NHL 24 Franchise Mode Career

[JurassicPuck]

Canucks Win 4-1 and Head Back to Vancouver with the Stanley Cup on the Line

By Russell Dawson / Vancouver Canucks
June 6, 2024

Game 4 at the Prudential Center as the Devils look to even this series at 2-2 before we head back to Vancouver.

Who other than the man himself J.T. Miller to stay red hot and score his 5th goal in three games to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead 10 minutes in. It would remain that way until the end of the period after a pretty uneventful first, outside of a Miller goal and a Boeser high stick that led to 0 goals against. Shots are 9-7 for New Jersey.

But wait... Elias Pettersson is not on the bench to start the second period. He took a pretty hard hit from Kevin Bahl earlier in the first but had remained in the game until now. Let's hope he's okay. As the puck drops for the 2nd, before a minute even passed through the period, Colin Miller (who was replacing the injured Carrier) took a holding penalty to send the Canucks to the powerplay. Just 30 seconds into the man advantage, J.T. Miller would find himself open in the slot and Quinn Hughes dished it to him. With the way he's been playing, you know he was going to do something good with it. With the puck on his stick he fired it past Montembeault to make it 2-0 Canucks. This guy is not running, he is sprinting for that Conn Smythe trophy. It wouldn't be until Kuzmenko took a hooking penalty when the Devils finally scored their first goal from John Marino on the PP. That's their first goal in 5 periods, stretching back to Game 3. Despite a PP opportunity for the Canucks, the game would head to the third period with Vancouver holding a 2-1 lead. Shots are dead even at 15 a piece.

Gut check time for the Canucks here. Can they hold on to this one goal lead and take this series back to Vancouver with a chance to win the Stanley Cup at home in front of their fans. Neither team could get one past the goaltenders despite powerplays for both teams. Colin Miller would take his second penalty of the game at the 13:17 mark, an elbowing call, to give the Canucks their second man advantage chance of the period. About halfway through the Powerplay, Andrei Kuzmenko would receive a pass from Boeser and he scored from a tight angle past the shoulder of Montembeault to give the Canucks a 3-1 lead! With 10:27 remaining, New Jersey had to push for offense and Vancouver needed to shut them down. Minutes continued to tick down on the clock as New Jersey pushed. Montembeault rushed to the bench for the extra attacker. They worked it around the offensive zone. Hamilton down to Hughes... Lafferty intercepts! He heads down the ice with Devils on his tail... He SCORES! 4-1 Canucks! Lafferty buries the empty net goal to give his team a 4-1 win and a 3-1 series lead as we head back to Rogers Arena for what could be the game the Stanley Cup is awarded. Massive games once again from Miller and Boeser who have completely taken over this series. No word on Elias Pettersson thus far for his availability for Game 5

[JurassicPuck]

Canucks Without Swedish Star Pettersson for Game 5
Elias Pettersson will be unavailable for a potential Cup Winning Game 5 in Vancouver

Jeremy Evans - June 7th, 2024

They have a 3-1 series lead but the curse of the Vancouver Canucks lives on with the news coming out this morning before Game 5 tonight

Elias Pettersson was leveled by Kevin Bahl in the first period and, although he finished out the period, was not on the bench for the start of the second. It has finally been revealed that the Canucks top scorer in the regular season will not be able to play in Game 5 in Vancouver.

Petey has received a lot of pushback from fans all around the NHL about his play so far these playoffs. Coming into the series he had just 13 points through 19 games, placing him 7th on the team in scoring. After just securing a $9 Million 3 year contract extension this season, he's been at the forefront of the fans discourse this postseason. To his defense, he has been productive so far in the finals against the Devils with 5 points, although all of them are assists.

While those numbers on paper look decent, when you see how dominant his linemates Miller and Boeser have been it outshines Elias heavily. Regardless of his play, Vancouver will be in tough without one of their best players with the cup in the building for Game 5. The Devils have a very good chance to comeback in this series with a win and sending it back to the Prudential Center for a Game 6. We'll see how the Canucks will fare tonight when the puck drops at 6:00 at Rogers Arena.

[JurassicPuck]

2024 Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 Recap

By Russell Dawson / Vancouver Canucks
June 8, 2024

With the Swedish superstar Elias Pettersson out of the lineup for Game 5, Coach Bear Schenn makes a bold decision and brings back Arshdeep Bains to the lineup. Miller slides to 1st line C between Boeser and Kuzmenko. Mikheyev flanks Jenner and Garland on the left and Bains does the same on the 3rd with Lafferty and Hoglander. Huge moment for the hometown kid in a monumental game. This could be it Vancouver. A 3-1 series lead. At home at Rogers Arena in front of the Canucks faithful who have dreamt of a moment like this for so so long. Game 5. Here. We. Go!

This place is electric with the roof of the building feeling like it could blow at any moment. The Canucks feed off the fans and take it to New Jersey early, forcing them into two stick infraction penalties from Haula and Palat. With a 5-on-3 Powerplay, Conor Garland would make no mistake and bury a wrister from the top of the circles as Rogers Arena goes ballistic! The penalties wouldn't stop there for New Jersey as Meier would take a roughing call, putting the Canucks back on the Power. As the Canucks worked the puck around, Hoglander would find J.T. Miller open in the slot and BANG! He scores! 2-0 Canucks. What a huge start for the home team as New Jersey has no answer. Just a couple minutes passed before... JT FREAKIN MILLLER SCORES AGAIN! Canucks have a 3-0 lead 11 minutes in!! This is incredible from Vancouver right now and this place is absolutely loving it. The goals wouldn't even stop there as Sam Lafferty would score just a minute later. Canucks not only head to the second up 4-0, they are also outshooting the Devils a mind boggling 21-5. You don't even want to mention it but... Could the Canucks actually do this?!

We head to the second expecting a huge push from New Jersey after a brutal first period. And push they did as Timo Meier would score on the Powerplay less than 2 minutes in after a Soucy high stick. We have a game here folks. The Devils aren't going away that easily. Dawson Mercer would score 5 minutes later from the bottom of the circle as the Devils cut the lead to just two. Canucks fans are on the edge of their seats and we're only halfway through the second. Both teams were in a dog fight and were fighting tooth and nail for every battle, loose puck and rebound. Palat was assessed a delay of game penalty with 5 minutes left but the Canucks would fail to score on it. We head to the third period with Vancouver up 4-2 and shots in favor of the Nucks 32-12.

Here we freakin go. 20 minutes until the Stanley Cup could potentially have a winner. New Jersey comes out and pushes earlier, putting pressure on the Canucks but Demko looks strong back there in net. Alas the Canucks retain the puck and head into the Devils zone. Brock Boeser throws a shot to the net and it's a scramble in front as it rebounds all the way out to the top of the circles. Mikheyev quickly regains the puck and with the realization of traffic at the net he fires it quickly at Montembeault... AND SCORES!! Mikheyev scores to give the Canucks a 5-2 Lead!!! 15:10 stands in the way between the Canucks and the Stanley Cup. New Jersey continues to push and it forces Podkolzin to take a slashing penalty to negate a chance against. Devils head to the powerplay and Timo Meier makes Vancouver pay with a half clapper at the top of the circles. 5-3 Game. Not long after Jack Hughes takes a high sticking minor and during that powerplay, Novak takes his own hooking penalty. The result is a short 5-on-3 for the Canucks before a long 5-on-4. While Vancouver did fail to score on the man advantage, it still did take more time off the clock, something the Devils desperately need more of.

With just under 5 minutes to go Siegenthaler destroys Podkolzin from behind, knocking his helmet off in the process.

A costly penalty for New Jersey as he heads to the box for boarding. As time dwindled down on the penalty, and a kill that featured a very offensively driven Devils, Dawson Mercer would get caught with his stick in the skates of Arshdeep Bains. Vancouver now had a powerplay till the end of the game as a result. They just needed to play extra defensively with the man advantage and they had this. But were the hockey gods really going to make it that easy... As Quinn Hughes skated into the offensive zone he had his pocket picked by Marino who sent it up ice to Nosek. As he gained speed down the wall and into Vancouver territory, he saw Miller and Novak beelining to the net. He fed Novak in the slot and he buried it along the ice far side past Demko. The arena was shocked. Suddenly this was a 5-4 game with 1:23 remaining.

New Jersey continued to push hard. Hischier, Siegenthaler and Hughes all had prime chances that Demko barely managed to keep out. New Jersey pulled their goalie with 30 seconds left in the game to make it 5v5. Hischier cut to the slot with the puck and took a shot but Hoglander was there to make a huge block. There was a scramble in front before Hoglander pulled it out of the pile and dished it to Miller heading up ice, and an empty net at the other end of the ice. With Hischier checking him hard, Miller made a move to the outside and turned on the burners, leaving the Devils Captain behind him. He crosses the red line.... the blue line.... HE SCORES. J.T. Miller scores a Hat Trick and the Vancouver Canucks are going to be Stanley Cup Champions!!!

Spoiler

With 28 seconds on the clock and the shots at a mind-boggling 52-29 differential in Vancouver's favor, the puck dropped and the Canucks took possession. Taking it behind their net as time ran out... YOUR VANCOUVER CANUCKS ARE STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!

Players rush over the boards head over heels towards each other and to their netminder Thatcher Demko. Gloves, helmets and sticks fly everywhere as Rogers Arena is in a full blown celebration.

As we watch the Canucks on top of the world on one side of the ice sheet, the New Jersey Devils players hang their heads in disappointment on the other. Eventually both teams head to center ice to partake in the handshake line

Very cool moment as during the handshakes, we saw Jack and Quinn Hughes embrace in a hug that shows the love these two guys have for each other. As the Devils vacate the ice, Commissioner Gary Bettman comes out to award the Conn Smythe trophy.

Of course it was only going to be one man and he solidified it and then some after his performance tonight. J.T. Miller was a man possessed this series, breaking Gretzky records along the way.

Now we get to the moment we have been waiting for... the Stanley Cup being awarded to the team captain

Quinn Hughes receives the cup and this place sounds like it just broke the sound barrier!! What a moment for this man and this team!

Quinn Hughes would go on to pass the cup to J.T. Miller who has put his name atop the NHL record book. Thatcher Demko would get the next pass after an up and down season that culminated in him here, raising the Cup above his head. These three players were monumental in this moment right now. And finally we have the picture that will go down in Canucks history as the greatest moment this franchise has had thus far:

[johnstone1987]

Congrats on the Cup win!

[SENS_AK27]

Congrats on the Cup Win.

I really liked the player graphics you introduced. They look sick.

[JurassicPuck]

Quote: Originally Posted by johnstone1987

Congrats on the Cup win!

Quote: Originally Posted by SENS_AK27

Congrats on the Cup Win. I really liked the player graphics you introduced. They look sick.

Appreciate it fellas, glad you liked the graphics as well. Big off-season coming up with some of our guys looking to get paid after a big postseason. We’ll see if we’re able to bring them back or if we’ll go in another direction next year

[JurassicPuck]

The Washington Capitals have announced they will retire Nicklas Backstrom's number and hang it in the rafters of Capital One Arena

[JurassicPuck]

2024 NHL Awards Show Recap
The Finalists and Winners for every NHL Award, including the All-Star Teams

Jeremy Evans - June 16th, 2024

The annual NHL awards show wrapped up last night as the players were able to enjoy a night in Las Vegas with some of their friends and foes from around the league. Let's see who came out as winners on Saturday night as well as who came up short. We'll start with the winners we knew coming in.

Art Ross Trophy
Winner: William Nylander - 108 Points

Rocket Richard Trophy
Winner: Auston Matthews - 55 Goals

William M. Jennings Trophy
Winner: Filip Gustavsson - 42 Wins and 2.59 GAA


Calder Trophy
Finalists
Connor Bedard (CHI) - 81 GP 32 Goals 43 Assists 75 Points -26 +/-
Adam Fantilli (CBJ) - 82 GP 23 Goals 41 Assists 64 Points +12 +/-
Joseph Woll (TOR) - 71 GP 40-24-4 .905 SV% 2.99 GAA 3 SO
Winner:

Spoiler

Connor Bedard (CHI)

The future of the NHL did not disappoint in his first NHL season as Connor Bedard takes home the Calder Trophy in what is the start of a future hall of fame career. The Blackhawks star was easily the best player on the team as showcased by him being the leading scorer by 20 points more than Taylor Hall. That -26 may look ugly but the Hawks are a bad team. They aren’t expecting him to be a defensive beast right away (Sidney Crosby didn’t really become the defensive star he is now until the past few years) and Chicago management just want him at this point to play to his offensive potential. While it won’t be in the near future, expect Bedard and his team to be a powerhouse when their time is ready

Selke Trophy
Finalists
Sidney Crosby (PIT) - 79 GP 21 Goals 42 Assists 63 Points -4 +/- 21:43 TOI
Mark Stone (VGK) - 82 GP 22 Goals 51 Assists 73 Points +13 +/- 21:32 TOI
Anze Kopitar (LA) - 81 GP 28 Goals 52 Assists 80 Points +18 +/- 21:45 TOI
Winner:

Spoiler

Mark Stone (VGK)

The Vegas Golden Knight Mark Stone becomes the first winger to win the Selke Trophy since 2003 when Jere Lehtinen took home the award. The 2023 Stanley Cup Champion was a big reason for the defensive play of the Golden Knights this past season, tied for allowing the third least amount of goals against. On top of that, not only did he tie his career high of 73 points, Stone played a full season for the first time in his career and his most in a season since his first full NHL campaign in 2015 with the Senators (80 games). The former Brandon Wheat King will look to do much of the same next season for Vegas as they attempt to fight for another Stanley Cup next season

Vezina Trophy
Finalists
Filip Gustavsson (MIN) - 64 GP 42-19-2 .915 SV% 2.59 GAA 4 SO
Samuel Montembeault (NJ) - 67 GP 37-22-6 .910 SV% 2.86 GAA 2 SO
Alexandar Georgiev (COL) - 64 GP 39-19-5 .914 SV% 2.64 GAA 7 SO
Winner:

Spoiler

Filip Gustavsson (MIN)

It was Filip Gustavsson and Kirill Kaprizov that willed the Minnesota Wild to a playoff appearance and Gustavsson gets his flowers with his first Vezina Trophy win. The Swedish netminder won 42 games for his team and did so with a .915 save percentage, second in the NHL among starters. He was a big reason for Minnesota being the best defensive team in the league this year. So while his playoff performance was subpar, an ugly .892 save percentage against the Jets in round one, he’s still getting acclimated to playoff hockey. Minnesota and Gustavsson will hope to make some more noise come next year's playoffs.

Norris Trophy
Finalists
Quinn Hughes (VAN) - 82 GP 12 Goals 59 Assists 71 Points
Dougie Hamilton (NJ) - 82 GP 22 Goals 60 Assists 82 Points
Erik Karlsson (PIT) - 82 GP 16 Goals 70 Assists 86 Points
Winner:

Spoiler

Erik Karlsson (PIT)

Make it 4 Norris Trophies for Erik Karlsson and the first to win it back to back years since Nicklas Lidstrom in ‘07 and ‘08. Once again Karlsson made enough of an impact on a non-playoff team to still win the award. It also places him 5th all time in Norris Trophies behind Bobby Orr, Doug Harvey, Nicklas Lidstrom and Ray Bourque. We might need to be having a conversation about just exactly how high EK65 ranks in a best defenseman of all time discussion. In the meantime though, the Pittsburgh Penguins were a disaster this year and we saw what we thought was the impossible happen, Sidney Crosby declining. That had the Pens in disarray all season and scoring was a huge issue for them as a whole. Karlsson, as a defenseman keep in mind, had 22 points more than their second highest scorer in Evgeni Malkin who had 64 in 69 games. If Crosby can bounce back, Malkin stay healthy, and Jarry steps up his play, the Penguins could be back fighting for a playoff spot

Ted Lindsay Award
Finalists
William Nylander (TOR) - 82 GP 39 Goals 69 Assists 108 Points
Connor McDavid (EDM) - 82 GP 44 Goals 56 Assists 100 Points
Auston Matthews (TOR) - 82 GP 55 Goals 44 Assists 99 Points
Winner:

Spoiler

Connor McDavid (EDM)

Despite not leading in points this season, the players still agree that Connor McDavid is the best player in the NHL. The catalyst of the third best offense in the NHL this year, McDavid really improved his defensive game this year, as showcased by Edmonton being tied for allowing the third least goals this season. Obviously the second round exit to the Oilers wasn’t the final result the Captain wanted but they did lose to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Vancouver Canucks. While Draisaitl did battle injuries during the year, they’ll need him to bounce back after a weak for his standard 78 points in 71 games. Expect Edmonton to come back better than ever next season

Hart Trophy
Finalists
William Nylander (TOR) - 82 GP 39 Goals 69 Assists 108 Points
Kyle Connor (WPG) - 81 GP 44 Goals 57 Assists 101 Points
Kirill Kaprizov (MIN) - 82 GP 54 Goals 44 Assists 98 Points
Winner:

Spoiler

William Nylander (TOR)

William Nylander thrust himself into superstar territory with his performance in 2023-24 and the hockey world took notice. His 108 points are 21 more than the career high he recorded last season and it led the entire NHL. While Matthews continued his scoring prowess with a league leading 55 tucks, Nylander has put his hat forward as the potential “guy” of the big four. We’ll need to see a similar campaign next year for the Leafs if we want to solidify that claim however. Of course the big thing for Nylander and Toronto is will they finally find some playoff success in the future. They fell in embarrassing fashion to the weak Montreal Canadiens (have you heard that one before?) and the heat is on for this core four to produce some postseason achievements. Only time will tell.

NHL All-Star 1st Team

NHL All-Star 2nd Team

All-Star Teams Player Stats