The St. Louis Blues added Mike Yeo to their coaching staff as an associate for the coming season, while also announcing that he'll take over as head coach for the retiring Ken Hitchcock in 2017-18.
More to come.
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The San Jose Sharks never had a chance. Sidney Crosby made sure of it.
The Pittsburgh Penguins captain and Conn Smythe Trophy was in a prophetic mood ahead of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, writes Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
"Beast mode, baby," said third-string goaltender Jeff Zatkoff after the Penguins won the Cup. "(Crosby's) a winner, he's won everything. We just followed him. He told me before Game 6 that he was going beast mode, and he went beast mode.
"He was dialled in. He wanted it."
Crosby had two assists Sunday, including the primary helper on Kris Letang's eventual Cup clincher. He assisted on Patric Hornqvist's empty-netter, and was on the ice as the seconds trickled down to zero. While No. 87 finished with only four assists in six games in the final, he took home the Conn Smythe for his incredible two-way play. He set the tone. And, like Zatkoff said, the Penguins followed.
"He was going to will this thing," said head coach Mike Sullivan.
Crosby's had the Cup on his mind for a while, actually.
Phil Kessel said that when he was acquired by the Penguins last summer, Crosby gave him an introductory phone call, and told him the club was excited about having him.
"We're going to try and win a Cup," Kessel said Crosby told him, according to NHL.com's Amalie Benjamin.
Mission accomplished.
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Phil Kessel has his Stanley Cup.
Almost a year since he was famously traded by the Toronto Maple Leafs to Pittsburgh, the polarizing forward capped a whirlwind 11-and-a-half months by leading the Penguins in playoff scoring and drinking out of the best trophy in pro sports.
"It's been a special year," Kessel told TSN after the Penguins were crowned Sunday night. "You know, obviously (there has been) a lot of change in my life, and it's the best year of my life."
No. 81 finished the playoffs with 10 goals and 12 assists in 24 games, including a goal and three assists in the final. The sniper now has 23 goals and 43 points in 46 career spring games. Let no one say he doesn't rise to the occasion.
Like most Penguins players, Kessel credits Mike Sullivan for saving Pittsburgh's season.
"You know, I think towards December (and) January, I think we started to kind of turn a corner as a team," Kessel said. "You know, Sully came in, and we kind of found our identity, found the way we had to play as a group. And you know this is a special group here.
"I think we believed in each other, we played for each other. We knew we had a solid team ... we always believed we had a chance to win."
After his trade to Pittsburgh last July 1, most envisioned a 50-goal season for Kessel, playing with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. It didn't turn out that way, the Wisconsin native registered 26 goals in 82 games. His 59 points were his lowest in a non-lockout season since 2009-10, his first in Toronto, when he only played 70 games.
Redemption, though, was found in the playoffs, where Kessel and his linemates Nick Bonino and Carl Hagelin tore up the opposition. The magic was supposed to happen with Sid and Geno, not Bonino and Hagelin, but the "HBK" line, as it came to be known, was crucial to the Penguins' Stanley Cup title. Pittsburgh doesn't win without its contributions.
"It just clicked," Kessel said of his line.
It sure did, and Kessel's a Stanley Cup champion, much to the dismay of his many critics.
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The Montreal Canadiens signed defenseman Mark Barberio to a two-year contract, the team announced Monday.
It's a one-way contract, and is reportedly worth $750,000 annually, according to TVA Sports' Renaud Lavoie.
The 26-year-old from Montreal played 30 games with the Canadiens this past season, scoring twice and adding eight helpers. He averaged 15 minutes of ice time per game.
Barberio was a sixth-round pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008. He has a career 52.9 percent Corsi For rating in 136 games.
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The only thing more emotional than the Stanley Cup is CBC's Hockey Night in Canada's playoff-closing, season-ending montage.
Enjoy. And, yeah, we miss hockey already, too.
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Phil Kessel's not the only one with a redemption story.
With the Pittsburgh Penguins' title triumph in Game 6 on Sunday, Jim Rutherford - a man many believed was watching the game pass him by - joined Tommy Gorman as the second general manager in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with two different franchises.
Pittsburgh hired Rutherford two years ago, a few weeks after he was squeezed out of his role with the Carolina Hurricanes. He brought drastic and often contentious changes to the organization he inherited from Ray Shero.
Here's a rundown of Rutherford's feverish work since taking the job:
Looking back, Rutherford's series of transactions is quite remarkable, but it wasn't long ago that his every move was questioned. The Penguins bowed out in five games to the New York Rangers in his first postseason at the helm, and the team appeared better suited to taking a step back.
But, committed to the Penguins' core, Rutherford remained aggressive and hit with five major acquisitions this season. His incredible run included landing all three components of Pittsburgh's "HBK Line" - a unit that combined for 56 points in the postseason - and a new-look defense that surrounded Kris Letang with similarly elusive but much less expensive puck movers.
At times, it seemed as though Rutherford was making impulsive and even reckless decisions about his roster. But Monday, there's absolutely no denying his impact, deliberate and otherwise.
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