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Tuesday’s Dump & Chase: Officially Official

Posted on by Nick Morgan

Nashville Predators News & Notes

Preds Impressed by Rookies, Looking for Continued Impacts Next Season | Nashville Predators
Tolvanen and Carrier should be penciled in for regular spots in the lineup next season, and it’s probably safe to assume Jeannot will at the very least be on the 12th/13th forward fringe.

What’ll be interesting is how many spots will be open to other “up and comers” at the start of the year. Davies, Pitlick, and Olivier all made positive impacts in their stints with the team this season. That’s not even mentioning the possibility of Phil Tomasino making the team. But there probably won’t be spots for all of them, at least when the season opener rolls around.

Other Hockey Happenings

Recap: Bruins up against the wall as Islanders take 3-2 series’ lead | Stanley Cup of Chowder
First and foremost, holy crap this was wild… No hyberbole, one of the most entertaining playoff games of the season so far. The topic of conversation here should be what a great matchup this has been so far. But alas, another coach’s postgame press conference has shifted the focus to officiating…

We’re playing a team that has very respected management and coaching staff, they’ve won a Stanley Cup. But I think they sell a narrative over there that it’s more like the New York Saints and not the New York Islanders. They play hard and they play the right way, but I feel we’re the same way.

“The exact calls that get called on us do not get called on them, and I don’t know why. These are very good officials, they’re at this point in the season for a reason. You’ve got continuous high sticks every game, the exact same high sticks — Bergeron behind the net with Nelson, the one that comes up on Smith, Marchand got called for that in Game 1. I could go on and on. Wagner the other day in front of the net. Maybe we need to sell them more and flop, but that’s not us. You just hope they’d see them. The same calls go against us. It’s not like I’m going, ‘every call against us sucks.’ That’s not true.

It’s just that at the end of the day, similar plays, they need to be penalized on those plays. But I think they’ve done a great job selling that narrative that they’re clean. They play hard, love the way they play, but they commit as many infractions as we do. Trust me. It’s just a matter of calling them. That’s the part that gets frustrating, but you play through it.

NHL officiating this postseason has been inconsistent at best and fairly poor at worst; I don’t think anyone is denying that fact.

But it’s not exclusive to the Bruins. It’s something that all sixteen playoff teams have had to deal with, including the Islanders. I can recall a few moments in this series where I thought “wow… Boston got some help on that one.”

I’ve seen tweets from analysts saying Cassidy’s comments were probably made with the intent of “having his team’s back.” But as a fan, it’s just getting tiring.

Toffoli scores OT winner as Habs advance with sweep of Jets | TSN

Niederreiter’s offence could be boost Hurricanes need in must-win Game 5 | Sportsnet.ca
If his offense doesn’t help, he also has fairly solid “take out the opposing team’s hot goaltender with a dirty hit” skills…

Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award finalists announced | NHL.com
Would absolutely love to see Renee Hess (founder of the Black Girl Hockey Club) win it this year. But regardless of whoever does, it’s great to see so many wonderful people trying to grow our game around their communities.

Sidney Crosby surpasses Jaromir Jagr for highest career earnings in NHL history | PensBurgh
Something tells me this record will be broken in another ten years by a certain kid from Richmond Hill.

So You’ve Found Yourself In A Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Rumor | Broad Street Hockey
The biggest media market and self-proclaimed center of the hockey universe strikes again.

Reflecting on the career of Shannon Doyle | The Ice Garden
A leader the Whale will never forget

Talking Points