NHLers have their say on awards
League’s stars expect Connor, Crosby, Karlsson to dominate while Cup race will be wide open
MIKE ZEISBERGER
Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby may be the acknowledged faces of the NHL, but which smiling faces will be sipping from Stanley Cup in 2018?
Even some of the top names in the sport aren’t sure of that answer.
During the recent NHL Media Tour in New York, Postmedia Network polled 25 of the NHL’s top stars including reigning league MVP McDavid, three-time Cup winner Patrick Kane, Dallas Stars captain and Olympic gold medallist Jamie Benn; and St. Louis Blues sniper Vladimir Tarasenko. Their mandate: Look into your respective crystal balls and predict the various award winners of the upcoming season.
The Stanley Cup
Pittsburgh Penguins: 4 Dallas Stars: 4 Edmonton Oilers: 3: Chicago Blackhawks: 3 Tampa Bay Lightning: 3 Anaheim Ducks: 2 Washington Capitals: 2 Nashville Predators: 1 St. Louis Blues: 1 San Jose Sharks: 1 Los Angeles Kings: 1 In the past nine seasons, eight of those have featured either the Blackhawks, Kings or Penguins capturing the Cup. 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 is as even as it’s ever been. 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 (2010/13/15) was asked if he’s ever seem 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.”
MVP
12: Connor McDavid, Edmonton 7: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh 3: Erik Karlsson, Ottawa 1: Auston Matthews, Toronto 1: Patrick Kane, Chicago 1: Jack Eichel, Buffalo Either Connor or Crosby. That’s about the only consensus you’ll get from the league’s top stars when asked who the best player in hockey is. Indeed, only six of the 25 respondents on our panel didn’t pick one of these two generational players to win the Hart Trophy.
Still just 20, Connor McDavid’s ceiling is limitless. At age 30, Sidney Crosby continues to add records and trophies to his resume. And so, the debate continues. Of course, in McDavid’s mind, the choice here is easy. For him, Sid rules.
“He’s done it all,” McDavid said of Crosby. “He’s won it 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.”
Whatever the case, we’re sure there is one point players and fans alike will agree on: That it will be fun to see Connor and Crosby exhibit their ridiculous skills over the upcoming 82-game schedule.
The Art Ross
21: McDavid 2: Crosby 1 : Kane 1 : Karlsson
Of the seven categories in our poll, this was by far the most onesided result courtesy of McDavid. Given that the Oilers star has accrued 148 points in just 127 career NHL games entering his third NHL season — an average of 1.16 per contest — it’s easy to see why.
The Rocket Richard
6: Crosby, Pittsburgh 5: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay 3: Alex Ovechkin, Washington 3: Tyler Seguin, Dallas 3: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay 3: Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis 1: Matthews, Toronto 1 : Eichel, Buffalo Tarasenko is one of the best in the biz when it comes to ripping pucks into the back of an NHL net near you, but even he could only shrug his shoulders when we asked him who would score the most goals in the league during the upcoming season.
“I can’t answer that,” he admitted. “There are just too many options.”
Our panelists seem to agree, with votes scattered among eight different players. One glaring omission would seem to be the Winnipeg Jets’ Patrik Laine, who might just have the most lethal shot in the league. At least in our opinion anyway.
The Norris
11: Karlsson, Ottawa 5: Drew Doughty, L.A. 4: Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay 2: Brent Burns, San Jose 1: Roman Josi, Nashville 1: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona 1: Kevin Shattenkirk, N.Y. 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/ foot injury during the playoffs, it says herethatKarlssonwasthebestplayer through three rounds of the 2017 postseason.HadtheSensfoundaway togetpastthePensindoubleovertime ofGame7inthatEasternConference final, he might have been the one who wontheConnSmytheTrophyasplayoff MVP, not Crosby.
The Vezina
9: Carey Price, Montreal 4 : Ben Bishop, Dallas 3 : Braden Holtby, Washington 2: Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus 1: Devan Dubnyk, Dallas 1: Matt Murray, Pittsburgh 1: Cam Talbot, Edmonton 1: Henrik Lundqvist, N.Y. Rangers 1: Tuukka Rask, Boston 1: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay 1: John Gibson, Anaheim The Canadiens’ Price got the nod here, but this race would seem to be wide open. Eleven different players received votes as the best puckstopper, 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, Ben Bishop is getting a lot of support from his NHL peers who feel he’ll thrive in his new home in the Stars’ crease thanks in part to a Ken Hitchcock defensively-stingy system.
The Calder
11: Nico Hischier, New Jersey 6: Nolan Patrick, Philadelphia 3: Charlie McAvoy, Boston 2: Clayton Keller, Arizona 1: Brock Boeser, Vancouver 1: Travis Jost, Colorado 1: Lias Anderson, N.Y. Rangers Leading up to the June entry draft, the debate over who would go first overall — Nico versus Nolan raged right up until the New Jersey Devils announced their No. 1 selection — Hischier. According to our panel, the two are the frontrunners to battle for the Calder too.