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Morning Flurries: Boston wins; who cares?

Hockey on the ice, draft in our minds

By Tom Hunter
NHL: Colorado Avalanche at Boston Bruins Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

The Stanley Cup Final has finally begun as the St. Louis Blues traveled to Boston for game one Monday night. After falling behind 2-0 early, the Bruins were able to score four unanswered goals to take a 1-0 series lead. But really, who cares? We are well into draft prep season.

Speaking of, yesterday we kicked off our annual first round NHL mock draft across the SB Nation NHL network. There was very little suspense in the first two picks as All About the Jersey and Blueshirt Banter followed the course with the consensus top prospects:

New Jersey Devils - Jack Hughes

New York Rangers - Kaapo Kakko

Picks three through five will be published today - you know what that means.

Before we get to the new players that will be joining the Colorado Avalanche organization, we need to note the success a couple current players are having on the ice. Both Tyson Jost and Nikita Zadorov will be coming home from the World Championship in Slovakia with some hardware around their necks.

Big Z won a bronze medal as Russia defeated the Czech Republic in a shootout while Jost and Team Canada are coming home with a silver. [NHL dot com]

With the 2019 World Championship in the books, the IIHF has released the the groups for the 2020 tournament in Switzerland:

No announcement has been made yet, but the Edmonton Oilers have selected their new coach and it’s going to be ex-Coyotes bench boss Dave Tippett.

Mark Spector spoke with a number of Tippet’s former players and if nothing else, they’re saying the right things to get Oilers fans excited about the hiring:

“I would tell them, be prepared to have to play a full 200-foot game,” began Ray Whitney, who played two seasons under Tippett in Phoenix. “I think Tipp has learned that the game has changed. You’re going to have to give those types of players the time and space to do what they’re going to do. And Connor and Leon, they’re going to get their points no matter what,” Whitney said. “What they’ll have to buy into is, Leon, if you don’t score 50 goals and 100 points — but you get 40 goals and 85 points and we make the playoffs — is that going to be good enough? If they buy into it, they still might get to their 100 points, but they will be much better at both ends of the rink.

Dave’s is a team where everybody is asked to play the same way — within reason.” [Sportsnet]

One bit of interesting offseason news has come out in the past few days. It appears as though Phil Kessel has vetoed a trade that would have sent him to the Minnesota wild in exchange for a package centered around Jason Zucker. Phil Kessel has a list of eight teams that he can be traded to without his consent and apparently the Wild were not on it. His time in Pittsburgh has come to an end and it’s only a matter of time before Kessel is traded. Elliotte Fridman of Hockey Night in Canada reported over the weekend that the Arizona Coyotes might be the desired landing spot for 32-year old winger.

Kessel would be a very interesting fit in for the Avalanche. He plays an offensive game that is based around his speed and while he’s already into his 30s, he’s coming off of his two more productive seasons in the NHL. Joe Sakic should definitely be making a call.

NHL Scouting Combine

  • For those interested, the scouting combine gets underway Wednesday May 29th, here is a list of when the prospects will be testing. The prospects will be taking part in the following tests: Bench press, Pro agility test, Pull ups, Standing long jump, Standing height, Wingspan, Wingate Cycle Ergometer test.

*Numbers indicate a bib number and NOT NHL Central Scouting ranking.

7:30 a.m.

  • Tobias Bjornfot (No. 16, D)
  • Ville Heinola (No. 21, D)
  • Mikko Kokkonen (No. 27, D)
  • Simon Lundmark (No. 41, D)
  • Patrik Puistola (No. 105, RW)
  • Antti Saarella (No. 85, C)
  • Isaiah Saville (No. 6, G)
  • Antti Tuomisto (No. 58, D)

8 a.m.

  • Hugo Anlefelt (No. 5, G)
  • Ryder Donovan (No. 112, C)
  • Albin Grewe (No. 104, RW)
  • Nils Hoglander (No. 94, LW)
  • Albert Johansson (No. 23, D)
  • Marcus Kallionkieli (No. 21, LW)
  • Mattias Nordlinder (No. 33, D)
  • Victor Soderstrom (No. 28, D)

8:30 a.m.

  • Egor Anasyev (No. 144, LW)
  • Domenick Fensore (No. 20, D)
  • Spencer Knight (No. 8, G)
  • Ilya Nikolaev (No. 82, C)
  • Nikita Okhotyuk (No. 44, D)
  • Cameron Roew (No. 9, G)
  • Marshall Warren (No. 30, D)
  • Trevor Zegras (No. 90, C)

9 a.m.

  • Ronald Attard (No. 51, D)
  • Samuel Bolduc (No. 35, D)
  • Alexander Campbell (No. 92, LW)
  • Taylor Gauthier (No. 7, G)
  • Peyton Krebs (No. 79, C)
  • Nathan Legare (No. 127, RW)
  • Trent Miner (No. 3, G)
  • Ethan Phillips (No. 83, C)

9:30 a.m.

  • Alex Beaucage (No. 123, RW)
  • Colten Ellis (No. 4, G)
  • Hunter Jones (No. 12, G)
  • Alex Newhook (No. 81, C)
  • Jakob Pelletier (No. 97, LW)
  • Matthew Robertson (No. 57, D)
  • Ryan Suzuki (No. 86, C)
  • Alex Turcotte (No. 89, C)

10 a.m.

  • John Beecher (No. 146, C)
  • Nolan Foote (No. 129, LW)
  • Jack Hughes (No. 96, C)
  • Ryan Johnson (No. 32, D)
  • Artur Kaliyev (No. 126, RW)
  • Robert Mastrosimone (No. 95, LW)
  • Shane Pinto (No. 115, C)
  • Mads Sogaard (No. 14, G)

10:30 a.m.

  • Layton Ahac (No. 50, D)
  • Harrison Blaisdell (No. 73, C)
  • Kirby Dach (No. 111, C)
  • Kaedan Korczak (No. 40, D)
  • Connor McMichael (No. 80, C)
  • Nicholas Robertson (No. 98, LW)
  • Philip Tomasino (No. 88, C)
  • Michael Vukojevic (No. 60, D)

11 a.m.

  • Nikita Alexander (No. 72, C)
  • Philip Broberg (No. 36, D)
  • Judd Caulfield (No. 125, RW)
  • Dylan Cozens (No. 74, C)
  • Matvey Gustkov (No. 76, C)
  • Artemi Kniazev (No. 25, D)
  • Vladislav Kolyachonok (No. 39, D)
  • Cameron York (No. 31, D)

11:30 a.m.

  • Cole Caufield (No. 102, RW)
  • Samuel Fagemo (No. 93, LW)
  • Thomas Harley (No. 37, D)
  • Karl Henriksson (No. 77, C)
  • Pyotr Kochetkov (No. 15, G)
  • Case McCarthy (No. 42, D)
  • Yegor Spiridonov (No. 116, C)

1 p.m.

  • Mikhail Abramov (No. 71, C)
  • Bobby Brink (No. 101, RW)
  • Roman Bychkov (No. 24, D)
  • Pavel Dorofeyev (No. 118, LW)
  • Trevor Janicke (No. 78, C)
  • Jackson LaCombe (No. 49, D)
  • Owen Lindmark (No. 131, C)
  • Vasily Podkolzin (No. 119, RW)

1:30 p.m.

  • Bowen Byram (No. 17, D)
  • William Constantinou (No. 19, D)
  • Drew Helleson (No. 38, D)
  • Michael Koster (No. 26, D)
  • Moritz Seider (No. 43, D)
  • Brayden Tracey (No. 100, LW)
  • Alex Vlasic (No. 61, D)

2 p.m.

  • Adam Beckman (No. 91, LW)
  • Graeme Clarke (No. 103, RW)
  • Simon Holmstrom (No. 106, RW)
  • Anttoni Honka (No. 22, D)
  • Brett Leason (No. 145, RW)
  • Jordan Spence (No. 29, D)
  • Michal Teply (No. 122, LW)
  • Lassi Thomson (No. 46, D)

2:30 p.m.

  • Matthew Boldy (No. 117, LW)
  • John Farinacci (No. 75, C)
  • Raphael Lavoie (No. 114, C)
  • Samuel Poulin (No. 128, RW)
  • Jamieson Rees (No. 84, C)
  • Jayden Struble (No. 45, D)
  • Henry Thrun (No. 47, D)
  • Cade Webber (No. 59, D)