Thursday's Dump & Chase: Gotta score five?

Mark Borowiecki Announces Retirement

Nashville Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki took to Instagram on Wednesday to announce his retirement from professional hockey.

NHL.com

Best wishes to Mark Borowiecki in his post-NHL career. David Poile bringing up the possibility of keeping him around in a non-roster capacity is an interesting one I think more NHL teams should explore with more players--not sticking everyone into management or reporting positions, when not every player wants to do one of those, but just broadening the concept of team support personnel in general.

I've seen a lot of fans speculate that sometimes teams make certain bad signings because they want to give a talented European or Russian rookie a cultural interpreter, and there's really no way to get someone who's played hockey recently and is from a specific country/speaks a specific language available to your rookie except signing them as a player. I don't know how accurate this speculation is, and I doubt it's ever the only reason for a signing, but giving teams more options would help in situations like that too.

Admirals, Predators extend affiliation agreement

The American Hockey League>> Patrick Williams archive

The Preds get to keep the Milwaukee Admirals as their affiliate for another two years.

Ads Lose Game 3 in OT - Milwaukee Admirals

Milwaukee, WI—The Admirals find themselves on the brink of elimination as they dropped their second straight OT contest in a…

Milwaukee AdmiralsCharlie Larson

Speaking of the Admirals, after they went up 1-0 in their series against the Manitoba Moose, they're now facing elimination, down 2-1 in the best-of-five series. We'll have more for you on the series shortly.

Why it’s time for the Maple Leafs to play the villain in series with Panthers

The Leafs were too willing to play the Florida Panthers’ preferred style in the opening game of their Eastern Conference semifinal, and unless that changes in future games, they can expect the same results.

Sportsnet| May 3, 2023, 2:46 PM

Well, as someone with no horse in this race, it would certainly liven up the journalism.

Beniers, Power, Skinner named Calder Trophy finalists

Matty Beniers, Owen Power and Stuart Skinner were named finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy on Wednesday.

NHL.com

A mustache the size of Stuart Skinner's on a rookie is disorienting (he's 24, which I suppose is reasonable for a goalie given how late they're usually allowed to break into the NHL).

Vegas overcomes Draisaitl’s 4 goals in opener

Leon Draisaitl scored all four of the Oilers’ goals on Wednesday night, but the Golden Knights clamped down elsewhere to walk away with a win.

ESPNRyan S. Clark

Apparently, it helps if more than one player scores goals for your team.

Super Star: Pavelski nets 4, but Dallas drops G1

Dallas forward Joe Pavelski scored four goals in Game 1 of the second-round playoff series against Seattle Tuesday night after missing the final five games of the opening round while in concussion protocol, but the Kraken outlasted the Stars, 5-4, in OT.

ESPNEmily Kaplan

The fact that this happened twice in the last two days is, admittedly, a little weird.

Hurricanes’ dominant Game 1 win shows gap with Devils could be larger than expected

By the time one period was complete, the Hurricanes had not only made it clear to the Devils they were going to present a much greater challenge than the New York Rangers did in a Round-1 series, but they had also served notice that the minuscule gap between both teams in the regular season could be…

Sportsnet| May 3, 2023, 10:44 PM

Carolina just goes, apparently.

PHF Season in Review: Boston Pride

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

The Ice GardenJ Gray

It's been a rough postseason for Boston hockey teams.

Vasilevskiy mulls training changes following Lightning’s 1st-round exit

Andrei Vasilevskiy said his body began to give out on him midway through the season and the Tampa Bay Lightning goalie he will be making some adjustments to his offseason training to allow time for recovery.

NHL.com

He has played an awful lot of hockey lately. (Sidenote: it's very refreshing to see a 28-year-old described as "still a young man"; it makes me feel less decrepit.)

More attention played to rest and recuperation can only benefit both players and the quality of the game itself.