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Here is the July 22 edition of Dan Rosen's weekly mailbag. If you have a question, tweet it to @drosennhl and use #OvertheBoards.

Dark horse player on each team in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to help lead their team to a series win? -- @AnalyticsNyr

In the Eastern Conference, I'll go with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Conor Sheary, Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook, New York Islanders forward Ross Johnston, Toronto Maple Leafs center Alex Kerfoot, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard, Florida Panthers center Noel Acciari, New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko and Montreal Canadiens center Phillip Danault.

Sheary could get an opportunity to play with Sidney Crosby provided the Penguins center is healthy. He has been "unfit to participate" in the past two practices after leaving the ice early Saturday during a scrimmage. Martinook and Johnston are energy guys in fourth-line roles who can move up to play on the top nine if needed. Kerfoot isn't big (5-foot-10, 185 pounds), but he has a low center of gravity, is feisty, and helps give Toronto a legitimate third scoring line. Savard will be one of the Blue Jackets' players looking to outmuscle the skilled Maple Leafs. Toronto could be in trouble against Columbus if the big defenseman (6-2, 229) starts to dominate physically. Acciari scored 20 goals, but I like him for the Panthers because of his grind game and ability to be physical. Kakko came back refreshed and confident after a tough rookie season, when he scored 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) in 66 games. Danault will be challenged with shutting down one of Crosby or Evgeni Malkin in Montreal's best-of-5 series against Pittsburgh.

In the Western Conference, I like Edmonton Oilers forward Joakim Nygard, Nashville Predators center Nick Bonino, Vancouver Canucks center Jay Beagle, Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson, Winnipeg Jets center Andrew Copp, Minnesota Wild center Alex Galchenyuk, Arizona Coyotes center Christian Dvorak and Chicago Blackhawks center Kirby Dach.

Nygard is fast. He's also 27 years old, so he's not your typical NHL rookie. Bonino is as solid a veteran as there is in the NHL. Beagle is key for the Canucks because of his ability to kill penalties and win face-offs. Andersson is even more important to the Flames now that fellow right-handed defenseman Travis Hamonic opted out of playing. Nothing about Copp's game is flashy, but he's one of the Jets' most effective forwards in all three zones. The Wild need Galchenyuk's skill to succeed; they need goals and he's capable of scoring them. Dvorak can play center or wing, and no matter what, he'll drive possession by winning face-offs. Dach, like Kakko, is a teenager who should be better served by playing almost a full NHL season and then getting a break to reflect on it.

Which lower-seeded team is most likely to win its qualifier series in your opinion? -- @nasca29

I'm a believer in the Panthers, the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference, especially with how they match up against the No. 7 Islanders.

Florida (35-26-8, .565 points percentage) faces the Islanders (35-23-10, .588) in one of four best-of-5 series to be played at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the hub city for the 12 participating teams from the East. Game 1 is Aug. 1. The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the loser will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Aug. 10.

The X-factor for the Panthers is goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. He wasn't himself this season, his first with Florida. He went 23-19-6 with a 3.23 goals-against average and .900 save percentage; numbers that do not compare favorably to his 2.41 GAA and .921 save percentage in 374 games with the Blue Jackets from 2012-19. But the pause in the season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus gave him a chance to climb out and restart, and he should benefit. If he does, the Islanders' struggles to score will be magnified. They were 22nd in the NHL with 2.78 goals per game this season and averaged 2.62 through their final 47 games, going 19-20-8. They will aim to keep games low-scoring, but that might be hard to do against the Panthers, who scored 3.30 goals per game, sixth in the League. It's reasonable to think offense will remain a strength for Florida. Combine that with strong goaltending from Bobrovsky, and it should be enough to eliminate New York.

In your opinion, will an earlier start time have a significant effect on the teams in those time slots? Most games are played in the evening, so a noon or early afternoon start time could be a difficult adjustment. -- @theashcity

I don't think the teams playing in the noon hour local time will struggle. They will adjust accordingly, which should not be a problem considering they won't be traveling. They'll be able to manage their rest the night before, space out their meals properly, get enough sleep, and get to the rink in time to go through their pregame routines. It eliminates the morning skate, which some teams are doing away with anyway, and that puts more emphasis on the pregame routine and warmups, each of which will be normal if only earlier in the day.

However, teams that have the middle game on days when there will be three games at either Rogers Place in Edmonton or Scotiabank Arena in Toronto will have the toughest adjustments to make.

We already know the Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars will play the middle game at least twice each; and the Panthers, Islanders, Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, Vegas Golden Knights, Flames and Jets will do so at least once each based on the schedule the NHL has released so far for Aug. 1-5. These games have start times between 4-4:45 p.m. local time. That is early enough to eliminate a traditional morning skate and alter the players' pregame routines, including the pregame naps most of them swear by. Plus, they'll get to the arena and a game will already be going on. If the game ahead of them goes to overtime or multiple overtimes, they'll be at the rink waiting around, perhaps having to stop their pregame routine and then start it back up again.

Every one of the eight games in the middle of the day based on the schedule we have so far through Aug. 5 is preceded by a qualifier series game, which means overtime will continue until someone scores. The traditional regular-season overtime is being used in the round-robin games involving the top four seeds. Six of the eight mid-afternoon games through Aug. 5 involve teams in the round-robin portion, so it's less likely the teams playing the night game will be impacted by a lengthy overtime situation. Plus, the teams playing the night games will have a normal game-day routine.

Do you think Craig Berube was robbed (in the Jack Adams Award vote)? Not a finalist this year and didn't win last year after bringing a team from last in the League to third in the division with the same points as the second-place team, then winning the Stanley Cup. Now, second in standings before break with a big injury. What gives? -- @weavematt

He wasn't robbed. Berube was third in NHL coach of the year voting last season behind Islanders coach Barry Trotz, the winner, and Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who led his team to a historic regular season, tying the League record for wins with 62 and finishing with 128 points, the fourth most in NHL history. Berube may have won over more voters from the NHL Broadcasters' Association last season if they conducted the vote after the Stanley Cup was awarded. But the playoffs do not factor into the voting.

Yes, what Berube did coaching the Blues was special, but it didn't match up entirely to what Trotz and Cooper achieved. Trotz guided the Islanders to a 23-point improvement and a League-low 191 goals-against, 102 fewer than they gave up the previous season under former coach Doug Weight. New York was the first team in 100 years to allow the fewest goals in the League the season after allowing the most.

As for this season, I didn't include Berube when I sent in my top five for the Jack Adams Award for our NHL.com Trophy Tracker votes. These are not the official votes, but we try to mimic what we think will happen. My top five were, in order, Mike Sullivan (Penguins), Alain Vigneault (Philadelphia Flyers), John Tortorella (Blue Jackets), Jared Bednar (Avalanche) and Dave Tippett (Oilers). Vigneault, Tortorella and Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy Video: TOR@FLA: Bobrovsky sprawls to rob Marner.

Berube and the Blues had a terrific season, finishing with the best points percentage (.662) in the Western Conference. It was an especially strong showing considering they got only 10 games out of forward Vladimir Tarasenko, their leading goal-scorer the previous five seasons, because of shoulder surgery. But Sullivan's Penguins had significant injuries, including being without Crosby (core muscle surgery, 28 games missed) and forward Jake Guentzel (shoulder surgery, 30 games missed) for extended periods. The Flyers, in their first season under Vigneault, improved by seven points over last season despite playing 13 fewer games. The Oilers, in their first season under Tippett, improved by four points from last season despite playing 11 fewer games. The Blue Jackets lost Bobrovsky, forward Artemi Panarin and center Matt Duchene in free agency after last season, and on top of that had 419 man-games lost to injury this season, the most in the NHL, but tied for eighth in the East with a .579 points percentage. Bednar led the Avalanche to a two-point improvement over last season in 12 fewer games despite playing 28 games without forward Mikko Rantanen because of an upper-body injury. They managed to go 9-2-1 (.792 points percentage) from Feb. 19-March 11 despite Rantanen, center Nazem Kadri (lower body) and goalie Philipp Grubauer (lower body) being out that entire stretch and rookie defenseman Cale Makar missing five games because of an upper-body injury.