McDonagh Traded, Draft Looming, Bowness Back with the Jets and more

We’re now a full week past the Colorado Avalanche taking home the Stanley Cup, which means the Entry Draft is soon upon us and the off-season is well and truly underway:

• One of the secrets to the success of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the last few years has been their ability to extricate themselves from some nasty cap crunches without totally blowing up their squad. Yes, they’ve lost some important players through attrition but they’ve maintained their core throughout. On Sunday, they traded Ryan McDonagh to the Nashville Predators in a move that will clear up a lot of cap space. At some point the Bolts are going to fall off, but with a GM as creative as Brisebois, I wouldn’t count on it being very soon.
• The NHL Draft gets underway on Thursday night, and NHL.com has their final Mock Draft up. In this version, the Sens end up with Joakim Kemell — something the staff here at Silver Seven would be on board with.
• Speaking of the draft, Sportsnet has an in-depth profile of Logan Cooley, a Pittsburgh kid who grew up inspired by Sidney Crosby. The anecdote about his being a “one of a bunch of five-year-olds puttering around the ice under the watchful eye of Crosby himself” made me feel as old as the crypt keeper, though.
• If you’re looking for some insight into what the other non-Ottawa Senators teams are up to heading into the draft, Elliotte Friedman’s latest 32 Thoughts has you covered.
• Rick Bowness has been hired to coach the Winnipeg Jets. Bowness had some success with the Dallas Stars the last three seasons, but his lifetime record of 212-351-28 doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. For a team desperately in need of a boost, this isn’t exactly an inspired choice.
• Bowness came to be the coach of the Stars after Jim Montgomery was fired in 2019 for “unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League”. In January 2020, Montgomery checked himself into a rehab clinic for alcohol abuse, and he joined the Blues coachin staff that fall. On Friday, he was announced as the Boston Bruins new coach.
• In other coaching news, the San Jose Sharks fired Bob Boughner after three seasons. Not sure it was fair to expect a lot more out of Boughner’s squad, but it’s also difficult to say they over-achieved in any meaningful sense either.
• Brock Boeser, who has long been rumoured to be on the trading block, agreed to a three year extension worth $19.95M.
• With Boeser locked up, the focus for the Vancouver Canucks shifts to JT Miller who does seem very likely to be dealt.