10 winners/losers from NHL’s revamped Stanley Cup Playoffs

With the 2019-20 NHL season finally concluded, let’s take a look at some of the winners — and losers — from what was a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime Stanley Cup Playoffs slate up in Toronto and Edmonton. 

7 Winners:

1. The Tampa Bay Lightning: Well … duh.

Yes, in the immediate aftermath of such a bizarre, unorthodox conclusion to an NHL campaign, it can be easy to just slap an *asterisk* on Tampa Bay’s second Stanley Cup championship. After all, the Bolts were stuck in a 3-7 rut at the time of the regular-season stoppage, with Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman both dealing with injuries and Andrei Vasilevskiy running on fumes. So, yeah, sure, you can say the Bolts benefited from that extended time off. 

But c’mon — let’s give credit where credit is due. What Tampa accomplished this postseason was awfully impressive, especially with Stamkos only limited to just 2:47 of ice time this entire postseason. After getting embarrassed by the Blue Jackets last spring in one of the greatest upsets in NHL history, Tampa went scorched earth against the competition up in the bubble — taking care of the Blue Jackets, Bruins, Islanders and Stars in six games or less, while posting a 7-0 record after a loss up in the Toronto/Edmonton bubbles.

An upcoming cap crunch due to a flat salary cap and pending RFAs like Anthony Cirelli and Mikhail Sergachev will likely prompt Tampa to part ways with middle-six talent in order to remain compliant next season. But with the usual suspects in Hedman, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Stamkos and Vasilevskiy all expected back, this club is still going to be a force in 2021 and beyond.

2. The NHL bubble: The NHL caught plenty of flak during its extended pause this spring while assessing how best to close out the 2019-20 campaign in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were plenty of detractors when the NHL announced plans to host these games in a “bubble” environment, harping on the unlikelihood of the league being able to carry out an entire postseason slate without an outbreak or other expected setback. They received more criticism when they held the cards close to their chest when announcing “hub cities” for this “Return To Play” format — deciding to scrap any plans for a Las Vegas-based location and opt for two venues up in Toronto and Edmonton.

It might have taken some getting used to, but it’s tough to view these last few months as anything other than a sweeping success. From the opening weeks of play with six or more games scheduled every day to the Cup Final between Dallas and Tampa Bay, the NHL put out a fantastic product after a long layoff.

Yes, it wasn’t without its hiccups here and there (especially when it comes to those spending months in the bubble) but the NHL, NHLPA and all those involved should be applauded for their efforts in both getting this tournament off the ground — and most importantly, keeping everyone safe. In the last weekly update leading into Game 6 on Monday, the NHL announced that it conducted 33,174 tests to club personnel, including players, since the start of Phase 4 with zero positive tests. What an achievement.



3. GMs that went for it at the deadline: As we noted in our earlier look at both the Stars and Bolts, Tampa GM Julien BriseBois made the most out of the steep price he paid to acquire forwards  Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow at the trade deadline back in February — parting ways with two first-round picks and other assets such as prospect Nolan Foote in order to beef up the Lightning's bottom-six. Fair to say, those moves paid off — with Coleman scoring the final goal of the Cup Final (and finishing with 13 points over 25 playoff games).

A number of clubs that swung for the fences at the deadline ultimately fared pretty well, whether it be the Islanders and their deadline pickup of J.G. Pageau (eight goals this postseason) or the Golden Knights and their surprise acquisition of Robin Lehner (1.99 GAA this postseason). Yes, teams like the Bolts might have given up quite a bit in an attempt to put their roster over the top (especially when factoring in deals such as Ryan McDonagh in 2018), but none of that really matters if the end result is hoisting the Cup. Any of you Bruins fans still steaming about the Tomas Kaberle trade?

https://twitter.com/VinnieParise/status/1310756087558275073

4. Big power forwards: As Sean Tierney notes below, the NHL is a copy-cat league — with the 30 teams that came up short in pursuit of a Stanley Cup title often looking to follow a similar blueprint to the one used to build a championship-level roster. 

That might be easier said than done when sizing up just how Tampa built a wagon of a team. 

https://twitter.com/ChartingHockey/status/1310782624840003587

But after a heavy, physical team like the Blues (who also benefited from a goalie that was unconscious during the 2019 playoffs) bested Boston last June, Tampa took a page out of St. Louis' notebook and brought aboard a physical body in Patrick Maroon. For as much as a slower power forward like Maroon might be view as a relic of the past when sizing up his fit in today's NHL, the husky veteran became just the third player in the Expansion Era to win two consecutive Stanley Cup titles with different franchises. Even as the NHL continues to focus more on speed and skill, look for guys like Maroon and Corey Perry to continue to be in demand this offseason, especially for contenders now looking for some added snarl in their bottom six. 

https://twitter.com/patmaroon/status/1310797006600716288

5. Anton Khudobin: The summer of "Dobby" came to a crushing end on Monday, with the former Bruin netminder unable to close out an impressive Cup run in which he was suddenly thrust into a starting role following an injury to Ben Bishop. Still, Khudobin's play (.917 save percentage, one shutout over 25 playoff games) shouldn't come as much of a surprise — given that he was arguably the best backup in the league during the regular season (.930 save percentage over 30 games).

A soon-to-be UFA, Khudobin should set himself up for a nice payday thanks to this Cup run, which also allowed the rest of the league to witness just what makes the gregarious netminder from Kazakhstan one of the most entertaining characters in the entire NHL.

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6. Veteran talent: A slew of youngsters made their mark for Dallas during its run to the Cup Final, whether it be Miro Heiskanen, Joel Kiviranta, Denis Gurianov, Roope Hintz and others. But no club survives multiple rounds of the gauntlet that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs without some established veteran talent. Dallas already had a core in place with the likes of Jamie Benn, John Klingberg, Tyler Seguin and others — but the addition of 36-year-old Joe Pavelski (with 161 playoff games under his belt) paid off in a major way.

After scoring just 14 goals and 31 points in 67 regular-season games, Pavelski made the most of his first playoff run in Dallas with 13 goals and 19 points over 27 playoff outings. Now, we’ll see how his contract looks a few years down the road ($7 million AAV through 2022), but Pavelski did everything asked of him during this postseason.

A special shoutout to Stamkos as well. Yes, the Bolts managed to carry on and win without their captain, but Stamkos had quite the 2:47 of ice time this postseason – scoring a goal in Game 3 of the Cup Final before injuries prevented him from getting back out on the ice. It wasn't the narrative Stamkos likely envisioned when it came to leading this Tampa team to a championship, but the future Hall of Famer has done it all for Tampa over his 12 years with the club. Good to see a fantastic player like him get his chance to lift the greatest trophy in sports.

7. The New York Rangers: After bottoming out from 2017-19 with a pair of 77 and 78-point seasons, the Rangers rebounded in 2019-20, posting a 37-28-5 record at the time of the COVID stoppage and earning a spot in the play-in round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even though this talented, but young, Rangers team was subsequently swept by Carolina in three games in Toronto, New York ultimately had the last laugh — winning the first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft by way of a seemingly improbable stroke of luck during the draft lottery. Look for the Rangers to continue to take steps forward next season, with youngsters like Adam Fox, Igor Shestyorkin, Kaapo Kakko and likely 2020 top pick Alexis Lafrenière complimenting a veteran group still in their prime in Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba and Mika Zibanejad. 

As for 3 losers….

1. The Bruins: Of course, you could tab the 23 teams that came up short in the Toronto/Edmonton bubble on this list — whether that be the runners-up in the Stars or teams like the Penguins or Capitals that could be reaching the end of their window as legitimate Cup contenders. But — this is a Boston-based website after all, and the pain of another squandered chance at the Cup for this veteran core still hasn't subsided close to a month later. What could have been had this entire year not been turned on its head.

“We have a hell of a team and we expected better out of this year,” Brad Marchand said. “We thought we had a chance to – Tampa has a great team, don’t get me wrong. Don’t want to take anything away from them, they have a great team. Just, the way things were rolling throughout the season, we thought we were going to go all the way. It’s a huge sacrifice to come here and guys had to really dedicate a lot of time and effort to be here. And it’s kind of a waste of time now."

2. Tyler Seguin: We’ll see what the extent of his injuries were during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but Seguin had a postseason to forget. While a mix of young contributors and established veterans supplemented Dallas’ scoring output through the last two months, Seguin — Dallas’ top scorer during the regular season — finished with just two goals and 13 points in 26 postseason outings. Granted, Seguin fared better during the Cup Final even without the scoring totals (at least better than other top-six weapons like Alexander Radulov), but that lack of scoring punch proved to be a backbreaker for the Stars in this series. In 18 career games in the Stanley Cup Final, Seguin has tallied zero goals.

3. The boo birds: Seriously, NHL— no pumped-in boos for when Gary Bettman took to the ice to hand off the Stanley Cup? 

https://twitter.com/NBCSCameraGuys/status/1310778518364659715

For as much as the NHL tried to give these playoff matchups a realistic atmosphere, you have to think the lack of jeers took a lot of people out of this broadcast. All joking aside, even in an empty barn, there’s nothing quite like the revelry that comes from the team that earned the right to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup. 

On to 2021.