Simmer’s Skate: Waiting on Canucks Moves, NHL Coaching Market Warms

Anyone else get the sense that were suddenly going to get some news from the Vancouver Canucks, as in this is the calm before the storm.

Trade? Gabby’s new assistants? A big signing? Something.

We’re now four weeks from the NHL Draft with the Vancouver Canucks presently possessing the 15th-overall pick.

Stammer Hammers

Quite an evening for Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos on Saturday. He scored both goals for the Bolts in their 2-1 series clinching Game-6 win over the New York Rangers, including the game winner just :21-seconds after the Blueshirts had rallied to tie it. He was actually the man in the penalty box for holding when New York scored their third-period power play goal.

Now the Lightning get a short break, which likely means another outstanding Tampa Bay center, Brayden Point, will have enough time to heal up and be ready for the start of the Stanley Cup Final against the Colorado Avalanche. He almost played Saturday, still recovering from a lower body injury suffered in Game-7 of their first round win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Feel free to hit us with your Stanley Cup Final predictions on any form of social media. We’d love to hear from you and read your comments. You can find us on Facebook at Vancouver Hockey Now and on twitter @simmerpuck. We’ll brag about you if you nail it.

Game-1 is Wednesday night in Denver as the higher-seeded Avalanche have home ice advantage. There’s an extra day off before Game-2 on Saturday night, and then the series goes every other night the rest of the way regardless of the number of games.

By the way, Vancouver Canucks fans should be rooting for the Avalanche in the Final based on the BC-native criteria. Zero British Columbians on the Lightning while Colorado sports two defencemen: Devon Toews from Abbotsford and Bowen Byram from Cranbrook.

The Bigger ‘Kaner’

Here’s opening a can of worms, or at least a short, entertaining discussion … any chance you bring Evander Kane to Vancouver to play for his hometown Canucks? No? I didn’t think so.

Coaching Carousel

While we await an announcement on those Vancouver Canucks assistant coaches (one would be a new video coach), there are actually six NHL teams actively attempting to fill head coaching vacancies. Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey NIght in Canada that the Philadelphia Flyers might be getting close and Barry Trotz might be their man. Then again, John Tortorella’s name has also been mentioned with that job, and Trotz’s with the openings in Detroit, Winnipeg and Vegas

The Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins are also looking for a new bench boss.