Aaron Ekblad doesn't look like a 20-year-old, and didn't sound like one either Tuesday.
The Florida Panthers defenseman shared an introspective opinion on head injuries, and a general lack of on-ice insolence carried by certain players in the league.
"As a player in the NHL, there are some guys you have to watch out for, and you've got to protect yourself. If that means protecting yourself and taking care of yourself in every situation and just making sure you're aware and alert, then that's what you've got to do. You can't overlook any shift in this league and you have to know who you're on the ice with. That's something you kind of have to take care of. It's not something you worry about, not something you're scared of. If you're scared, you're going to get hurt."
Like many fans and pundits, Ekblad believes in harsher punishments, but is also urging players to do their part in protecting themselves.
"Obviously you want to see guys getting punished for things they shouldn't be doing. I'm not a dirty player. I don't think I've hit anyone from behind or hit somebody in the head in my two years (in the NHL). I feel there should be stiffer punishments for guys that don't respect other players' health in the league. It's a dangerous game and we all know that. We all signed up for it, but guys definitely have to take care of themselves better, and that's me included.
"The other guys have to have more respect, and I think the league should obviously come down harder on repeat offenders and guys that don't respect other players."
After a disappointing first-round exit against the Pittsburgh Penguins, head coach Alain Vigneault told reporters Tuesday that every player on the New York Rangers will be evaluated as the team shifts its focus to next season.
"There are definitely going to be some changes as an organization," Vigneault said, as quoted by The Record's Andrew Gross. The bench boss added that the club needs to look at changes to its core group, and that its defense was a problem throughout the season.
"There's no denying that inconsistency this year was a big part of our season, especially from our back end," he said, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.
The Rangers coach also said the team will wait 7-10 days before it begins assessing its personnel to avoid making any "drastic" decisions.
AV says he cannot say at this time whether all his assistant coaches will be back next season.
One player Vigneault openly endorsed is forward Kevin Hayes, who recorded 36 points in his second NHL season, but was scratched for the Rangers' final two games versus the Penguins.
"He's been given the guidelines, given the direction, now it's up to him to do it," the coach replied when asked if Hayes is part of the team's future.
Vigneault led New York to the conference finals last year and reached the finals the season before in his first campaign with the franchise.
There's one game remaining in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the tournament has already forged an entirely new identity. For starters, the most successful unsuccessful team in the post-lockout era is through, having overthrown the impossibly resilient defending champions; California's small-town entity finally brought down the in-state giant, and did it without much push back; and a previously dynastic force won its first series in 23 years, and in its first try since moving into the Brooklyn borough.
There are no Canadian teams or Original Six franchises in the second round for the first time ever. Just four clubs which have never won the Stanley Cup, and three one-hit wonders.
So taking this discernible theme of exorcising demons, chasing away ghosts, or slaying whatever it is that's most sinister, it begs the question: Which of these teams has suffered most?
And could it help us arrive at a champion?
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis is the NHL's oldest active franchise without a championship, but not one that hasn't tasted success. The Blues have qualified for the postseason in 40-of-48 seasons in operation, which includes a run of 25 consecutive entries from 1980 through to the NHL's lockout season.
But Blues' fans have become impervious to regular-season success because it's never translated to the playoffs. The Blues' three appearances in the Stanley Cup Final came in their first three years, but also at a time when the format required a 1967 expansion franchise to reach the final. In the time since, which, again, includes 25 consecutive bids, the Blues reached the conference finals twice, losing both.
But even still, the post-lockout era has perhaps provided the most heartbreak. St. Louis, a team that's won more games that any other team over the last half decade, won just its second playoff series in the last 13 years with its seven-game triumph over the Blackhawks.
San Jose Sharks
Like the Blues, San Jose has maintained a level of consistency throughout its history, missing the postseason just six times since its establishment in 1991 and failing to qualify once in the post-lockout era.
However, the Sharks have enjoyed success when reaching the dance. They clinched their ninth series win since the lockout this spring in five games over the Los Angeles Kings. The problem's been stringing enough series wins together.
San Jose reached the Western Conference Final three times in a stretch of seven seasons with at least 99 regular-season points beginning in 2003-04. In those series, the Sharks routinely folded, bowing out with an average of one win per appearance.
Washington Capitals
Experiencing comfort in the throes of the postseason is a rare occurrence, but something completely foreign to the Capitals fan base.
Washington owns a detailed history of building, and allowing leads to slip - a disturbing trend that dates as far back as 1985, when it became the first to blow a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-five, and two years later, when it was the first to cough up a 3-1 series lead under the seven-game format.
This is a team that's made the postseason in 26 of the last 33 years, but only made the Stanley Cup Final once in their history. But what's hurt most has been what's most recent.
Washington has six division titles and five 100-point seasons since Alex Ovechkin - the greatest goal-scorer of his generation - joined the Capitals, and haven't made it past the second round.
New York Islanders
The Islanders are unlike those mentioned above in that they have a plus-.500 postseason record. And while we're hesitant to include a club that's among merely a handful that can stake claim to a genuine dynasty, the last quarter century has been just too damning.
Triumph eluded an entire generation of Islanders fans that came after the club's four consecutive Stanley Cups in the early 1980s. Those endured a 23-year run without a series victory before John Tavares' overtime winner versus the Panthers in Game 6.
The club made the playoffs six times during those two-plus decades, winning just 11 games in total.
Verdict
With all due respect to the previous futilities of the Sharks and Islanders, but if this is indeed time for gutting results to be replaced with glory, the Blues and Capitals should be the two teams who meet in the Stanley Cup Final.
But with 227 combined points this season, neither the Blues nor Capitals seem to require what cosmic factors seemed to have presided over Round 1.
Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said Tuesday he believes a deal, which will take their leading scorer into age 45, will be worked out soon, George Richards of the Miami Herald reports.
Jagr confirmed immediately after Florida's Game 6 loss to the New York Islanders that he intends to play next season.
Last year, and a few months after Jagr was acquired in-season, the two sides brokered a one-year extension within days after the regular season ended.
It was a welcome sight for Tampa Bay Lightning fans, as captain Steven Stamkos skated in team practice Tuesday for the first time since being diagnosed with a blood clot.
The forward wore a red non-contact jersey and looked happy to be back on the ice with his teammates. He skated on the team's fourth line with Brian Boyle and Mike Blunden.
The 36-year-old defenseman and pending unrestricted free agent - who has quietly played some of the best hockey of his career in his five seasons with the Florida Panthers - wants to return to the organization next season.
His preference is obviously a great sign for an upstart team who, in the past, has been unable to attract high-profile free agents. But at the same time, general manager Dale Tallon, who's working on an organization-imposed budget, might be inclined to funnel Campbell's entire $7-million salary from an area of obvious strength, and into other more glaring weaknesses on the roster.
Though Campbell must accept a pay cut - whether it's with the Panthers or on the open market - his enduring talent, and the sheer amount of money he's made in his career, affords him many options.
After being a healthy scratch for the final game of the New York Rangers' season, with the team losing its first-round series to the Pittsburgh Penguins, it appears Dan Boyle's NHL career may be over.
The 39-year-old told reporters Tuesday he isn't ready to announce his retirement yet, and though he believes he can still play physically ... mentally, it's another story, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.
"It's a great group of guys. A great team...a great organization." - Dan Boyle on #NYR
If Boyle does play next season, it's not expected to be with the Rangers after he had an underwhelming two-year stint with them.
His end-of-year interview with reporters Tuesday didn't get off to a great start, either. The veteran defenseman called out multiple reporters and refused to speak until they left the vicinity, according to Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
If this is the end for Boyle, the Ottawa native finishes his career with 605 points in 1,093 games, with his lone Stanley Cup win coming with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.
Like many teams in the NHL, the Ottawa Senators are looking to bring their farm team as close to the parent club as possible.
With their AHL affiliate currently located in Binghamton, N.Y., the Senators are looking to relocate their franchise to the Yardmen Arena in Belleville, Ontario, for the start of the 2017-18 campaign, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports.
The Yardmen Arena boasts an Olympic-sized ice surface, and there are current talks for the rink to undergo a renovation in an attempt to bring hockey back to the city after its OHL club left for Hamilton in 2015.
According to Garrioch, the Senators aren't considering to move their farm club to anywhere other than Belleville, which is located just a three-hour drive from Canada's capital.
Meanwhile, it's believed Ottawa doesn't want to leave Binghamton without an AHL franchise, and another NHL team may relocate its minor-league club to the city.
Any relocation would need approval from the AHL's Board of Governors.
The Senators join the Coyotes as teams reportedly looking to move their AHL affiliates, as Arizona announced plans earlier this month to move its farm club to Tucson for the start of next season.
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