Tampa Bay Lightning Eliminate Detroit Red Wings, Pavel Datsyuk Faces Retirement Questions
By Aly Dhanani
Tampa Bay Lightning Advance To Second Round After Eliminating Detroit Red Wings in Game 5; Has Pavel Datsyuk Played His Final NHL Game?
With a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the first team to advance to the 2nd round of the NHL Playoffs.
Alex Killorn scored the go-ahead tap in with 1:40 remaining to give the Bolts a series win.
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With their success in the first round of the NHL playoffs, the young Lightning are proving more and more that the impending loss of star Steven Stamkos (who is currently out with a blood clot) may not be as big of a loss with the recent play of Nikita Kucherov and Jonathan Drouin.
If the Bolts go all the way without their best player, they will be able to move him out without worrying about their future.
Another big decision being affected by the playoffs; Ben Bishop’s stellar play all season, and he has carried that into the post season, stopping all 33 shots in the recent Game 5 win.
However, former 1st rounder Andrei Vasilevskiy has been the best goalie prospects in the game since he was drafted, and will probably be ready to shoulder a starting job by the expansion draft. With Bishop a UFA in 2017, what will Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman do?
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Now, we move on to what the Detroit Red Wings might do now that their season is over. They may have made the Playoffs 25 straight years, but they also haven’t won a cup in 8 years. And one of the greatest Wings players of all time may call it a career this summer.
Pavel Datsyuk, 37, told the Detroit Free Press recently he thinks he will go home to Russia after this season. The ‘Magic Man’ doesn’t have much more to prove after winning the Selke Trophy four times and having two Stanley Cup rings in his storied career.
The young kids, Andreas Athanasiou, Dylan Larkin, Petr Mrazek, Xavier Ouellett and Tomas Tatar, they carried the Wings this year. It’s time to hand over the reins.
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If Datsyuk retires and GM Ken Holland is able to ship off his hefty cap hit, the Wings are set to be major players this NHL offseason.
If they don’t land Steven Stamkos, could they go for an offer sheet? They have plenty of high-end prospects up front (i.e. Anthony Mantha and Evgeny Svechnikov), so could they be willing to give up a 1st rounder to try to land Seth Jones, Tyson Barrie or Torey Krug?
Anyways, it should be interesting to see how the future of these two clubs play out, now and in the future.