NHL midseason review
Lightning players, Knights coach, GM stand out
The NHL passed the halfway point of 2017-18 season last weekend.
Here is USA TODAY’s midseason review (note: Statistics and records through Monday):
Hart (MVP)
Kevin Allen: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning. Has been the most dominant player on the NHL’s best team since the season began. Kucherov has
24 even-strength goals, and he’s on a
115-point pace. Nobody has finished with that many points since Sidney Crosby had 120 in 2006-07. Jimmy Hascup: Kucherov. He is tied for the league lead with 27 goals and leads with 59 points. Steven Stamkos and Andrei Vasilevskiy have had strong seasons, but Kucherov has been the best player on the No. 1 team. Mike Brehm: Nathan MacKinnon,
Colorado Avalanche. Kucherov has been great, but Tampa Bay was expected to be this good and he finished fifth in scoring last season. The Avalanche have come out of nowhere to match last season’s win total. MacKinnon, who struggled and finished 81st in scoring last season, is second in the race (52 points) and one point behind last year’s total. His strong play allowed Colorado to trade Matt Duchene and shore up other areas.
Vezina (goalie)
Allen: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa
Bay. You could also make a case for Vasilevskiy for MVP. He’s 26-6-2 with a 2.06 goals-against average and .935 save percentage. He’s given up no goals or one in 15 of his 34 starts.
Hascup: Vasilevskiy. Multiple Lightning players are having noteworthy seasons. But this team wouldn’t have the NHL’s best goal differential (+52) without sterling goaltending. Vasilevskiy has recorded the top save percentage among starters while facing the fifthmost shots against. Brehm: Vasilevskiy. Leads in wins and shutouts, and he has the best goalsagainst average and save percentage among goaltenders with at least 20 starts.
Norris (defenseman)
Allen: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings. Exceptional group to choose from. Alex Pietrangelo and Victor Hedman are worthy candidates, but Doughty averages more than 27 minutes of strong two-way hockey for the NHL’s No. 1 goals-against team. Hascup: John Klingberg, Dallas
Stars. Klingberg has taken his game to another level. He leads defensemen in points (39) and ranks among the best in possession (54.8% Corsi), goals-for percentage (62.9) and expected goals-for percentage (58.4). Only knock is his 23:23 of ice time per game.
Brehm: Hedman. Has been even or plus in 34 of his 42 games and plays nearly 26 minutes for the league’s best team and second-best defensive team.
Calder (rookie)
Allen: Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks. This is another exceptional rookie class, but it’s hard to ignore that he’s on a pace to score 45 goals. Quick release. Big shot. Hascup: Mathew Barzal, New York
Islanders. A tossup between Barzal and Boeser. The edge goes to Barzal, who has 13 goals and 39 points, because he’s thriving as a 20-year-old at a more challenging position while consistently tilt-
ing the ice.
Brehm: Boeser. Unstoppable shot, 22 goals, 16 of them at even strength. And don’t forget, he was a healthy scratch the first two games.
Jack Adams (coach)
Allen: Gerard Gallant, Vegas Gold
en Knights. Deep field of quality candidates including Jon Cooper, John Hynes and John Stevens, among others. But how can you not give it to Gallant for the work he’s done putting the Golden Knights on a path to become the NHL’s most successful expansion team?
Hascup: Gallant. We are past the “is this for real?” stage and onto the “can they win it all?” Credit to Gallant for fitting the pieces together.
Brehm: Gallant. His expansion team is relentless on the puck and never gives up. Imagine where the Golden Knights would be if their special teams were better than middle of the pack.
General manager
Allen: George McPhee, Vegas. In theory, the NHL expansion draft was set up to give the Golden Knights third-liners and No. 4 defensemen. Yet somehow McPhee has built the league’s secondhighest-scoring team. Hascup: McPhee. The Golden
Knights were supposed to be a bottomtier team that was building for the future. Instead, McPhee has crafted one with skill and speed and offensive firepower and depth.
Brehm: McPhee. He had the faith to see that William Karlsson could develop into a scorer and that James Neal and David Perron could show their past form. And he found a way to keep the Knights competitive when their top two goalies were out.
Most improved team
Allen: New Jersey Devils. They are ninth in the NHL after finishing 27th last season. More important, the Devils look like a legitimate contender. An infusion of youth (Will Butcher, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt) plus some quality moves by GM Ray Shero have expedited their rebuild.
Hascup: Winnipeg Jets. The maturity of their young players, most importantly Connor Hellebuyck (.923 SV%), has been paramount to becoming the league’s third-best team.
Brehm: Avalanche. They were awful last season and are sitting in a wild-card spot now. After they played 41 games last season, they had a -55 goal differential; now they’re +11. Most of that improvement is from a big jump in scoring.
Biggest disappointment
Allen: Edmonton Oilers. It’s clear that they are not as close to being a contender as they looked last season.
Hascup: Oilers. Last season was supposed to be the start of a long run of a return back to prominence.
Brehm: Oilers. I picked them to repeat as division champions. I missed spotting their flaws as most did. Ottawa is close behind in disappointment level.
Top sleeper team
Allen: Boston Bruins. They are 80-2 in their last 10 and they now rank third in the NHL with a +29 goal differential. We aren’t paying enough attention to this team’s potential.
Hascup: Anaheim Ducks. It has to be considered a minor miracle that they are tied for the last wild-card spot after dealing with injuries up and down the lineup. They are almost back to 100%.
Brehm: Minnesota Wild. Extremely inconsistent, but now they’re healthy and have the potential to move up. Devan Dubnyk needs to find the form that led him to three consecutive shutouts. He looked very good after returning from injury before putting up a dud against the Avalanche.