The Stanley Cup Final is only a game old but I already have a favorite picture – one that jubilantly tells the story of diversity in hockey.
It’s a shot of Vegas Golden Knights forwards Ryan Reaves and Pierre-EdouardBellemare joyfully celebrating the top-shelf goal that Reaves scored in the third period Monday night against the Washington Capitals that tied the game at 4. Vegas won the series opener 6-4, a contest in which players of color had front and center roles.
Reaves and Bellemare were effective pests on the Golden Knights checking line, giving the Capitals fits and putting the puck in the net.
Capitals forward T.J. Oshie, who is Ojibwe First Nations/Native American, had an assist on the Capitals’ fourth goal, scored by defenseman John Carlson. And Washington forward Devante-Smith Pellymade the most of his 10:04 minutes of ice time, hitting anything that moved that wore gray, gold and red.
The Stanley Cup Final isn’t the only thing with neat visuals. Voting is underway for the NHL’s Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award, with three finalists to choose from.
And, like any good campaign, supporters of Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club founder and Head Coach Neal Henderson, have put up a video to garner votes.
At 40 years old, Washington’s Fort Dupont program is the oldest minority youth hockey program in North America.
The other O’Ree award finalists are Debbie Bland, a long-time girls and women’s hockey advocate in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, and Humboldt Broncos Coach Darcy Haugan, who was killed in April when the Saskatchewan junior hockey team’s bus collided with a semi-trailer.
Voting closes at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on June 1. Click here to cast your vote.
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Pierre Edouard-Bellemare, Ryan Reaves and Malcolm Subban are cashing in on the chips of fate that took them to Las Vegas.
The three black players are members of the Vegas Golden Knights, the first-year National Hockey League team that’s made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final.
Forward Ryan Reaves thought he’d be helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup. He got traded to Vegas instead.
Forwards Reaves and Bellemare played pivotal roles Sunday in the Golden Knights’ series-clinching 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets that put them to the Stanley Cup Final.
Reaves, a Winnipeg native and son of a former Canadian Football League star, scored the game-winning goal, a second-period tip in shot. The man who proclaimed himself the strongest player in the NHL showed soft hands on the goal.
The Golden Knights dispatched the Jets in five games and now await the winner of the Washington Capitals-Tampa Bay Lightning Eastern Conference Final.
Bellemare, a native of Le Blanc-Mesnil, France, didn’t register a point Sunday. But he made his presence felt by centering a fourth line – that included Reaves – pressured and frustrated Winnipeg’s offensive players.
The playoff contributions by Reaves, Bellemare and regular season heroics by Subban are notable because they, like most of the players on the Golden Knights’ roster, are cast-offs – dispatched to the desert by other NHL teams.
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) May 20, 2018
Bellemareand Subbanprobably didn’t envision playing for hockey’s Holy Grail when the 2017-18 season began in October. Reavesthought he’d be competing for the Cup on a different team.
They each took a different path to Vegas.
Bellemare’s was more direct. He’s an original Golden Knight, chosen in last June’s expansion draft – a smorgasbord of hand-me-down players served up by the NHL’s 30 other teams. He was plucked from the Philadelphia Flyers.
He quickly established himself as a key part of Golden Knights, earning the assistant captain’s “A” for his jersey. He tallied 6 goals and 10 assists in 72 regular season games in 2017-18.
Bellemare has no goals and 1 assist in 15 playoff contests. But the beauty of Bellemare is what he does defensively, making the opposition work for offensive opportunities. He also is a top-notch penalty killer.
Subban wasn’t even on the Golden Knights roster – or even in the NHL -when the 2017-18 season started.
Placed on waivers by the Boston Bruins, goalie Malcolm Subban found a home in Vegas.
The younger brother of Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban, was tending goal in the minor leagues for the Providence Bruins, the American Hockey League farm team of the Boston Bruins.
Boston, frustrated by Subban’s progress after selecting him in the first round of 2012 NHL draft, placed him on waivers in October 2017. The Golden Knights quickly claimed the athletic, acrobatic goaltender.
Subban played a pivotal role in Vegas’ improbable season, filling in for an injured Marc-Andre Fleury. He earned his first NHL victory against the Bruins, the team that dispatched him. In December, Subban had a 41-save, 4-3 win against Nashville and big brother P.K.
He finished the regular season with 13-4-2 record in 22 games with a 2.68 goals-against average.
Reaves expected to be chasing the Stanley Cup – for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Reaves, one of the NHL’s most-feared tough guys, was acquired by the Eastern Conference Penguins from the Western Conference St. LouisBlues before the 2017-18 season began.
His mission was to add muscle and on-ice protection for high-scoring forwards Sidney Crosby,Evgeni Malkinand Phil Kessel. But the Pens shipped Reaves back west to Vegas in February for a 2018 fourth-round draft pick.
“Out West, every team seems to have a little bit of physicality to them. I like playing that game,” Reaves told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in February. “I like to play a little heavier.”
He relished the role of the heavy against his hometown Jets. Reaves proclaimed himself the strongest player in the NHL, a title usually associated with Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg’s physically-imposing, offensively-talented defenseman.
Reaves appeared in 58 regular season games for the Penguins and 21 contests for the Golden Knights. He had 4 goals, 6 assists and 94 penalty minutes between the two teams. His game-winning goal Sunday was his first point in six playoff games.
Should the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup, Bellemare would be the latest black player to have his name engraved on trophy.
Reaves and Subban are currently ineligible to have their names engraved. NHL rules state that a player has to appear in at least 41 games with the team playing for the Cup or appear in at least one Stanley Cup Final contest.
Given his game-winning heroics Sunday, Reaves will likely be in the Vegas lineup in the Final against Washington or Tampa Bay.
Subban is a different matter. He didn’t play a minute in the playoffs. He’s not likely to see action in the Final unless Fleury – a leading contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the league’s most valuable post-season player – is injured or is replaced because of a poor performance.
If Subban doesn’t play in the Final, the Golden Knights could petition the league to have his name added to the Cup.
The Blackhawks successfullypetitioned to have Mayers name engraved after he appeared in only 19 regular season games and no playoff contests during the team’s 2012-13 Cup-winning season.
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Some of the National Hockey League’s players of color are feeling a draft.
At least 17 minority players are among the players left unprotected by the NHL’s 30 teams for Wednesday’s Expansion Draft to help form the inaugural roster for the Vegas Golden Knights.
The players of color made available – a nicer phrase than “unprotected” – include a likely future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, three multiple Stanley Cup winners, three Olympians, and a few minor league prospects.
Emerson Etem, left wing. The 29th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, Etem has bounced from the Ducks to the New York Rangers to the Vancouver Canucks and back to the Ducks. And he’s boomeranged between Anaheim and its American Hockey League affiliate in San Diego.
He only appeared in three games for the Ducks in 2016-17 and was held scoreless. He does have 22 goals and 24 assists in 173 NHL regular season games and 6 goals and 2 assists in 23 playoff games.
BOSTON BRUINS
Malcolm Subban, a Boston Bruins’ 2012 first-round pick. Could he be Vegas-bound?
Malcolm Subban, goaltender. Subban was 24th player picked in the 2012 NHL Draft but has been unable to secure a spot on a Bruins roster that features Tuuka Rask between the pipes. Rask won the Vezina Trophy in 2013-14 as the NHL’s best goaltender.
The younger brother of Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban, Malcolm Subban appeared in 32 games last season for the Providence Bruins, Boston’s AHL farm team. His stats: 11 wins, 14 losses, a 2.41 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. He had 2 losses in the AHL playoffs and sported a 2.12 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
Johnny Oduya, defense. Oduya was a member of the 2013 and 2015 Chicago Stanley Cup teams and the Swedish team that won the Silver Medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. He had 2 goals and 7 assists in 52 regular season games for the Blackhawks last season. He has 37 goals and 145 assists in 798 career regular season contests and 6 goals and 22 assists in 106 career playoff games.
Jordin Tootoo, right wing. The diminutive dynamo of Inuit heritage was limited to 2 goals and 1 assist in 50 regular season games in 2016-17. He has 65 goals and 96 assists in 723 games with Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, and the New Jersey Devils.
DALLAS STARS
Forward Gemel Smith, the Dallas Stars’ 2012 fourth-round pick..
Gemel Smith, center. The Stars took the 23-year-old in the fourth round with the 104th overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft. He hasn’t seen much time in Big D. He scored 3 goals and 3 assists in 17 regular season games for Dallas in 2016-17.
His younger brother, forward Giavani Smith, was taken by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round with the 46th overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.
EDMONTON OILERS
Jujhar Khaira, center. Khaira was one of the feel-good stories of the 2016-17 season when he scored his first NHL goal – a source of pride for North America’s South Asian community. The Oilers took Khaira in the third round with the 63rd overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft. His one goal and 2 assists were his only points in 10 games for the Oilers in 2016-17.
LOS ANGELES KINGS
Jarome Iginla, right wing. Iginla, 39, is one of hockey’s most-decorated players. He’s a two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner, and a recipient of the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s leading goal scorer in 2002 and 2004 and the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer in 2002. He won the Lester B. Pearson Award – the most valuable player award voted by the players – in 2002.
Iginla, a sure-fire Hall of Famer when he retires, had 14 goals and 13 assists in 80 games for the Kings in 2016-17.
Jordan Nolan, center. A proud member of the Ojibwe Nation, Nolan played for the Kings’ Stanley Cup championship teams in 2012 and 2014. Nolan, the son of former BuffaloSabres Head Coach Ted Nolan, appeared in only 46 games for the Kings last season and tallied 4 goals and 4 assists.
MINNESOTA WILD
Matt Dumba, defense. Of Filipino heritage, Dumba posted a career-best 11 goals and 23 assists in 76 games. His plus/minus – an indicator of defensive responsibility – improved from plus-1 in 2015-16 to plus-15 in 2016-17.
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Al Montoya, goaltender, Montreal Canadiens
Al Montoya, goaltender. The well-traveled Cuban-American goaltender could be on the move again. A 2004 first-round of the Rangers, Montoya has strapped on the pads for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes, and Winnipeg Jets before he seemingly settled in as Carey Price’s backup in Montreal.
Montoya appeared in 19 games for the Habs, posted an 8-6-4 record with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Devante Smith-Pelly, right wing. Devo is coming off a down season in New Jersey, his third team since the Ducks chose him with in the second round with the 42nd overall pick in the 2010 draft. He scored only 4 goals and 5 assists in 50 games.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Christopher Gibson, goaltender. The black Finn didn’t play a minute in Brooklyn in 2016-17 and had a short season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Isles’ AHL team. There, he appeared in seven games and won 6. He had a 2.52 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.
Gibson played in fourNHL games in 2015-16, posted a 1-1-1 record with a 3.40 goals-against average and an .882 save percentage.
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
Philadelphia Flyers LW Pierre Edouard Bellemare
Pierre-Edourard Bellemare, left wing. The French player probably enjoyed his most memorable season in 2016-17. It started with the World Cup of Hockey, where the fourth-line Flyers player became a key contributor for Team Europe and ended with him playing before his countrymen at the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship in Paris.
In between, Bellemare had a solid enough year for the Flyers that the team re-signed him to a two-year deal at $1.45 million per year and made him an assistant captain. The 32-year-old checking line forward scored 4 goals and 4 assists in 82 regular season games. He has 17 goals and 17 assists in 237 career NHL games.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Trevor Daley, defense. Daley is experiencing the cruel business side of hockey. Win a Stanley Cup one week, get exposed to the expansion draft the next. The 33-year-old offensively-talented and defensively-responsible player began his NHL career with the Dallas Stars in 2003-04. Daley reached the 20-point mark seven times during his tenure with Dallas.
He had 5 goals and 15 assists in 56 games for the Penguins in 2016-17 and tallied 1 goal and 4 assists in 21 playoff games that ended with him winning a second Stanley Cup. Daley 78 goals and 200 assists in 894 career NHL regular season games.
SAN JOSE SHARKS
Joel Ward, right wing. Injuries in 2016-17 hampered the 36-year-old wing who earned a reputation as a clutch playoff performer during his NHL career. He scored 10 goals and 19 assists in 78 regular season games and 1 goal and 3 assists in six playoff games.
He’s tallied 22 goals and 30 assists in 83 playoff games for San Jose, Nashville, and the Washington Capitals.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
J.T. Brown, right wing. A tough player who isn’t afraid to speak his mindon social issues, Brown had 3 goals and 3 assists for the Lightning last season. He has 18 goals and 39 assists in 262 NHL regular season games.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
T.J. Oshie, right wing. Why in the world would the Capitals expose a player who notched 33 goals and 23 assists in 68 games last season? Our friends at the Russian Machine Never Breaks Capitals fan site break it down to money and uncertainty. Oshie needs a new contract and the NHL currently isn’t sure what the league salary cap will be next season. And Oshie could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. All that might be enough for the Golden Knights to pass on him, leaving the Caps to move forward with a new deal once the 2017-18 salary cap is set.
The World Cup of Hockey is only a few days old and already players of color are having a huge impact in the best-on-best international tournament – from a brother from France scoring to Big Buff sitting.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, a Philadelphia Flyers forward and Team Europe’s only French member, put a dagger in Team USA in the World Cup opener Saturday, scoring on a neat second-period tip-in in Europe’s 3-0 shocker over the United States.
On a Europe squad stacked with firepower the likes of Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks’Marian Hossa, Bellemare made the most of his 15 minutes-plus of ice time, registering a goal, one shot, and one hit. He won 36 percent of his face-offs.
While Team Europe basked in its upset victory, Team USA Head Coach John Tortorella faced questions about his decision not to dress Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfgulien for Saturday’s game.
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Byfuglien is one of the National Hockey League’s best offensive blue-liners, blessed with one of the league’s hardest and most-accurate shots. He was eighth in scoring among NHL defensemen last season with 19 goals and 34 assists.
“Well, I have to take someone out, and Buff has been used on defense and forward, along with Kyle Palmieri as a right winger, too, and we made the decision for this game, this was our best lineup,” Tortorella explained after the game. “It’s certainly not a negative thought on Buff, but we decided to go with this lineup tonight.”
John Tortorella's controversial benching haunts Team USA – New York Post https://t.co/cSCTO7RYUD
Don’t know about you, but I think Tortorella might pencil Byfuglien into the lineup when Team USA faces Canada Tuesday night.
Byfuglien and Bellemare are among five players of color participating in the eight-team World Cup of Hockey tourney. Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, whose mother is a former chief of the Ulkatcho First Nation, Toronto Maple Leafs rookie forward Auston Matthews, and Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones are the other three.
