With the 2021-22 NHL season opening Tuesday in a game between the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins, plus a matchup of the league’s most recent expansion teams, the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken, there are some interesting storylines out of New England.
The Penguins have a pair of regional natives on their blue line in veterans Brian Dumoulin (Biddeford, Maine) and John Marino (North Easton, Mass.). Dumoulin is one of the steadiest defensive players in the league, a member of both of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2016 and 2017.
Additionally, Hingham native and first-round pick in 2003, Brian Boyle is making a return to the NHL after not having a team to play for in 2020-21. As a veteran of over 800 career contests, the former St. Sebastian’s legend provides experience and depth to a Penguins roster that will be without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to start the season.
The Golden Knights and Kraken feature a few familiar faces in veteran Max Pacioretty (New Canaan, Conn.) and former Bruins second-rounder and Harvard star Ryan Donato (Scituate, Mass.) who is on his third team since being dealt to the Minnesota Wild early in 2019 for Charlie Coyle (East Weymouth, Mass.)
Penguins blue line bolstered by New Englanders
Dumoulin is a no-frills, defense-minded player who has been a solid pro since leaving Boston College in 2012. Originally drafted in the second round by Carolina in 2009, he joined the Penguins organization as part of the trade that sent Jordan Staal to the Hurricanes and has spent his entire career with Pittsburgh.
At 6-foot-4, 217 pounds, he’s a hard-nosed, physical player who takes pride in taking care of his own end. With his strength and long reach, he ends plays along the walls and is a reliable presence who keeps things simple with hard outlet passes to aid in transition.
On the other end of the spectrum, Marino is entering his third full NHL campaign with the Penguins after being originally drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 2015 out of the South Shore Kings of the USPHL.
Marino had an impressive 26-point rookie campaign in just 56 games dealing with various injuries but took a step back with half the production a year ago in 52 contests. At his best, he’s a prime puck mover and can distribute well on the power play.
The two are a bit of a yin-yang in that Marino has a reedy build and is more of an offense-minded player, while Dumoulin is a strong defender who keeps the play in front of him and doesn’t tend to lead the rush all that much. Interestingly enough, Dumoulin had 14 points to Marino’s 13 last season, but expect Marino to bounce back with a campaign that should see him be closer to a half-point per game with 30-40 this year. He’s not a big shooter but does a good job of getting pucks through traffic to the net for tips and deflections.
Both are quality players and should have the minutes and roles that should allow for consistent and steady contributions.
Boyle back to the NHL in Steeltown
After sitting out the 2020-21 NHL season without a contract, Brian Boyle is back with his eighth team, the Penguins, as Frank Seravalli reported that he traveled to Tampa and is expected to sign a deal after being with the club on a professional tryout (PTO). It was announced Monday that Boyle signed a one-year contract with Penguins for $750,000.
As an “old man” on the club, he’s 36 and has 805 career NHL games with the Kings, Rangers, Lightning, Maple Leafs, Devils, Predators and Panthers, the 6-foot-6 Boyle can still shoot is as hard as ever and will help the Pens weather the early storm of not having top centers Crosby and Malkin in the lineup.
Boyle, who scored 65 goals in four years with Boston College from 2003-07, coming oh-so-close to a national championship in his final season, is glad for the opportunity to keep his NHL career going and is in a good spot.
“I still had a passion for it. I still wanted to get back in and play,” Boyle told this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “This [past year] has been, obviously, challenging. But it’s really a rewarding life to be able to play in this league so I’m excited to get back in.”
The 2018 Masterton Memorial Trophy winner for dedication and perseverance to hockey is getting another chance to build on his positive legacy in hockey.
“It’s a very big presence that he brings to the team,” new teammate Kasperi Kapanen told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review earlier this week. “He’s been around for a long time. He’s a key part of our group now. He takes big faceoffs, a big body, defensively really sound. (At) practice (Monday), he was lighting it up. He can do it all.”
Pacioretty keeps motoring along
Former Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty continues to secure his legacy as one of the best Connecticut natives to play in the NHL.
Although the 22nd overall selection in 2007 has never posted a 70-point season in the NHL, he’s been as consistent as they come, entering the year with 304 goals and 605 points in 811 games.
With his 6-foot-2, 215-pound frame and ability to skate and create, don’t expect a dropoff in production even at age 32. His game holds up because he plays with dynamic pace and doesn’t put himself in spots to take big hits.
The six-time 30-goal man would have made it seven with 24 in 48 games in last year’s COVID-19-shortened regular season, so expect him to continue to provide quality scoring for Vegas, who enters 2021-22 with high expectations.
Donato hopes to be unleashed
It all started so promisingly for the Boston Bruins second-rounder in 2014 who made quite a splash with the club he dreamed of playing for after joining them from the 2018 Olympic Games.
Since then, Donato has been traded to Minnesota and San Jose, followed by a selection in the Seattle expansion draft.
This is an important year for the Dexter Southfield product who briefly played for the Omaha Lancers of the USHL before going to Harvard.
He’s highly cerebral and skilled, and his game is expected to translate well with Seattle if he can carve a niche out for himself and establish a role on one of the power-play units.
Fellow Bay Stater Colin Blackwell (Lawrence, Mass.) begins the year on IR, but between Donato and Blackwell, New England is well represented in the Pacific Northwest.
Garland on verge of big breakout
Although whispers over the summer linked Scituate, Mass. native Conor Garland to the Bruins, it was not to be, as former Boston assistant GM Jim Benning pulled the trigger on a deal to bring him to Vancouver along with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, he of the albatross contract.
It was a smart move by the Canucks, who now add a highly skilled young right wing who is on the verge of putting up huge numbers after a pair of 39-point seasons with Arizona before the trade went down around the most recent NHL draft.
Garland’s speed, hands and creativity make him a difficult player to defend 1-on-1 and he’s a dynamic playmaker from the wing who can make pinpoint passes or snipe goals with a blurry release- a natural scorer.
With a five-year extension that comes in at just under $5 million per season, Garland is an excellent value who is primed to become a bargain with that deal and his natural offensive knack for making plays.
He put up 257 points in 129 games in his final two seasons with the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats, so the hype is real.
Rathbone rising
Speaking of the Vancouver Canucks, they have a keeper in defenseman Jack Rathbone. The West Roxbury, Mass. native played prep hockey at Dexter Southfield and the Cape Cod Whalers for split-season action and is well on his way to establishing himself as an NHL regular.
The former Harvard Crimson standout was a fourth-round pick in 2017 and made a positive impression in eight NHL games last spring, but he’s taken it to another level and secured a spot on their opening night roster.
A very good puck mover and smart 2-way defender, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Rathbone plays bigger than his size and plays hard. He checks the boxes you need when you have average size in the NHL and has always been ultra-competitive.
The Canucks have themselves a good one.
Eichel trade talks progressing?
Rumors around the NHL media space have Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.) trade discussions accelerating.
The second overall selection in 2015 has been embroiled in a dispute with the Buffalo Sabres over his medical condition, involving artificial disc replacement surgery.
The holdup was, is and will continue to be multiple challenges that make acquiring Eichel and his $10 million cap hit a very difficult sell to any prospective buyer. Sabres GM Kevyn Adams obviously wants to receive as big a return as possible for the soon-to-be 25-year-old (Oct. 28), but finding a trade partner with the cap room and assets it will take to make a trade like that create major obstacles.
The teams who have the front-line players whose contracts could help offset adding such a huge number to the payroll, along with the prospects that Buffalo would want in exchange for its franchise player are limited, with more seemingly falling out of contention. The New York Rangers just re-signed Mika Zibanejad to an $8.5 million per year extension that kicks in next season, but he has a full no-movement clause.
The Minnesota Wild have long been rumored to be in the hunt, but with Kirill Kaprizov re-signed at $9 million, and a lot of dead cap money kicking in past 2022, the logistics of being to add an Eichel are even more difficult.
Out west the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks seem to be the teams best suited to take on Eichel and have the assets to part with to land him, but with his health up in the air, no team will want to take that plunge without some built-in protections.
All in all, it looks like it could take some time to shake itself out, and the more we look at it, the less likely it will be for Adams and the Sabres to fetch the kind of premium return that the pre-salary cap NHL might have fetched.
Eichel was most recently spotted at Fenway Park with the Boston Bruins contingent to witness his hometown Boston Red Sox eliminate the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4. B’s fans can engage in that kind of wishful thinking all they want, but in the end, the team landed Taylor Hall in a deal that was geared to be favorable for Boston given the player’s ability to manage the situation. It is doubtful that Adams wants to make that kind of trade again with Don Sweeney, and given the lack of cap space and prime assets to send Buffalo’s way, Boston does not appear to be a viable option for Eichel.
Things could change quickly, but for now, it looks like more wait-and-see as the young superstar’s status remains up in the air.
