season and the playoffs are..." May 05

ESPN "Have we ever discussed how the Conn Smythe Trophy might be the NHL's weirdest award? Let's start with the hardware itself. In 1964, the trophy was donated to the NHL by Maple Leaf Gardens, to be awarded to the Stanley Cup playoffs MVP and as a bauble to honor Hockey Hall of..." May 05

Daily Faceoff "Terse? No. Too strong a word. But when the Toronto Maple Leafs showed up for a media availability at the Ford Performance Centre Thursday, they weren’t chatty, either. They didn’t seem like a team wanting to lament what went wrong in Game 2’s sloppy home loss to the Tampa Bay..." May 05

The Score "Victor Hedman As time dwindled in Wednesday's first period, a jittery player might have shoveled the scoring chance into Jack Campbell's stomach. But when a loose puck found Hedman by the crease, he waited a beat as Campbell keeled over and then..." May 05

Pro Hockey Rumors "After the 2023 IIHF World Junior tournament was stripped from Russia last month, a new host nation and city needed to be found quickly. The destination has been decided, as Hockey Canada officially announced today that Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick will hold the..." May 05