Burning questions for Round 2’s eliminated teams: What’s next Nichushkin, Ullmark and more

The Stanley Cup playoffs are down to the Final Four. The field has been sliced in half, sending four teams into a somewhat long summer.

That means there we’re back with four burning questions for the four teams eliminated in Round 2:

How will the Carolina Hurricanes tweak their approach?

Since 2018-19, the Hurricanes have the second-best regular season points percentage (.664) in the NHL. They have the fifth most playoff wins, which is the most of any team that hasn’t advanced to a Stanley Cup Final. But they don’t have much to show for it, a team that hasn’t won a single game in two trips to the Conference Final and now didn’t make it out of the second round.

They’ve arrived this summer at a natural inflection point. Jake Guentzel, Brett Pesce, Teuvo Teravainen, Brady Skjei, Jordan Martinook and others are pending free agents. Jaccob Slavin is eligible to sign an extension. RFAs Seth Jarvis and Martin Necas are without contracts. Those are all critical personnel decisions to make. GM Don Waddell said he wants to keep as much of his defense corps together as possible; he also said they want to target a right-shooting center. But how, if at all, will they alter their very focused and disciplined formula that they’ve used to build their team and acquire players?

Can the Avalanche fill the void left by Valeri Nichushkin?

Man, Nichushkin’s suspension for what sources say was a third violation of terms of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program for a failed drug test hit the Avalanche hard on the day of Game 4 against Dallas. First and foremost, everyone is hoping Nichushkin gets the help he needs. But the next key question is: How will the Avalanche approach this situation when his mandatory six-month suspension ends on Oct. 14? Nichushkin will be eligible for reinstatement, but that is not guaranteed.

Nichushkin, 29, cannot have his contract terminated while he is in the program, but it’s possible once he is eligible for reinstatement. Will the Avs do that? There are six years and $30.5 million remaining. It sure seemed like listening to Nichushkin’s teammates that, despite the addiction, he violated their trust two years in a row when the season mattered most. This isn’t a bottom-six role player, this was the playoff leader in goals at the time of his suspension. He is a horse. And even if Gabriel Landeskog is back healthy to start next season, the Avalanche will have some work to do to rebuild their depth, which was clearly outclassed by Dallas.

Should the Bruins ‘Bleep with Happy’ with their goaltending tandem?

One of the most explosive storylines of the 2024 trade deadline was the fact that Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, blocked a trade to Los Angeles when asked by Boston to waive his ‘no-trade’ clause. That story sent shockwaves around the league. And one thing is clear after watching the Bs bow out in the second round to a deeper Florida team: Jeremy Swayman is their unquestioned goaltender of the future. Jim Montgomery entered with the plan to rotate goalies. But Swayman stole the show with a sparkling .933 save percentage in 12 starts, never opening the door to shift back to Ullmark.

The writing is on the wall. The Bruins don’t have a ton of cap space, they are lacking assets, and Ullmark is a way to create more flexibility and serve as the asset required to attack another weakness. There is zero doubt Ullmark will be in demand. The question is: Should the Bruins actually move him? For one, Swayman and Ullmark have the league’s ultimate bromance. They work extremely well together. Their team numbers are off the charts, providing 10 extra points in the standings this season compared to league average. Plus, it’s abundantly obvious Ullmark doesn’t want to go anywhere, saying his trade list exists for a reason. You know the saying, ‘Don’t bleep with happy?’ Here’s hoping GM Don Sweeney finds something where the juice is worth the squeeze to displace the team’s backbone.

What happened to Canucks star Elias Pettersson?

On the one hand, the Rogers Arena faithful chanting ‘Let’s Go Petey’ as a way to pick up Pettersson in Games 5 and 7 of their second round series was endearing. For a market that typically eats its own (ask J.T. Miller what the last couple years felt like) it was an impressive show of support. On the other hand, the fact that Canucks fans felt the need to try to prop up Pettersson because he had played so abysmally in the Stanley Cup playoffs was utterly embarrassing. Pettersson was a non-factor in the playoffs: one goal, five assists for six points in 13 games – following a 32-goal, 89-point campaign. It got to the point where coach Rick Tocchet was exasperated, saying: “I don’t know what to say anymore.”

Pettersson is notorious for being hard on himself. Having watched him live for 12 of Vancouver’s 13 postseason games, it doesn’t feel like he erred in effort. He didn’t fail because he doesn’t want it. Oddly, it seemed like the moment was too big for him. It felt like Pettersson wilted under pressure and played scared, shovelling the puck off his stick at times to clearly avoid contract. That’s highly concerning – and also very unlike him. This is the same player the Canucks signed to an eight-year, $92.8 million extension on March 2. He is due a $12 million signing bonus on July 1. Something is off. He had just 14 points in 20 games after inking the new deal. No one signs for $93 million under duress, but did Pettersson actually want to be in Vancouver? Or did the Canucks threatening to trade him as a way to induce the signing backfire in spectacular fashion?

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