NHL’S YEAR OF CRAZY KNIGHTS
Nobody predicted hard-working Vegas and Colorado would have so much success
If the season was to end today, Vegas and Colorado would meet in the first round of the playoffs. Think about that for a second. An expansion team full of castaways has the most wins in the Western Conference, while a team that a year ago finished dead last in the NHL is holding down a wild-card spot.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers — two of the pre-season favourites to win the Stanley Cup — are battling it out for 12th place in the West.
Shows what we know. It also shows just how crazy this season has been.
“You guys can say whatever, you didn’t expect (this),” said Avalanche defenceman Nikita Zadorov. “But this league is so even right now. Did anyone expect Arizona to be in last place or did anyone expect Vegas to be in first place? Vegas is there and this league is so even. There’s no bad teams, every team is really good and then some teams underestimate us because we’re playing hard.”
As we told Zadorov, everyone expected the Coyotes to be at the bottom of the standings. But we also expected Vegas and Colorado to be there with them.
Instead, the Golden Knights have rightfully been the story of the year. They have already smashed every expansion team record and are challenging for the Presidents’ Trophy. But, in some ways, what the Avalanche have done is even more surprising. This is a team that won 22 games last year. It took the Avs exactly half the season to win as many games this year.
What’s remarkable is, aside from trading away its highestpaid player, nothing is really different in Colorado. Well, except expectations heading into the second half.
“You’re saying nobody expected us to be where we are right now, but we expect from ourselves,” said Zadorov, who has yet to play in the post-season. “We expect the best.”
SPEED KILLS
If there’s anything to be learned about the Avs and the Knights, it’s that hard work trumps talent. Opposing teams don’t get a night off. Heck, they don’t even get a shift off.
“Think fast,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said of the team’s mantra. “The way we break out the puck, we want to make sure we’re going north.”
Obviously, the Golden Knights are unlikely to trade their remaining unrestricted free agents at the trade deadline. But unlike Jonathan Marchessault and Brayden McNabb, who both inked long-term extensions, there’s no need to re-sign James Neal or David Perron just yet.
Even if they leave in the offseason, GM George McPhee won’t have trouble replacing them. The word around the league is Vegas is a top free-agent destination.
Meanwhile, Nathan MacKinnon has received most of the attention in Colorado because he’s putting up Hart Trophyworthy numbers. But like Vegas, it’s the castoffs who are also contributing. Jonathan Bernier won 10 straight games after Semyon Varlamov got hurt, while firstoverall bust Nail Yakupov has nine goals.
QUICK-HITS
Tampa Bay is the best team in the NHL. But the Lightning also have the luxury of playing in by far the worst division in the league. How bad is the Atlantic? Well, the Toronto Maple Leafs had one win in their past six games (heading into Wednesday’s game against Chicago) and still had an 11-point lead on the next-best team, while Buffalo and Ottawa have combined for five fewer wins than Tampa Bay
It’s not an award — yet — but the sophomore player of the year goes to Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen, who has scored more (47 points in 46 games) than Auston Matthews and fellow countryman Patrik Laine so far this season
Paul Coffey clearly knows a thing about breaking out the puck. But unless the Oilers trade for a defenceman who can skate like he could, there’s little he can teach to Edmonton’s defence.
Here’s how you fix the ambiguity over goalie interference penalties: Get former goalies in the review room. There’s a lot of subtleties and “black arts” involved in the position. No one knows this best than the guys who have worn the mask.
While we’re on the topic of video review, here’s how to fix the ongoing problem: Take away the high-definition TVs and put a five-replay limit on all reviews. If you can’t definitely tell whether a goal should count after watching it on a 480p feed, then the initial call on the ice stands.
Some players never learn. Some players don’t really want to. Brad Marchand is the latter. While he has largely cleaned up his act on the way to becoming a top scorer in this league, every now and then he does something dirty like elbowing New Jersey’s Marcus Johansson in the head. As an opponent, it’s part of the reason why he’s afforded so much space on the ice.
Barring a huge second-half surge, the top scorer in the NHL will be lucky to reach the 40-goal mark. And yet, goal-scoring is up from 2.59 last year to 2.74 so far this season. Between you and me, the game hasn’t looked better.
SOME MAD SKILLS
The all-star skills competition, which is still searching for its version of the home-run derby or dunk competition, will unveil two new events this year. One is a passing challenge and the other is a goalie breakaway challenge. Neither sounds particularly thrilling. Then again, it’s better than another year of players putting on Halloween masks trying to be funny.
Best idea for a new skills event comes from Toronto Sun photographer Craig Robertson, who jokingly suggested a hardestshot competition — aimed at the participants in the fastest-skater competition. Come to think of it, you’d be incorporating the accuracy contest as well.
CROSBY DOESN’T CUT IT
Sidney Crosby, who is outside the top-10 in scoring, is not among my top five Hart Trophy finalists. Can’t remember that happening in a year in which he was healthy.
Then again, it’s only January. Two years ago, Crosby had 41 points in 47 games before the all-star break before rattling off 44 points in the final 33 games of the season to finish third in scoring.
The question is whether the 30-year-old has enough in the tank for another late-season surge.