PULLING OUT ALL OF THE STOPS
Price chases Hart with record win
Goalies almost always get the shaft when it comes to Hart Trophy voting to decide the National Hockey League’s most valuable player because they have their own award, the Vezina.
You would be hard- pressed to find one NHL coach who’d say: “You know, I think we can win this whole thing with an average goaltender.”
It’s nonsense that only five goalies have ever been the league MVP, going back 90 years — Dominik Hasek, Jose Theodore, Jacques Plante, Chuck Rayner, Roy Worters — but I’m certain the Professional Hockey Writers Association, whose members vote to decide who wins it each year, will make it six this time out.
Montreal Canadiens rock Carey Price will easily beat out the hardcharging Alex Ovechkin, the superstar scorer of the Washington Capitals, even if Ovie’s the only player who will notch 50 goals this season.
The Canadiens have a good team with a great goalie. That has MVP written all over it. Price leads in each significant goalie category — wins, save percentage and goal- against average — and is tied with Pittsburgh’s MarcAndre Fleury with nine shutouts.
The Canadiens could be the No. 2 playoff seed. Without Price, they would be scuffling to make the final eight, no matter how good P. K Subban is on defence or how many goals Max Pacioretty scores.
In 2002, when Canadiens goalie Jose Theodore beat Calgary Flames sniper Jarome Iginla out for the NHL’s MVP, even though Iggy had won the scoring race and scored 52 goals, there were some rolled eyes.
A goalie winning the Hart, other than Dominik Hasek? Hmmm!
Theodore, who garnered more first- place votes than Iginla to land the Hart, had good numbers ( 2.11 average, .931 save percentage, but only a 30- 24- 10 record) for the Habs, who were the eighth seed in the East that year with 87 points. But Iginla’s Flames didn’t make the playoffs and on the ballot, he was penalized by some for that omission.
Here’s a look at who rates highest for the major NHL awards as the season winds down.
HART TROPHY ( MOST VALUABLE PLAYER)
1. Price. He leads every NHL goalie category, has 42 wins while his backup, Dustin Tokarski, has six.
2. Ovechkin. He’s won the MVP three times — in 2008, 2009 and 2013 — which puts him in rare company, tied with Mario Lemieux and Bobby Clarke, and in any other year, he’d get the Hart again with Washington’s strong record.
3. Devan Dubnyk. He saved the Wild’s season after the Jan. 14 trade with Arizona, where he was backing up Mike Smith. He’s second to Price in two categories, fourth in shutouts ( six), sixth in wins.
4. Rick Nash. He’s got 32 evenstrength goals ( 42 overall), most in the league, on the No. 1 team in the league, the New York Rangers.
5. Pekka Rinne. He’s won 41 of the Predators’ 47 games. They would not be challenging for the Central Division title without him. Secondbest goalie in the league.
NORRIS TROPHY ( TOP DEFENCEMAN)
1. Drew Doughty. I know he could have more points ( 45 with two games left), and his plus/ minus is just plus 4, but he’s on the ice against the other team’s big guns, and on the point on the power play. Early in games, late in games or periods. He’s averaging more than 29 minutes a game. If you polled the NHL GMs on who the most complete defenceman is, and I bet 20 would say Doughty.
2. Erik Karlsson. He’s a machine offensively. He’s surpassed his sweater number ( No. 65) in points, he’s a plus player, he plays 27 minutes a night in 0ttawa. His coach Dave Cameron shrugged when asked if Karlsson had the green light to go with the puck all the time. “Every shift,” he said.
3. Mark Giordano. A torn bicep KO’d his season, but for 61 games, he’s was outstanding in Calgary. The Flames have soldiered on without him, but he was their leader for three- quarters of the season at both ends of the ice.
4. Roman Josi. Shea Weber gets all the applause in Nashville, but his blueline partner is much like Ryan Suter was alongside the Predators captain. “Most underrated defenceman in the league,” said a Western Conference coach not named Peter Laviolette, the Predators’ bench boss. Josi has more offensive might ( 55 points) than Weber this season, and plays an average of 26.5 minutes a night.
5. Ryan Suter. He doesn’t get nearly enough love, but he also plays half of any given game for the Wild. He never seems to get tired, and he’s close to a 40- point D- man.
CALDER ( TOP ROOKIE)
1. Aaron Ekblad. We all know how much fun it is to watch the 150- pound Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary, but Ekblad played most of the year at age 18 on Florida’s blueline. Panthers TV colourman Denis Potvin — a Calder, Norris and Stanley Cup winner himself with the Islanders a bunch of years ago — raves about him, and that’s good enough for me. It’s much tougher to break in as a rookie on defence.
2. Johnny Gaudreau. Shot to smithereens the idea he was too small and would get beat up. He’s Patrick Kane Lite when it comes to magical hands. He’s not intimidated, and for a college player used to 40- 50 games, he didn’t tire as the NHL season wore on. A really close call with Ekblad.
3. Filip Forsberg. First- line rightwinger with the Predators. He’s got the goods to be a regular 70- point player. Very dangerous with the puck. By now, we’ve all said George McPhee, a good hockey man, must have lost his senses for a moment to trade his rights to Nashville for Martin Erat.
4. Mark Stone. Remember when scouts were saying Stone had great hands but lead feet? Those feet get him around the ice nicely in 0ttawa. He’s got 61 points with two games left.
5. John Klingberg. Dallas Stars defenceman has got a great deal of Sergei Zubov in him. No panic point with the puck. Great passer. Skinny frame, but very little rattles the Swede who was a fifth- round draft choice.
JACK ADAMS AWARD ( COACH OF THE YEAR)
1. Bob Hartley. He’s worked wonders with the Flames. He’s upbeat, in control behind the bench, and has pretty much pushed every button right this season.
2. Peter Laviolette. Replaced the only coach the Preds had ever had, Barry Trotz, and hit the ground running. Like Hartley, he’s never won this award.
3. Alain Vigneault. He won the Adams in Vancouver in 2007, and the Rangers, after surprising people last year by getting to the Cup final, are even better this year. A calm, excellent coach.
VEZINA
1. Price. See above.
2. Rinne. See above.
3. Dubnyk. Hard to fathom how a guy who finished as the fourth goalie in the Habs’ organization last year can rebound like this, but he did.
4. Braden Holtby. The pride of Lloydminster, Sask., has played more games than anyone else and has 41 wins for Washington.
5. Andrew Hammond. The Hamburglar has lost one game in regulation in 22 0ttawa starts, with a 1.91 average and .937 save percentage. I know it’s a small sample size, but those are fantastic numbers.