Stanley Cup Final filled with feel-good storylines
Key Penguins, Sharks in the NHL championship final have interesting career paths
In assessing the 2016 Stanley Cup championship final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks, you can have your speed versus speed take or breakdown of which team has the deeper lineup.
I'll take the feel-good storylines. There is no shortage of human-interest sagas that will tug on your heartstrings as the series opens Monday.
Let's begin at the top.
Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was destined for retirement a couple years ago when Carolina Hurricanes ownership decided to push him out in favour of Ron Francis. Rutherford has gone on quite a run in adding key parts to the Penguins.
His San Jose counterpart, Doug Wilson, never went to a Stanley Cup final as a player or in his current role. He missed out with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1991-92, having been traded to the Sharks prior to the season. His brother Murray won four Stanley Cups with Montreal Canadiens. Now, almost 40 years after he broke in with the Blackhawks, the eternally youthful-looking 58-year-old Wilson has arrived.
Wilson and the hockey community also feel pretty good for veterans Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Finally, after 11 seasons together and a combined 3,093 regular-season and playoff games since they were selected one-two, respectively, at the 1997 NHL draft, they have advanced to the championship series.
By the way, Marleau could become the 28th member of the Triple Gold Club. He's missing a Stanley Cup ring after winning a world championship in 2003 and Olympic gold in 2010 and 2014.
Murray trying to pull a Dryden
Then there is the goaltending matchup. The Penguins' Matt Murray, who turned 22 last Wednesday, is trying to pull off a Ken Dryden by coming up late in the season and going all the way.
San Jose's Martin Jones could become the first goalie since Patrick Roy to win Stanley Cups with two different teams, although this one would be more meaningful for Martin than in his backup role with the Los Angeles Kings two years ago.
The coaches have been a fascinating study. The Sharks' Peter DeBoer has an uncanny ability to get things done in his first season with teams. Four years ago, he led the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup final, and here he is again.
Meanwhile, Penguins bench boss Mike Sullivan finally moved out of John Tortorella's shadow as his longtime assistant. Sullivan is an original Shark, then coached Thornton with the Boston Bruins for a season-and-a-half before Jumbo Joe was traded to San Jose in 2005.
Sullivan was a mid-season replacement after he was promoted from the Penguins' AHL franchise in Wilkes-Barre last December, and he has brought a few of his Baby Pens with him in the likes of Murray and Bryan Rust, the Game 7 hero in the last round.
Medical marvels
The Penguins also have medical marvels in defencemen Kris Letang and Olli Maatta. Letang suffered a stroke 27 months ago and his playing career was in doubt. Maata overcame a low-grade form of thyroid cancer, in which he had a tumour removed from his neck in November 2014.
The Penguins also have motivation every time they see their former teammate Pascal Dupuis or Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux walk into the dressing room. Lemieux would love to go out a winner as owner. He's trying to sell the Penguins. Dupuis was forced into retirement because of a blood clot condition last December.
Finally, and maybe my favourite storyline, is to see Penguins assistant coach Jacques Martin advance to the Stanley Cup Final after 30 years in the pro game.
Earlier this month, Martin celebrated the 30th anniversary of guiding the Guelph Platers to the 1986 Memorial Cup title.
He became the St. Louis Blues head coach the next season. But until this spring, he had advanced only as far as the conference final on a couple of occasions, once as head coach of the 2002-03 Ottawa Senators and seven years later as Montreal's bench boss, when he helped lead the Habs' upset the Penguins, then the defending champions, in the second round.
Martin came close in 1996. He was one of Marc Crawford's assistant coaches when the Colorado Avalanche hit a Rocky Mountain high. But Martin left the Avalanche in January that season in order to become the Senators head coach.
Now he gets a second chance.