Mailbag: Best player in Stanley Cup Final, Tortorella coaching Flyers

Here is the June 22 edition of the mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on Twitter using #OvertheBoards. Tweet your questions to @drosennhl.

Who do you think has been each team's best player so far in the Stanley Cup Final? -- phruitloops420
There wasn't a best player for the Tampa Bay Lightning until Game 3, and I thought it was forward Nikita Kucherov. He was everywhere, performing at a high level with his usual skill and creativity. He had two assists in the Lightning's four-goal second period, six shots on goal and 11 total shot attempts (each team highs) and was plus-3. Kucherov played fast and played with the puck. When he does that he's one of the best players in the world. He was in Game 3.
The best player for the Colorado Avalanche has been forward Valeri Nichushkin, who had a goal and an assist in Game 1 and two goals in Game 2. He would have had a goal five minutes into Game 3 if not for a smart offside challenge by Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. Nichushkin had five shot attempts in Game 3. He was like the rest of his teammates, not at his best, but he was the best player on the ice, both teams included, in Games 1 and 2 with his power, smarts, shot and puck-moving ability. How many players would have shot when Nichushkin passed to Andre Burakovsky to set up the overtime winner in Game 1? The answer: A lot. Nichushkin smartly realized Burakovsky would have the better shot because Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy would be moving, so he delivered a perfect pass and Burakovsky scored to give Colorado a 4-3 win and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. He set the tone with a strong first shift of the first period in Game 2 and scored on the power play at 2:54.

Let's try to unpack all the drama around the Philadelphia Flyers and John Tortorella. Is this micromanagement by Dave Scott? He hired an outside firm to aid in the hiring process. Rumors around Chuck Fletcher and his lack of interest in Tortorella. What is going on with the Flyers? -- @theashcity
Tortorella is the right hire for the Flyers and that is the only thing that matters at this point.
The Flyers hired The Coaches Agency to help and there's nothing wrong with contracting a firm to assist in the hiring process. In fact, The Coaches Agency lists on its website the Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks as clients. Their role was to take some of the burden off Fletcher, Philadelphia's general manager. Scott is the chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor, the holding company that owns the Flyers. I do not believe he meddled in the process. He might have wanted information as it was going along, but Fletcher said the people in the room to interview Tortorella were himself, assistant GM Brent Flahr, assistant to the GM Daniel Briere and special adviser Dean Lombardi. That's a hockey interview. The Coaches Agency helped the Flyers get to the interviews with candidates and formulate strategies on what to ask based on what was important to the team. Fletcher said he made the final decision that Tortorella was the right person for the job.
Now it's on Tortorella to prove it. The Flyers have lacked an identity for too long. Tortorella will give them one. They will eventually be a hard team to play against, like the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Lightning were in Tortorella's previous coaching stops. He will make them accountable. He will make them defend and not stifle offense. He will push for more speed in their lineup but will not allow players to sacrifice on the defensive end for offense.
The Flyers will do a better job of insulating goalie Carter Hart if they buy into Tortorella's style of play and coaching. Tortorella likes to say the Flyers need to "get some skin," which means being able to play with an extra layer of toughness through any situation. They'll need more talent and depth to become a Stanley Cup contender, but Tortorella will begin to build the foundation of what he believes a contender needs in training camp. There will be controversy and confrontation along the way. That's what he wants. His track record proves it works.
How did coach Jon Cooper get Andrei Vasilevskiy to be cool staying in for all of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final? -- @PaigesFall
I still can't believe Vasilevskiy wasn't pulled after the second period, after giving up five goals on 23 shots in Game 2 at Ball Arena on Saturday. I thought for sure we'd see Brian Elliott start the third for the Lightning. When that didn't happen, the first place I looked was Tampa Bay's bench after Colorado defenseman Cale Makar scored a shorthanded goal 2:04 into the third. I was looking for Elliott to hop over the boards and take Vasilevskiy's place. I was wondering what possible benefit there was for Vasilevskiy or the Lightning to keep the goalie in the game?
But Cooper said after the game he never thought about it, that they win and lose as a team and if he even tried to pull the goalie, Vasilevskiy wouldn't have come out because that's the type of competitor he is. Again, I thought he should have pulled him, but it's why I'm writing this mailbag and Cooper is coaching the Lightning. He knows his players better than me or anybody else who was or remains critical of his decision.
Vasilevskiy came back in Game 3 with a vengeance, like the Lightning did as a team. He made 37 saves and was brilliant on many. It was vintage Vasilevskiy. We all should have seen it coming. Cooper said earlier in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that no one takes a loss harder than Vasilevskiy. His record after them in the playoffs, 19-2 since the start of the 2020 postseason, speaks to how he responds. Vasilevskiy didn't respond well in Game 2, but he typically gets better as a series goes on and Game 3 might have been the start of it. Staying in for Game 2 and getting shelled like he did might have provided the motivation.

Is there a chance Barry Trotz gets hired as head coach by the Florida Panthers, or is it Andrew Brunette that gets hired? -- @SamRitter8
There is a chance. There is also a chance for Trotz to end up with the Winnipeg Jets. There is also a chance he doesn't coach at all and instead winds up in a limited front-office role with the Nashville Predators. The Nashville Post recently reported that Trotz and his wife Kim purchased a home near the 12South neighborhood in Nashville.
But there is a chance for Trotz to Florida because Brunette is still the interim coach, a role he inherited when Joel Quenneville resigned Oct. 28. He's a Jack Adams Award finalist given to the best coach in the NHL, but the Panthers weren't that same dangerous, confident team in the playoffs they were in the regular season. They won a round for the first time since 1996, defeating the Washington Capitals in six games in the Eastern Conference First Round, but they were swept by the Lightning in the second round. The longer the Panthers go without retaining Brunette, the more it leads me to believe that they're interested in one of the bigger, more experienced names out there.
Trotz obviously fits into that category. He's second in NHL history in games coached (1,812) and third in wins (914). I don't think Trotz is looking for a fixer-upper if he coaches next season. He wants to win. The Panthers are built to win, but the Jets could be too with some tweaks. Then again, there's way less pressure if Trotz moves into a front-office role. We'll know soon.
Where do the Canucks go from here? I know that's a broad question, but it seems they're stuck as a franchise. How do they get unstuck? -- @DAVIDJMAYS_
Reload, not rebuild. That should be the Vancouver Canucks motto this offseason. They have high-end talent. Elias Pettersson should be one of the top forwards in the NHL. Same for Quinn Hughes among defensemen and Thatcher Demko among goalies. Bo Horvat is a leader. J.T. Miller should not be traded. The Canucks will not get equal value for the forward that will help them be a playoff team next season. He's fast, strong on the wall, physical, tenacious on pucks and skilled. Conor Garland is all those things, just in a smaller package. The Canucks need more players like that: speed, shot, the ability to be versatile, to play top-six or top-nine with multiple different players throughout the season are priorities. I think the Canucks can be a playoff team with a few right moves to improve the overall speed and make them more of an aggressive forechecking team. They should not rebuild. They're better than that.
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