Really wonder who gave McDavid those two fifth-place votes. Depending on how their ballot looked, that might have been the difference. In the end, Kucherov nabbed enough votes to pick up the victory becoming just the fifth winger to win more than one Hart Trophy.

Kucherov posted 130 points (44 goals, 86 assists) besting the next closest member of the team, Jake Guentzel, by 42 points. He led the team in goals, assists, even-strength goals, even-strength points, power play points, and game-winning goals. He even tossed in the first short-handed goal of his career for fun.

While McDavid outpointed him, Kucherov did have the higher point-per-game average. That was even more noticeable in the Lightning’s wins. He played in 48 of their 50 victories, posting 102 points (32 goals, 70 assists) for a 2.13 PPG. Meanwhile in the 23 losses he played in, he averaged 0.91 PPG (11 goals, 10 assists). As one might assume, his best stretch came from December to February when the Lightning couldn’t seemingly lose. From December 20th to February 25th he put up 52 points (17 goals, 35 assists) in 22 games. McDavid was next with 40 points in 24 games over that same stretch.

It’s not bad timing for the 32-year-old as he is able to sign an extension in less than a month. His current 8-year, $76 million deal runs through next season. It sounds like some very, very preliminary conversations took place before the season ended abruptly in early May,

“In due time, we will engage with his agent,” [Julien] BriseBois said. “We’ve already had some conversations. He wants to stay, and we’d like him to stay. When we have something to announce, we’ll make an announcement.”

A second MVP trophy is a nice bargaining chip to have as those conversations continue.

Kucherov was awarded the trophy, where else, at the arena.

We talked about Alex Tuch as a potential trade deadline acquisition all the way back in 2025. The Lightning went in another direction, acquiring Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand from Seattle. Bjorkstrand had a similar profile as Tuch, a two-way player that could help the Lightning on the second-line. One of the drawbacks was that the 30-year-old Upstate New York native really enjoyed playing in Buffalo, and it seemed inevitable that he would re-sign with the Sabres.

Now, it appears that Tuch is heading to the open market, at least according to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. According to the long-time reporter it seems that Jarmo Kekalainen is hesitant to crack the $10 million AAV barrier for the 200-goal scorer. With an estimated $11,949,903 cap space available to him, and several roster spots to fill along with restricted free agents Micheal Kesselring, Peyton Krebs, and Zach Benson.

The Lightning have a little more space available, but chewing it all up with a six-year, $10 million AAV would make their lives a lot more difficult next season when Nikita Kucherov’s contract is at an end. Still, it’s not the worst possible way to spend their money.

Tuch hit the 30-goal mark for the third time in the last four seasons. Seven of those goals came on the power play and three were short-handed. He’s now up to 12 short-handed goals in his career (with 6 of them coming in 2024-25) and he spent a career-high 192 minutes on the penalty kill. Defensive responsibility plays well in Coach Jon Cooper’s system.

Offensively, many of the stats that we discussed back in 2025 have carried over (although it looked like he has drifted a little further from the net when shooting the puck at 5v5). He still generated plenty of shots (195 in 79 games last season) and gets them on net. His reliance on wrist shots helps his accuracy as last season over half of the attempts that he took made it on net 51.9%). If he’s not beating the goaltender, he’s generating rebounds and chaos in front of the net.

Tuch would add a little pace to the Lightning’s game as he enjoys shooting off the rush, averaging 14 shots off the rush per 60 minutes played last season. He can also get the puck into the zone and set up chances. On paper, he’d be an ideal fit with Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli as the trio would definitely push defenders back as they attacked with speed.

Evolving Hockey has a projected contract of 7 years with an AAV of $9,980,000. Julien BriseBois would have to be pretty certain that Tuch is the missing piece to getting past the first round of the playoffs if he wants to get into the free agency ring with everyone else chasing offense. After Tuch, there is a bit of a drop-off, especially if a team is looking for a right-hand shot. Viktor Arvidsson? Claude Giroux? Jack Roslovic? They’d be cheaper options, but would they don’t bring a 30-goal pedigree with them.

After a solid first round where he put up 4 goals and 3 assists in 6 games against the Boston Bruins, Tuch struggled to make an impact against the Canadiens as he was held pointless in 7 games. It wasn’t from a lack of trying as he cranked out 26 shots while averaging 19:53 of ice time. His 3.31 xGF was the highest number on Buffalo in the second round, so credit is due to Philip Danault and his linemates for keeping him off of the board.

Signing Tuch to a deal around $10 million would probably mean the Lightning would have to unload a contract or two, but that could clear some playing time for a younger player? If Nick Paul can be dealt, Dominic James could slide right into his spot. Even moving out Pontus Holmberg’s $1.55 million could free up enough cash to make things work out next season.

The Lightning’s pedigree and system could appeal to Tuch [insert sarcastic comment about state tax]. If they can find a way to make it would money-wise, the signing would keep them atop the Eastern Conference power rankings.

Whenever something like this happens, it’s bound to spark some speculation, but Julien BriseBois has been around long enough that we know there is a certain filter to view these situations through. Would the deal make the Tampa Bay Lightning a better team now, and in the near future? The short answer is yes. The bigger question is – is the juice worth the squeeze?

Tampa Bay is pretty set down the middle of the ice right now and in the future. It’s not on the top of their list of needs in the offseason, and there is the chance that adding Dylan Larkin opens up a host of other questions that aren’t even on the table right now.

In a vacuum (or a salary-cap free world) adding Dylan Larkin, a left-shot center with 643 points (276 goals, 367) assists in 808 career regular season games would be very enticing. Throw in his career 52.1% face-off percentage and his ability to play 5v5, on the power play, and short-handed and it’s a no-brainer. Despite playing for a rebuilding team Larkin has been able to keep the Red Wings close to, or above water when he’s in the ice in terms of possession.

Unfortunately, the Lightning don’t exist in a such a fairy tale. Not only is there a salary cap, there are a couple of really good pivot men on the roster already. As of right now, the roster includes Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli. One is an offensive-minded center that has multiple 90-point seasons under his belt, and the other is one of the top defensive middleman in the league. They also have Nick Paul and Yanni Gourde on the roster with Sam O’Reilly banging on the door within the next year or so.

So, do the Lightning jump through a bunch of hoops to acquire a third-line center that they’re going to pay $8.7 million for the next few years? Or do they move Brayden Point to a wing? That might not be the worst thing in the world. A Nikita Kucherov-Dylan Larkin-Brayden Point followed by a Jake Guentzel-Anthony Cirelli-Brandon Hagel line would be one of the best one-two punches not only in the Eastern Conference, but also the entire NHL.

Of course, that $8.7 million would be a bit of a sticky widget. At least in the sense that it would likely cost the Lightning any shot at re-signing Darren Raddysh. If that happens, and the cap goes up again next year like it’s expected to, the Lightning can absorb the money. It would also appeal to another tent pole of Mr. BriseBois’ team-building strategy -cost certainty. Yes, it’s a big blow to take, but at least it’s a blow that he’ll be able to plan around for the next five years.

Larkin would slide in nicely with the way the Lightning play hockey. He has the ability to generate shots off of the rush as well as through the forecheck. He isn’t one to lug the puck in a lot, but his ability to get the puck into the zone when he does is towards the top of the scales. Once Larkin gets the puck into the zone, his possession tends to lead to scoring chances and shot opportunities.

Is it a case of too many players and just one puck? Not really. Larkin has shown the ability to conform his game to a team’s needs. On Detroit he’s the top center, a true 1C. However, on Team USA at the Olympics or Four Nations, he was able to adapt to a third or fourth line role. With the Lightning, it would likely be a hybrid situation. There would be games where he is the top center, and times when he’s pushed off to a wing or down the line-up.

Adding Dylan Larkin would make this team better next season. The same goes for the immediate future. He is 29 (turns 30 in next month) and should be able to produce over the next couple of seasons as he has for the last few. As in five straight seasons of 30+ goals. Not a bad run of play and it would likely continue with the Bolts as he would stay around 20 minutes a night of ice time.

So, Larkin wants out of Detroit. The Lightning could use him. Why isn’t this a done deal? Well, there is the kind of big question about what Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings want in return for their native-born and bred number one center. The answer is – a lot.

Detroit is in a unique situation. They should be nearing the end of their long rebuild, but they’ve seen teams like Montreal leapfrog them while they can’t move past the old lions like the Lightning and Bruins. Does ownership have the stomach for another rebuild? It’s unlikely. Mr. Yzerman probably won’t be satiated with draft picks and young prospects lighting up the OHL.

That actually plays into the Lightning’s hands. San Jose or Chicago might be able to throw a top-five pick at the Red Wings in a Larkin deal. What the Lightning can offer is NHL talent, or players that are on the cusp of the NHL. Those young players might not develop into superstars, but they would be solid contributors that can provide value. Throw in a second-round pick or a first-round pick down the road that Detroit can use as trade bait in the future and there could be some common ground.

While neither Larkin (or his agent) or the Red Wings have officially commented on the trade request, a couple of established reporters have thrown out his preferred destinations. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press lists Minnesota, Florida, and Vegas as teams Larkin is interested in joining, but concedes Tampa Bay could be on an expanded list. Elliotte Friedman has also speculated that Tampa Bay is a possible landing spot among Minnesota and Dallas.

Let’s take a look at two different scenarios that might work out.

It’s one-for-one!

Dylan Larkin heads to Tampa in exchange for Brayden Point. That’s it. That’s the deal.

Why does this work for Detroit?

Mr. Yzerman is able to deal Larkin to a team that is competitive and gives him a chance to make it to the playoffs (at least the first round). In return he gets someone that he can plug right into that top-line center role. There is no rebuild, Detroit can tell themselves they will remain competitive. Point brings experience and the ability to put the puck in the net to a rather young team. There is no real drop off in production. Here is a side-by-side comparison over the last five seasons:

They have the cap space to make it happen and the general manager is reunited with a player that he moved in a draft to acquire over a decade ago.

Why it works for the Lightning

They get a little better defensively, save a little cap space, and add a player that is chasing his first Stanley Cup. Larkin gives Coach Jon Cooper a little more flexibility in his line-up and another weapon to use on the penalty kill. They trade away a key piece of their Stanley Cup runs but don’t lose production on the ice.

Why it works for Larkin

He gets to go to a winner. Yes, the Lightning have collided with some large speed bumps in the first round over the last four seasons, but they are still one of the best teams in the league. Some of the pressure is off of Larkin. He won’t be the captain and has a pretty nice spread of players to help share the responsibility on the ice. Oh yeah, the tax thing too.

Why it works for Point

Honestly, it really doesn’t. Point holds the hammer with his full no-move clause. There are some philosophical reasons why he might be looking for a new home. While Lightning fans are well aware of what he brings to the ice, he is somewhat overshadowed by Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and (up until a few years ago) Steven Stamkos on the national stage.

Does he want to show he can do it with another team? What about the freedom of playing for a team that doesn’t have Stanley Cup demands hanging over its head? Or playing with young talent like Mo Seider and Lukas Raymond?

Four quarters still equal a dollar

The Lightning can’t offer a high-end prospect. If they decide to hold onto Point, they can’t really offer a top-six forward to slide into help the Red Wings out. What they can offer is a package that can help Detroit be a deeper team.

Would Mr. Yzerman be interested in a package that includes Nick Paul, Conor Geekie, Benjamin Rautiainen, Erik Cernak, and a first-round pick? Feel free to mix and match any non-Sam O’Reilly prospects into that package. Paul is an upgrade in their middle-six while Geekie would have a chance to earn a spot in the top-six. Cernak is an upgrade on their right side, while Rautiainen and the first-round pick are a couple of lottery tickets or pieces that can be used in another deal.

It would still leave a big hole in the middle of the ice at the top of the line-up, but Mr. Yzerman can shop for that in another deal or free agency. However, they immediately become a better defensive team in the meantime.

As for the Lightning, they add Larkin without giving up any of their top six players. Dominic James emergence as a player makes Paul a little redundant. With Geekie in a new organization, there is a path to the NHL for Sam O’Reilly and some of the other prospects in Syracuse.

Is it going to happen? Probably not. Minnesota seems to be the best fit on paper and is apparently one of Larkin’s preferred destinations. However, the deal would fit into Julien BriseBois’ modus operandi and keep the Lightning in their current competitive state.

McDavid dragged the Edmonton Oilers to the playoffs on his back as led the league with 138 points (48 goals, 90 assists). Unfortunately, they were upset in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks (hence McDavid being on the golf course). It’s the sixth time in his eleven years in the NHL that he’s led the league in scoring and the third time he’s cracked the 130-point mark.

Hockey News

Vasilevskiy’s top five Vezina moments of 2025-26 [Tampa Bay Lightning]

Can’t believe we forgot to mention Vasilevskiy vs. Swayman in our post about the Big Cat’s Vezina victory. Not sure if that swayed any of the voters, but it was definitely a highlight!

How sensible is it for each team to trade for Larkin [The Athletic]

The folks at The Athletic don’t think it makes much sense for the Lightning to make a deal for the Red Wings’ captain, but we’ll have more thoughts on that later tonight. The Wild. It’ll be the Wild.

Jack Pridham officially commits to University of Denver [Kitchener Rangers]

When the Lightning made the deal, the rumor was that Pridham would join the National Champions, and now it’s official.

Backchecking the Bolts: Andrew and Justin for the Aud Pod talk O’Reilly/Pridham [Backchecking the Bolts]

Want to know more about Pridham and Sam O’Reilly? Well, we chatted with a couple of guys that had first-row seats for the duo’s amazing championship run. You can’t not be excited about their future after listening to this episode.

Bussi or Andersen? No starter named yet for Carolina in Game 4 [The Athletic]

You know what is awesome during a two-day break between games? Having a goaltending controversy. Frederik Andersen started the first three games of the series, but was yoinked in Game 3. Brandon Bussi was strong in relief as Carolina made their big comeback, but was foiled by a bouncy goal in the second overtime.

Updated PWHL rosters [The Ice Garden]

The PWHL has started their multi-stage expansion process. The folks over at The Ice Garden are keeping track of all of the player movement.

It is his second Vezina, having won the award following the 2018-19 season, and the sixth time he’s been a finalist. That matches Dominik Hasek and trails only Patrick Roy (seven times) and Martin Brodeur (nine times). Vasilevskiy joins Connor Hellebuyck (three times) and Sergei Bobrovsky (twice) as multi-Vezina winners among current players.

The 31-year-old led the league in wins with 39 while posting 42 quality starts out of his 58 appearances. He finished 6th in save percentage (.911), 2nd in goals against (2.31), 4th in minutes played (3430:45), and 4th in goals saved above expected (39.93). Despite spending the third most time shorthanded, he had a .900 SV% on the penalty kill. The two players with a higher save percentage (Jesper Wallstedt and Scott Wedgewood) spent over 100 fewer minutes shorthanded. Vasilevskiy helped bail his penalty killers out to a tune of 18.28 (4th in the league) GSAx while the Lightning were down.

The numbers are super nice, but honestly we could just post this highlight and it would sew up his case for the award.

We’ll also take a moment to point out that this is a regular season award. So, his post season numbers didn’t factor into the voting. Yeah, we’ll leave it at that (other than saying his counting numbers didn’t reflect how well he played in the series against Montreal).

The Lightning netminder was the heavy betting favorite towards the end of the season with odds as low as -1650 through some betting venues. The final voting tallies reflected that as he received 17 of the 31 first place votes, finishing with a 114 to 51 point edge over second-place Ilya Sorokin.

Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy has won the Vezina Trophy. Dallas’ Jake Oettinger finished 8th by receiving one second place vote. Former Star Scott Wedgewood finished 5th in the voting, including 2 first place votes. #TexasHockey

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— Owen Newkirk (@owennewkirk.bsky.social) June 6, 2026 at 11:39 AM

Vasilevskiy’s best stretch of the season mirrored the Lightning’s dominating run of play. From December 20th to February 5th, Vasilevskiy posted a 16-0-1 record with a .923 SV%, 1.90 GAA, and 16.33 GSAx. Like the rest of the team, it was a bit of a struggle after the Olympic Break as his numbers slid to .899, 2.67, and 6.74. He still managed to post a 12-8-1 record. By that time, Vasilevskiy pretty much had the award sewn up, and his top competition (Sorokin) faltered down the stretch as well.

Along the way, Vasilevskiy knocked out a couple of career milestones, including his 350th career win. He also moved up to 21st all time in the league with 370. Andy Moog (372) and John Vanbiesbrouck (374) are next up on his hit list. With another typical Vasilevskiy season next year, he could become the fastest goaltender to 400 wins. Currently Bobrovsky holds the record by doing it in 707 career games, achieving the feat in 2024. Vasilevskiy enters next season with 598 career games played.

As teams have been doing for the last few years with these awards, the Lightning and the league surprised Vasilevskiy with the award. Instead of doing it at a barbecue or ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Lightning did it in a parking lot. With the police involved.

Looking back at how those guesses have aged is also wildly entertaining. So, take a gander at the original post (especially if you made some predictions in the comments) and see how we did overall.

Prediction Number 1:

The Tampa Bay Lightning win the Atlantic Division with 109 points.

Well, if they had gotten to 109 points, they would have won the division (they would have held the tie-breaker over Buffalo). Instead, they finished in second with 106 points and a first-round match-up against a team that also had 106 points. Looking back over their losses, the 8-7 loss in regulation to Buffalo on March 8 and the 7-3 loss to the Rangers on November 12 were games where they could have picked up those missing points.

Tampa Bay Lightning – Everyone stays healthy, especially Andrei Vasilevskiy and a hot streak just prior to the Olympics puts them comfortably in first place allowing Jon Cooper to manage his line-up down the stretch.

So, about that “everyone stays healthy” part. It was pretty much the opposite, but we did get the hot streak part correct as the Lightning rattled off a 19-1-1 streak prior to the break. The injuries and the fight for the top spot among Buffalo, Tampa Bay, and Montreal kept him from giving his players too much rest. A late season injury to Pontus Holmberg shook up Coach Cooper’s most relied upon line, and it took them a few games to figure things out.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Willy Nylander goes off in the absence of Mitch Marner. Auston Matthews is over whatever mystery injury bothered him last season and he scores 55 goals.

Well. Nylander did lead them in points (79 in 65 games) but we’re not sure that qualifies as “going off”. Auston Matthews finished the season with 27 goals, they almost traded Matthew Knies at the deadline, and finished at the bottom of the division. In other words we nailed it!

Montreal Canadiens – The young players gel while Sammy Montembeault has a Vezina-worthy campaign. A surprise acquisition at the trade deadline helps them eliminate Toronto in the first round of the playoffs.

Montreal finished third! The young players gelled! They almost pulled off a surprise deadline deal (see link about Knies above)! Montembeault. Well, they had a young goaltender that put up impressive numbers, it just wasn’t Montembeault. They also eliminated a team that starts with “T” in the first round of the playoffs.

Florida Panthers (yup, hello first round match-up) – They struggle through much of the early part of the season. Get just enough of a boost after the Olympics when gold-medal winning Matthew Tkachuk returns to the line-up.

They struggled at the beginning of the season, and Matthew Tkachuk won a gold-medal. Sadly (not really) they never got on track and missed the playoffs. That’s a shame.

Boston Bruins – They start slowly, come on like gangbusters at the end of the season, but just miss out. Tanner Jeannot has at least three games worth of suspensions. Mikey Eyssimont is traded at the deadline.

Eyssimont (8 goals, 10 assists) did not get traded and Jeannot (6 goals, 16 assists, 66 PIM). They managed to make the playoffs, but were eliminated in the first round by Buffalo.

Detroit Red Wings – The Yzerplan spends another season in limbo.

We’re taking this one as a win. They finished with 92 points, a six-point improvement over 2024-25, but missed the playoffs and their number-one center is asking for a trade. If his number wasn’t hanging from the rafters, would Mr. Yzerman still have a job in Detroit?

Ottawa Senators – They finish bunched up with the Bruins and Red Wings, but fade after they fail to make a trade deadline impact.

They were sandwiched between the Bruins and Red Wings, but a nice finish got them into the playoffs. Ottawa did make a move for Warren Foegele at the deadline, and he had a respectable 6 goals and 2 assists in 21 regular-season games. Unfortunately, he laid a goose egg in the playoffs as the Senators were swept.

Buffalo Sabres – Once again, goaltending (or lack there of) is their undoing.

Okay, so we were kind of wrong on this one, although, to our credit, it wasn’t like they got great goaltending. If they had, maybe Lindy Ruff would have won the Jack Adams Trophy.

Prediction Number 2

The Lightning fall to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals. Yes, I joined the stat nerds in saying that this year is the year Carolina actually remembers how to play hockey in the playoffs. Really, we mean it. It’s their year.

On the 20th anniversary of their first meeting in the Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton finally gets their revenge as they take down the Hurricanes in 7 games.

Carolina is the only team that lived up to their end of the bargain in this prediction. They steamrolled the Eastern Conference playoff bracket after a solid regular season. Edmonton struggled throughout the regular season and bowed out early. So, now it’s up to Vegas to keep Carolina from raising the Stanley Cup for the first time in two decades.

Prediction Number 3:

Nikita Kucherov (994 points) records his 1,000th point on Monday October 13 in Boston. It’s on a Victor Hedman power play goal in the….second period. He sets a personal record by uttering 16 words in the post-game press conference.

We missed it by two weeks. Hey, Kuch started the season a little slow. Instead, it happened on October 25, at home, against Anaheim.

It was at even-strength and Hedman was on the ice, but not involved in the play (he had just jumped over the boards when the puck bounced into the net). Kucherov was awarded the second assist as his nifty cross-ice pass found its way to Brayden Point who bounced the puck off of Jake Guentzel’s skates for the goal. Because he is Nikita Kucherov, he knocked out the 1,100 milestone in the same season as he picked up two assists against Detroit on March 12th.

He also hit the over in words spoken after the game (we count 52),

“It was a great feeling. It’s something I never thought I would reach,” Kucherov said. “I’m really honored and fortunate to have great teammates along the way. Without them I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have done that. The fan support has been a huge part of it and I’m just real blessed.”

Prediction Number 4:

Kucherov makes it three Art Ross Trophies in a row as he plays in 82 games and puts up 121 points. He once again finishes second in the Hart Trophy race.

After his slow start, he went nuclear for much of the season, eventually grabbing the scoring lead late in the season. Conor McDavid eventually caught and surpassed him, and Kucherov’s 130 points were good for second place. He is a Hart Finalist, but did he do enough to win his second player of the year trophy?

Prediction Number 5:

Jack Finley becomes the 322nd different player to score a goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

With six skaters (Finley, Dominic James, Scott Sabourin, Max Crozier, Pontus Holmber, and Charle-Edouard D’Astous) adding their first goals in a Lightning uniform, Tampa Bay now has 326 different goal-scorers in franchise history. Finley was the fourth player out of that list to put one in the net, so by our literal back-of-the-napkin math, he was the 324th player to record a goal (D’Astous has the honor of being 322nd).

Prediction Number 6:

The Pittsburgh Penguins finish with the third worst record in the NHL, but win the Draft Lottery. Congratulations on winning the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes.

Stupid Penguins went and ruined everyone’s theory that they are the league’s chosen franchise. After all it would have been mighty convenient for them to draft a franchise center just as Sidney Crosby’s career is winding down. A surprisingly competitive season vaulted them into playoff contention and left them with 22nd pick overall. Gavin McKenna may fall out of the top spot, but he’s not falling that far.

Prediction Number 7:

Steven Stamkos has a rebound season in Nashville, scoring 30 goals. They still struggle this season and trade him to the Montreal Canadiens at the deadline.

How about a 42-goal bounce back for The Captain? Stamkos found his groove again, but it wasn’t enough for the Predators to make the playoffs. There were some trade rumors with Stamkos’ name attached, but Nashville opted to jettison some role players instead of going for the full overhaul.

Prediction Number 8:

The first meeting between the Lightning and the Panthers on November 15 is a relatively tame affair. J.J. Moser fights A.J. Greer in the first period and both teams agree that all debts have been settled. The NHL forces them to hug it out after the game.

It was a pretty tame affair as the Bolts won 3-1 (Jack Finley’s first goal was the game-winner). There were only 30 minutes worth of penalties in the contest, with a large bulk of those coming from a scrum in the third period, but there were no fights in the contest. The two franchises saved their shenanigans for the last two meetings of the season.

Prediction Number 9:

The Syracuse Crunch start off slowly, but finish second in the North Division as Brandon Halverson posts five shutouts on the season. Niko Huuhtanen recovers from his early season injury to lead them in goals with 25. Dylan Duke is on pace for a 50-point season before getting recalled in late February. Wojciech Stachowiak ends up leading the team in points.

The Crunch finished second in their division. Dylan Duke did have a 59-point season and was recalled (briefly). Halverson posted six shutouts on the season on the way to 24 wins for the Crunch. As for the other two players mentioned, well, not so great. Niko Huuhtanen had his contract terminated and finished the season with Biel HC in the Swiss-A league. Stachowiak was traded in March to the Detroit organization for Ian Mitchell.

Prediction Number 10:

The biggest name traded at the deadline is Jason Robertson. He goes from Dallas to the Chicago Blackhawks in a shocking divisional trade. Chicago makes the playoffs as the eighth seed with his help. He then faces the Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

Jason Robertson did not get traded at the deadline. As of now, he still hasn’t been traded. Of course, he hasn’t signed a new deal with Dallas yet, so there is still a possibility. Chicago didn’t make any shocking trades (or the playoffs). The biggest player moved at the deadline? Tyler Myers at 6’8″.

As for the biggest impact players, maybe Artemi Panarin or Nazem Kadri. If we expand things out a little further, Quinn Hughes to Minnesota was probably the biggest blockbuster deal of the season.

Overall, not too bad! We had some wins mixed in with a lot of losses. So, how did y’all do in the prediction game?

To say it was a trying season behind the bench is an understatement. Injuries forced the Lightning to use 30 different skaters and 3 goaltenders throughout the season. At times, he had to put out a line-up that didn’t have his captain (Victor Hedman), his number one goaltender (Andrei Vasilevskiy), or his top center (Brayden Point). For several stretches of the season his defensive rotation featured several players with just a handful of NHL games under their belt.

The Lightning had eight rookies play at least one game this season while also getting key contributions from players that had minimal time in the NHL like Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Steven Santini, Conor Geekie, and Jakob Pelletier. Yet they still managed to accumulate 106 points and win 50 games for the fifth time in franchise history.

Along the way Coach Cooper became the second fastest coach to win his 600th game and managed his 1,000th game from behind the bench, becoming the fifth coach in league history to do it with one team. Oh, and he also had the pressure of coaching Team Canada in their first trip to the Olympics with NHL players since 2014. Upon returning from Milan, he had to also deal with the passing of his father, Robert.

Despite their injuries to key players, and a bit of a post-Olympic slump, the Lightning still finished 4th in goals scored (286), 3rd in goals against (229), 3rd in penalty-kill (82.6%), while also being a top ten team in expected goals against, expected goals for, high-danger chances for, and high-danger chances against. Not too shabby.

He was surprised with the trophy while hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Coop’s Catch for Kids Family Lounge at the Muma’s Childrens’ Hospital at Tampa General Hospital.

SURPRISE! Your 2026 Jack Adams Award winner is none other than Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, who was just surprised with the award here at the Coop’s Catch for Kids Cancer Lounge at TGH. Congrats to Coop for a well deserved recognition! #GoBolts

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— Benjamin Pierce (@boltsben.bsky.social) June 3, 2026 at 2:35 PM

Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff and Pittsburgh’s Dan Muse were the two other finalists for the award.

Congratulations, Coop!

The Lightning’s leader in points from the blueline finished the season with a career-high 70 points (22 goals, 48 assists) in 73 games. His 22 goals set a franchise record and was the third highest total in the league behind Jakob Chychrun (who received 0 vote despite a 60-point season) and Schaefer. Raddysh was the league’s top goal-scorer from the blueline with 10 power play goals.

After a couple of seasons with the Lightning where he shuffled up and down the line-up, the 30-year-old Raddysh found a home on the top pairing with J.J. Moser, and on the top power play unit as Victor Hedman was in-and-out of the line-up due to injuries. His bomb of a shot from the point proved a useful weapon for the Lightning (no one in the league was in the neighborhood of his 96 shots that measured between 90 and 100 MPH) especially with Nikita Kucherov feeding him one-timers from the top of the right circle.

Given the chance to play top minutes, Raddysh took full advantage of his opportunity and earned his keep. Ensconced on the right-side of the ice he posted a career-high 23:26 of ice time and unleashed 212 shots, which is roughly equal to the total he had in the two previous seasons combined. More importantly, he was able to put his shot on net more often. In his previous two seasons only 39% of the shot attempts he took made it on net. In 2025-26 that percentage increased to 46%, and of the 212 he put on net, 10.4% found the back of the net. That is definitely one way to quadruple your yearly goal totals.

While Raddysh is never going to be confused with Ryan McDonah in terms of being a shutdown defensemen, his actual defending was perfectly okay this year. In fact, due to the Lightning’s constant addiction to give up odd-skater rushes on the power play, Raddysh became one of the best blueliners at shutting down short-handed two-on-one rushes. He has an excellent sense of timing when it comes to dropping down on the ice to block passing lanes.

The chemistry he had with J.J. Moser was solid as well. The pairing held teams to a 2.33 xGA while they were on the ice, which was in the same range as McDonagh and Erik Cernak’s 2.24 xGA number at 5v5. (who had Cernak and Charle-Edouard D’Astous being the team leaders at 1.74 xGA?). Moser’s ability to be slightly better than good at just about everything on the ice helped make up for some of Raddysh’s lack of footspeed in his own zone, but on the same token, Raddysh’s offensive abilities drew a lot of attention from his partner in the opponent’s zone and allowed the Swiss national to have one of his better seasons.

[Editor’s rant] Look, we know this is an award that rewards offense more than defense even though it’s nominally a “defensive” award, but the fact that Moser didn’t even get a token fifth-place vote is absurd. The guy was the definition of a solid all-round defenseman this year. They really need to add another award for shutdown defensemen. [End rant]

As anyone who has come within a whisper of a conversation about the Tampa Bay Lightning’s offseason knows, what to do with Darren Raddysh is the number one point of discussion for the next 29 days. This career season came at an excellent time for his financial advisor as Raddysh’s current contract, one of the best values in the league with a cap hit of $975,000, expires on June 30th. He’s not only going to be an unrestricted free agent, but probably a top-three UFA overall in the NHL this summer.

Evolving Hockey has him pegged at a 7-year, $8.07 AAV projection this summer if he hits the open market. That is…well, that is nice work if you can get it. Oddly enough, their algorithms spit out a 3-year, $6.9 million contract if the parameters are changed to having him signing with the Lightning. That would be a much more manageable deal for the Lightning, who might have a bit of cap room to play with this year, but also have an extension for Nikita Kucherov looming in a year’s time.

If he ends up with another organization (which the Raw Charge computer puts at a 62.4% chance of happening) that leaves a pretty big hole at the top of the defensive unit. They have someone who shoots the puck almost as hard in Victor Hedman, but he is a left-handed shot, which doesn’t play as well with Kucherov’s passing skills. Also, it’s kind of nice if you have the option of throwing two players on the ice that can crank up heaters from the blueline.

No matter what happens in a couple of weeks, Darren Raddysh had a memorable season for the Tampa Bay Lightning and it’s nice to see him rewarded with a little bit of love from the PHWA. Oh, and he had an absolute banger of a t-shirt created over at BreakingT. That’s even better than some dusty trophy from the league.

As for Werenski, it was a pretty solid win as he finished with 113 first place votes and 1,589 points. Cale Makar finished second and Rasmus Dahlin was third. It’s Werenski’s first career Norris Trophy and the league surprised him at what he thought was a backyard barbecue video shoot for new dads in the NHL (Hunter, the Werenski’s first child, was born two-and-a-half weeks ago).

Final Norris Trophy Voting Totals

Instead, the Tampa Bay Lightning traded a 2027 third-round pick to Chicago for his rights and announced that Pridham had chosen a collegiate program that would be announced in the future. It appears that the right-shot winger will be joining Hagen Burrows at the University of Denver, one of the true college powerhouse programs led by former Lightning draft pick David Carle.

It’s been a back-and-forth journey for Pridham as his original path had him spending a few seasons in a lower-tier Canadian junior hockey league (the BCHL) before heading to Boston University. When the NCAA changed their eligibility rules to allow CHL players into college, Pridham decided to give the OHL a shot and joined the Kitchener Rangers, who had drafted him in the ninth round of the OHL draft. It turned out to be a pretty good decision as he put up 54 points in 48 games during the 2024-25 season.

He de-committed from BU and stayed with Kitchener this past season. As a 20-year-old he put up 90 points (46 goals, 44 assists) in 65 regular season games before adding another 17 points (2 goals, 15 assists) in the playoffs. Riding with Sam O’Reilly, Pridham added an OHL title as well as a Memorial Cup Championship to his resume.

Now, expectations should be tempered a bit considering last season was his 20-year-old season in the OHL. Still, he’s put up points in every league he’s played in, and he did have 27 goals in 48 games as a 19-year-old the prior season. It will be interesting to see how he does as a 21-year-old in college next season.

With a stacked roster of prospects in Chicago, it seemed Pridham was looking for another opportunity, and he got it when the Lightning traded for him. How deep are things in The Windy City? Pridham didn’t make Second City Hockey’s Top 25 Under 25 last summer. He did crack their mid-season update in the 22nd spot, but that would still be a lot of players to leapfrog in order to earn consistent playing time.

He goes from a mid-tier prospect in the ‘Hawks organization to a probably top-10 in the Lightning. How long will it be before Pridham joins O’Reilly in the professional leagues? That’s hard to say. He’ll be 21 at the start of the season, so it’s unlikely he’ll spend all four seasons with the Pioneers, but even if it’s just a year or two, he should benefit from Carle’s tutelage.

What type of player did the Lightning just add to their organization? Checking the scouting reports from his draft year and in subsequent prospect updates, Jack Pridham is not just a solid skater, but might be one of the best ones in Tampa Bay’s prospect pool. Not only that, but at 6’2″ and 185 lbs. he also has decent size. His shot plays well at the OHL level (as evident by his 46 goals) and he can score from range.

Pridham has all of the tools to succeed, but he does need to work on his decision making skills a bit. It seems to be the case that less may be more with the Ontario native. In the past, he has shown a tendency to try for the more complicated, highlight-reel play as opposed to keeping things simple. That will be harder for him to do as the quality of competition increases.

He works hard on the ice, has the speed to beat defenders wide or down the middle of the ice, and the skill to finish off the play. Those ingredients make for a promising prospect, and acquiring a player with his potential for a future draft pick is a pretty good use of assets by Julien BriseBois. It might be a season or two before it pays off at the professional level, but Pridham will be a fun prospect to watch over the next few seasons.

Noah Steen scores in OT to beat Canada and win bronze (via IIHF)

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— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) May 31, 2026 at 2:05 PM

The Lightning brass will probably be just as happy to see Steen create the turnover in his own zone as they are to see him snap the shot into the net. The 6’1″ left-shot forward was drafted in the seventh round of the 2024 draft and has spent the last few seasons playing for Orebro HK in the SHL. He finished his European career with 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 52 games.

After Orebro’s season ended, Steen headed to Syracuse to join the Crunch. After logging his first AHL goal in the regular season, he appeared in another three games in the postseason. Expect him to have a fairly large role with the Crunch next season as the nexus of prospects suits up in New York next season.

Hockey News

J.J. Moser earns silver medal at World Championships [The Hockey News]

It was a solid tournament for the Lightning players who participated as J.J. Moser picked up a silver medal. Gold would have been better, but Finland won 1-0 on a Konsta Helenius overtime goal. Moser was his usual steady self as he averaged 21:06 with five assists.

Kitchener wins Memorial Cup [CHL]

Sam O’Reilly finished his junior hockey career with a bang as his four-point performance led Kitchener over Everett, 6-2. O’Reilly became the fourth player in CHL history to sweep the MVP awards as he was the OHL regular season MVP, OHL playoffs MVP, and Memorial Cup MVP (Brad Richards, Corey Perry, and Mitch Marner were the other three).

IIHF announces 2026 Hall of Fame class [IIHF]

Six players – Andres Ambühl, Patrice Bergeron, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Niklas Kronwall, Florence Schelling, and Thomas Vanek — and two builders, Ralph Krueger and Luc Tardif.

Judd Brackett leaving the Minnesota Wild [Elliotte Friedman and Michael Russo Twitter]

Could he be going to Toronto? Maybe. They wouldn’t mind having the person that built a pretty solid group of prospects in Minnesota as their assistant general manager. Zeev Buium, Charlie Stramel, and Adam Benak were all drafted under his watch. Oh yeah, he was also part of the Vancouver staff that drafted Quinn Hughes.

Blackhawks may let Pridham’s draft rights expire [The Athletic]

It’s one of the underrated days of the year as draft rights expire for CHL-drafted prospects drafted in 2024. One of those prospects is the Lightning’s Kaiden Pitre, but another is Chicago’s Jack Pridham. The Bolts had a little luck with a Chicago prospect who wasn’t signed last year in Dominic James. Could they repeat it with Pridham? They would have seen him a few times as he is a teammate of Sam O’Reilly in Kitchener. If he doesn’t sign or go to college, he would be able to reenter the draft.

[Update] It looks like he’s going to college, but as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.