Damien Cox: Is Pastrnak OK? What about Stamkos? The road to the Stanley Cup is full of unexpected curves

Is it really 24 teams with a shot at the Stanley Cup? Feels that way.

After all, who really remembers where we left off?

The NHL returns with a hastily organized playoff format invented out of thin air. We’ll have eight best-of-five series starting in two weeks, some involving teams that didn’t imagine they’d be playing playoff hockey back in March.

As we move improbably toward this curious summer hockey landscape, here are some non-Maple Leafs storylines to keep an eye on:

Some big names who wouldn’t have been playing if the post-season had started in April are now back. At the top of that list is Tampa’s Steven Stamkos, who had core surgery in March. He had a little hiccup in the Lightning training sessions, but appears likely to be a participant when Tampa gets started.

Jake Guentzel of the Penguins had shoulder surgery and wasn’t supposed to be back for the post-season, but he’ll be available to play on Sidney Crosby’s wing. Columbus, Toronto’s opponent in the qualifiers, will have both Seth Jones and Oliver Bjorkstrand back from broken ankles. Carolina’s Dougie Hamilton suffered a broken fibula on Jan. 16, but will be back on the Hurricanes’ top defence pairing with Jaccob Slavin against the Rangers.

Moves that weren’t made at the trade deadline are now looming as influential. The Rangers, four points out of the second wild card at the trade deadline, turned down offers for left-winger Chris Kreider and instead signed him to a seven-year contract. Kreider then immediately broke his foot, eliminating him from the rest of the season. Then came the coronavirus pause. Now Kreider, who had 24 goals playing with Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich, is back and should be a significant force against Carolina. Similarly, Montreal looked likely to move Tomas Tatar and Jeff Petry at the deadline, but GM Marc Bergevin decided to hang on to them. Keeping Tatar has proven even more important in terms of competing with Pittsburgh in the qualifiers because of the uncertainty of the availability of Max Domi, who is weighing the health risks.

Two fascinating goaltending battles could influence the Western Conference playdowns. In Vegas, 35-year-old Marc-André Fleury is facing a tough challenge from Robin Lehner, who was acquired in a three-way deal with Chicago and Toronto. In Nashville, Juuse Saros started 15 of the last 21 Predators games before the break, seemingly supplanting Pekka Rinne as the No. 1 puckstopper. Head coach John Hynes has a tough call for Game 1 against Arizona.

Two other veteran goalies, meanwhile, may have seen their last games, at least with the only teams either has played for. Corey Crawford and his three Cup rings have been listed as “unfit to play” in Chicago, which means he could have COVID-19 or just about anything else under the NHL’s absurd injury reporting protocol. Head coach Jeremy Colliton doesn’t have great options to face Edmonton. Clearly, the Hawks never planned to be in the post-season, so they’re having to scramble. Malcolm Subban seems the likeliest choice. In New York, meanwhile, it seems unlikely that Henrik Lundqvist will be able to wrest the starting job away from youngsters Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev. Shesterkin, in particular, was brilliant before the league stopped, going 9-1 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .940 save percentage after making his NHL debut on Jan. 7.

The NHL’s salary cap will remain flat at $81.5 million (U.S.) for next season, and possibly longer. Before the pandemic, it was thought to be headed for upwards of $84 million next season. That’s already shaping conversations about many players. Washington, for example, may have to let goalie Braden Holtby walk after this season. In Vancouver, there are already rumours about the future of winger Brock Boeser. The flat cap could also be really good news for Seattle’s expansion team, which might end up with more talent available to GM Ron Francis in the expansion draft next June.

We can now resume the conversation about which teams really benefited from the trade deadline in late February. Ilya Kovalchuk had one goal in seven games with Washington after coming over from Montreal. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, you’ll recall, was traded from Ottawa to the Islanders and then signed a $40-million deal. With Pageau, the Isles were winless in seven.

Carolina added Sami Vatanen and Brady Skjei to the back end as insurance for Hamilton and Brett Pesce, and Vincent Trocheck for scoring. Andreas Athanasiou could get a look with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl in his new Edmonton home. Nick Ritchie and Ondrej Kase could change the look of the Bruins up front. The Penguins added forwards Jason Zucker, Patrick Marleau, Conor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues. Alec Martinez was dealt by L.A. to Vegas, and the Kings also moved Tyler Toffoli to Vancouver as they finally moved aggressively into rebuild mode. Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow added depth and sandpaper to Tampa’s front lines.

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David Pastrnak is still “unfit to play” in Boston, with the NHL and the Bruins wrapping a big cloud of mystery around this one. Pastrnak was tied for the league lead in goals (48) when the music stopped and has been a superb playoff performer. His agent says he doesn’t have the coronavirus. Social media photos of Pastrnak and Kase out in public when they were supposed to be quarantining, or at least following NHL protocols, caused ripples in Boston last week.

Winnipeg terminated the contract of Dustin Byfuglien in April, with the defenceman walking away from the final $14 million of his contract. Since then, there’s been no word on his intentions. You can bet that subject will come up repeatedly during the NHL’s playoff season, even with a flat cap restricting what teams may be able to offer the veteran to induce his return to the NHL.