Three Periods: Stralman's complete story; Lehtera looks like a veteran; NHL notes

Nicholas J. Cotsonika’s Three Periods column appears on Thursdays. This week’s topics include Anton Stralman completing his game with the Tampa Bay Lightning; Jori Lehtera anchoring the STL Line after joining the NHL; plus notes on the rest of the Blues’ offense, Cory Schneider, Connor McDavid and goalie mask designs.

FIRST PERIOD: Stralman becomes more complete with health, opportunity

When the Tampa Bay Lightning held pro scouting meetings before free agency, some people in the room pushed for Anton Stralman.

Others thought, “Anton Stralman?” The defenseman the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted in the seventh round in 2005? The guy who bounced between the AHL and NHL for two years, got traded to the Calgary Flames and then got flipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets? The guy who tried out for the New Jersey Devils and couldn’t land a contract? The guy who ended up with the New York Rangers and became solid but unspectacular?

The Lightning signed Stralman to a five-year, $22.5 million deal. So far he has exceeded the expectations of his supporters, let alone the doubters, especially offensively. He entered Thursday night with two goals and 10 points in 16 games after putting up one goal and 13 points in 81 games last season.

“I thought he was a really good defenseman,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “He’s better than that in my eyes.”

Two keys: health and opportunity.

Stralman grew up with asthma. He always managed it as an athlete. But it became a problem in 2010-11, his second season in Columbus. He kept getting infections and developed scar tissue in his lungs, and doctors couldn’t find the right treatment. On top of that, he suffered a knee injury, and he was on a one-year, $1.95 million contract.

He tried out for the Devils entering the 2011-12 season, but he got sick and didn’t play well. He went home to Sweden. He ended up signing with the Rangers for only $900,000. When he got off the plane in New York, he had a fever of 103 degrees. But he found a doctor who found the right treatment – antibiotics normally used to treat cystic fibrosis – and he found a defensive niche with the team. He played well enough to earn a two-year, $3.4 million deal, then played well enough to earn this deal.

“What happened, I haven’t gotten a good answer for it yet,” said Stralman, who still takes the antibiotics three times a week to boost his immune system. “That’s probably the biggest thing for my career the last few years, just staying healthy.”

When Stralman spoke to Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman on July 1, he was offered an opportunity but nothing more. He seized it in training camp and preseason, fitting well into an up-tempo system that encourages the defense to be aggressive, gaining more and more confidence as he went.

When the regular season began, he was on the top pair with Victor Hedman and the second power play. When Hedman went down with an injury, he anchored the top pair with Matt Carle and moved to the first power play. He has gone from averaging 19:24 of ice time last season to 22:38 this season – from 0:19 on the power play to 2:38, from 1:37 on the penalty kill to 2:35.

“He’s probably not going to ever win a Norris Trophy, but his partner will,” Cooper said, presumably referring to Hedman. “He’s unnoticeable but gets stuff done. … He doesn’t have Shea Weber’s shot or Erik Karlsson’s skating ability, but he’s got a piece of all of them.”

Stralman wants to put all the pieces together now.

“That’s probably been my biggest goal, to combine the two parts of my game, my old self and my new self,” Stralman said. “I don’t know if you want to call it a complete player, but I want to be a player who can do both things without really sacrificing anything from each end.”

SECOND PERIOD: Lehtera looks like NHL veteran after coming over from KHL

How good has Jori Lehtera been since coming over from the KHL? Listen to St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock: “He should have come over the year before, quite frankly. Might be still playing.” In other words, Lehtera might have made the difference in the playoffs last season, when the Blues lost in the first round to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Blues have been a structured, possession monster, but they have needed more offensive punch. Now they have the STL line – Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko and Lehtera. All three have had hat tricks. They have accounted for 21 goals in 15 games; the rest of the Blues have combined for only 18.

Hitchcock called Lehtera, the center, “the sturdy anchor on the line.” He comes back deep defensively and gets the puck to his wingers with speed, and that’s how they generate much of their offense. Lehtera has six goals and 14 points in his first 14 NHL games.

“I think the thing that’s impressed me is, they just don’t cheat the game,” Hitchcock said. “They play the game honestly. They’re willing to backcheck. They’re willing to play the game with an honest level.”

The Blues drafted Lehtera in the third round in 2008, but they couldn’t convince him to play in North America. Other than a seven-game stint in the AHL in 2008-09, he played at home in Finland and in the KHL in Russia.

He once played on a line with Tarasenko in Tarasenko’s hometown of Novosibirsk, and he said the third member of that line, Jonas Englund, was the same kind of player as Schwartz – a worker, a shooter, a scorer. “Of course, he was bigger,” he said, needling the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Schwartz.

The Blues watched Lehtera closely at the Sochi Olympics. At first, Lehtera was a fourth-line left winger for Finland. But then came an injury and a promotion – the second line, power-play time. “That’s where we started to really notice that he had skill and moxie,” Hitchcock said. “He doesn’t get enough credit for how competitive he is.”

To convince him to come to the NHL, the Blues gave Lehtera a two-year, $5.5 million deal. It included a $1.6 million signing bonus because he needed to pay $1 million to get out of his KHL contract. They hoped he would adjust to the smaller ice and rekindle his chemistry with Tarasenko.

They hit the jackpot. He’s mature at 26. He’s big and built at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds. He seems to fit the smaller ice because he has quick hands and isn’t afraid of traffic. “Big or small ice, it doesn’t matter to me,” he said. As for the chemistry with Tarasenko, it has been explosive. “I like to play with Vladdie, and he likes to play with me, so it’s easier,” he said. “It helps.”

THIRD PERIOD: Notes from around the NHL

— One thing Lehtera has noticed in the NHL already: Though the schedule is 82 games vs. 54 games in the KHL, it isn’t as strenuous in a sense. The travel is easier. The practice demands are humane. “This is a smart way to do things here,” he said. “Even though we play a lot of games, we have optional ices and days off, which we don’t have in Russia. For me, I feel fresh all the time – not all the time, but more than in Russia. We just skated every day. I didn’t know about optional ice before I came here.”

— The Blues are a one-line team right now. In the short term, they have a sense of urgency, because they need the other guys to get going. But in the long term, they should be fine. Paul Stastny is still adjusting after arriving as a free agent and suffering a shoulder injury. David Backes has moved from center to wing and back again. T.J. Oshie is recovering from a concussion. “We really view our team as probably three second lines, and we’re going to need those other guys to jump in and produce, and they will over time,” said St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong.

— Cory Schneider has started every game in goal for the New Jersey Devils this season. He is scheduled to hit 17 straight Friday night against the Washington Capitals. “This is what he wanted, this is what he asked for and this is what he got,” said coach Pete DeBoer recently. True. Schneider shared the crease with Roberto Luongo in Vancouver, then Martin Brodeur in New Jersey. He has never played more than 45 games in an NHL season. But isn’t this too much of a good thing? He’s been pulled four times. He has a .904 save percentage.

— It’s mostly a mental challenge for Schneider, who has had to channel Taylor Swift. “You learn you have to shake them off,” he said. “You can’t dwell on every single night. If you do that you carry that into the next game and the next. It snowballs.” The schedule has been relatively light. He has started only three sets of back-to-back games. “Physically it feels pretty good,” he said. “The more you play, almost the better you get. We’ll see when you hit 50, 60, 70 games maybe.”

— Interesting decision by Buffalo Sabres coach Ted Nolan to pair two defensemen recently picked in the first round – 19-year-old Nikita Zadorov and 20-year-old Rasmus Ristolainen. Defense is a tough position to master in the best of circumstances. The Sabres are a bad team, and neither kid is skating with a veteran mentor. “We haven’t got too many older, older defensemen that can really tutor right now, so we’ll let them tutor themselves,” Nolan said.

— Amid the reaction to Connor McDavid’s fight and broken hand, here was the best point: Say what you want about fighting. Say what you want about needing to play to understand it. This won’t happen to Jack Eichel. Unlike in the OHL, players wear full face shields in college and face stiff penalties for fighting in college. They don’t fight simply because they can’t.

— Every season goaltenders receive an email outlining the restrictions for mask designs. Among the no-nos: women, weapons and profanity. “No stupid stuff,” said one goaltender.

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