Blue Jays face more tough decisions ahead of win-or-go-home Game 2 - Sportsnet.ca

TORONTO – The Blue Jays had the better part of five days to prepare for their first playoff game since 2016. They’ll have less than 24 hours to prepare for their next playoff game – and this time the stakes are even higher.

Game 2 against the Rays is now a must-win for the Blue Jays, who lost the wild card series opener at Tropicana Field, 3-1, on Tuesday despite some strong pitching. There’s a reasonable debate to be had about whether Matt Shoemaker should have stayed in the game beyond the third inning, but wherever that discussion takes you, it doesn’t lessen the challenge now facing the Blue Jays. Unless they win Wednesday, their season ends.

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“You’ve got to let this game go,” manager Charlie Montoyo said after Game 1. “An outstanding game. We didn’t hit today. Let’s get ready for (Tyler) Glasnow tomorrow.”

Already, we’ve seen how impactful tactical decisions can become in a short series, and from this point on the margin for error is even thinner for the Blue Jays. On and off the field, every choice will be amplified whether it works out or not. With that in mind, here are a few areas worth watching in the days ahead…

How do Blue Jays line up vs. Glasnow?

One night after facing former Cy Young winner Blake Snell, the Blue Jays will face a pitcher whose stuff is just as good. Thanks to a fastball that averages 97 m.p.h. and an effective curve, right-hander Tyler Glasnow struck out 14.28 batters per nine innings this year. That presents a tough matchup for any team, especially one that has sometimes struggled against high-velocity arms.

For Montoyo and the Blue Jays, this creates some potentially tough choices in the lineup. While Alejandro Kirk impressed in Game 1 with an opposite-field single, he might not start Wednesday. With Hyun Jin Ryu on the mound, Danny Jansen is certain to catch and the designated hitter spot may go to the left-handed hitting Rowdy Tellez, who collected a pinch-hit single in his first game in three weeks.

Not only did Tellez put together a good at-bat, he stayed in the game as a baserunner and scored, showing that his knee has healed enough to make him more than a pinch-hit option.

“He’s actually not that slow, and he ran the bases pretty good,” Montoyo said.

If Tellez starts at DH, Kirk would be available off the bench to pinch-hit. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the left-handed hitting Joe Panik start at second base against Glasnow with Cavan Biggio remaining at third.

What’s next for Shoemaker?

In a way, Shoemaker’s efficiency slows his progression back from the lat strain that sidelined him for most of September. After throwing 54 pitches in his tune-up start against the New York Yankees last week, the 35 pitches he threw in Game 1 don’t exactly build him up toward the longer outings he’d be asked to complete should the Blue Jays advance.

On the other hand, that efficiency opens up options for the Blue Jays. For example, if they force a Game 3 and find themselves short-handed, could Shoemaker become an option? From a workload standpoint, he’s recovering from a far shorter outing than usual.

“Anything goes in a Game 3 scenario,” Shoemaker said. “That’s a must-win. Whoever wins moves on, and move on from there. Hopefully we win the next two days and I move into my bullpens accordingly.”

How does the bullpen factor in from here?

If one Blue Jays starter has the leeway to pitch into the sixth or seventh inning, it’s Hyun Jin Ryu, whose start was delayed until Game 2 partly because of the hope that a little extra rest would help.

But even with Ryu on the mound, the bullpen needs to be ready. In five of the left-hander’s 12 starts this year, he went five innings or fewer, and none of those games were must-win. There’s a decent chance the Blue Jays will have to go to their bullpen for four innings, and if they do they’ll have plenty of options, including a fully rested Rafael Dolis — plus Thomas Hatch, Ryan Borucki and A.J. Cole, all of whom threw 14 pitches or fewer Tuesday.

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“That’s why we wanted Shoemaker and Ray to give us six innings,” Montoyo said. “That way our bullpen would be fresh for the next two days. And we’ve got our ace tomorrow (so) hopefully we don’t need that many, but they’ll be fine for tomorrow if we need them.”

Considering how impressive Nate Pearson looked in his return from the injured list, the Blue Jays may want to use him at some point in Game 2 as well. Since Pearson was able to loosen up quickly before facing the Orioles on Friday, the Blue Jays could even call on him mid-inning. And if Pearson’s appearance is short enough, the Blue Jays are open to using him again in a potential Game 3, according to general manager Ross Atkins.

Of course they have to get there first, with no shortage of tactical decisions to make along the way.

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2020-09-30 12:43:00Z
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Blue Jays’ Game 1 loss hinges on lifeless offence, not pitching moves - Sportsnet.ca

TORONTO – Keep debating the merits of the Toronto Blue Jays’ pitching strategy all you like, but for Game 1, at least, it worked. Matt Shoemaker and Robbie Ray combined for six innings of relatively uneventful one-run ball, and if ace Hyun-Jin Ryu pitches similarly with his team’s season on the line Wednesday everyone will be thrilled.

That isn’t what cost them their first post-season game since 2016, and it won’t be what costs them the series.

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The more glaring concern coming out of Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays is the way lefty Blake Snell overpowered Toronto with a fastball that averaged 95.3 mph, and mixed in his secondary weapons to induce 15 swings out of the zone that led to a foul ball or a miss.

Relievers Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson and Pete Fairbanks also got the Blue Jays to chase, and the departure from the more-disciplined approach is something they’ll need to address before stepping in against Tyler Glasnow with win-or-go-home stakes.

Shoemaker, pitching for the first time since throwing three strong innings against the New York Yankees on Sept. 21, shoved right out of the gate, and was so in control that he needed only 35 pitches to skip through three innings on two weak hits.

That’s why he had to be calmed in the dugout when pitching coach Pete Walker and manager Charlie Montoyo told him he was done. He eventually calmed, perhaps when reminded that this is certainly what looked like the club’s predetermined plan, and Ray took over.

The first batter he faced, Randy Arozarena, ripped a leadoff triple, and after a Nate Lowe strikeout, Ray ripped off a full-count slider to Willy Adames for ball four that just barely squirted through catcher Danny Jansen’s legs as he slid over to block it.

The ball rolled away just far enough for Arozarena to scamper home for a 1-0 lead.

Ray settled in from there with two shutout innings and the Rays were held quiet until the seventh, when Joey Wendle worked a one-out walk off A.J. Cole, who served up a middle-middle cutter that Manuel Margot lined over the wall in left.

The Rays got creative with their pitching deployment, too, pulling Snell with two outs in the sixth despite him allowing only one hit and a walk while striking out nine.

Alejandro Kirk led off the sixth with a single, but was stranded by Castillo, who put on a pair with one out in the seventh. That’s when the Rays turned to Anderson, who got Teoscar Hernandez and pinch-hitter Joe Panik to end the threat.

Toronto finally broke through in the eighth, as pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez – a surprise addition to the post-season roster – singled, Cavan Biggio doubled and Bo Bichette brought Tellez home with a sacrifice fly. Randal Grichuk followed with a liner to Adames at short, placed well by the Rays, for the final out.

Fairbanks triple-digit fastballed his way around a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. double in the ninth to close things out.

The decision to go with the Shoemaker/Ray tandem over Ryu in Game 1 is among the most polarizing in recent Blue Jays playoff history. A good comparable came in Game 4 of the 2015 AL Division Series, when then-manager John Gibbons pulled R.A. Dickey with two out in the fifth and a 7-1 lead over the Texas Rangers, bringing in David Price in a call that locked in Marcus Stroman as the starter in the decisive fifth game.

While few understood that call, before that game Gibbons watched the Kansas City Royals rally from a 6-2 deficit to stave off elimination with a 9-6 win over the Houston Astros, and was determined to not give the Rangers any life.

This time, the Blue Jays were dealing with vastly different circumstances, facing an opponent eight games better than them in the standings and deeper on a number of levels. That prompted the club to holistically examine how to attack a three-game series – a first for Major League Baseball – and they determined that “in this scenario, Game 1 seemed much less significant than in a traditional scenario, significantly different,” Atkins said.

“We viewed the advantage (in) being able to put our most consistent piece in the middle of those potentially 27-plus innings, as we thought through our strategy, with the added benefit of getting an extra day rest for Hyun-Jin Ryu, an extra day of rest for Taijuan Walker, and then giving our bullpen the chance to be its strongest on Game 1 and Game 3.”

That bucks conventional thinking, fuelling the debate. Since the wild-card era began in 1995, teams that win Game 1 are 126-49 in the series, regardless of round or length, which is why Ryu seemed like an automatic, if he didn’t physically need an extra day.

The Blue Jays and Ryu both said that wasn’t the case, but part of their calculations was that an inability to bring the Game 1 starter back again in a best-of-three – as opposed to making two starts in a longer series – minimized some of the incentive. Another factor was that pitching in Game 2 would still allow Ryu to pitch the opener of the division series, should they get that far.

Also, the Blue Jays felt that if the Rays stacked their lineup with left-handed bats against Shoemaker, putting in Ray would force them to surrender platoon advantage against the lefty, or the righty relievers to follow him later.

Cleverly, Rays manager Kevin Cash countered that by only stacking left-handed batters – Yoshi Tsutsugo and Brandon Lowe – in the first two spots of the order, alternating righties and lefties from there. They only made one move during Ray’s three innings – hitting Hunter Renfroe for Tsutsugo in the fifth.

These types of machinations are part of why the Blue Jays hired Montoyo, after first pursuing his staff-mate on the Rays in Rocco Baldelli, who instead opted for the Minnesota Twins’ managerial opening.

Montoyo brought with him a window into the Rays’ highly respected methodology, so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that the Blue Jays sought to emulate it.

“That’s one thing I got in every interview I did, it was about the opener and the Rays and the things that they did,” Montoyo said. “So it wasn’t only Ross, it was also with the other teams that (I) interviewed with because credit to the Rays, they’re so creative and what they do is different. At first it looks like, ‘What are they doing?’ But they’re not afraid to take a chance. And that’s what we’re doing here. We’re trying to be creative playing one of the best teams in baseball. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

In terms of giving themselves a chance, it worked, but in the way it really matters, the final result, there’s going to be little solace in that for the Blue Jays.

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2020-09-30 00:42:00Z
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What's next for the NHL after Tampa Bay's satisfying Stanley Cup win? - CBC.ca

This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.

Here's what you need to know right now from the world of sports:

The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup. Now what?

Sixty-five days after entering the bubble, 201 days after the NHL shut down, nearly a full year after the season started and almost a year and a half after suffering one of the most humiliating defeats in playoff history, the Tampa Bay Lightning finally finished the job. With last night's 2-0 win over Dallas in Game 6 of the final, they became the Stanley Cup champions of the most bizarre NHL season ever.

Tampa had one of the best regular seasons of all time in 2018-19, winning a record-tying 62 games. But it won zero in the playoffs, getting swept by Columbus in one of the most shocking playoff defeats ever. The Lightning took it easier this season but still cruised to the league's second-best record before the pandemic hit and the NHL closed shop for five months. Tampa kept its edge and exacted revenge on Columbus by beating them in five games in the first round. Then came an impressive five-game takedown of heavyweight Boston before six-game victories over the plucky Islanders and Stars. And they did it without injured captain Steven Stamkos, who played a grand total of less than three minutes in the playoffs — but did score a goal in Game 3 of the final and got to be the first to hoist the Cup last night.

It's a great redemption story. And similar to Washington's from 2018. Like Tampa, the Capitals had by far the NHL's best regular-season record and were everyone's pick to win the Cup before flaming out early in the playoffs, then bounced back the following year to become champions. Boston comes closest to fitting that bill for next year. The Bruins ran away with the NHL's best regular-season record before becoming the fifth consecutive Presidents' Trophy winner to lose in the second round of the playoffs or earlier.

A few other takeaways from Tampa being crowned champion of this very weird season:

The Lightning had so many good Conn Smythe choices. Victor Hedman won the playoff MVP award after scoring 10 goals — the third-most ever by a defenceman in the playoffs. But it just as easily could have gone to Brayden Point, who scored the opening goal last night for his league-leading 14th of the playoffs. Or Nikita Kucherov, who won the playoff scoring race and had more assists than anyone except Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have ever recorded in a single post-season. You could even have built a case for Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made some big saves again last night and finished with a sparkling 1.90 goals-against average for the playoffs. He was the only goalie Tampa used after the restart, setting a new record for minutes played in a post-season.

The NHL pulled it off. Be honest: back in the spring, did you believe the Cup would be awarded this year? And even if you did, could you imagine it would go this smoothly? Zero players or other team personnel tested positive for COVID-19 in what the NHL said were more than 33,000 tests conducted since teams arrived in the Edmonton and Toronto bubbles on July 26. The quality of play was top-notch too. That's not to say there weren't some tough moments. Even the joyous Lightning were palpably relieved to be getting out of Dodge last night. And two days' worth of games were postponed back in late August as part of the sports-wide walkouts in protest of racial injustice and police brutality started by the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. The NHL's delayed reaction to that extraordinary moment drew criticism. But, from a playing-in-a-pandemic standpoint, this was a remarkable achievement by the NHL and its players.

So what's next? After rushing to complete the playoffs, the NHL is cramming its big off-season events in before the Thanksgiving/Columbus Day weekend. The draft is next Tuesday and Wednesday, and the free-agent signing period opens Friday, Oct. 9 at noon ET. The NHL and the players' union will meet soon to discuss scenarios for the 2020-21 season. The players have no desire to bubble up for the whole thing, but the NHL could follow the lead of baseball and the NFL and have teams play out of their home arenas with enhanced health protocols. That'll be trickier for the NHL, though, because it has seven Canadian-based teams. The earliest possible start date for the new season is Dec. 1, but it's more likely to be later than that, which could mean a shortened regular season. Read more about the possibilities for next season here.

WATCH | CBC Sports' Rob Pizzo recaps the Lightning's Stanley Cup win:

In his (final) daily recap, Rob Pizzo wraps up the strangest Stanley Cup playoffs in history. 4:26

Quickly...

The NFL has its first outbreak out of the season. Eight members of the Tennessee Titans have tested positive for COVID-19 — including three players. The Titans played the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Both teams cancelled their in-person activities for today, though no one from the Vikings tested positive. Tennessee and Minnesota both play next on Sunday afternoon — the Titans host Pittsburgh while the Vikings visit Houston. As of now, those games are still a go. Read more about the Titans' positive tests and the potential fallout here.

The Blue Jays open their playoff series vs. Tampa Bay today. First pitch is at 5 p.m. ET. Toronto is sending so-so starter Matt Shoemaker to the mound, even though ace Hyun-Jin Ryu has had the regular four days of rest. Ryu felt "a little sore" after his last regular-season start, according to manager Charlie Montoyo, so the team wanted to buy him more time. It's a best-of-three series with games on back-to-back-to-back days, so Ryu would only be able to make one start anyway. But saving him for Game 2 probably removes the possibility of using him in relief in a potential Game 3. Shoemaker's start is likely to be a short one, so the Jays may have to lean on their questionable bullpen early and often. An x-factor there is top pitching prospect Nate Pearson, who just returned from an arm injury and will work out of the pen. Read more about the Jays' key players and their outlook for the playoffs in this piece by CBC Sports' Myles Dichter. If you missed yesterday's newsletter, brush up on how baseball`s new playoff format works here.

Canadian women have flipped the script at the French Open. Heading into the final Grand Slam of the year, Canada looked a lot stronger on the men's side, where it had four players (two of them seeded) compared to just two in the women's event (neither ranked higher than 100th in the world). But Canada is already down to its final men's player after 19th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime and qualifier Steven Diez lost their first-round matches yesterday, and unseeded Vasek Pospisil got smoked in straight sets today by No. 7 Matteo Berrettini. That leaves only ninth-seeded Denis Shapovalov, who advanced to the second round today by beating Frenchman Gilles Simon in four sets. But both Canadian women are still alive. Yesterday, 100th-ranked Leylah Annie Fernandez upset the No. 31 seed in her first-ever appearance in the main draw of the French Open. She and 168th-ranked Genie Bouchard both play their second-round matches tomorrow.

Doc Rivers took the fall for the Clippers' collapse. He's one of the most respected coaches in basketball, and he guided L.A. to the fourth-best record in the NBA this season. But the Clippers brought in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George (and mortgaged their future to do so) to win championships, and the supposed title contenders got upset in the second round by Denver. Worse, they choked away the final three games of the series and seemed to just straight-up quit in the second half of Game 7. Tough to blame Doc for that. But this is pro sports, so nine times out of 10 the axe falls on the coach. The team said Rivers and owner Steve Ballmer arrived at the decision jointly. Believe that if you choose. Read more about what went wrong for Doc and the Clippers here.

And finally...

Patrick Mahomes is still the king. By his lofty standards, the Super Bowl MVP had a so-so start to the season, averaging only 256 yards passing in wins over the mediocre Texans and Chargers (and barely escaping an upset in the latter). But Mahomes and Kansas City showed last night that they're still the ones to beat. They steamrolled the NFL's consensus other-best team, the Baltimore Ravens, 34-20 on Monday Night Football. Mahomes threw for four TDs, ran in another and executed coach Andy Reid's brilliant play designs to perfection. Mahomes also outplayed reigning regular-season MVP Lamar Jackson, who threw for only 97 yards. Jackson ran for 83 but was also sacked four times. Meanwhile, Baltimore's vaunted defence failed to sack Mahomes at all despite blitzing him all night (might want to rethink that strategy). Read more about K.C.'s convincing win in the marquee matchup here.

You're up to speed. Get The Buzzer in your inbox every weekday by subscribing below.

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2020-09-29 21:00:00Z
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5 big picture takeaways from the most unusual Stanley Cup Playoffs - Sportsnet.ca

As Steven Stamkos finally took the Stanley Cup from Gary Bettman and lifted it above his head, the shower of sparks in the background became pyrotechnic explosions, and for a moment, none of it looked real. I was reminded of the type of scene you’d see at the end of a 2000s-era video game, where you’d beaten the final boss and had a moment to revel in the visual reward of flashing lights and “you did it”-themed text that signified your journey’s end.

It was a scene, a very obviously staged scene, but what else could it have ever been?

The end somehow arrived at what’s usually the beginning, with the fall weather creeping closer to winter than summer, where hockey season would normally be but days away. It was, and is, all so surreal.

If there were ever a time for a look back, it’s today. What just happened? Not to get too existential, but what does it all mean, man? Let’s pan out to some big picture “what we learned” thoughts from all this.

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.

• The cruellest thing about hockey is that on any given night you can have a lot of talent, bring your best effort, do just about everything well, and lose to a lesser group. Some nights it feels unfair, but when you step back and look at overall trends, things tend to sort themselves out. The NHL plays a lot of regular season games and has best-of-7s in playoffs to give the top teams the best chance of having justice served.

It may not happen in a given year, but if you take yet another step back further, teams that are at or near the league’s top-five for numerous consecutive seasons tend to get rewarded. The exceptions stick out like sore thumbs — there’s the 2011 Vancouver Canucks and the teams around those years, the past decade of the San Jose Sharks…as the great philosopher Rhianna once opined, nothing is promised.

With that, I appreciate Tampa Bay is the latest example of sustained excellence eventually paying off. A couple years back Washington had the same experience. All you can do is get that great core, build around it, and hope you get the necessary luck (with opponents, health and bounces) along the way.

This is why the goal for teams is rarely to stack their deck as much as possible in a single season. The cruelty of hockey itself requires blocks of years where you’re great just to maybe get your one Cup. Good to see the Lightning rewarded for what’s been a great team seemingly for an impressively sustained stretch.

• There was a while there in the NHL where two trends were becoming clear: the understanding of the aging curve was being better wielded by NHL general managers (who used to believe “peak” was older than it is), and teams aiming to find value players were seeking contributors on entry-level deals. You can see how those trends holding hands could shift the league demographic.

We told each other the league was becoming a “young man’s league,” and marvelled at teams with great farm systems who were plugging in guys from the AHL on the cheap. That shift badly hurt the pockets of veteran players on the UFA market, as did the coinciding financial squeeze on hockey’s middle class in general.

It’s possible the league overcooked their belief in these newer ideas, though.

The idea has been that if you can get X contribution from an old vet for league minimum, or X contribution from a prospect on league minimum, you may as well pay the young guy and hope he eventually gives you X-plus. The problem is, the Stanley Cup Final is a reminder that we’re often squinting to equate a rookie’s contributions with what a vet can give (“they’re pretty much the same, statistically”), particularly as the hockey gets harder and the games get bigger.

A lot gets excused away for those new on the job, but maybe good teams would benefit from less internships and more senior members?

Corey Perry wasn’t league minimum, but he’s a wily vet the Stars got on the cheap, and they needed every ounce of his contributions. Andrew Cogliano and Blake Comeau played meaningful roles for them, too. How about Pat Maroon or Zach Bogosian? You can stretch this and note Kevin Shattenkirk loosely fits the mold at $1.75 million as wel.

There’s going to be some veteran guys available for league minimum this summer, and it feels like for the first time in a long time, there can be value to be had in veteran UFAs.

• While we’re looking at overall trends, how about Tampa Bay being all-in on speed and skill, getting upset by Columbus, then moving towards a more gritty style…and winning the Cup? There’s no point dressing up that reality to suit any other narrative — that’s a change they made that directly resulted in success.

When you look at the teams who win the Cup, it’s clear there needs to be a talented offensive core. You just have to have guys who can score. St. Louis doesn’t generally seem to fit that mold, but let’s not let recency bias blind us too much — offensive stars have always been key to winning. Tampa has it, and that’s what makes them great first. But the additions of Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow (and Maroon before that, and Bogosion, and Luke Schenn) undeniably helped this team over the hump to their Cup victory.

That all seems a worthwhile note for teams looking at their roster fringes and trying to build towards a Cup.

One related point before moving on here: Tampa’s roster alteration benefitted greatly from them drawing teams who also played a grinding style. They drew heavy defence-first teams (all four opponents were top-10 in goals against per game, with Columbus, Dallas and Boston being the three best in the NHL there), and so they were perfectly equipped to work their way through the slog. I don’t know how it would’ve gone against a team like a healthy Colorado Avalanche. Maybe they course-corrected too much for a group like that. Maybe it would’ve been different against the Vegas Golden Knights. But they could only play the teams in front of them, and you’d have to be blind to miss how getting more physical helped this team this year.

• Of the Lightning’s Cup run, Andrei Vasilevskiy played — hold on let me double check the stats — all the minutes. If there was a goalie in Tampa’s net, it was him. And that’s over a condensed playoff calendar, which should’ve been physically grinding.

One thing that’s made me crazy in recent years is the obsession with goalie tandems, which I think are great in the regular season, but come playoffs, give me a great No. 1 and average No. 2 over two “good” 1A/1B guys any day.

The point about goalie tandems should be that you have someone good enough so your starter isn’t unduly taxed over the course of a long season. If you’re a couple days before a playoff series, and the staff hasn’t yet decided who’s going to start for your team in Game 1, it’s possible your “starting” goalie isn’t good enough.

• Did the circumstances make this particular Stanley Cup any less valid, or did it maybe make it the hardest one to win ever? You’re going to hear opinions on both sides of that in the days and years to come, but it’s wrong to claim either. Honestly, it was just different. Certainly the most unique ever, but on exactly the same historical-value footing as every Cup won before and likely after it.

Each year brings its own unique set of challenges to overcome, and this year’s were what they were. There wasn’t any travel, but there was a condensed schedule. There wasn’t the distraction of normal family life or pestering calls for tickets, but there was isolation. There wasn’t the pressure that comes with 19,000 screaming fans, but there wasn’t the energy and adrenaline offered by them either. You didn’t have to control your emotions so much as you had to find them.

The Tampa Bay Lightning managed the unforeseen obstacles brilliantly, in part by making changes to tackle the ones they could foresee in transactions before.

When it was all over it looked like the Lightning had acted out climbing a mountain in front of a green screen, that maybe to someone farther down the road in post-production would see the Cup Final and trophy presentation as they were meant to be seen. But while it may have looked arranged and acted to the viewer, the mountain was there beneath their feet, real as ever to those who climbed it.

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2020-09-29 19:13:00Z
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What Maple Leafs, Oilers can learn from Cup champion Lightning - Sportsnet.ca

The Tampa Bay Lightning are the 2020 Stanley Cup champions, and as soon as the clock ticked down to zero in Game 6, social media was aflame with hot takes about what this would mean for hockey’s future.

For those who value analytics, the Lightning winning is yet another check in the column of teams who follow the data being rewarded.

For those who don’t, the Lightning are a big team that has made some of the most impressive scouting choices in the NHL in recent years.

Any time a team wins the Stanley Cup the NHL as a whole tends to copy what they can from the last successful formula. However, I’m not sure how helpful trying to copy a team with two top-two draft picks that turned into superstars, or trying to copy snagging Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point in the second and third rounds, respectively, would be.

The fact is, the Lightning have an embarrassment of riches that has taken them over a decade to put together. Tampa has been a Cup contender since at least the 2013-14 season, when they were unceremoniously swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, similar to what happened against the Columbus Blue Jackets last season.

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It’s taken the team seven kicks at the can to get to this point, and while the way the Lightning play is enviable and entertaining, I don’t think playing style is the lesson to take from their victory in 2020.

The first thing I think of when I look back over the history of moves by the Lightning is that they had many opportunities to mess this up, and they continually avoided doing so, instead building on what they already had.

Not every move the Lightning made has been great, but they kept the core together when many other teams would have panicked. Looking back to the sweep the Lightning suffered at the hands of the Blue Jackets last season, when I was tasked with finding out how that happened, I found that many of the assumptions about how that series went were incorrect.

So, what lesson can other teams take from this season’s Stanley Cup champions?

If you have a young team that’s full of talent, played well in the regular season, and by the numbers played well in the playoffs: Do. Not. Panic.

It’s very easy to look at ages and contracts and find reasons why you can’t keep a group together, but the smartest people in the room find a way to keep the group together and add.

Based on these playoffs, which teams have that young talent to build around and, by the numbers, should have had better fates?

Surprisingly, two Canadian teams stand out above the crowd among teams that deserved better during these playoffs, though they do things very differently: Toronto and Edmonton.

Both teams are built around a bevy of players taken in the lottery section of the draft, but while the Leafs are high volume, the Oilers play everything tight to the chest.

Disappointment was palpable for both teams when they failed to get out of the qualification around against teams they absolutely should have beaten, which was an extra bitter pill since they were the chosen host cities for the Western and Eastern bubbles for this post-season, but the path forward for each is unlikely to be as far off as many believe.

Context matters, and because the Blackhawks were an absolutely terrible even strength team this season, I think the Oilers have a much further track to run to get into competitor territory than the Leafs do, but the West is also significantly weaker than the East overall these days, which should help them out.

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.

The Oilers have lots of work to do to fill out the depth of their roster, and their salary cap situation is tough, but acquiring undervalued and cheap wingers is exactly where a strong analytics department should be able to help you out. Learning from the Lightning in finding players like Tyler Johnson, Yanni Gourde, or even Jonathan Marchessault (who they lost) is something the Oilers should be able to figure out.

The areas where they desperately need improvement are in controlling passing, which is tough to do when you don’t have depth.

The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, have been branded chokers once again, but we need to look at the last four seasons of first round (or qualifying round) exits through the lens of expectations for a moment. Toronto wasn’t the favourite against the Washington Capitals in 2016-17, they weren’t the favourites against the Boston Bruins in 2017-18, or 2018-19. Just because they got close to winning, doesn’t mean those results are underwhelming. They may be disappointing for fans, but this series against Columbus was the first time this team truly failed to meet expectations in the post-season.

That isn’t making excuses for them, it’s just a fact, and it’s all the more difficult to label the Leafs as deeply flawed when you examine how the games flowed at even strength. Almost across the board, the Leafs carried the play, with the one issue against Columbus being that the Leafs got brutalized by the Blue Jackets’ forecheck.

Like the Oilers, the Maple Leafs are up against the cap, making maneuvering a little bit difficult, but their roster is much closer to being in a competitive mode than the Oilers are. They absolutely need to get better at defending opposing forechecks — it was an issue all season long — but how much less of an issue would that have been if Jake Muzzin weren’t injured in Game 2?

The way the Leafs are talked about, it almost sounds like people think their window of competitiveness is about to close, but they have the time to make additions and try slightly different configurations. Overreacting to a disappointing result when it looks like a pattern, despite the fact that it’s the first time the team has actually disappointed, would be the mark of foolish management.

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2020-09-29 18:34:00Z
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Blue Jays announce lineup for Game 1 of AL wild-card series vs. Rays - Sportsnet.ca

The Toronto Blue Jays have chosen who they’ll go to war with as they kick off Game 1 of their American League wild-card series vs. the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday.

OUR GAME 1 LINEUP #WeAreBlueJays pic.twitter.com/wCCH9LjXek

— Toronto Blue Jays – x (@BlueJays) September 29, 2020

Pint-sized slugger Alejandro Kirk draws into the club’s lineup and will get the start at designated hitter, while trade-deadline acquisition Jonathan Villar will play second base. The Blue Jays are trotting out eight right-handed hitters after lead-off man Cavan Biggio against Rays ace Blake Snell.

The full starting lineup is as follows:

Third base: Cavan Biggio

Shortstop: Bo Bichette

Centre field: Randal Grichuk

First base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Left field: Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Right field: Teoscar Hernandez

Second base: Jonathan Villar

Designated hitter: Alejandro Kirk

Catcher: Danny Jansen

Pitcher: Matt Shoemaker

Catch Game 1 of the Blue Jays’ series vs. the Rays on Tuesday night at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and SN Now.

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2020-09-29 17:51:00Z
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Shattenkirk redeems himself, helps Lightning win Stanley Cup - NHL.com

Injured captain Steven Stamkos, relegated to 2:47 of play throughout the Lightning's entire postseason run, welcomed the defenseman off the ice after that Game 4 goal. 

The two men embraced, one in hockey gear, one in street clothes. It was a moment of celebration, of joy, a "job well done" and a "thank you" and an understanding the best-laid plans don't always work out as intended. 

For Shattenkirk, there was relief and redemption. For Shattenkirk, the championship was the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice, one of the highest highs possible in hockey, a little more than a year after one of his lowest lows. 

Because Shattenkirk wasn't supposed to play in or win the Stanley Cup with the Lightning. That was supposed to happen with his hometown New York Rangers, who had signed him to a four-year contract worth $6.65 million annually July 1, 2017. 

Video: TBL@DAL, Gm4: Shattenkirk nets PPG, wins Game 4 in OT

But on Aug. 1, 2019, after two seasons, the Rangers bought out his contract. His time in New York was over after 119 games.  

"It was obviously very painful to watch him go through the process of something that was supposed to be so fabulous and something that I think in the back of his head he always wanted and was always driving toward," Shattenkirk's longtime agent Jordan Neumann said. "To see it just not work out was very painful for everybody that loves him and cares about him." 

The New York experiment, seen as a homecoming for Shattenkirk that would keep the Rangers in Stanley Cup contention, had ended in a rebuild Shattenkirk would not be participating in. The Rangers had been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs seven consecutive seasons, including the Final in 2014 and the Eastern Conference Final the following season. But after Shattenkirk arrived, the Rangers missed the playoffs in 2018 and 2019. 

The Washington Capitals, Shattenkirk's team in 2016-17, won the Cup in 2018. The St. Louis Blues, his team from 2010-17, won in 2019. 

He didn't know what the future held. 

"[You] don't really know which way is up at that point or how the chips are going to fall," Shattenkirk said. "It was tough to watch my former teams the two years prior win Stanley Cups, groups of guys that I had been with and become close with. It makes you wonder. It makes you think." 

His phone started ringing. Though most teams already had committed to the bulk of their free agents, teams scrounged for space to score Shattenkirk. He looked at the Lightning, and in Tampa Bay's defenseman group he saw a strong core of left shots, which would allow him to pair with Victor Hedman or Ryan McDonagh or Mikhail Sergachev, a dream for any right-shot defenseman. 

He signed, for one season and $1.75 million, four days after the Rangers bought out his contract. 

"In my mind, when everything happened last summer, my goal was to get myself in a position to prove myself and show that I could still be a player in this League," said Shattenkirk, scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent Oct. 9.

Video: DAL@TBL, Gm2: Shattenkirk buries shot through traffic

The Lightning were thrilled. They had added forward Pat Maroon and defenseman Luke Schenn, and believed the three veterans would make the difference after a 2018-19 season when they finished with 128 points, the fourth most in NHL history, but were swept in four games in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets. They had to make changes, including to the team culture, and Shattenkirk was a big piece of that. 

"Ultimately, when you're trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, you're accumulating talent," Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said, "but really you're building a team, and they were all key pieces in helping this picture come together for us this year." 

This was their vision. This was Shattenkirk's vision. 

Just a bit farther south than he had intended. 

"The second half of the two years was eye-opening of how he wanted to play on a winning team, and how important it was to win," Neumann said. "Being in a place where he knew he could win, I think he really perked up. I think he obviously did feel like he had something to prove, that what happened in New York was really not who he was as a player. And you put those two things together and I'm not even a little bit surprised that he's had an outstanding year." 

Shattenkirk scored 34 points (eight goals, 26 points) in 70 games this season and was plus-22, and scored 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 25 postseason games. Always dangerous on the power play, he has found a fit, as a part of the whole, as a piece of a defenseman group that has players with bigger roles. The Lightning have let him be the player he was when he found a home with the Blues. 

When Ken Hitchcock coached him in St. Louis for six seasons, Shattenkirk was efficient. He didn't force his offensive game. He moved the puck well. He let the game come to him. That didn't happen in New York. 

There, nothing went as planned. The Rangers missed the playoffs in 2018. Shattenkirk finished with 23 points (five goals, 18 assists) in 46 games, one season removed from scoring 56 (13 goals, 43 assists) in 80 games between the Blues and Capitals. He was minus-14. The next season he had 28 points (two goals, 26 assists) in 73 games for New York and was minus-15. 

Instead of being a piece, Shattenkirk seemed to feel the need to be the main piece. It wasn't what had made him sought after as a free agent. It wasn't what had made him successful. It wasn't even really who he was as a person. As Neumann said, "As much as he'll tell you he's a great golfer, there's no doubt when you spend time with Kevin that he was born to play a team sport." 

That wasn't the way he was playing in New York. 

"You feel like, here's a team that recruited me, they wanted me, and I've got to produce," Hitchcock said. "So sometimes you get stuck in trying to produce rather than just fit in. … And then all of a sudden the internal pressure on yourself starts to really mount, and it's hard. It's hard for players to sort through that stuff." 

But there were lessons in New York. Crucial ones. 

"I think it made him a better person, it made him a better hockey player," Neumann said. "Did it work out? No. But he's also the first guy to say he has no regrets because he wanted to see what it was like to play for his hometown team. And had he not taken that opportunity he would have regretted not having experienced it. So, yes, it didn't work out. But no regrets -- you move forward as a better person and a better player." 

He became exactly that with Tampa Bay, going back to his roots, fitting in perfectly on the ice and in the dressing room, taking on some of the leadership role the Lightning needed filled. 

And he let the experience with the Rangers drive him, push him. 

"I've said it before, I never kind of forget what happened last summer," Shattenkirk said. "I've used that to fuel me and just not get comfortable." 

The game Friday was, in some ways, a microcosm of what Shattenkirk has been through in the past year-plus.  

The tying goal by Stars center Joe Pavelski with 8:25 remaining in the third period had gone in off Shattenkirk's knee. But Shattenkirk was undaunted. With the Lightning on the power play in overtime, he took a wrist shot from the right face-off circle. 

It went in. Once again, he was redeemed. 

His lowest low had vaulted him as high as he has ever been in his career.  

"I think the whole hockey world is able to sit back now and … hopefully appreciate what we all knew two, three, four, even eight or nine years ago about just how good a player he is," Neumann said. "And I think maybe with the bumps in the road here the last two years, maybe that was forgotten a little bit. 

"So if there's some redemption in that, I think that's fantastic."

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2020-09-29 17:38:00Z
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