Morning Skate: Patric Hornqvist’s Stanley Cup-winning goal makes him a Predators draft nightmare

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Lace ‘em up. Time for the Morning Skate.

The NHL draft is usually a lovely time, not unlike bringing a newborn back from the hospital. (Stick with me.) You have a handful of picks to bring a new member of your hockey family into the fold. Each selection brings nothing but hope and promise.

The best-case scenario is that player becomes a major contributor for your team. For a long time. The OK-case scenario is that you can flip that player for another player or two that sends you to the hockey promised land. The bad-case scenario is that player never makes it to the NHL.

The worst-case scenario is what happened in Nashville on Sunday.

Nearly three periods of scoreless hockey passed in Game 6 before Patric Hornqvist scored for the Penguins with a minute and change left in the third period. His goal sent the Penguins to their second straight Stanley Cup, the first back-to-back Cup winner in almost 20 years.

Hornqvist was a Predators draft pick back in the 2005 draft. He rose from relative obscurity to become a key Preds contributor for five seasons, carving out a niche as a hard-playing winger on a team bereft of offense. When the Penguins needed to move James Neal in 2014, Nashville GM David Poile saw a chance to add an elite scorer.

So Hornqvist and Neal were swapped. At the time, we panned the trade. We were wrong. Hornqvist was the right ingredient at the right time for Pittsburgh, just as Neal was for the Predators. Little did either team know how that trade would unfold over these playoffs. Little did the Predators know that seventh-round pick would cost them a Stanley Cup.

And I don’t think they would take a do-over, either. Hornqvist was part of their identity for years. The Neal trade ushered in years of aggressive moves by Nashville that led them to the cusp of a Cup. Sometimes the pieces fall into place in ways you don’t expect. That’s the beauty of sports and the irony of life mixed perfectly, over and over again.

We warned you weeks ago that questionable officiating loomed over the Cup Final. It reared its head in the ugliest of ways in Game 6, wiping out a Predators goal that absolutely should’ve counted. Predators fans won’t let this one go for decades, and nor should they.

Maybe that’s why they told Mike Milbury to f*** off. By the way, NBC reps tried to bribe Predators fans from bringing anti-Milbury signs with NBC hats. I wonder how that went.

Only seven players have won multiple Conn Smythes. Crosby is the seventh, and first since Mario Lemieux. Symmetry!

He didn’t need a third Cup to prove his greatness, but he won it anyway.

Credit must also go to Matt Murray, who was perfect in Game 6. He now has two Stanley Cups and is still officially a rookie. Amazing.

Ron Hainsey deservedly got the Stanley Cup first after Crosby.

Nick Bonino’s daughter wanted no part of that tradition. Other families made the celebrations wonderful though!

Penguins fans ate catfish raw in the middle of Pittsburgh last night. Hockey is so weird.

Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray shared a wonderful moment.