PARITY IS ALIVE IN PLAYERS’ PROPHESIES
NHL stars predict plenty of offence from the Oilers’ McDavid, but agree on little else
Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby may be the acknowledged faces of the NHL, but which smiling faces will be sipping from the Stanley Cup in 2018?
Even some of the top names in the sport aren’t sure. During the recent NHL media event in New York, Postmedia polled 25 of the league’s top stars, including reigning league MVP McDavid, threetime Cup winner Patrick Kane, Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn and St. Louis Blues sniper Vladimir Tarasenko. Their task: Look into their respective crystal balls and predict the award winners for the upcoming season.
The Oilers’ McDavid is an overwhelming pick to repeat as winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy (awarded to the league MVP) and Art Ross Trophy (most points), while Crosby gets the nod for the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy (most goals).
Canadian-based teams are well represented in the individual player results. The Ottawa Senators’ Erik Karlsson, despite being out indefinitely after off-season ankle surgery, is the favourite for the Norris as top defenceman, while the Montreal Canadiens’ Carey Price is the decisive choice for the Vezina as the top goalie.
The Cup, however, is up in the air. In a reflection of the league’s parity, the 25 respondents picked 11 different teams to capture hockey’s holy grail.
(Note: players were promised anonymity in this process, meaning an individual’s specific picks won’t be identified. The numbers on the left represent the votes each player or team received from the 25-man panel).
PART 1: THE STANLEY CUP
4: Dallas Stars
4: Pittsburgh Penguins 3: Chicago Blackhawks 3: Edmonton Oilers
3: Tampa Bay Lightning 2: Anaheim Ducks 2: Washington Capitals
1: Los Angeles Kings 1: Nashville Predators
1: St. Louis Blues
1: San Jose Sharks
In the past nine seasons, the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings or Pittsburgh Penguins eight times. The 2011 Boston Bruins are the only other team to win the title in that span.
Doesn’t sound like parity, does it? But the poll suggests the playing field appears even. Consider that more than one-third of the league’s teams (11 of 31) received votes as the projected Cup winner.
Kane, an owner of three Cup rings with the Blackhawks (2010, 2013, 2015) was asked if he’s ever seen more parity in the league.
“I don’t think I have,” he said. “And I think that’s a great thing for the sport. Anyone can beat any team on any given night. So, for example, why not tune in to Winnipeg facing off against Pittsburgh? That could be a great hockey game. So I think the sport is in a really good place.”
With a returning core of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Matt Murray, the Penguins understandably received some love to win a third straight title, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since the 1982 New York Islanders. But the Dallas Stars also seem a hot pick, thanks to the wheeling and dealing of general manager Jim Nill, which landed goaltender Ben Bishop, defenceman Marc Methot and forwards Martin Hanzal and Alex Radulov.
“(Those additions) were huge for we as players to see,” Benn said. “Jim did an unbelievable job. Now it’s up to us players.”
T.J. Oshie, whose Presidents’ Trophy-winning Washington Capitals disappointed again last season in being eliminated in the second round by Pittsburgh for a second consecutive year, thinks the race will be a free-for-all.
“It seems the teams are so much closer. It seems like everything has to go right,” Oshie said.
“Maybe it’s different if you ask a member of the Penguins, but for me, you need great players, you need great goaltending and you need a bit of good fortune — a soft goal, a puck bouncing in off a body, whatever.”
Kane said that in the end, championship teams somehow find the intangibles to separate themselves from the pack. For example, had a bounce gone the way of the Senators in double overtime of Game 7 against the Penguins in the Eastern Conference final, it would have been Ottawa playing for the Cup, not Pittsburgh.
And yet, two weeks later, Crosby was hoisting the Cup for a third time. Coincidence? Luck? Maybe not completely.
“It’s still like, you have to prove yourself and have that certain it factor about your team,” Kane said. “You look at the last batch of winners, you’ll find a lot of Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Chicago. You just need to find that little bit extra to get over the hump.”
PART 2: THE HART
12: Connor McDavid, Oilers 7: Sidney Crosby, Penguins
3: Erik Karlsson, Senators
1: Jack Eichel, Sabres
1: Patrick Kane, Blackhawks 1: Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs Connor or Crosby: That’s the closest consensus you’ll get from the league’s top stars when asked who the best player in hockey is. Only six of the 25 respondents didn’t pick one of these two generational players to win the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP.
Still just 20, McDavid’s ceiling is limitless. At age 30, Crosby continues to add records and trophies to his resume.
Of course, in McDavid’s mind, the choice is easy. Sid rules.
“He’s done it all,” McDavid said of Crosby. “He’s won pretty much everything, both individually and for his team, and he’s still doing it. He just captained his team to another Cup a few months ago.
“There’s a reason he’s so looked up to.”
Nevertheless, it’s McDavid who almost half of respondents (12 of 25) picked to repeat as Hart champion.
PART 3: THE ART ROSS
21: Connor McDavid, Oilers 2: Sidney Crosby, Penguins 1: Patrick Kane, Blackhawks
1: Erik Karlsson, Senators
Of the seven categories in our poll, this was by far the most onesided result. Given that McDavid has accrued 148 points in just 127 career NHL games entering his third NHL season — an average of 1.17 per contest — it’s easy to see why he is pegged as the league’s likely scoring leader.
PART 4: THE ROCKET RICHARD
6: Sidney Crosby, Penguins 5: Nikita Kucherov, Lightning
3: Alex Ovechkin, Capitals
3: Tyler Seguin, Stars
3: Steven Stamkos, Lightning 3: Vladimir Tarasenko, Blues
1: Jack Eichel, Sabres
1: Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs Tarasenko is one of the best in the biz when it comes to ripping pucks into the back of an NHL net, but even he could only shrug his shoulders when we asked him who would score the most goals in the league.
“I can’t answer that,” he said. “There are just too many options.”
Our panellists seemed to agree, with votes scattered across eight different players. One glaring omission was the Winnipeg Jets’ Patrik Laine, who might have the most lethal shot in the league.
PART 5: THE NORRIS
11: Erik Karlsson, Senators 5: Drew Doughty, Kings 4: Victor Hedman, Lightning 2: Brent Burns, Sharks
1: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Coyotes 1: Roman Josi, Predators
1: Kevin Shattenkirk, Rangers
Gone are the questions about his inefficiencies in his own end or about his willingness to play through pain.
Despite nursing a serious ankle injury during the playoffs, it says here that Karlsson was the best player through three rounds of the 2017 post-season. Had the Sens found a way to get past the Pens, Karlsson might have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, not Crosby.
One defenceman who seems to be rightly gaining respect around the league is Hedman. The Swede’s unique combination of size and skill is special.
PART 6: THE VEZINA
9: Carey Price, Canadiens
4: Ben Bishop, Stars
3: Braden Holtby, Capitals 2: Sergei Bobrovsky, Blue Jackets 1: Devan Dubnyk, Stars
1: Matt Murray, Penguins
1: Cam Talbot, Oilers
1: Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers 1: Tuukka Rask, Bruins
1: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning 1: John Gibson, Ducks
The Canadiens’ Price got the nod, but this race appears wide open. Eleven goalies received votes, the most of any category involving an award for an individual player.
Just two years removed from leading the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final, Bishop is getting a lot of support from NHL peers who expect he’ll thrive in his new home in the Stars’ crease thanks in part to a stingy Ken Hitchcockled system.
Two names to watch: Murray, a two-time Cup winner, and Vasilevskiy, who will backstop a very talented Lightning team.
PART 7: THE CALDER
11: Nico Hischier, Devils
6: Nolan Patrick, Flyers
3: Charlie McAvoy, Bruins 2: Clayton Keller, Coyotes
1: Lias Anderson, Rangers
1: Brock Boeser, Canucks
1: Travis Jost, Avalanche
Before the June entry draft, the debate over who would go first overall — Nico versus Nolan — raged up until the New Jersey Devils announced their No. 1 selection, Hischier.
According to our panel, those two are the front-runners to battle for the Calder too.
At the same time, watch out for the Bruins’ McAvoy. He was a star for Team USA at the world junior championship and looked very comfortable at the NHL level when called up by Boston for its first-round playoff series against the Senators.