CONN, BABY, CONN
Oilers superstar McDavid a popular pick to take major awards in our annual Postmedia players poll
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 of the answer.
During the recent NHL Media Tour in New York, Postmedia polled 25 of the NHL’s top stars, including reigning league MVP McDavid, three-time Cup winner Patrick Kane, Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn, and St. Louis Blues sniper Vladimir Tarasenko. Their task: Look into your respective crystal balls and predict the various award winners for the upcoming season.
The Oilers’ McDavid is an overwhelming pick to repeat as winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP) and Art Ross Trophy (most points), while Crosby gets the nod for the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy (most goals).
McDavid aside, Canadian-based teams are wellrepresented in the individual player results. The Ottawa Senators’ Erik Karlsson, despite being out indefinitely after undergoing off-season ankle surgery, is the favourite for the Norris (top defenceman) while the Montreal Canadiens’ Carey Price is the decisive choice for the Vezina (top goalie). The Cup, however, is up in the air. In fact, the 25 respondents combined to pick 11 different teams to capture hockey’s Holy Grail, a reflection of the league’s parity.
Has the race for the Cup ever been more wide open? Probably not, players admit. As such, we break down the results of all the categories.
(Note: players were promised anonymity in this process, meaning none of an individual’s specific picks would be identified. The numbers on the left represent the votes each player/team received from the 25-man panel.) In the past nine seasons, the Cup has been awarded to the Blackhawks, Kings or 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? Yet, judging by the results of our poll, the playing field appears even. When you consider that more than one-third of the league’s teams (11 of 31) receive votes as the projected Cup winner, the competition seems as wide-open as ever. Kane, 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,” Kane told Postmedia. “And I think that’s a great thing for the sport. Anyone can beat anyone 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 from our panel to threepeat, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since the 1980-82 New York Islanders. But the Dallas Stars also seem to be a hot pick, thanks in part to the wheeling and dealing of general manager Jim Nill, which landed goalie Ben Bishop, defenceman Marc Methot and forwards Martin Hanzal and Alex Radulov, among others.
“(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’ Trophywinning Washington Capitals disappointed again last season by being eliminated in the second round by Pittsburgh for a second consecutive year, thinks the race for the Cup in 2017-18 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 fortune — a soft goal, a puck bouncing in off a body, whatever.”
In the end, no matter how many teams in the Stanley Cup dance have equitable talent, Kane feels that 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, it didn’t. And two weeks later, Crosby was hoisting the Cup. Again. 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.” In a league of parity, according to Kane, you need to find every edge you can
get.
Connor McDavid is an overwhelming pick to repeat as winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP) and Art Ross Trophy (most points), while Sidney Crosby gets the nod for the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy (most goals)