Islanders News: Waiting for Lee and Lehner, feeling Wilde

The NHL season will finally, mercifully come to an end with game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals tomorrow night. That will take the focus back from two finalists to a league-wide, three-week sprint of NHL awards, draft and free agency jockeying, the draft itself, free agency flirtation, and pajama pictures.

But first, a little more of this, that and the other.

Islanders Reading

• Arthur Staple knows you’re wondering why Anders Lee and Robin Lehner haven’t been re-signed yet, and also knows Lou’s never gonna talk about that until it’s done (or not). [Athletic]
• Here are 10 under-the-radar picks from the 2018 draft who had fantastic 2018-19 seasons. One of them is a Wilde man. [THN]

Stanley Cup Finals

• Perhaps you’ve heard this one? The Blues were in last place on Jan. 3 so they are used to adversity, yada yada think they can handle bouncing back for Game 7. [NHL]
• They’ll welcome back Ivan Barbashev after he returns from the league’s latest “just because sometimes” suspensions, and Bruce Cassidy didn’t get a chance to have another two-minute rant about officiating that is designed only to harm his team. [NHL]
• Maybe the Bruins will focus on these matchups for Game 7. [TSN]
• If the Blues win, they’ll recall family connections throughout the team, from Doug Armstrong’s longtime NHL linesman and scout dad to brothers around pro hockey, and the late Mandi Schwartz. [TSN]

Elsewhere

The one and only Michael Leboff: The replies are outstanding, in all sorts of (mostly) unintended ways:

• With the Ducks ready to move on from Corey Perry one way or another, what next? [Anaheim Calling]
• Roundtable: Did the Sabres overpay for Jeff Skinner? Or is it one of those deals they just had to get done, whatever it took? [Die By The Blade]
• Alex Meruelo seems poised to purchase controlling interest and bring much-needed stability to the Arizona Coyotes. [Arizona Republic | Athletic]
• Six teams who could emerge as Stanley Cup contenders in the next three years, which is the span of time where just about any of 31 teams can emerge as contenders. [Sportsnet]
• Examining the possible pros and cons of the Oilers and Canucks swapping contract mistakes in Milan Lucic and Loui Eriksson. [TSN]
• The Flyers insist Kevin Hayes is “open minded” about signing in Philadelphia. [Sportsnet]
• Not hockey, but: Apparently Toronto’s NBA team is in the finals, but they’re in a long-running dispute with Monster about the logo the team adopted in 2014. I had no idea they changed from the dribbling dinosaur or whatever, but I admit as soon as I saw this logo I thought “Energy drink?” [Sportsnet]
• Also not hockey: Sad, washed up former NHL never-was cited for venting his anger about respecting bike lanes. [Page Six]