Visiting the Stanley Cup final weeks before hearing their names called early in the NHL draft, top prospects Matthew Schaefer, Michael Misa, James Hagens and Jake O’Brien got a surprise at the Florida Panthers’ practice facility on Monday.
Brad Marchand pulled up a chair and joined them for breakfast. The 37-year-old veteran shared some laughs and chatted with them hours before he and the Panthers face the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3.
“You think you’re just going to say hi, and then you’re sitting at a table with Marchand and he’s talking to you,” Schaefer said. “We were talking about the draft and the (scouting) combine, and he was like, ‘I didn’t get to go there.’ And he’s laughing, and I’m like, ‘Well, look where you are now: You’re in the Stanley Cup final.’”
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Stanley Cup Final shifts to Florida with series tied 1-1
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Schaefer, Misa, Hagens and O’Brien also met Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and took in the Oilers’ morning skate. Schaefer first met McDavid in January when the three-time MVP returned to Erie, where his No. 97 was retired by the Otters of the Ontario Hockey League.
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This interaction — in the arena where McDavid was drafted first a decade ago — went a little smoother.
“I didn’t think I was going to have to talk at his jersey retirement, and then I ended up talking to him,” Schaefer recalled. “I ran out of things to say, and I ended up looking at McDavid and go, ‘I’m proud of you.’ Nobody would say that.”
Schaefer is NHL Central Registry’s top-ranked prospect, though there is still considerable debate as to whom among Schaefer, Misa and Hagens the New York Islanders will select with the first pick after winning the draft lottery.
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Hagens grew up on Long Island cheering for them and went to games at Nassau Coliseum. Recently, he saw a bumper sticker that read, “Bring Hagens home,” but he’s also a realist about the possibility of his hometown team not selecting him.
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“I just want to be (with) a team that wants me the most — I want to play for any of these teams,” Hagens said. “It’s just a competitive nature that you want to be the first person off the board. It’s exciting, so I can’t wait.”
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‘Trading’ Barkov
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov did not register a point in either of the first two games of the final and has a minus-4 rating. Leave it to coach Paul Maurice, ever the jokester, to cut the tension.
“We’re trading him.” Maurice quipped. “No, I’m not (worried) at all. There’s action at both ends of the ice all the time. I don’t think this is a statistical series because it’s not relatable to series that you played in the past. Shot attempts, the sheer volume of quality offence driven by both teams and at the same time, both teams are defending very well. He got a minus on the 4-on-4 with a heck of a shot block, but it’s in the back of the net.”
Barkov recently won the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward for a third time. He played a big role in keeping McDavid off the scoresheet in Game 7 of the final last year when Florida won 2-1 to capture the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.
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