Kraken Roster

Hockey has hit the great Northwest in the United States. The National Hockey League has expanded to 32 teams with the addition of the Seattle Kraken. The puck will drop on October 12th in Vegas against the Golden Knights, and the home opener will take place on the 23rd against the Vancouver Canucks. In order to get a team on the ice, the Kraken need players. They had their expansion draft to get a team together. They have done that.

Here's what the Kraken roster looks like, following the expansion draft. 

Goalies:
Joey Daccord, Chris Driedger, Vítek Vaněček

Defense:
Gavin Bayreuther, Will Borgen, Dennis Cholowski, Vince Dunn, Cale Fleury, Haydn Fleury, Mark Giordano, Adam Larsson, Jérémy Lauzon, Kurtis MacDermid, Jamie Oleksiak, Carson Soucy

Forwards:
Jared McCann, Mason Appleton, Colin Blackwell, Morgan Geekie, Luke Henman, Tyler Pitlick, John Quenneville, Alexander True, Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev, Carsen Twarynski, Nathan Bastian,  Joonas Donskoi Jordan Eberle, Calle Järnkrok, Kole Lind

There's still more work to be done. General Manager Ron Francis and head coach Dave Hakstol have good talent here to work with and they have the draft as well next week. So lets see how well they can build from here.

Blue Man On The Move?

If you've followed the NHL over the last decade, you know that Vladimir Tarasenko is one of the best forwards in this league. When he's healthy (he's been dealing with shoulder issues the last couple of seasons but seems to be near his old self), he can be one of the biggest offensive threats in the game. Now it appears that the 29 year old forward might want out of St Louis.

He's submitted a list of ten possible teams that he would consider a trade to. The teams that are rumored to be on the list include the Rangers, Islanders, Golden Knights, Bruins and Flyers (who were just thrown into the mix earlier this week). Also on the list are the Lightning, Capitals and Panthers. Now the question is, where will he land?

From a local point of view, it might not look very good. The Islanders don't have much room to work with. Hey I'd love to see them pull it off but at the same time they would have to give up quite a bit to be able to snag him and make the finances work in their favor. They have three RFA's they need to get locked up in Pelech, Sorokin and Beauvillier. Cizikas is a free agent come the end of the month and I have a good feeling that Islanders management is going to want to get him locked up to a long term deal here pretty soon to keep the best 4th line in hockey together.

They would also have to dump off some major parts to the Blues if the Islanders want to pull the trigger on this. And lets not forget, the expansion draft. I'm sure Islander management (and Blues management for that matter) is going to want to wait to see what's going to come out of the expansion draft before they decide on whether or not they want to pull the trigger on a move.

Now over in Manhattan, there might be some hope to try and land the high scoring winger. This is, after all, owner James Dolan we're talking about here. He's got no problem finding a way to spend the money to make either one of his teams better. New GM Chris Drury shouldn't have any trouble at all being able to makes a move. And the prospect of being able to put him on a line with a guy like Artemi Panarin. Sure leaves one drooling a little.

Of course, there's also 31 other teams who could be on the lookout for a guy of his talent level. It all depends on if the right off comes along the Blues way.

AL Keeps Rolling

Seems like it has become a recurring thing over the last few years. Another all star game, another win for the American League. Yesterday's All Star Game from Denver went to the AL by a 5-2 score in a game that the AL pretty much dominated from start to finish.

It was a game that had a little bit of everything. Shohei Ohtani stealing the show at the start, becoming the first player in history to ever start the game as a pitcher and then lead off as the DH the bottom half of the inning. We saw two moon shot home runs from game MVP Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Mike Zunino. There was great plays in the field by both sides and stellar pitching as well.

Vlad Jr managed to do something his dad never did, and that was win MVP of the midsummer classic. He is also the first Blue Jay ever to win the all star game MVP honors. It marks the first time that a first baseman has snagged the award since Eric Hosmer did it in 2016 while he was playing for Kansas City.

What we saw last night shows the level of star power in the game. It also shows the strangle hold that the American League has on the all star game. They've now won eight years in a row and twenty of the last twenty five games (one tie in 2002 in Milwaukee). This year is more for show than anything, but still the fact that the AL has dominated since the turn of the century in the way that it has is pretty amazing.

Title Remains In Tampa

The Stanley Cup. The holy grail for hockey and the oldest championship awarded among the major North American Sports. Winning it once is hard to do. Winning it in back to back seasons is even harder to pull off. That's what happened this year. The Tampa Bay Lightning captured hockey's holy grail for the second year in a row, this time defeating the Montreal Canadians in five games to capture the prize.

It was a total domination from start to finish by the Lightning. Yes, the Canadiens got the game four win on the overtime goal from Josh Anderson. Montreal, give credit where it's due for getting this far. They came back from down 3-1 to Toronto to pull off the upset. Then swept Winnipeg. Finally added to it by beating the second best team in the league in Vegas in a hard fought third round series. Montreal surprised a lot of people with what they did. Carey Price played amazing in net in the playoffs and carried the Habs to where they finished, so full credit is do to all in Montreal for what they did.

\Tampa was just the better team. The team got hot at the right time, they got healthy at the right time and took that wave of momentum all the way to the title. They got their best players, guys like Hedman, Stamkos, Kucherov and Vasilevskiy all at the top of their game and getting better as the playoffs went along. Now the question is, can they keep this group together for a shot at a third title next season?

Winning back to back is a very tough thing to do in sports in the modern era. Winning a third straight is going to be even harder given the current climate in sports. With a cap and all of that, keeping dynasty teams in tact is tougher then it was thirty or more years ago. Tampa management has been good at being able to keep this core group together and keep the Lightning in the mix over the last number of years. They have to find a way to do it again, in even tougher circumstances with the expansion draft in Seattle coming up.

But with it all going on last year and this year, the fact that the Bolts have come out on top in each of the last two seasons speaks volumes about the team and how well its run. Congratulations to the Lightning for their second straight championship win!

Play Like An All Star

Ah the midsummer classic. The collection of the best of the best in the game gather in the city of Denver this year for the All Star Game. We will have the best players from all teams gather in the mile high city to see which league is the best. Lets not waste any more time, here's what the rosters look like for both leagues.

National League: 
Starters:
Catcher: Buster Posey (Giants 7th)
1st Base: Freddie Freeman (Braves 5th)
2nd Base: Adam Frazier (Pirates 1st)
3rd Base: Nolan Arenado (Cardinals 6th)
Shortstop: Fernando Tatís Jr. (Padres 1st) 
Outfield: Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves 2nd)
Outfield: Nicholas Castellanos (Reds 1st)
Outfield: Jesse Winker (Reds 1st)

Reserves:
Catcher: J. T. Realmuto Phillies 3rd)
1st Base: Max Muncy Dodgers 2nd)
2nd Base: Ozzie Albieses (Braves 2nd), Jake Cronenworth (Padres 1st)
3rd Base: Kris Bryant (Cubs 4th) Eduardo Escobar (Diamondbacks 1st)
Shortstop: Brandon Crawford (Giants 3rd) Trea, Turner (Nationals 1st)
Outfield: Mookie Betts (Dodgers 5th), Bryan Reynolds (Pirates 1st), Kyle Schwarber (Nationals 1st), Juan Soto (Nationals 1st), Chris Taylor (Dodgers 1st)

Pitchers:
Corbin Burnes (Brewers 1st), Yu Darvish (Padres 5th), Jacob deGrom (Mets 4th), Kevin Gausman (Giants 1st), Josh Hader (Brewers 3rd), Craig Kimbrel (Cubs 8th), Germán Márquez (Rockies 1st), Mark Melancon (Padres 4th), Alex Reyes (Cardinals 1st), Trevor Rogers (Marlins 1st), Zack Wheeler (Phillies 1st), Brandon Woodruff (Brewers 2nd).

American League:
Starters:
Catcher: Salvador Pérez (Royals 7th)
1st Base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays 1st)
2nd Base: Marcus Semien (Blue Jays 1st)
3rd Base: Rafael Devers (Red Sox 1st)
Shortstop: Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox 3rd)
Outfield: Mike Trout (Angels 9th)
Outfield: Aaron Judge (Yankees 3rd)
Outfield: Teoscar Hernández (Blue Jays 1st)
Designated Hitter: Shohei Ohtani (Angels 1st)

Reserves: 
Catcher: Mike Zunino (Rays 1st)
1st Base: Matt Olson Athletics 1st), Jared Walsh (Angels 1st)
2nd Base: José Altuve (Astros 7th)
3rd Base: José Ramírez (Indians 3rd)
Shortstop: Bo Bichette (Blue Jays 1st), Carlos Correa (Astros 2nd)
Outfield: Michael Brantley (Astros 5th), Joey Gallo (Rangers 2nd), Adolis García (Rangers 1st), Cedric Mullins (Orioles 1st)
Designated Hitter: Nelson Cruz (Twins 7th), J. D. Martinez (Red Sox 4th)

Pitchers:
Matt Barnes (Red Sox 1st), Shane Bieber (Indians 2nd), Aroldis Chapman (Yankees 7th), Gerrit Cole (Yankees 4th), Nathan Eovaldi (Red Sox 1sth), Kyle Gibson (Rangers 1st), Liam Hendriks (White Sox 2nd), Yusei Kikuchi (Mariners 1st), Lance Lynn (White Sox 2nd), Shohei Ohtani (Angels 1st), Ryan Pressly (Astros 2nd), Carlos Rodón (White Sox 1st), Gregory Soto (Tigers 1st)

So is there anybody that's gotten snubbed?

2021 Stanley Cup Finals

We started this long journey back in January. A 56 game regular season and three rounds of the playoffs have now lead to this. We started the year with 31 teams. Now we're down to our final two. Its a matchup of the defending champs going against a team that hasn't won a title since 1993. Its the Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the Montreal Canadiens. 

Tampa got here by beating the Panthers in six games, Hurricanes in five and the Islanders in seven games. This is the 2nd straight finals appearance and 4th overall. They are the defending champions and have won another cup in 2004. Meanwhile for the Habs, they beat the Maple Leafs in seven games, swept the Jets and beat the Golden Knights in six games. This also marks the 35th appearance in the finals for the Canadiens, who have won 27 titles but haven't made an appearance in the finals since 1993.

Here are the dates and times for every game in this finals series:
June 28 Montreal Canadiens 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
June 30 Montreal Canadiens 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
July 2 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
July 5 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
July 7 Montreal Canadiens 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
July 9 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
July 11 Montreal Canadiens 7:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena

This is going to be a very interesting series, as Montreal has been coming in hotter than a firecracker. Tyler Toffoli is leading this team in scoring with 13 points. The offense is balanced and can come up with the timely goal, but they won't blow anybody out of the water. What has been keeping the Canadiens around has been the outstanding play of Carey Price. He has been playing out of his mind. Montreal has been getting the best out of their goaltenders and it has been and is the key reason they are playing in their first finals in 18 years.

But the Habs are going up against the defending champions the Lightning, who despite being a little on the banged up side, are back for the second year in a row in the finals. Nikita Kucherov, who still leads the NHL in playoff scoring despite missing the regular season due to injury,. is getting sore after getting knocked around a little in the last round against the Islanders. But its not just him. Brayden Point, Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos have been scoring. They getting contributions from everybody. The goaltending in Andrei Vasilevskiy has been good. Not quite as great as Price but still been very good never the less.

With all that being said, Montreal is going to make it an interesting series. They are going to steal a couple of games, but the better team is going to come out on top. Tampa is just too balanced and too good of a hockey team to be toppled over. Price could steal a game but the Champs will be too much to handle and they will win back to back cups.

Pick: Lightning in six!

Thanks For The Ride

Yes, the dream ended last night, but it was still a hell of a ride. One us Islanders fans will never forget. After coming off a conference finals appearance last season, the expectations were high. And with everything that the team went through this year, the fact that they got where they did speaks volumes about the heart and desire of this hockey team.

Things had been looking good from the get go with this team. For the first couple of months they stayed right in the hunt at the top of the division with Washington. Then, early in March, Andres Lee goes down with the knee injury. There was a little of that fear of who's going to score. That wasn't helped when the offense slumped late in the season.

By the time the playoffs had started, the Islanders had managed to find their game again. It started with Pittsburgh. Then Boston. And finally pushing to a game seven against Tampa. This team did so much for not only itself but for the fanbase as well. They gave the fans one hell of a final run at the old barn at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike.

What this team did was show character and heart beyond description. They gave the fans and the team memories that will last a lifetime. Did it end in a championship? No. But did it leave a lasting legacy on the way to a new Era in Islander hockey? Hell yes. Nobody will ever forget this season and what it means to all involved from ownership, to the players, to the fans and everybody around the team in between.

To the boys in the blue and orange, thank you for a hell of a run and for all the memories this year. It was worth it and then some.