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Morning Skate: Jake Allen leads our way-too-early Conn Smythe rankings
So many goalies had great Game 1 performances.
Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
Lace ‘em up. Time for the Morning Skate.
WHY AM I YELLING?
Yes, Game 1 between Toronto and the Capitals played out exactly as you’d expect:
- Mitch Marner and the young Leafs gave the Caps a scare.
- Washington dug in and mounted a comeback.
- Justin Williams scored some playoff goals, ho-hum.
- Freddie Andersen made some incredible saves.
- And then he gave up the overtime goal to Tom Wilson.
Uh, what?
The kicker: Leafs coach Mike Babcock told reporters before the game that Wilson was “not as big a concern” to him as Washington’s other players.
Whoops.
BUT REALLY, CONN SMYTHE RANKINGS
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
After the Game 1’s, give us ...
- Jake Allen
- Justin Williams
- Henrik Lundqvist
- Pekka Rinne
- Tuukka Rask
PAT PONDERS ON THOUGHTS ON THOUGHTS
Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
4. L.A. wants an offensive-minded coach, huh? Give Kirk Muller a call. Also, I can’t wait to see how an offensive coach handles that roster. It probably indicates that Blake is ready to start some major overhauls throughout the Kings’ system. I bet Kings fans would welcome it.
7. OK. I’m not the biggest Dean Lombardi fan, mainly because of his USA Hockey roster management. But sending Friedman on a wild goose chase about the Keystone Pipeline? Mad respect.
10. I hope Denver coach Jim Montgomery gets a look at the NHL, but it might not happen this year with the market flooded with quality NHL coaches.
18. Justin Faulk. Jaccob Slavin. Ryan Murphy. Now Noah Hanifin is being brought up in Hurricanes trade circles? I don’t know what to believe anymore, because three of those guys would be untouchable on any other team.
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GALLANT KNIGHT WILL COACH DUKE
Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
That’s Gerard Gallant, the newest coach of the Vegas Golden Knights, who have a player named Reid Duke.
Is George McPhee a Game of Thrones fan?
- Blame Jonas Brodin for Minnesota’s Game 1 loss.
- Darryl Sutter is a bad fit for the Jets.
- The Ducks and Flames are going to break each other.
- Steve Yzerman saved the Lightning a TON of cap space at the trade deadline.
- Philly will hit the goalie market this summer.
- A new Star Wars trailer comes out today.
- Just thought y’all needed to know that.
- Stars fans like what they heard from Ken Hitchcock.
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