The Tampa Bay Lightning's celebration with the Stanley Cup will likely look different than usual.

The team will host a boat parade along the city's Riverwalk and Hillsborough River at 5 p.m. on Wednesday to celebrate the Cup win. Fans are encouraged to gather safely along the Riverwalk.

"The Stanley Cup is once again coming home to Tampa, and we could not be more proud of the Tampa Bay Lightning for embodying the resilient, fighting spirit of the Tampa Bay community and for bringing the Cup home," Tampa Bay mayor Jane Castor said.

"Despite every challenge this past year, Tampa continues to ensure that our comeback is even greater than any setback. Thank you to our team for working hard, playing hard, and giving our community something to celebrate. We cannot wait for Stanley to get than tan."

There will also be a celebration at Raymond James Stadium at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, with socially distant pod seating available.

This victory marks the second time the Lightning have claimed the Stanley Cup, last winning in 2004.

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Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman claimed the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs following his club's title-clinching victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night.

Hedman led all blue-liners with 10 playoff goals and ranked fifth among all skaters with 22 postseason points.

The 29-year-old entered Game 6 leading all skaters still competing in postseason ice time, averaging over 26 minutes per contest.

Hedman scored seven of his 10 markers at even strength, and three of his goals were game-winners.

The imposing rearguard was a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman in 2019-20 after racking up 55 points in 66 regular-season games while averaging 24:04 in ice time. He won that award in 2018.

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The NHL won't replicate its two-bubble format for the full 2020-21 campaign, but it may explore a hybrid concept.

The idea of utilizing four-to-six bubble environments next season "has been kicked around on a preliminary basis," reports TSN's Frank Seravalli. Seravalli adds that the bubbles would ideally be located in cities where fans are allowed in arenas.

At least one bubble would be in Canada in this scenario, and an all-Canadian division is a "distinct possibility" given current restrictions on cross-border travel, according to Seravalli.

The concept would also reportedly see players on a rotation, spending two weeks inside the bubble and then one week at home with their families before re-entering. Teams would play roughly 12 games per month.

Such an idea would face several hurdles, most notably the fact the NHL must likely conclude the 2020-21 season before NBC, the league's rightsholder in the U.S., begins covering the Olympics in Tokyo on July 22. The league would likely have to cut its season to 48 or 60 contests under the hybrid concept as a result.

Seravalli notes the NHL would also face the possibility of reintroducing potentially infected individuals into a protected environment.

The league and the National Hockey League Players' Association are reportedly likely to schedule a meeting next week to open talks regarding logistics for next season.

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr has said players don't want to spend an entire campaign in quarantine.

"Certainly not for a season, of course not," Fehr told The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno on Sunday. "Nobody is going to do that for four months or six months or something like that.

"Whether we could create some protected environments (where) people would be tested and they'd be clean when they came in and (that) lasted for some substantially shorter period of time with people cycling in and out is one of the things I suspect we will examine."

Under the reported hybrid concept, teams would begin the season in bubbles and eventually host limited-attendance games in their home arenas. The league would then have more facilities operating at full capacity for the postseason.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said earlier in September it's possible the league takes such an approach, though he added "there's still too much we don't know." He also noted any attempt to guess when next season will begin is "nothing more than speculation."

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As the Stanley Cup Final nears its conclusion, the NHL announced a 10th consecutive week with no positive COVID-19 tests within the bubble.

Daily testing began one week before the league officially dropped the puck for its return, and a total of 33,174 tests have been administered to players and team personnel over that span.

The NHL will release one last testing update following the end of the Stanley Cup Final, which will conclude Sept. 30 at the latest.

The Lightning currently lead the Stars 3-2, and they can clinch the championship Monday night.

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Several teams have called new Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams about the availability of superstar captain Jack Eichel, reports TSN's Bob McKenzie.

One of the clubs to check in was the New York Rangers. However, Buffalo doesn't want to move its top player, McKenzie adds.

Eichel's agent, Peter Fish, said his client wants to win and is preparing for another season with the Sabres, who drafted the three-time All-Star second overall in 2015.

"I hear that (trade talk) a lot," Fish said. "Jack wants to win, he's frustrated (not winning) but, no, he doesn't want out. Jack is preparing to head to Buffalo at some point here and prepare for the season, whenever that may be. That's all he controls."

Eichel was enjoying a dominant campaign before the pause, putting up 78 points in 68 games while averaging a career-high 22 minutes per night. Despite his brilliance, the Sabres finished outside the expanded playoff bracket in the Eastern Conference, extending a postseason drought that dates back to 2011.

In May, Eichel voiced his displeasure about missing the playoffs again, saying he's fed up with perennially losing, and it's been a "tough past five years."

The Sabres fired former general manager Jason Botterill this offseason and replaced him with Adams - Eichel's third front-office boss since being drafted.

The 23-year-old's current contract runs until 2026 at an annual cap hit of $10 million.

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Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.

We were a game too early on the under, with our record falling to 9-4-1 since the start of Round 3.

With at most two games left in the season, let's finish strong.

Tampa Bay Lightning (-160) at Dallas Stars (+140)

On the back of the Stars' best effort of the series, Corey Perry's double-overtime winner on Saturday forced a Game 6. It's easy to look at the shot totals from that contest, with the Lightning holding a 41-33 edge, and say Dallas earned the victory thanks to Anton Khudobin, but that's lazy analysis.

Khudobin was solid but not spectacular on Saturday. His weakness - low blocker-side shots - was exploited again, and he saved just 0.15 goals above expected in regulation.

If anything, Tampa Bay netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy deserves praise. The 2019 Vezina winner was superb throughout the game, coming up especially big during the Stars' dominant first and third periods. That's when Dallas controlled 83.7% of the expected goal share at five-on-five.

Vasilevskiy is a massive reason why the Lightning even managed to get to overtime. The Stars were expected to score 3.16 goals in regulation, compared to 2.15 for the Bolts. Dallas also held a significant offensive edge throughout the game, generating 19 high-danger chances in 89 minutes of Game 5 action, while the Lightning created 12.

The Stars may have allowed a lot of shots, but their excellent defensive play returned, with the club forcing everything to the outside and minimizing the number of quality chances against. Confidence is flowing throughout this resilient bunch, and they won't go down easy.

Dallas seems to have rediscovered its game at the right time. At a generous price - and with Steven Stamkos ruled out for the series - back the Stars to force a Game 7.

Pick: Dallas Stars (+140)

(Odds source: theScore Bet)

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

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Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere is available for a trade this offseason, sources told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

There are three seasons left on the six-year contract Gostisbehere signed in 2017 at an annual value of $4.25 million. The 27-year-old was limited to 42 games this past campaign due to an injury and frequently being a healthy scratch. He averaged a career-low 18:18 of ice time per game.

Gostisbehere posted 12 points before the pause, then added two assists in five playoff contests before Philadelphia was eliminated in the second round.

There are multiple younger, cheaper options available on the Flyers' roster who can assume Gostisbehere's role on the left side of the blue line. Trading the 2015-16 Calder Trophy runner-up would also free up significant cap space for a squad with only $6.235 million to work with this offseason to potentially add talent, and pay restricted free agents Philippe Myers and Nolan Patrick.

Gostisbehere exploded onto the NHL scene as a 22-year-old rookie with 17 goals and 29 assists in 64 games. He's struggled to consistently match that production since, ranking sixth out of seven Flyers defensemen to play 500 minutes this season with a 46.96% expected goals rate.

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Chris Stewart is retiring after 11 seasons in the NHL, he announced Sunday.

The journeyman forward played for seven teams across 668 career NHL games. His most productive seasons came early in his career with the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues when he notched back-to-back 28-goal campaigns in 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Stewart also had stints with the Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, Anaheim Ducks, and Calgary Flames before finishing with the Philadelphia Flyers. He wraps up his career with 160 goals and 162 assists.

The Avalanche drafted Stewart in the first round in 2006.

He's the brother of former NHL player and current Hockey Night in Canada analyst Anthony Stewart. Chris is also a member of the Hockey Diversity Alliance.

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