Stanley Cup Final: Role Players Making Impact

By Diana Driscoll |

It would be hard to refute that both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of star power (more Chicago than Tampa) with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Steven Stamkos, and the newly appointed star Tyler Johnson to name a few. But in the Stanley Cup Final lesser-known players and role players have become the story.

Cedric Paquette

“Unlikely hero: Cedric Paquette is a Tampa Bay feisty role player having a significant impact in the series. He netted the game-winner in Game 3, and also scored in Game 1. He has done an effective job as a checker, especially against Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. It’s an interesting story because Paquette was cut by Cooper in training camp, but earned his way onto the team.”— USA Today

Kevin Allen sums up Paquette perfectly. This 21-year-old wide-eyed kid is the epitome of hard work and dedication. He had to find a way to fight his way onto the team, spending some time on the team’s AHL affiliate, Syracuse Crunch, at the beginning of the season. Now, he is tour de force for the Lightning, leading their offense and finding chemistry with linemates Ryan Callahan and J.T. Brown (who I will get to next). These guys are the Lightning’s X factor. They hit, annoy, and hassle their opponents, cause turnovers and generate offense. It is a hardworking line that is finally paying dividends in the offensive zone.

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Paquette is covering Toews, who doesn’t have a goal in the series. Let that sink in for a minute. It is a huge and daunting task to go against one of the game’s best, but this is where Paquette’s youthfulness and cockiness pays off. When he wants something, he doesn’t let anything get in his way—not even Toews or his partner in crime Kane.

“I can’t say enough honestly. He’s been stepping up these three games. I don’t think anybody saw that coming and it’s really fun to watch,” said Anton Stralman. “We knew he was a big player for us, really solid defensively and going up against the best centerman in the league and doing that job unbelievably well. It’s really fun to see.” —Yahoo Sports

J.T. Brown

This guy has left such an impression on me this postseason. During the Eastern Conference Finals, I kept hearing his name mentioned by the announcers and thought “who the heck is this guy? Where did he come from?” Those questions probably popped in a lot of people’s minds, but now we are really seeing what type of player Brown is.

He is not a high-scoring right winger, but he makes things happen. He gets in on the forecheck, backchecks and gets in his opponents’ faces. He is the blue-collar type of player who grinds it out and fights for the puck; he wants it and he’s going to go after it.

Brown has just been all over the ice. He is anywhere and everywhere he needs to be. He is playing smart and controlled, but is also playing hungry. He isn’t settling down and letting others take over, he is earning his time in the spotlight by always involving himself in the play. The rest of his line is finally being rewarded for its hard work and I would like to see him be rewarded as well. He’s gotten chances now he just has to finish them.

Andrew Shaw

Shaw is annoying, and I mean that as a compliment. He knows how to get under the skin of his opponents, agitate them, and bring them to their boiling point. He loves doing it and it is an effective part of his game.

He is a bona fide pest and one heck of a hockey player. In times when the Blackhawks’ top line and star players have had trouble finding the back of the net, Shaw reminds the Lightning that they need to worry about him, his skill and his speed.

“We don’t have that many feisty, physical guys,” said Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. “He’s one of those, and you need that type of player, especially in the playoffs where you play the same team a lot of games in a row.” — USA Today

Shaw is chippy, aggressive, and an all-around competitor who knows what it takes to win. He has felt what it’s like to be a champion and he badly wants to feel like a champion again. It is what drives him and makes him such a threat on the ice.

He has said that it is his goal to draw as many penalties as possible. It is why he will jab and poke away at players, and then wait for them to react. Shaw is an agitator and that is part of what makes him a tough player for Tampa to defend. He has tallied a point in each game in the finals (1 goal, 2 assists), and will likely be in his spot, right in front of the net, looking for more for the rest of the series.

Antoine Vermette

Just like Paquette, Vermette’s journey over the course of the season has hit a few snags in the road. At one point, he was on the verge of being considered one of the biggest trade deadline busts.

After the trade from Arizona to Chicago, Vermette was unable to score a goal in 19 games for the Blackhawks (he had three assists). He found himself glued to the bench or sitting up in the rafters, serving as a healthy scratch and watching his team fight for a place in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

He has done a 180. Vermette has become an integral part of the Blackhawks’ postseason success. Still not netting a ridiculous amount of goals, Vermette gave his team hope, which it rode all the way to the finals, when he scored the overtime winner against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 4. If Chicago lost it would have been down 3-1 in the series, which is much harder to battle back from.

He showed off his magic again in the first game of the finals when he scored the game-winning goal in the final minutes of Game 1.

“(Vermette) definitely has improved as the playoffs have gone on,” Quenneville said. “Those two goals were huge for us. Very timely. His play has picked up. That line has been improving as we’ve gone along. They have scored some big goals, have some offensive zone time. I like his progression.” — Chicago Tribune

Vermette still has a lot of work to do, but it is nice to see him finding a groove in the latter part of the postseason and getting more comfortable playing with Teuvo Teravainen and Patrick Sharp. He is truly trying to find ways to make the most of the opportunities he is given.

These are just a few of the players in this series that have caught my eye. Each brings something different to his team and is making an impact. While sometimes the impact is not exponential in hockey you never know when that one play or one player can turn everything around for your team. These guys, in both big and small ways, are making a difference.

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