We are heading into All-Star Weekend for the NHL, and the whole concept of an All-Star Tourney Game and All-Star Weekend is to celebrate individuals rather than teams. Therefore today seems like the perfect time to post not about "the NHL season up to now," but about individual performances and achievements in the world's greatest spectator sport...
Snubs
Why not start by kvetching about certain players being left off of (or included on) the divisional All-Star teams?
As a Tampa Bay Lightning partisan, I of course have to declare that it is an international scandal that Brayden Point was not selected. He made it last year and is having an even better campaign this time around, having piled up 64 points in 49 games, with his 30 goals tied for second-most in the league when the Lightning's bye week started on Sunday. Making those offensive numbers shine even more is the fact that Point also plays Selke-level defense.
But of course, 'tis also an international scandal that Calgary's Mark Giordano, Toronto's Morgan Reilly, and Winnipeg's Patrik Laine are not in the All-Star Game. Plus, it is unthinkable that Clayton Keller (minus-14, with 89 players having scored more than him) is in it, and that the sole reason he's in it is because he plays for next-to-last-place Arizona.
But that's what you get when you take a five-on-five sport and limit its ASG to three-on-three, while simultaneously mandating that every team in the league have at least one guy play in it no matter what. And I'm not necessarily complainin', I'm just sayin'.
Nash
Rick Nash will not be playing in the ASG, which is obvious since he has not played at all this season and recently chose to retire due to lingering concussion issues. I am not proud to admit this, but I'm one of those people who, when Nash was playing, thought less of him as a player thanks to his lack of playoff sheen.
Looking back, however, the #1 overall pick from 2002 was a supreme producer who happened to spend nine seasons, including almost all of his prime, playing for a Columbus Blue Jackets team that was otherwise thin on talent and only made the post-season once. That certainly wasn't his fault when you consider that Nash was among the top eight scorers in the NHL across that span; that he finished with less than 30 goals in only two of those nine seasons in Columbus; that one of those sub-30 seasons was his rookie campaign; and that in 2003-04 he won the Rocket Richard Trophy for topping the whole league in goals (tied with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk). Nash ranks as the franchise's all-time leader in goals, assists, points, goals created, even-strength goals, short-handed goals, and power play goals, plus several other categories.
Of course he played six additional seasons, mostly for the NY Rangers, after being traded by the Jackets because they feared they would not be able to sign him for market value when his contract expired. Post-trade, Nash remained a reliable forward as he finished his 15-year career with 437 goals. Only three players had more goals than him in that 15-year span: Iginla, Alex Ovechkin, and Patrick Marleau. Add in Nash's 368 assists and you will see that he accounted for 805 points in 1,060 games played, for a clip of .759 per game that ranks well ahead of Marleau's .709.
Rick Nash played in the ASG six times. And yep, he was a legit All-Star, even though some of us failed to admit it in real-time.
Nash
Rick Nash will not be playing in the ASG, which is obvious since he has not played at all this season and recently chose to retire due to lingering concussion issues. I am not proud to admit this, but I'm one of those people who, when Nash was playing, thought less of him as a player thanks to his lack of playoff sheen.
Looking back, however, the #1 overall pick from 2002 was a supreme producer who happened to spend nine seasons, including almost all of his prime, playing for a Columbus Blue Jackets team that was otherwise thin on talent and only made the post-season once. That certainly wasn't his fault when you consider that Nash was among the top eight scorers in the NHL across that span; that he finished with less than 30 goals in only two of those nine seasons in Columbus; that one of those sub-30 seasons was his rookie campaign; and that in 2003-04 he won the Rocket Richard Trophy for topping the whole league in goals (tied with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk). Nash ranks as the franchise's all-time leader in goals, assists, points, goals created, even-strength goals, short-handed goals, and power play goals, plus several other categories.
Of course he played six additional seasons, mostly for the NY Rangers, after being traded by the Jackets because they feared they would not be able to sign him for market value when his contract expired. Post-trade, Nash remained a reliable forward as he finished his 15-year career with 437 goals. Only three players had more goals than him in that 15-year span: Iginla, Alex Ovechkin, and Patrick Marleau. Add in Nash's 368 assists and you will see that he accounted for 805 points in 1,060 games played, for a clip of .759 per game that ranks well ahead of Marleau's .709.
Rick Nash played in the ASG six times. And yep, he was a legit All-Star, even though some of us failed to admit it in real-time.
Awards
If the season were to end today, here is how I would vote for some of the individual awards:
Since the Hart Trophy is for the league's most valuable player to his team, not necessarily for the league's most outstanding player overall, I would check the box for John Gibson. The Anaheim Ducks are an abysmal club that gets woefully outshot and outchanced almost every single night, yet Gibson's goaltending has been so masterful that the Ducks are only one point out of a playoff spot. With the kind of campaign he is having, he would get my vote for the Vezina as well.
It's the Ted Lindsay Award that goes to the most outstanding player, and I would have to give it to Nikita Kucherov. On top of Kuch's famously lethal shot, his 56 assists heading into the bye week led the league and were four clear of second place Blake Wheeler's total. No matter who he is on the ice with, regardless of whether it's at even strength or on a power play, the way he sees the ice and thinks the game constantly results in him befuddling defenders and setting up teammates for goals... Back in the 1980's I always heard Larry Bird described as "the best passing forward in the NBA." Here in the 2010's, people ought to be referring to Nikita Kucherov as "the best passing winger in the NHL."
There are several worthy candidates for the Norris, and when it comes to choosing a Norris winner there is an endless struggle to not be so bedazzled by a blueliner's offensive numbers that you fail to notice where his defensive game might be wanting. With that in mind, I would give my hypothetical Norris vote to Mark Giordano, for he is having a superlative season on both sides of the ice while logging almost 25 minutes per night, and is a major reason why the Flames have become deadly serious Cup contenders. Plus, wouldn't it be great to see a 35-year-old take this trophy home?
Miscellany
Phil Kessel's marker against Vegas on Saturday was his third goal in the last six games and twentieth of the season, making this the eleventh straight campaign he has crossed the 20-goal threshold. He is on pace for 34, which would be the seventh time in his career he has scored 30 or more. With his 33 assists factored in, the 31-year-old Wisconsinite is currently averaging 1.10 points per game, well ahead of his impressive career mark of .883... Kessel is not in this year's ASG, but there is no doubt he's an All-Star, and please don't forget how huge a role he played in Pittsburgh's back-to-back Stanley Cups. Why do I get the feeling that in 15 or 20 years I'll be writing about how big an outrage it is that he's not in the Hall of Fame?
Part of the reason Kessel gets fewer accolades than he deserves is that teammates Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are so good they inadvertently cast a shadow over him when it comes to media coverage. Well, the same can be said of Washington's Nicklas Backstom playing on the same team as Alex Ovechkin, for since he arrived in the NHL for his rookie season of 2007-08, Backstrom has rang up an incredible 848 points, a total that is exceeded by only four other players in that span: Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, and Patrick Kane. Meanwhile, the players immediately behind Backstrom to round out the top nine are Ryan Getzlaf, Anze Kopitar, Joe Thornton, and Henrik Sedin. And Kessel, just three points back of Sedin, comes in tenth... I get the feeling that at some point I'll be writing the same "he should be in the Hall of Fame!" posts about Backstrom that I envision myself writing about Kessel, for there is no doubt that every other player in this top ten will be in the Hall, some of 'em in their first year of eligibility.
Speaking of underappreciated Swedes whose last names begin with "Back," Mikael Backlund also deserves a tip of the cap. Now in his eighth full season with the Flames, he is a lunch pail centerman usually deployed in the bottom six and tasked with primarily defensive responsibilities. In other words, he ain't a flashy highlight reel kinda guy, which makes it even more impressive that he reached the 300-point plateau when he recorded a goal and assist in Saturday's Battle of Alberta win over Edmonton. Although Backlund is not the type of player who gets voted to the ASG, he provides A+ depth and therefore is the type of player who will win you a Stanley Cup.
When thy roster is top-heavy, thou shalt not drinketh of the chalice, simple as that. Guys like Mikael Backlund deserve more recognition than they typically receive. And having said that, there is one more hockey player I want to write about, but I'll save that for another time because I have already gone long. Au revoir for now!
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