Not even 24 hours after the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators for their second consecutive Stanley Cup, odds for the 2018 title were released.
Yup, you guessed it - the Pens top the 2018 list. And let's be honest, it's a pretty safe bet.
After referee Kevin Pollack cost the Nashville Predators Game 6's opening goal with an early whistle - a whistle that turned out to be extremely costly - the stripes did their best to ensure the home team had every opportunity to score.
Nashville ended up with four power plays to Pittsburgh's none, including a brief five-on-three advantage in the third period, but Matt Murray - and a couple of posts - ensured the Penguins went home with the Stanley Cup.
Meanwhile, Evgeni Malkin was still looking for a call - any call - after the game.
The playoffs' leading scorer took a shot to the nose during the Pens' celebration, leaving him with a nasty looking gash, and he couldn't believe the officials missed it.
"I don't know, we start celebrating and somebody hit me, it's like, it's crazy, you know, it's not (a) penalty, for sure," Malkin sarcastically said once the dust settled.
It was probably Phil Kessel. Actually, it was definitely Kessel, considering Malkin clocked him with an accidental left on the bench after Carl Hagelin scored an empty-net goal to ensure the Stanley Cup would be on the plane ride home.
Jake Guentzel etched his name in the record books multiple times this spring, but his final achievement was his best.
The young Pittsburgh Penguins forward became the first rookie to lead the NHL outright in playoff goal scoring since the league took control of the Stanley Cup in 1926-27.
Guentzel scored 13 times in his first postseason, edging teammate Evgeni Malkin by three for the league lead, and somewhat incredibly, five of Guentzel's playoff goals were game-winners.
Guentzel finished one goal shy of Ciccarelli's record for playoff goals by a rookie, but he set new benchmarks for goals and points by an American-born rookie with a two-goal effort in Game 2 of the championship round.
Matt Cullen might be hanging up his skates following the Pittsburgh Penguins' second straight Stanley Cup championship, but if that was his final act, he'll clearly have no regrets.
The 40-year-old forward played nearly 20 minutes in the Penguins' Cup-clinching victory in Game 6 on Sunday night - 19:42 to be exact - the most ice time he logged in a game all season.
Cullen was on the ice for Patric Hornqvist's winner, played 4:42 shorthanded, and won 10 of his 18 faceoffs. He played over 19 minutes for just the fifth time in two seasons with the Penguins, according to Bill West of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The veteran of 19 NHL campaigns previously said he was leaning toward retirement following this playoff run, and he reiterated that in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's win.
"Pretty good chance this is my last one," Cullen told Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. "I can't imagine a better way to go out than this. It's pretty likely."
June is an incredibly busy month for the NHL, but that doesn't mean we can't look ahead to what's coming. Free agency begins at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 1, and we're ranking the top 80 unrestricted free agents ahead of the madness.
Here are the unrestricted free agents ranked from No. 40 down to No. 31:
40. Keith Kinkaid (G)
Age on Oct. 1: 28 2016-17 Cap Hit: $725,000
Kinkaid has started 43 games over the past two seasons in relief of the New Jersey Devils' Cory Schneider. The 28-year-old is on a trajectory to be a high-end career backup. He likely can't handle a full workload, but he's a quality stopgap for a rebuilding team and is capable of handling the lighter end of a timeshare.
39. Trevor Daley (D)
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Age on Oct. 1: 33 2016-17 Cap Hit: $3.3M
No one benefited more from the plethora of injuries to the Pittsburgh Penguins' defense corps during the postseason than Daley. He averaged 19:16 of ice time over 19 games, and has shown he's still capable of a top-four role. He's a quality depth defender on a hopeful contender.
38. Jarome Iginla (F)
Age on Oct. 1: 40 2016-17 Cap Hit: $5.333M
Welp. The soon-to-be 40-year-old has announced his intentions to continue his career, seemingly oblivious to his vastly deteriorated play. After 15-and-a-half seasons with the Calgary Flames, Iginla has now played for four teams in the five years since. He'll want to continue chasing his elusive Stanley Cup ring, but he can't offer much to any true contender.
37. Steve Mason (G)
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Age on Oct. 1: 29 2016-17 Cap Hit: $4.1M
Mason remains stuck in the purgatory between being a solid starter and nothing more than a backup. His save percentage dropped for the second consecutive season, after peaking at .928 in 2014-15. Teams will want to find a safer bet in net.
36. Daniel Winnik (F)
Age on Oct. 1: 32 2016-17 Cap Hit: $2.25M
All contending teams will be anxiously watching to see who signs Winnik to a one-year contract so they can prepare the paperwork for the eventual trade offer of a third-round pick. He scored a career-high 12 goals last season and offers some bottom-six depth.
35. Patrick Sharp (F)
Age on Oct. 1: 35 2016-17 Cap Hit: $5.9M
Sharp has entered the phase of his career where he's the experienced veteran sought after by rebuilding teams looking to miss the playoffs by a single spot. He scored just eight goals in 48 games last season, but he did win three Stanley Cups this decade.
34. Brian Campbell (D)
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Age on Oct. 1: 38 2016-17 Cap Hit: $1.5M
Quite possibly the most likely to retire of anyone on this list, Campbell missed two games this past season, his first absences since playing just 65 games in the 2010-11 season. His 17 points were his fewest ever in a full season. Contenders will come calling for his experience, and he still has something to offer as a depth defenseman, but he's no longer a minutes-eater.
33. Anders Nilsson (G)
Age on Oct. 1: 27 2016-17 Cap Hit: $1M
Nilsson has 67 career starts on his resume, posting a .908 save percentage along the way. He's one of the top available backup 'tenders, but he won't receive a starting opportunity. Toss him onto the goalie carousel.
32. Cody Franson (D)
Age on Oct. 1: 30 2016-17 Cap Hit: $3.325M
Franson is now two years removed from his streak of three consecutive 30-point campaigns. He makes for a good bottom-pairing defenseman, another abundant resource in this year's free-agent class.
31. Mike Fisher (F)
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Age on Oct. 1: 38 2016-17 Cap Hit: $4.4M
The Nashville Predators' Cup run has entrenched Fisher in the city's royalty. He'll no longer be just Mr. Carrie Underwood. He'll ride off into the sunset one way or another, either via retirement or on a fair lifelong contract to wear the Predators' "C."
They don't like Mike Milbury in Nashville, that's for sure.
The NBC hockey analyst was given what's known as "the business" by a Predators fan after the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup on Sunday night, and said business was captured gloriously on live television.
In May, Milbury called P.K. Subban a "clown" after the defenseman prepared for a playoff date against the St. Louis Blues with a little dance before the game. The folks in Smashville haven't forgotten, and won't forget.
Milbury regretted his choice of words, but maintained that he thought Subban's antics were a distraction to his club.
P.K. Subban's dental habits were the furthest thing from his mind after the Stanley Cup officially slipped from his team's grasp Sunday.
Following one of the weirder storylines of the final - in which Subban accused Sidney Crosby of saying the Nashville Predators defenseman had bad breath - Subban was asked about, well, all of that, after the Pittsburgh Penguins won Game 6 to make it back-to-back championships.
"I mean, I don't think that's the right question right now," Subban said, according to The Tennessean's Jaime Cardenas, after he was asked for his thoughts on mouthwash and his back-and-forth battle with No. 87.
The unidentified reporter pressed on despite Subban's answer, but P.K. then put an end to the query.
"My opinion is we just (lost) and we're out of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I just watched 22 guys lift the Stanley Cup," Subban said. "So, if you want to ask me about that I'll give you my opinion but the series is over."
You have to pay the price to win the Stanley Cup. Ask the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In the aftermath of the black and gold being crowned champs in back-to-back seasons, we're learning how beat up the squad that dispatched the Nashville Predators in six games truly was.
Defenseman Ian Cole, a key member of the unheralded Pittsburgh defense, played most of the postseason hurt.
Ian Cole played with a broken hand and broken ribs since early in the Washington series.
Cole played 17:43 in Sunday's deciding game, including 3:50 shorthanded. Dude's a gamer, clearly. He finished the playoffs with nine assists in 25 games, averaging 18:50 in ice time.
The Penguins played a lot of hockey this spring, needed seven games in rounds two and three to advance to the Cup Final.
That awesome NHL commercial is right, in other words: Every letter is earned on the Stanley Cup. Including "C-o-l-e."
Pekka Rinne knows the chance may never come again.
"I was treating this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," the Nashville Predators goaltender said following the 2-0 defeat that clinched a second straight Stanley Cup championship for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
"You never know when you're going to get another opportunity," Rinne added. "The only thing I was thinking about was that Cup and dreaming about that and playing for that. Right now, it's tough to accept and tough to handle. But I'm really proud of this team and the way we played, the way we handled things when we faced some adversity throughout the series."
The 34-year-old netminder had a strong postseason as a whole, posting a 1.96 GAA, a .930 save percentage, and a pair of shutouts, but he was pulled from Games 2 and 5 of the Cup Final and finished with an .888 save percentage over six contests in the series.
The players weren't the only ones building legacies Sunday night.
Mike Sullivan became the first American-born head coach in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup more than once when his Pittsburgh Penguins clinched their second straight championship with a Game 6 victory over the Nashville Predators.
The 2017 Stanley Cup Final featured two American-born head coaches for the first time ever, and Predators bench boss Peter Laviolette became only the fourth NHL head coach in history to take three different teams to the championship round.
Sullivan, who hails from Marshfield, Mass., was hired by the Penguins to replace the fired Mike Johnston in December 2015.
