OFFICIAL HOCKEY THREAD: NHL, KHL, NCAA, IIHL

[youngin33]

Was getting Rangers updates on phone last night, thought there was a glitch when it read 6-0.

Playoffs have started for the Blueshirts already, hopefully we make it into the legitimate tournament.

 

[DeadsetAce]

lucic the healthy scratch today versus pittsburgh...guess it had to be done. he's gotta wake up. still feels batman.

Paille-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin
Soderberg-Kelly-Jagr
Campbell-Peverley-Thornton

 

[gunna get it]

Brad Richards had thee Luckiest Hat trick ever. [sarcasm] congrats [/sarcasm]

His last goal was a shot that probably couldn't break tissue paper.

U wanna laugh, go watch all 3 of his goals. each one gets progressively funnier.

 

[stillin729]

Flyers officially eliminated from playoffs contention

Phillies 7-10

Eagles drafting 4th

Sixers more irrelevant than ever

Penn State with years left on sanctions

What city wants to adopt me?

 

[dmxfury]

Find a random baseball team then stay in state. Whoo

 

[DeadsetAce]

that's a weird "fight"...horton and iginla. do they have history? the hit looked pretty clean

 

[DeadsetAce]

DMX...what's vokoun's deal? like he makes a great initial save, but has ZERO awareness and rebound control after that initial save

sucks that we haven't been able to bang home any of those loose pucks

 

[dmxfury]

Not sure but it has been that way all year. He sometimes looks super slow going side to side. Still way better than Brent Johnson and gives MAF some nights off

 

[gunna get it]

Ovi

 

[jjs07]

U all know my homer *** is biased and i'd have Ovechkin as the MVP, but i heard an interesting point about Crosby. We all know he's dominant, however if u take him off the Pens, they're still one of the top teams in the East/league. Take Ovechkin off the caps...they'd absolutely fall apart. Ovechkin has put the entire team on his back and thats what u want a MVP to do.

 

[lvjordan238]

That isn't really the argument I'd make for Ovie winning the Hart, as the same could be said of Tavares and Getzlaf. However, Ovie is my pick regardless. Crosby is going to end up missing a fourth of the season, and the Hart winner has also won the Rocket Richard and/or the Art Ross every year since '01.

 

[jjs07]

Not my argument, but i think he's more valuable to the caps than crosby is for the Pens.

 

[theenorthstar]

Crosby was obliterating everyone in the game that the man is STILL leading the league in pts with missing a 1/4th of the season.

That is just gaudy ... Dude still gets my vote just... sheer dominance.

 

[theenorthstar]

Heres an article that sums up everything to this point (for the Hart)

It's nice to come back to a debate that had lost nearly all of its muster and vigor the past few years, that debate that rages between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. At one time the top two players in the NHL playing for two of the best teams in the league, the rivalry between the two was matched only between that of fans and media who were forced to choose a side. Unfortunately, due to injury and diminishing returns, both players dropped out of the conversation for a time with Ovechkin taking an incredible amount of heat as the Capitals struggled to find the success of Crosby's Penguins.

Now, with the Capitals surging ahead in the standings and threatening to enter the postseason as the league's hottest team, the debate begins anew. This time there are different and more significant mitigating factors than ever before -- which should make the argument over which player deserves the NHL's top honor as Most Valuable Player more entertaining than ever.

On Tuesday, Capitals coach Adam Oates let his ringing endorsement for Ovechkin be known. Per the Washington Times:

"I'm obviously very biased about that, so my answer would be yeah, absolutely," Oates said. "Obviously Sidney Crosby is another candidate, for sure. He had such a scoring lead, but I think you've got to factor in the fact he's missed a lot of games."

"That's not for me to say though, it's you guys."

The problem, of course, is that for the first half of the season the Capitals were one of the worst teams in the NHL and Ovechkin one of the more underwhelming star players performing at an exceptionally low level -- for his standards and for his team. In his first 19 games, Ovechkin had just eight goals and 15 points; certainly a respectable number but far below the production expected of the superstar player when compared to that of Steven Stamkos or Sidney Crosby -- two other players routinely at the top of the list of Hart candidates.

Just a few months later, and Ovechkin leads the league with 28 goals and now has 48 points in 43 games. The Capitals have shot back up the standings to No. 3 in the East and will likely win the Southeast division title. The turnaround for both the team and the player are remarkable and have led many to speculate that Ovechkin's incredible second half of the season should be enough to warrant the title as the league's Most Valuable Player.

The problem, of course, is that the award is generally awarded to the player who was at his best for the entire season. The "Most Valuable Player" award is always one that is up for much debate as the definition of the award itself is fairly ambiguous; the title would infer the award should go to the player that a team would never be successful without, while the award is generally given to the "best player on one of best teams" -- a fact true for all major sports, and not just hockey.

If we're talking about the true "most valuable player" in the NHL, then you'd have to look no further than Columbus' Sergei Bobrovsky -- there's no way that the Blue Jackets would be fighting for the postseason without. Or perhaps Ryan Suter in Minnesota, or John Tavares with the Islanders. All of these players have been consistently great for much of this season and their team's success rides directly on the shoulders of these players.

That's not to take away from what Ovechkin has accomplished this season. He's proven wrong an incredibly biased hockey media that seems to take pleasure when he struggles, and his willingness to do what his coach has asked of him has led to a career resurgence when many felt that he was no longer capable of the greatness we witness just a few short years ago.

At the heart of this matter is Sidney Crosby, who continues to lead the league with 56 points in 36 games; an incredible pace, even for Crosby's standards. The Penguins were the best team on the planet during the month of March is almost unstoppable and Crosby was leading the way from the very first puck drop of the season.

Unfortunately, Crosby has been out for more than two weeks now with a broken jaw and there's no certain timeline for his return; can a player who missed nearly a quarter of the season be looked upon as the NHL's MVP? Is that any different than Ovechkin's struggles to start the season and should the injury actually be held against Crosby, compared to that of a player who was actually playing and performing below expectations?

The Hart Memorial Trophy is voted on each year by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, who have shown to be generally biased when it comes to selections such as these. There are outliers, of course, such Henrik Sedin in 2010 and Corey Perry in 2011. It's not like Ovechkin hasn't won the award before; the Russian superstar was awarded the Hart in consecutive seasons in 2008 and 2009.

So, once again we'll have a vote on an award in which there really is no clear-cut winner and the debate will rage about biases and what the award really means. What should really matter, however, is that the NHL once again has its two best players at the top of their game and facing off for the league's top honor -- and that's certainly a good thing.

 

[gunna get it]

Ovi's the Guy

 

[jjs07]

Gionta looked like he was shot out of a cannon when he was trying to get back on the ice

 

[gunna get it]

Brad Richards, Gazillionaire 3rd Line Center... |I *shrugs* hey, we're winning and at least he's contributing there.

Stepan has been so Clutch

 

[theenorthstar]

I hate Yeo.

Wild suck.

 

[solemate96]

I have a gut feeling that Detroit is not going to make the playoffs this year. I think it's going to be Columbus. Hopefully, the Dallas Stars make it in as well but I highly doubt it. I don't know why I like the Stars so much. I've always liked them.

 

[thejet]

It's been a while but finally - The Toronto Maple Leafs are back in the playoffs.

 

[DeadsetAce]

It's been a while but finally - The Toronto Maple Leafs are back in the playoffs.

 

[proshares]

Osh finally has something to be happy about

 

[emkicks]

I have a gut feeling that Detroit is not going to make the playoffs this year. I think it's going to be Columbus. Hopefully, the Dallas Stars make it in as well but I highly doubt it. I don't know why I like the Stars so much. I've always liked them.

 

[proshares]

Speaking of the Hart (I still think it should go to Ovechkin):

Hart Trophy chasers close in on Crosby.

It wasn't one of those games where goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky strapped the Columbus Blue Jackets to his back and carried them to two points, but last night's 4-3 win in San Jose was his 19th of the season. And it was another tight game.



In their stunning playoff run, Columbus may have one of the toughest season-ending schedules, with a West Coast trip at the worst time. Six of the Blue Jackets' final seven games were on the road but so far, it hasn't mattered. The Blue Jackets are 4-1 on the trip heading into an absolutely huge game Thursday against the Stars. Every single one of those games have been decided by one goal, which is just another reason why Bobrovsky has been so valuable. He's keeping Columbus in games, and he's winning the close ones. Like last night in San Jose.



"You could feel the pressure," coach Todd Richards said in his postgame media session. "You could feel it out on the ice."



Bobrovsky has responded to that pressure. And if he carries Columbus into the postseason, that changes the dynamic of the Hart Trophy race considerably. Members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association received their awards ballots during the weekend, and an MVP race that was all but done a month ago will come down to the final week. Here's a look at the biggest contenders on my ballot:





1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
If the season had concluded in March, the Hart voting would have ended in a landslide. Crosby hasn't played in April and still leads the league in assists, points and is fourth in plus/minus. Penguins general manager Ray Shero, during a conversation in mid-March, said Crosby's age and maturity made him a better leader than he'd ever been, and his competition level was back to all-time highs. Certainly better than it was last season, even in the playoffs. And that's a high standard.

What may cost Crosby is the Hart Trophy description, which says it's awarded to the player "adjudged to be the most valuable to his team." The Penguins have continued winning without him, although the team doing the winning right now, led by guys such as Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow, isn't the same one that Crosby was leading when he got hurt. If he ends up missing the remainder of the regular season, Crosby will have played 75 percent of the season. Would PHWA members be comfortable voting for someone who in a non-lockout-shortened season would have played in just 62 games? That may be the toughest decision, although his coach doesn't feel that way.



"What he's been and how dominant he's been and the consistency in which he did it over the games he played left no doubt, I think, in a lot of people's minds," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.




2. Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets
In terms of players most valuable to their team, it's hard to find a more fitting candidate than Bobrovsky. Columbus' margin-of-error is thin, and having a goalie with a save percentage of .930 means a significant difference in the standings. Subtract Bobrovsky from the Blue Jackets, and there's no way they're in the playoff hunt. His candidacy completely hinges on the Blue Jackets making the playoffs. If they don't, he becomes a great player on a non-playoff team. If he carries them into the postseason, it's impossible to keep him off the ballot.


3. John Tavares, New York Islanders
Tavares is similar to Bobrovsky in that the Islanders may not be close to a playoff team without him. And, as colleague Katie Strang pointed out in a recent "Hockey Today" podcast, his best contributions came before the Islanders really clicked down the stretch. There were times early this season when he was absolutely willing the Islanders to points, proving that he's developing into a Crosby or Jonathan Toews-like leader. When the Islanders were struggling in early February, he did his best to keep them afloat, including a five-game goal-scoring streak. If you're looking at a total body of work, from start to finish this season, it's hard to ignore Tavares.




4. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
It's no coincidence that the Capitals' climb up the standings coincided with Ovechkin's other-worldly goal-scoring tear. That alone shows you how valuable he is to this team. It's likely he'll win the goal-scoring title, which is incredible considering he had just two goals in his first 10 games and spotted Steven Stamkos a healthy lead. That he has scored 15 of his goals against the Southeast is inconsequential, because the Capitals have needed those wins to climb back into the playoffs, regardless of the opponent. All that said, there's an argument that Nicklas Backstrom is the Capitals' most valuable player. Former Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau once called him the straw that stirs the drink in Washington, and his contributions to Washington have been every bit as valuable as Ovechkin's.




5 (tie). Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks and Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
The Blackhawks have been so dominant all season that it's hard to single out one player. Their goaltending duo has been outstanding and Patrick Kane is challenging his goals total from 2011-12 in nearly half of a season. But in Chicago, it begins and ends with the tone Toews sets in that room. Toews is a plus-27 this season, best for No. 3 in the league, and according to behindthenet.ca's quality-of-competition metric, there's not a forward on Chicago's roster that sees tougher ice time. That's his team, and a vote for Toews is a nod to the consistent success Chicago has enjoyed this season.



But Anaheim's regular-season success can't be ignored, either. Getzlaf has put up similar numbers and also plays against the toughest competition. When opponents talk about why Anaheim has been so good this year, they talk about Getzlaf's dominance and how much more engaged he is compared to last season. He's been an absolute difference-maker in Anaheim.

 

[tmay407]

I have a gut feeling that Detroit is not going to make the playoffs this year. I think it's going to be Columbus. Hopefully, the Dallas Stars make it in as well but I highly doubt it. I don't know why I like the Stars so much. I've always liked them.

My man

The Stars will have to win at San Jose (or at least take it to OT), then beat Columbus and Detroit at home. The Stars have been playing really well lately, but Columbus has just been lights out. Give me Columbus with Detroit and Dallas falling just short.