Mcdavid leads pack
MVP award clear; other trophies hard to judge
Using any metric, Connor Mcdavid’s 100-plus point season makes the Edmonton Oilers captain the clear frontrunner for the NHL MVP award.
Other than teammate Leon Draisaitl’s 81 points entering play Tuesday, no one else was within 30 points of Mcdavid in his bid to win a second Hart Trophy.
Determining the league’s other award finalists is far more challenging, given how difficult it is to judge one player’s production versus another when teams played division-only opponents over a condensed 56-game schedule.
“That’s the one thing that is really going to make it difficult because the fact is there’s been so many games in such a short amount of time,” NBC analyst Pierre Mcguire said. “And what happens in the North (Division) may be a little bit different than what happens in the West or the Central or the East.”
Voters will have to rate players on a curve based on the unique divisional differences.
If the all-canadian North could be considered one of the NHL’S weakest divisions based on separation between the top four and bottom three teams, the East and Central might have been the toughest. They were the only divisions to feature five teams with a positive goal-differential. The East also had the fewest points, 29, separating first and sixth-place teams.
“The East, that’s been a murderer’s row for most of the season,” Mcguire said. “The North, it’s just been four teams for most of the season, and that’s why I think the numbers are inflated, because the bottom-end teams haven’t been very good.”
Mcguire believes the toughest decisions will be between the Jack Adams (Coach of the Year) and Selke Trophy (top defensive forward).
Among the candidates making a case for Coach of the Year honors are Carolina’s Rod Brind’amour, Florida’s Joel Quenneville and Minnesota’s Dean Evason. As for Selke, Mcguire wondered whether the award, predominantly issued to centers, might go to a winger for the first time since Dallas’ Jere Lehtinen won in 2003. The wingers deserving consideration include Boston’s Brad Marchand, Vegas’ Mark Stone and
Florida’s Aleksander Barkov.
Oilers 4, Canadiens 3:
Dominik Kahun scored 27 seconds into overtime to give Edmonton a victory over Montreal. Kahun went backhand to forehand on a feed from Leon Draisaitl to beat goalie Cayden Primeau, spoiling the Canadiens’ regular-season finale. Draisaitl, Alex Chaisson and Ryan Nugent-hopkins also scored for the Oilers, and Mike Smith made 26 saves. Mcdavid had two assists to push his Nhl-leading points total to 104 in 55 games. Nick Suzuki scored twice for Montreal, Cole Caufield had a goal and an assist, and Primeau stopped 18 shots. The Canadiens will face North Division champion Toronto in the playoffs.
Senators 4, Maple Leafs 3:
Josh Norris scored nine seconds into overtime and Ottawa beat Toronto to finish the season. Mitch Marner turned over the the puck to Brady Tkachuk off the opening faceoff in the extra period, and Tkachuk fed Norris for his 17th of the season. Parker Kelly scored in his NHL debut for Ottawa, Connor Brown had his league-leading fifth short-handed goal, Nikita Zaitsev had a goal and an assist, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 30 shots.