The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) named their 2018 Hall of Fame class today, with several notable NHL names among them. Former stars Daniel Alfredsson, Rob Blake, Chris Chelios, and Jere Lehtinen will all be immortalized for their impressive international careers. Between them, the Swede, Canadian, American, and Finn have 16 Olympic Games and 8 Olympic medals, to of course go along with outstanding professional careers. Builders Philippe Lacarriere, a former European player and IIHF Councilman, and Bob Nadin, a long-time referee, will also be inducted.
- In terms of current recognition, the NHL announced the top players of the month of November today. The Three Stars of the Month were Colorado Avalanche star center Nathan MacKinnon at #1, Toronto Maple Leafs keeper Frederik Andersen at #2, and new St. Louis Blue Brayden Schenn at #3. MacKinnon was a point per game player last month, notching five goals and fifteen assists in 12 games for the Avs. Andersen kept the Leafs going with nine wins, a 2.14 GAA, and .938 save percentage. Schenn was arguably better than either despite coming in third, with seven goals and twelve assists in just 12 games, bringing his season total to 30 points in 25 contests. Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser was named the Rookie of the Month behind his 16 points in 15 games, as the young scorer has kept the Canucks afloat early on and leads all first-year players in scoring.
- If there was an award for Team of the Month, it could have easily gone to the New Jersey Devils. The Devils have somehow survived another month at or near the top of the toughest division in hockey, the Metropolitan, despite little expectation that they would even be a playoff contender in 2017-18. To cap off the month, they swung a deal to acquire a much-needed elite defenseman yesterday as well. The Devils are just getting started though – the team announced that Sami Vatanen caught a cross-country flight, took part in morning skate, and will make his debut tonight and joining him will be Marcus Johansson, the big off-season acquisition, who is returning from a long injury absence. November was a great month for the Devils, but December is starting off even stronger.
It is about time that Jere Lehtinen is being recognized, especially because of the type of game that he played. And it is very rare that one player spends their entire career with one team. The type of defensive game that he played is slowly fading away mainly because of the speed at which today’s game is being played. The young guys of today should take a serious look at how Lehtinen played the game.
I am not familiar with the bottom two names but Chelios, Alfredsson, Blake and of course Lehtinen all deserve to be honored for what they accomplished during their careers
Agreed PK. Lehtinen was one of my favourite players when I was younger. I even modelled my own game around him though I wasn’t nearly as successful. Easily a top 5-10 defensive forwards in NHL history and what makes it even more impressive is the fact he was a right winger while all of the other great defensive players(Gainey, Carbonneau, Datsyuk, Messier, etc) were all centres.
Hey Doc, when did you play & where? You have way more knowledge than the typical hockey fan & I am grateful that you are willing to share it.
Jere Lehtinen was fun to watch because he had so much success with shutting down some of the better offensive forwards in the day. His style of hockey seems to be an almost lost art in today’s game.
Wow! Montreal showed last night just how bad the Red Wings can be, especially in the third period. Good to hear from you, Brother.
Thanks PK. I got as high as Junior A before a concussion and a knee injury took me off course. Had a few tryouts in the OHL and played some pre-season games before getting cut and moving onto to play collegiate hockey in Canada. Now I play competitive rec league and play beer league on weekends.
I am giving my age away at this point. I played in both the USHL & ECHL way back in the day.
I just didn’t have enough talent to play in the NHL but good enough to play in the minors.
I wasn’t the fastest & did not score much but I had the size to be what people called a good. I played back in the day when Gordie Howe’s sons were playing.
Doc, it is always good to connect with someone who played the game at any level. You had to be very good to have played at the level that you did. I wish that I could still play but I have had two new knees put in with several revisions.
We have another Montreal & Detroit game to watch tonight & I think that this game will be a repeat of the previous one, But it is just fun to watch any hockey game no matter how bad the Wings are.
Good to hear from you Brother.
** goon**^^^^ not good but should have said goon
20 games in a month, lol. The Avs played 12 games, not 20.