Senators’ Karlsson hearing Norris Trophy buzz again
High-scoring Ottawa blue-liner on a roll
OTTAWA — It’s no grand revelation to suggest Erik Karlsson is the offensive engine driving the Ottawa Senators. Getting the captain to talk about it, however, is a bit like trying to pry the puck away from Mark Stone. It just doesn’t happen that often.
That’s why it was a welcome surprise the other day when Karlsson didn’t skate away from a question about becoming the first NHL defenceman in more than two decades to score 20 or more goals in consecutive seasons.
“I would like to score 82 goals a year, but that’s not going to happen, not even Ovie can do that,” Karlsson said, referring to league-leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin, who brings his Washington Capitals to the Canadian Tire Centre Saturday in yet another pivotal game for the Senators in their quest to earn a playoff spot.
“It’s fun to score goals. You always want to score goals. But as long as you create — and we have done that lately — I’m happy with that. It’s nice to see a few of the pucks go in.”
Karlsson is on a roll. Since defence partner Marc Methot returned to the lineup Jan. 8, he has 13 goals and 22 assists in 38 games. For the season, he has 20 goals and 42 assists, good for a four-point lead on San Jose’s Brent Burns and Montreal’s P.K. Subban in the scoring race among defencemen.
He is skating and producing the way he did in his Norris Trophy-winning season of 2011-12 — Senators centre Kyle Turris says he believes Karlsson has a bigger influence on a game than any other player in the NHL — and is among the front-runners to win the top defenceman award again. Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators and Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings are also candidates for the honour, which appeared be in the hands of Calgary Flames defenceman Mark Giordano until he suffered a torn biceps injury Feb. 25.
Senators goaltender Craig Anderson says Karlsson has been the best player in the NHL since January, tipping his mask to Methot in the process.
“If he plays with Methot all year, (Karlsson) probably has 90 points,” Anderson said. “Doughty has had the same partner all year, Weber has had the same partner all year, but it was a revolving door for Karl (in the first half) and it’s tough to play when you don’t know who your defence partner is going to be from game to game.”
Karlsson still gets burned defensively, taking offensive risks which cause coach Dave Cameron’s heart rate to rise dramatically. Goaltender Andrew Hammond bailed him out in Thursday’s 2-1 overtime win over Tampa Bay, stopping a Valtteri Filppula breakaway after Karlsson bobbled the puck at the blue-line.
“He’s going to make more defensive mistakes because he’s in the play, creating more offence,” Anderson said. “If you want to take away his offensive ability, yeah, he can play defence. Sometimes, when he gets going, going, going and gets a little tired and he’s got to play defence, that’s when things start to happen. But he creates so many chances for every chance he gives up.”
The miscues have dropped significantly since Methot has returned and Anderson jokes that Methot deserves consideration for NHL defence partner of the year.
While plus/minus statistics are often misleading and generally considered low-tech in the modern hockey analytics world, they’re revealing in this case. Karlsson has gone from minus 9 to plus 7 since Methot returned. Methot, who has played just 40 games this season, now owns a plus/minus of plus 21.
“I’m biased, but I’m going to say he deserves (the Norris); at least to be in consideration for it,” Methot said. “In the last few months, he has been flying, his numbers have been excellent. He’s taking chances at the right times in games, he’s not playing too reckless.”
At 24, Karlsson is still relatively young for an NHL captain and there have been growing pains since taking over the role from Jason Spezza. He routinely butted heads with former coach Paul MacLean in the first couple months of the season and showed frustration and immaturity by throwing his stick or smashing his stick across the net following early season losses.
Methot, who is also good friends with Karlsson off the ice, has seen a change.
“It’s crazy how much he has matured,” he said. “He was an excellent player when I got here, but as a captain, it’s a completely different role. He has taken matters upon himself in the locker-room this year. Off the ice, you can see he’s a little bit different.”
After the Senators lost consecutive games to the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers last week, Karlsson stepped out of his comfort zone, publicly ripping the team for its uninspired play, using a few bleeped out words to illustrate his frustration.
Karlsson says he isn’t the type of guy to throw chairs across the room — at least not yet — but recognizes that sometimes as a captain, he has to deliver off-ice points to his teammates.
“It’s challenging and inspiring and I think it’s fun,” he said. “Talking in front of a large group of people is difficult at first, but something I’m getting more comfortable with.
“But I haven’t really broken anything, except my own sticks.”
It’s fun to score goals. You always want to score goals. But as long as you create —and we have done that lately —I’m happy with that. It’s nice to see a few of the pucks go in.
ERIK KARLSSON
SENATORS DEFENCEMAN