What makes a Stanley Cup champion?<\/p>\n
For two-time winner Blake Coleman, it\u2019s about team construction.<\/p>\n
The former Tampa Bay Lightning forward, now with the Calgary Flames, recognizes that he and Barclay Goodrow were acquired at the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline to fit a certain role.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the high-end guys that could steal a game on the power play, [and] the goaltender that can make the big saves,\u201d Coleman said of Lightning stars like Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. \u201cThen we just kind of fit in as that shutdown line that could play tough minutes and match against other teams\u2019 top guys. So that team didn\u2019t have a lot of holes in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the 2020 Trade Deadline, Goodrow was traded by the San Jose Sharks with a third-round pick for a 2020 first-round pick. Coleman was traded by the New Jersey Devils for 2019 first-round pick Nolan Foote and a 2020 first-round pick. Those are huge assets, especially when they are dealt for forwards playing in the bottom-six, which caused quite a stir back then.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times at the Deadline, you see the star players getting traded,\u201d Goodrow told San Jose Hockey Now in Calgary. \u201cIn Tampa\u2019s position, they had the stars and they needed more [of] the role players. The guys who can play the third and fourth line. [Coleman, Yanni Gourde, and] myself all play a similar style.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the trade that season, Goodrow had a then career-high eight goals and 24 points in 62 games. With the Devils, Coleman had twice scored 20 goals but never touched 40 points. Gourde\u2019s scoring totals had dropped each of the last three seasons entering the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n
Yet, that Tampa Bay third line outscored opponents 11-6 en route to the 2020 Stanley Cup. According to MoneyPuck, it was the only line Jon Cooper iced in all 25 playoff games. They played a physical, defensive, and low-scoring style that could protect leads and win games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we didn\u2019t change as players,\u201d Goodrow reflected. \u201cWhen teams make trades, they\u2019re trading for the player that they see, and I don\u2019t think they\u2019re really expecting [players] to change much. Blake and I found chemistry as soon as we got put on the line together\u2026 We made a really good third line, and a line that kind of stuck together from the second Cooper put us together.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a pretty simple formula, according to Goodrow: Players who play the right way + proper roles = winning.<\/p>\n
Coleman hopes that Goodrow can bring that winning formula to the Sharks. They already have the star offensive talents like Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, plus netminder Yaroslav Askarov has been dominant recently. What does Goodrow bring?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s won,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cHe\u2019s been around it. He knows what a good culture and team looks like. And he\u2019s also a guy that doesn\u2019t cheat the game. He plays the right way. He leads by example in a lot of different ways. [I\u2019m] always following him and happy for him and his crew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides solid fourth-line and penalty-killing work this season for the Sharks, Goodrow is setting an example for the Sharks.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, the alternate captain\u2019s example is watched closely by the young Sharks. While Goodrow may not be on the Sharks\u2019 next playoff team, defense-minded bottom-six players like Collin Graf, Ty Dellandrea, or Ethan Cardwell, for example, could be. Perhaps they could play a role similar to Coleman and Goodrow\u2019s in Tampa.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also not just about the on the ice too: Graf and Yaroslav Askarov<\/a> credited Goodrow recently for playing a rap song between periods that got the guys going in comeback wins.<\/p>\n Graf says Goodrow played a rap song between 2nd and 3rd periods to get the guys going. Askarov says Goody has done it a couple times recently and it\u2019s worked. Neither could ID the song<\/p>\n