The NHL Free Agency Frenzy this year had big names and potential drama, but for the most part, the teams played it pretty close to the vest. Instead of rebuilding with key pieces, most teams opted for add-ons; good, consistent players in secondary roles who could be relied on to do the little things right.

Late re-signings stole most of the drama, with quality players being locked up by their own teams to some pretty stellar contracts: Crosby, Quick, and now Brodeur. There may yet be some drama ahead with Parise and Suter still out there, and the rumours around Luongo and Nash will keep the mill turning all summer long. For what was done on the day, there were no winners or losers, but the face of some franchises did change.

Carolina becomes the new city of brotherly love, locking up 3 of the 4 Staal brothers in Eric, Jared, and Jordan. This leaves Marc as the odd man out in Manhattan, which will make games between Carolina and New York Rangers incredibly interesting and Christmas incredibly awkward in the Staal household. Can the brotherly love translate into magic on ice? One would have to assume that they have natural chemistry. The thought alone of the Staals having some odd twin-like power like the Sedins should scare teams.

The Montreal Canadiens added grit to their lineup with Brandon Prust and Colby Armstrong. The bad news is that the Habs don’t have to look very far into their past to know that trades with the Rangers don’t generally turn out well, but the good news is that Montreal-Toronto games just got a whole lot more interesting for the fans of each team. The boo birds will be out in full force in Air Canada Centre, that’s for sure.

The Edmonton Oilers added yet more young talent to their roster, as we all know that young talent is what this team is lacking. Seriously, Edmonton is stocking up on young talent like there’s some hockey apocalypse coming that only they know about and all the youngsters will be transferred to an underground facility. Edmonton re-signed veteran Smith, but it’s going to take a lot more than that if they’re going to turn into a winning team. Not to mention that there’s something unfair and unhealthy about mentoring tomorrow’s young stars in the standings basement.

The Detroit Red Wings have been a busy team with the departure of the one and only Nick Lidstrom. Their team is getting older, but Detroit is in a great position right now, with plenty of cap space and proven winning record. Detroit’s reputation speaks for itself, and convincing players to sign with them is not going to be a hard task. They may be the big winners of the off-season, especially if they can nab some big fish in Parise and Suter.

Some teams have not been as busy as they could be, but they may yet be biding their time for bigger names. Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Vancouver have all been oddly silent. While big names already grace their rosters, these teams need some signings to become contenders next season, especially since some of their players have moved away on opening day. There is the feeling that these four teams could all contend next season and that they may be one signing away from a long Cup Run.

It could still be a very interesting summer. While some teams will stick to their formula of slowly rebuilding, other teams will have to take a chance on a big name. And it will be something to see how that turns out.

There will be fireworks in Ottawa today, but they won’t be for blockbuster deals. The Senators decided to forego big names on the first day of NHL’s free agency with a couple of small deals and an abrupt stop to the rumour mill, as hopes for Nash and Parise were dashed.

Perhaps it’s the aura of fiscal responsibility in Ottawa which has caught on to the Senators team. Ottawa’s deals for Lundin, Latendresse and Methot were all modest deals for modest players. On the flip side, a few of their character guys disappeared with Konopka, Carkner, Kuba and Foligno all finding their ways to new teams. Ottawa chose reasonable, reliable, non-flashy players to help some of their mainstays in Spezza, Michalek and Norris-winner Karlsson.

Mike Lundin and Marc Methot will help fill the gap on the blue line left behind by Kuba, Carkner and Konopka. Ottawa loses some character players with the gritty Carkner and always feisty Konopka out of their lineup, while Kuba’s inconsistent play wavered between smart defensive moves and avoidable errors. Carkner’s ice time may have been minimal, but his impact on the team could be a difference-maker in important games. He made the opposition think twice whenever he was on the ice and nobody will forget how he settled Boyle in the series against the Rangers anytime soon. He will be hard to replace.

Ottawa fans will probably cry foul not on the defensive end of today’s deals, but on the offensive. Nick Foligno was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Marc Methot. Nick Foligno has put up good numbers for the team and just came off his best season with the Sens. While his numbers may not have been what the team hoped for, his effort level was always there, day in and day out. While he was a candidate for trade bait coming into this free agency period, it was hoped that Ottawa would get a solid contributor in return. Methot is a defenseman and is expected to be alright, but the gap at forward was then filled with Guillaume Latendresse.

It would be a stretch to say that there are Ottawa fans who honestly believe that Latendresse can fill the forward gap any better than Foligno did for the team last season. Latendresse missed most of last season with a concussion, and his one year deal with Ottawa is relatively low risk for the franchise, all while providing him with an opportunity to make a comeback in his career. No matter how much Ottawa fans may like a feel-good, second chance story, it’s anyone’s guess how this one will end- and most of us aren’t holding our breath with the thought that it will end well.

Ottawa has already re-signed an injury-laden forward to its roster for next season with a 2 year deal for Regin, who can produce- if he just stays healthy enough. With two wild cards in the deck, Ottawa may need more call-ups.

There is one Senator who has yet to put all his cards on the table and that’s reigning Captain Daniel Alfredsson. Alfredsson has not said if he’ll come back for one more year, which means that the C for Ottawa may still be up for grabs. It may go to Spezza, who has been more or less promised the keys to the kingdom if he stays on track. It may also go to Chris Phillips for all his years as a veteran and a leader on this team.

What we are sure about, for now, is that the C will not be worn by Parise or Nash, who will likely head to a team with cap space like Detroit. But given today’s trades and the looks of Ottawa’s team as it stands, Sens fans hope more than ever that Alfie has one more year to go.

The 2012 NHL Draft is almost wrapped up in Pittsburgh today, with the closing rounds set to go before the end of the day, but as the rounds come to a close, so does the book on some rumours, big and small.

The day started out with intrigue, as Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins refused a 10-year extension with the team in the morning, got traded to his brother’s franchise in Carolina, and managed to squeeze time in to get married as well. While this was the blockbuster deal that was, the biggest blockbuster deal was the one that wasn’t, as Sens fans, bloggers, reporters and other social media amateurs took to Twitter to speculate a possible Rick Nash to the Ottawa Senators deal- a deal rife with controversy and speculation galore, with names of current roster players being tossed around like beads at Mardi Gras.

It turned out that this was more excitement than it was really worth, as the day passed with no deal. Ottawa chose instead to play it safe at the draft and take local Ottawa native Cody Ceci in the first round, my projected, and preferred, first pick. Apart from being a local, Ceci is a good size defenseman and has offensive upside. While he needs work to finesse his defensive game, there’s no doubt that proper training will elevate his game to the level that it needs to be for the Sens in years to come.

In the third round, Ottawa opted for a Western Hockey League goaltender in Chris Driedger, a good project for the future of the franchise. While Ottawa’s looking as solid as it ever has (knock on wood) with Anderson in the lead role, Bishop supporting and the up and coming Robin Lehner, the importance of this position can’t be overlooked. Known as a goalie graveyard within the league, Ottawa has to keep options between the pipes.

Also in the third round, Ottawa selected a Centreman in Jarrod Maidens. He has risen to some pretty high expectations in the OHL, but has been slowed by concussions and struggled in the past to find offense. He’s a project, but he could be a power forward in a few years.

The fourth round raised some eyebrows and no doubt caused some laughter as the Sens picked Timothy Boyle, Brian Boyle’s little brother, the same Boyle of the New York Rangers who bullied Ottawa’s top players throughout their match up in April. It seems that Murray has quite literally taken a page out of Machiavelli’s the Prince, keeping his friends close and his enemies even closer. That won’t likely make him think twice about laying the boom in the future, but it might guarantee a taste of his own medicine.

Robert Baillargeon, a little known name, was then selected. He ranks high among North America’s skaters by the Central Scouting Services and has a good overall game. A second goaltending prospect was chosen in Frank Brassard in the sixth round, and also a local with Gatineau. And a Senators draft day would not be complete without one Swede with the seventh round pick of Mikael Wikstrand (aka Vikstrand). A mobile defenseman who just a got a little more famous today.

The Senators had a good run at the draft, foregoing flashy moves and blockbuster trades in favour of stocking up for the future in a smart, careful way. They went mostly local with 2 Ottawa-Gatineau area boys, picked two goaltenders in consideration of their future and didn’t disappoint with their one Swedish pick. Now that the draft is over, the Nash rumours will no doubt pick up again.

The 2012 NHL Awards in Las Vegas was a big night for Evgeni Malkin, Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Karlsson and Henrik Lundqvist. It may not have been the kind of night any of them expected; the night was almost too big for Malkin, who struggled through speeches for the Lindsay and the Hart, Karlsson delivered a half speech, Landeskog’s mother was working her tan and Lundqvist outdid them all by dropping an F bomb.

But all awards aside, the one thing worth watching from this show was Will Arnett as Brendan Shanahan, the Shan-Man. A well-known scene stealer on comedies like 30 Rock and Up All Night, Arnett was hilarious as the hard-edged NHL disciplinarian, taking on infractions and handing out penalties and finally, dropping the puck.

His best on the night, although there were many contenders, was his suspension on LA Kings Stanley Cup champions team captain Dustin Brown for trying to drink water out of the wrong end of the bottle. His punishment was delivered in three equally confusing parts, with alternate water days and finally, a month of juice. Comedy perfection. And the man himself never cracked a smile.

Everyone else’s attempts at humour on the night fell flat. Some of them fell pathetically flat, while others fell spectacularly flat. John Tortorella’s press conferences were good for a few laughs and Bryzgalov’s cosmic perceptions also made an appearance; otherwise, it was sort of painful to watch.

Show format aside, here’s a breakdown of the best of the night other than the Shan-Man kicking ass and handing out sweet justice:

Most deserving: Erik Karlsson for his standout season, Gabriel Landeskog for rookie of the year, Ken Hitchcock for turning the Blues around, Alfredsson with the King Clancy. Considering his breakout season, Malkin may have wanted to work his speeches, but he showed much love to the league. Lots of love for Senators, past and present in this show, with Fisher also nabbing a community award and Gonchar as Geno’s bestie.

Most likely to have been presenting while under the influence (PUI): this is a tie between Matthew Perry and Vince Vaughn.

Most shafted player on the night: Pekka Rinne for getting nominated for the Vezina and the EA Sports 2013 game cover and getting none. Claude Giroux gets the consolation prize of the EA Sports game cover, despite no nominations for actual awards after a great season.

I would like to finish this post with two pleas to the league:

1- Replace Brendan Shanahan with Will Arnett as the Shan-Man. Discipline in the NHL is already a joke, let’s make it funny.

2- Invite a host for the NHL Awards next year that we want to see. My frontrunner? Conan O’Brien. Make it happen Twitter peeps.

The Ottawa Senators find themselves roughly in the middle of the pack for this year’s NHL Draft selection process- for now. Rumours abound that the Sens will do something unexpected this year, including trading picks for available players or going with a goaltender in the first round, a move considered risky for many, considering their often long development process.

So what will it be next week? Will the Senators pick an NHL ready player now and trade their pick to help out their roster next year? Will they go Swedish, choosing Hampus Lindholm, as projected by the Hockey News mock draft? Or will they go local, choosing Ottawa’s Cody Ceci, an offensive defenseman with good size? Or will they look to build long-term in goal with a prospect like Malcolm Subban?

There are good considerations for all, and it’s hard to determine what will be the deciding factor. This 2012 draft is not particularly deep and other than the consensus number one pick of Nail Yakupov, this top 10 lists varies from scout to scout.

Edmonton may opt to select Yakupov based on his star status in the rankings, but even though this will mark the third consecutive time that Edmonton selects THE top prospect, their team has not improved. Edmonton is stock piling the league’s elite talent in Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, and Hall like it’s readying itself for the hockey apocalypse. Trouble is, being locked in the standings basement is not helping their development. Edmonton would be wise to trade their top pick for a solid player who can help them now.

Luckily, Ottawa is not in such a desperate situation as Edmonton. They will have the luxury of making a careful choice and having both a plan A and a plan B. Some of the picks will also be determined by on-going contract negotiations with current players. Erik Karlsson remains priority one for the Sens to re-sign, while other younger players still have a question mark over their heads. The return of Nick Foligno and Erik Condra are still in question, as well as team Captain Alfredsson, who has not yet committed to one more year.

Here are some of my would-be picks for the team and why I think they fit in with this Senators club in the future:

1- Cody Ceci. He has decent size, he gets points and he’s an offensive defenseman. While he may be a little high risk at times, he brings the kind of energy to the back end that Ottawa could use. Karlsson will continue to make a solid tandem with a more veteran defenseman like Gonchar if he remains, while Ceci can deliver an offensive threat on the second Dman pairing. Ceci still needs work on playing defensively, so it may yet be a season or two before he joins the club.

2- Brendan Gaunce. Described as a power forward and a finisher, Gaunce could bring some stability to a third line in the absence of a Foligno. Has also had good performances with Team Canada in tournaments, which could translate into clutch plays.

3- Sebastien Collberg. Swedish winger who puts up serious points. While he’s not a very big player, he has a killer release and comes through in shoot outs. An asset to any team and considering the very Swedish nature of Ottawa’s locker room, he may feel right at home.

4- Matthew Finn. The intangibles of Finn are his biggest assets. A character guy with a solid two way game, high defensive awareness and leadership skills, good on the power play. This is a player who brings more than numbers to the table and Ottawa should give this Canadian a second look.

5- Tomas Hertl. This play-making Czech Centre may be able to make an impact sooner in Ottawa than other prospects because he’s a skill player with ice awareness. His play at the WJC was largely overshadowed by the brilliant and often hilarious Petr Mrazek in goal, but he quietly led the team in scoring along the way.

Other prospects that could be on an alternate list based on the projected top 50 prospects list: Jordan Schmaltz, Colton Sissons, Adam Pelech, Scott Laughton and Boo Nieves.

Lots of decisions to make ahead of this draft. Thankfully, Ottawa has had enough of a solid core, good season and great coaching to make this draft year an opportunity rather than a crisis. Ottawa doesn’t need solutions to their lineup in this draft, but rather, options for a future rainy day.

The 2012 NHL Awards will be handed out in Vegas on June 20th and the nominees list is somewhat repetitious; whether or not some people will think this is a good thing will vary across teams, but New York Rangers fans will have plenty to smile about. Henrik Lundqvist shows up three times on the list, Callahan is up for the Messier leadership award, and Tortorella makes the short list for the Jack Adams. It may be fair to say that some bet on the Rangers raising the Cup a little too much.

The list lends itself to some pretty interesting storylines now that the Cup has been handed out. Some of the nominees will look like shoe-ins, while others may have dropped in the esteem of some fans. But it’s not the fans who vote, so those storylines may or may not have an effect on the outcome. Nevertheless, they should get some attention.

The Hart trophy nominees are Lundqvist, Malkin and Stamkos. The Western Conference is notably absent from this category and this is the same list of nominees for the Lindsay award. Considering the standout play of others in the league to push their teams to unlikely post-season runs, these lists could have used some diversity. Other good candidates could have been Backes from the Blues, leading a no-name team to the top of the Western Conference, Jonathon Quick for carrying the LA Kings into the final 8th seed spot to make the playoffs and lead them to complete victory or Claude Giroux of the Flyers for having a standout season and inspiring his team at every turn.

The Vezina trophy candidates include Lundqvist, Rinne and Quick. Those choices don’t broker argument, but for the sake of argument, let’s consider some notable would be candidates in Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes who was superhuman for the team or the lights out combination of Elliott and Halak for the St. Louis Blues, the goaltender tandem that was the envy of the entire league.

The Norris belongs to Erik Karlsson, the Swedish sensation with the most points for a defenseman, leaving the rest of the league in his proverbial dust. Chara and Weber are also up for consideration. This award is not determined by sportsmanship, that’s the Byng, regardless, Weber should be turnbuckled out of contention for this one. Chara has a Cup ring already and his numbers don’t stack up against Karlsson. If the league doesn’t make the right choice here on award night, there will be screams of rage everywhere.

The Calder looked like a close one between Henrique, Landeskog and Nugent-Hopkins, but there can be no doubt that the biggest impact player for their team has been Henrique. He does a lot of the little things right, he motivates the team and he comes through in clutch situations without even breaking a sweat. New Jersey owes a lot to Henrique for prolonging their post-season run.

The Byng list of Campbell, Eberle and Moulson is a fair one. The NHL Foundation award list of Fisher, Liles and Moulson also seems solid. The Selke as well, with Backes, Patrice Bergeron and the always great Datsyuk.

The Jack Adams should be a two horse race between Hitchcock and Maclean, who took two teams who were not meant to compete and led them to the playoffs. Tortorella’s Rangers had a good run, but he didn’t exactly suffer with a lineup that included the ever-present Lundqvist and someone by the last name of Richards.

The Bill Masterton trophy candidates include Alfredsson, Lupul and Pacioretty. While it’s hard to ignore the man who came back from a major spinal injury, my heart belongs to Alfie. That’s all bias there and I own it.

The Messier leadership award nominees are Dustin Brown, Ryan Callahan and Shane Doan. It will be interesting to see if either Brown or Doan wins, if the other will shake hands.

The Awards show will probably be entertaining, but in the future, the league may consider adding a bit more of the Western Conference and a bit of diversity to their ballots.

It’s the Queen’s Jubilee this year, but hockey royalty has just been crowned in LA. The LA Kings, after surrendering two odd games in a row to the New Jersey Devils, soundly beat them for the Cup 6-1 in a wild game. It wasn’t a beautiful game through and through, but the end result is always the same and you can’t help but feel the emotion. LA is ecstatic and it’s impossible not to feel proud and happy for them.

The game itself will no doubt be subject to controversy for years to come. But there are a few things that naysayers cannot deny the LA Kings of 2012: they are an 8th seed Western Conference team that has won the biggest prize in hockey, they are the first LA team to win it, they had the most amazing post-season record, they were road warriors and suffered one single road loss in their four rounds of the playoffs. They were relentless, physical, strong, united as a team and they had outstanding goaltending from their Conn Smythe recipient, Jonathon Quick.

The game itself was a bit of a disaster. Reffing will be the culprit and it’s something that New Jersey fans will no doubt be talking about, bitterly, over the summer. A five minute major on Bernier for a hit on Scuderi in the first period lost the Devils this game with three power play goals scored. The play was likely a minor, although blood on the ice pushed the issue. A missed call before the Scuderi hit will be the cause for complaint.

The hit ignited team Captain Dustin Brown and he picked up a goal and an assist in the ensuing power play. Doughty picked up 2 assists, as did Richards and this five minutes to glory won LA the game; the rest was gravy or bitter grapes if you’re from Newark. Carter’s second period goal put this game out of reach for good, although a fluke collision between a Devil and a ref made that goal possible. Carter just capitalized on what was an unfortunate turn of events.

There’s no excusing bad behavior, but it’s understandable that the Devils may feel hard done by in this one. Clarkson got 10 minutes for mouthing off, New Jersey’s Carter got a couple for diving on top of Quick and there was some serious frustration. Henrique capped off a great rookie season by not only keeping his cool, but getting one in for his team and giving the Devils a bit of a lifeline.

The LA Kings and the New Jersey Devils saved their best for last, playing the best of this series in game six. While the pace for game five was a vast improvement, it was nothing compared to the pace of this game, particularly when the goals started to come, fast and furious in a series that has been goals-challenged. Regardless of the quality of this final game, this series clearly belonged to LA and they deserve to win the Cup.

Congratulations LA Kings of 2012.

The LA Kings looked anything but dominant in their game 5 match up with the New Jersey Devils, as the Devils came back with a 2-1 win to force a game 6 in LA. It appears as if the pressure of hoisting the Cup has finally gotten to the Kings, and nobody seemed to be feeling it more than goaltender Jonathon Quick.

Quick has been the runaway Conn Smythe nominee in this series through 3 games, but has come a bit unhinged in the past 2 games. He played deep into his net and made some uncharacteristic errors. It’s almost as if his normally aggressive game style has been replaced by a careful, fearful one. His focus doesn’t appear to be on winning the Cup; it appears to be not losing it for his team.

Game five was faster, angrier, more physical and more riddled with errors than any other game in this Stanley Cup Final. No team was a calm, dominant force; everyone made errors. Both goaltenders nearly gave the game away with mistakes, and for once, luck was on Brodeur’s side, as the Kings hit more posts in this game than in all 4 previous games combined.

This isn’t to say that the Devils didn’t deserve a dose of luck. Some hard luck bounces made the true difference in games 1 and 2 for the Devils, who have been fair competition for the Kings. Game 3 was when the Devils lost it entirely, losing their poise and their spirit and LA ran away with that game and the series momentum. It seemed that it was won and done; then LA crumbled to expectations themselves at home and played from behind in Newark.

Series are often about momentum, and the momentum is swinging in New Jersey’s direction right now. LA has given the Devils a chance to regain their confidence and their swagger; days of rest reinforced those feelings in the New Jersey locker room. They’ve also gotten a healthy dose of hate for their Western opponents. The late scrum on Brodeur showed the level of frustration that LA is feeling with the Cup seeming to slip from their fingers. New Jersey’ s disdain for Quick is also coming through; he’s not the impenetrable fortress that they thought he was and they’re not giving him the same level of respect.

What New Jersey has to do to win game 6: more of the same. Taking a page out of Washington’s book, New Jersey has learned that less is more when it comes to your superstar players and Kovalchuk is making better use of less ice time. Captain Zach Parise is coming through for his team in a clutch situation and he needs to remain strong in order to help them win. Brodeur just has to keep smiling and staying positive all the way.

What LA has to do to win game 6: stay calm and stay hungry. LA has been willing their way to the Cup and they need to maintain that high level of play and physicality to win it all. Quick has to remain poised and play the aggressive, athletic style that has carried him to this point. LA is stronger than New Jersey and they need to use their strength.

The New Jersey Devils survived elimination in the Stanley Cup Final with a 3-1 win and did it with a relative amount of calm. The Kings showed signs of finally cracking to the pressure of a big game and it all unraveled in the third period where all 4 goals were scored. But could this be the calm before the storm? LA has been so dominant in this series and New Jersey looked done in game three. Will they come storming back in game 5 to win it all in their opponent’s barn?

It wasn’t the kind of ending they were hoping for, but it seemed impossible for LA to be impervious to the pressure of this particular game. All the talk has centered around the fact of LA making history with a possible win, the home ice pressure, accolades, visions of parades and the presence of the Cup itself in the arena. Quick was described as something of an impenetrable fortress and the continued disappearance of New Jersey’s star players was a hot topic as well.

Despite LA putting on a brave face about the high stakes they were facing and the importance of getting a head start, the first two periods were way too tentative for LA. LA’s strength has been their physical dominance and persistent puck pursuit in this playoffs and there is no space in their game plan for timidness. New Jersey’s plan was to throw everything they could at the net and it finally paid dividends in the third period with a fantastic goal from Henrique on a panic play by Doughty (very unusual) and an empty netter for Kovalchuk that might finally break his curse.

New Jersey played to the same level as their previous outings, it was LA who let this one go. Case in point with Doughty on the Henrique goal: it was like he suddenly realized what was at stake and panic took over. The last few minutes of the game suddenly saw New Jersey with its first lead and very little time left for LA to catch up. With the clock and expectations stacked against them, it was no wonder that LA finally folded.

So New Jersey wins one. It doesn’t change the fact that they’ve been outplayed for the better part of this series by the LA Kings who have been better all around in this series. Yes, bum luck accounts for some of the Devils missed goals, but so do turnovers and casual plays. Yes, LA has had elite level goaltending from Quick, but Brodeur is no slouch either. Yes, LA has taken more penalties against the Devils, but their power play has been so ineffectual, it’s not even noteworthy anymore when a King heads to the box.

New Jersey may be given the benefit of another home game in this series, but they’re far from contending for another decisive win.

The New Jersey Devils fought their way to the Stanley Cup Final, but now that they’re in it with the almost perfect LA Kings, they have very little to show for it. LA is steamrolling their way to the Cup and is up 3-0 over the Devils in this best of 7 series. It could all be over on Wednesday in LA which would be the best possible ending to LA’s post-season Cinderella run. Marty Brodeur has said that he may return next season and after this run, he may have to, since this is not the kind of series that you want to hang your hat on, especially not for a goaltender of his caliber.

This is the story line of this series: New Jersey is doing what most teams have done when faced with LA’s high pressure game style and that is to play a reactionary game and make bad decisions on the fly with the puck. The only person on the ice who has been able to match LA’s compete level has been Marty Brodeur, who has been the best player for the Devils throughout this match up. New Jersey’s best line has been their fourth line, grinding and taking chances against a very confident LA defense.

The stars have burnt out for New Jersey. Parise has speed, but no muscle. Kovalchuk seems to be looking for the ‘perfect’ shot, holding on too long, passing it off and suffering from Spezza syndrome. He won’t just shoot. He has the most dangerous shot on the roster and his $100 million price tag is a tribute to that. For a player like that not to shoot every chance he gets in a high stakes game like the Cup Final is just criminal. Kovalchuk’s humongous contract caused giggles and groans across the league when he was signed; all those people probably feel vindicated now.

New Jersey had countless chances to get back into this game before their third period 5 alarm meltdown. Power plays, including a 5 on 3 opportunity in the first period, were literally falling from the LA smog ridden sky for the Devils. And they failed on every single one. Their second period was undoubtedly the worst that they had played all post-season. They couldn’t even pass properly anymore.

LA is doing all the same things right. They don’t give up on plays, they forecheck hard, play a great cycle game and are very physical. Their persistence alone has helped them score goals on second, third, fourth and fifth chances. Their physical prowess cannot be matched by the Devils, even if the physical differences are statistically slight. They never stopped being hungry in this Cup Run and now total victory is one game away.

They have the Devils in their clutches and all they need to do now is squeeze. The Devils are choking and there may be no maneuver to save them.