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Poll: Who Was The NHL’s Most “Outstanding” Player In 2017-18?

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The release of the Hart Trophy finalists each year is always guaranteed to result in discontent. Three fan bases – and the majority of unbiased observers – are happy with the decision, while those who support the players that narrowly missed out on a nomination feel the need to criticize the process and establish why their favorite player should have been picked. This phenomenon can be attributed to just the sheer number of elite players worthy of recognition in the NHL, but more than anything it is due to the continued confusion over what the award actually represents.

The Hart Trophy is awarded to the “player judged most valuable to his team”, or in even simpler terms, it is the NHL’s MVP award. In 2017-18, it is hard to argue that any player was more “valuable” to his team than one of Nathan MacKinnon, Taylor Hall, and Anze Kopitar. Without those three, the Colorado Avalanche, New Jersey Devils, and Los Angeles Kings, respectively, would not only have missed the playoffs, but may have been among some of the worst teams in the league. Yet, the Connor McDavid supporters like to point out that he not only led the league in scoring with 108 points, but was far-and-away the best player on the Edmonton Oilers. This is undeniably true, but the Oilers also finished with just 78 points, a whole 17 points back of MacKinnon’s Avs for a playoff spot and closer to the worst record in hockey than the postseason. Was McDavid valuable to the team? Yes, but at the end of the day, his contributions really only cost his team in NHL Draft Lottery odds.

Yet, even experienced journalists like the Edmonton Journal’s David Staples continue to misinterpret the award. He specifically refers to McDavid as the league’s “overlooked most outstanding player” and breaks down the league’s scoring leaders without regard for the context, or value, of that scoring to each team. Staples’ sentiment is shared by many teams and the criteria he uses in his article to determine his Hart finalists is valid, except for the fact that it is not a “most outstanding player award”; that’s the Ted Lindsay Award, and yes McDavid is a finalist for that.

So here is a forum for all the frustrated fans who want to argue about who the best player in the NHL is. It’s hard to make a case that the PHWA got the Hart nominees for this season wrong, but there are many cases to be made for who the best player in the NHL was this season. Have at it.

NHL Announces Hart Trophy Candidates

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Who is the most valuable player in the NHL? In 2018, it will be one three forwards who finished in the top seven in scoring. However, it won’t be any of the names at #1-#4. Instead, the league announced that the finalists for the Hart Trophy are the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, the New Jersey Devils’ Taylor Hall, and the Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar, who finished fifth through seventh in points this season, respectively.

The three nominees, as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, will come as no surprise. All three were considered top candidates for the award this season after outstanding campaigns. MacKinnon and Hall each notched 39 goals en route to leading their teams back from the basement of the league last season to unlikely playoff berths. MacKinnon’s 97 points in 74 games was second only to Connor McDavid in per-game production among full-season players, while Hall’s 93 points – 41 more than the next-best player in New Jersey – was the largest proportion of team points in the league. Meanwhile in L.A., Kopitar bounced back from a down 2016-17 season personally with 92 points, while also playing Selke-caliber defense.

As always, there were deserving candidates who did not get the nod as a Hart finalist. McDavid obviously stands out as the reigning MVP and the league’s top scorer at 108 points. However, the struggles of McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers made it unlikely he would get a second consecutive shot at the award. The other top-four scorers – the Philadelphia Flyers’ Claude Giroux, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin – did not share those same struggles, but their Hart resumes weren’t helped by the other talented players on their teams, such as top-15 scorers Jakub Voracek, Steven Stamkos, Phil Kessel, and Sidney Crosby. Other snubs include Rocket Richard winner Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, NHL assists leader and the captain of the upstart Winnipeg Jets, Blake Wheeler, and a player who may have pushed McDavid for the scoring title if not for injuries and suspensions, the Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand. However, it is hard to argue that the three finalists picked by the PHWA are not the three most deserving players to be up for the Hart this season. The winner of hockey’s MVP award will be revealed at the NHL Awards on June 20th.

NHLPA Announces Finalists For Ted Lindsay Award

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Though the Hart Trophy for league MVP may get more fanfare, the Ted Lindsay Award may be just as impressive. It’s given to the league’s best player as voted by his peers, an ultimate sign of respect in the NHL. This year, the NHLPA has announced that Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Taylor Hall are the three finalists for the award.

McDavid is used to this kind of attention, having won the award last season. He beat out Sidney Crosby and Brent Burns after scoring 100 points and winning the Hart and Art Ross. He led the league in scoring again this season with 108 points, and could very well take home the Ten Lindsay for the second consecutive year.

MacKinnon has always been an effective player for the Colorado Avalanche, but the 22-year old exploded for 97 points this season in just 74 games. The first-overall pick from 2013 was an absolute force for his team, dragging them into the playoffs just a year after finishing last in the entire NHL.

For Hall, a nomination of this magnitude is something of sweet redemption after he was traded from the Edmonton Oilers two years ago. Seen as a perimeter player on his former club, he was sent to New Jersey in exchange for Adam Larsson and admittedly struggled with the disappointment in his first season in the East. This year, he shook off any rust and threw the whole of the Devils offensive attack on his back. With 93 points he set or matched career-highs in almost every category, and outscored the next highest Devil (Nico Hischier) by 41 points.

Amazingly there were other incredible seasons that won’t even be given the distinction of a finalist for the award. Claude Giroux and Nikita Kucherov both broke the 100-point plateau for the first time in their careers, while three Pittsburgh Penguins—Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Crosby—all finished in the top-10 in scoring. Blake Wheeler showed off his versatility by moving from the wing to center for a large chunk of the season, and still finished with a career-high 91 points. Anze Kopitar proved that last year was the anomaly, as he jumped from 12 goals and 52 points in 2016-17 to 35 and 92 this season.

The winner of the Ted Lindsay Award can be especially proud of his performance this year in the face of so many other worthy candidates. We’ll find out who gets to take it home at the NHL Awards event on June 20th.

Team Canada Names First 18 Players For IIHF World Championship

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April 16: Add Josh Bailey to the Canadian team, as the New York Islanders forward has agreed to join his teammates for the tournament. Unfortunately, Hockey Canada announced that Dunn would be unable to participate, meaning another spot has been opened up on the blueline.

April 12: For all those players who have missed the playoffs, the World Championships provide some respite and a chance to play some more meaningful hockey. For some, it is the highest level of international competition they will ever play in, for others just another chance to represent their country on the world stage.

Team Canada has released a list of 18 players set to compete in the upcoming tournament, with more to come as the playoffs eliminate teams.

Goaltenders:

Darcy Kuemper, Arizona Coyotes

Defensemen:

Thomas Chabot, Ottawa Senators
Vince Dunn, St. Louis Blues
Colton Parayko, St. Louis Blues
Joel Edmundson, St. Louis Blues
Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers
Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers
Ryan Pulock, New York Islanders

Forwards:

Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
Anthony Beauvillier, New York Islanders
Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders
Bo Horvat, Vancouver Canucks
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers
Brayden Schenn, St. Louis Blues
Jaden Schwartz, St. Louis Blues
Ryan O’Reilly, Buffalo Sabres
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Ottawa Senators

The Canadians will be coached by Bill Peters (Carolina Hurricanes), with Mike Yeo (St. Louis Blues) and Bob Boughner (Florida Panthers) assisting. They obviously will have more players added to this group, but already it is quite formidable. The forwards are especially strong, with a half dozen excellent options for the four center positions.

This will be O’Reilly’s fourth straight appearance for Canada, winning two golds and a silver in the last three tournaments. Last year’s squad featured Calvin Pickard and Eric Comrie in net, but both are heading to the playoffs with their respective AHL teams. Chad Johnson, the other goaltender to play last year, is coming off a terrible season in Buffalo.

Pacific Notes: Thornton, Edmonton Defense, Nugent-Hopkins

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After a double-overtime thriller in which the Vegas Golden Knights took a 2-0 lead in their first-round series with the Los Angeles Kings, the San Jose Sharks will attempt to take a 2-0 lead of their own tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks, who picked up a 3-0 victory Thursday on the road, got a surprise during pre-game warmups when injured veteran center Joe Thornton participated in the pre-game skate before Thursday’s game. According to Paul Gackle of the Mercury News, Thornton is close to returning to the team, but isn’t yet ready.

Thornton, who went down in January with a torn MCL injury, has been rehabbing for the past 11 weeks, but has said that unlike last year when he returned from a knee injury after just two weeks for the playoff run, he intends to make sure he isn’t a distraction to the team before returning. However, the more wins that the Sharks can pick up in the meantime can buy time until Thornton believes he is fully healthy and ready to return to the lineup.

  • Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal writes that the Edmonton Oilers are desperate to repair their defense and wants to trade for a top-line defenseman. While he suggests the team could offer up its lottery pick in a deal to get Arizona’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson or work out some type of deal to get Colorado’s Tyson Barrie, neither is realistic. The team’s best chance at solving their defensive issues is right-handed shot Justin Faulk from the Carolina Hurricanes. The 26-year-old is falling down the Hurricanes’ depth charts with the emergence of younger defensemen like Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce. Faulk would also fix their logjam of left-handed defenseman as several defenseman such as Andrej Sekera and Kris Russell are left-handed, but playing on the right side. The problem is that Carolina wants a forward back. So who are they going to send?
  • Matheson, in the same article, adds that the Oilers have no intention of trading Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who might be their best trade chip. The center was rumored to be a trade candidate with his high salary ($6MM AAV) over the next three years. However, the team believes he might be the perfect linemate for Connor McDavid as a wing, which would move youngster Ryan Strome to the third-line center position. Nugent-Hopkins is coming off a season where he tied his career-high in goals with 24 (and he missed 20 games this season).

Snapshots: Three Stars, Keller, Makar, Boeser

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The NHL announced its three stars for the month of March as Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid has found his way to the top once again, named the first star. McDavid picked up 13 goals and 15 assists in 16 games, which pulls him into the lead for the Art Ross Trophy race. Despite the Oilers struggles, McDavid has taken his game to a new level as he has hit career highs in goals (41) and points (103) and remains six points ahead of Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for top spot in the NHL.

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand is the league’s second star for March as he had 10 goals and 16 assists in 15 games. Anaheim goaltender John Gibson picked up third star honors after playing in 13 games, picking up nine wins and boasting a .931 save percentage during that span.

  • Arizona Coyotes announced rookie Clayton Keller was named NHL Rookie of the Month for the second time this season. Keller, who won the award in October, had a strong start to the season, but struggled during the winter months before picking it back up recently. He picked up 19 points in the month of March, including six goals over 17 games. The 19-year-old is ranked second among rookies in points with 63 behind the New York Islanders’ Mathew Barzal.
  • BSN Denver’s Adrian Dater tweets that the Colorado Avalanche will have to wait a little while longer to get bring in 2017 first-round pick Cale Makar into the fold. The fourth-overall pick has decided to return to the University of Massachusetts – Amherst for his sophomore year.  An elite power-play defenseman, Makar had a solid freshman year at Amherst, putting up five goals and 21 points and the Avalanche had hopes of instantly upgrading its defense for next year.
  • Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal tweets that it is doubtful that Vancouver Canucks rookie Brock Boeser plays for Team USA at this year’s 2018 IIHF World Championships in Denmark. Boeser went down for the season with a back injury and likely will spend his summer getting ready for the 2018-19 season. The 21-year-old had a great rookie season in which he scored 29 goals and picked up 55 points.

NHLPA Approves Proposed Changes To Lottery Odds

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In what has become an annual event, the NHL Players’ Association has yet again approved changes to the NHL Draft lottery odds. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the NHLPA today signed off on a new lottery set-up recently submitted by the league. It marks the third season in a row that the odds have been altered.

The percentage chance that a team is selected to pick first, second, or third, as expressed by the number of ping pong balls present in the lottery draw, is dependent on where they finish in the overall league standings. Unsurprisingly, the changes to the odds first agreed upon in the Collective Bargaining Agreement began with the Edmonton Oilers and the painful realization that they had won yet another lottery in 2015 and would move up in the draft order to select Connor McDavid as their fourth first overall pick in a six year span. In response, the league significantly boosted the odds in 2016 toward the teams finishing last winning the lottery – expecting that Edmonton would no longer be in that range – as LeBrun notes that the 30th-place team had 20% odds of picking first two years ago. After the worst team in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs, retained the top pick that year and selected Auston Matthews, the league and NHLPA again agreed to lessen the odds and insert more chance (and excitement) into the lottery. LeBrun indicates that last year the league’s worst, the Colorado Avalanche, had an 18% chance of holding on to the top pick. However, in a wild turn of events, three teams outside the bottom four won the lottery and moved into the top three draft slots, the biggest shift being the Philadelphia Flyers, who narrowly missed the playoffs, picking second. So, to perhaps combat another clean sweep, the odds have again been increased for those toward the bottom

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the new odds of selecting first for the upcoming 2018 NHL Draft will be 18.5% for 31st, 13.5% for 30th, and 11.5% for 29th. With the addition of an extra non-playoff team, there is also a new distribution which in fact increases the odds for the last team to miss the playoffs, the 17th-place finisher, by a tenth of a percent to 1%. This is accomplished by lessening the odds for the middle-of-the pack lottery teams. It may not be a coincidence that the Oilers are part of that group. Nor may it be a coincidence that the current bottom three – the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, and Arizona Coyotes – are all teams that have been struggling for years and would certainly appreciate retaining their high picks. This yearly change in draft lottery odds seems to be very responsive to the results of each prior lottery, but that isn’t a bad thing. So long as both the league and NHLPA agree, it’s safe to assume that the changes have the best interests of competitive balance in mind.

Trade Candidate: Patrick Maroon

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With the trade deadline approaching, we will be profiling several players in the weeks ahead that have a good chance to be dealt by February 26th.

Despite possessing star center Connor McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers haven’t fared as well as the team would have hoped after making a deep playoff run one season ago. With the team floundering near the bottom of the Pacific Division with a 22-24-4 record and the fact the team will have to factor in the salary cap hit of McDavid, whose eight year, $100MM extension kicks in next year. the team might be starting a firesale soon. With McDavid’s $12.5MM AAV along with Leon Draisaitl’s $8.5MM deal, the team will have to keep an eye on their budget from now on and might be ready to move out some expiring contacts such as Patrick Maroon.

Contract

Maroon is in the final year of a three-year, $6MM contract he signed with the Anaheim Ducks in 2014. While he has an AAV of $2MM, the Ducks still are retaining $500K of his salary for this year.

2017-18

The 29-year-old Maroon has served well alongside of McDavid in the past, including a 27-goal season last year. He hasn’t been on McDavid’s line for parts of the season this year and his numbers have indicated that. Regardless, Maroon remains on pace to have another 20-goal season, which should generate some interest from teams in need of scoring. At 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, Maroon can play the role of both physical instigator and scorer which is a rare combination.

However, his streakiness as a player has definitely come into play this year. Through December and January, Maroon was held to just one goal over 15 games. However, Maroon seems to have more recently found his scoring touch as he has scored four goals in his last seven games.

Season Stats

48 GP, 13 goals, 13 assists, 13 points, +7 plus/minus, 55 PIM, 113 shots, 17:04 TOI, 55.7 CF%

Potential Suitors

There should be quite a few teams that would be willing to pay up for Maroon’s services. With his added size and the ability to put the puck in the net, he is a perfect addition to a playoff team. There are several logical teams that might be ready to make a move for him, including the Minnesota Wild. Having already played for head coach Bruce Boudreau when he coached in Anaheim, Maroon would already have familiarity with the veteran coaches’ system. The team is in need of scoring as it has struggled getting their young players to put up any consistent numbers. The St. Louis Blues who are looking for a scorer might also have interest in the St. Louis native even if he is a rental player. Teams like the Nashville Predators and the Winnipeg Jets might also be good fits.

Likelihood of Trade

While Maroon has said publically, he would like to stay with the Oilers, it’s likely he will be asking for a significant contract, which Edmonton is probably not prepared to pay. The team will be facing plenty of salary cap issues over the next few years and making a long-term investment in a 29-year-old streaky winger may not be the way to go.

Rather than lose Maroon for nothing, it should be a forgone conclusion that he will be on his way out. Most indications suggest the Oilers likely couldn’t get a first-round pick for him, but a second-round pick would be a legitimate possibility for a team that needs to retool their roster with less splashy moves.

Western Notes: Edmonton’s Future, Labanc, Gaudette, Crawford

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Expect a long, boring summer for the Edmonton Oilers. After three offseasons in which the team made a “blow-up” trade, you can rest assured that it won’t be the case this summer, writes The Athletic’s Allan Mitchell (subscription required). The team, who in each of the last three years made questionable trades in hopes of sparking the team, including the 2015 trade of acquiring defenseman Griffin Reinhart (for a first-round pick which turned out to be Matthew Barzal), the 2016 trade of sending off No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall and the 2017 trade of trading winger Jordan Eberle, should be quiet this season.

Mitchell writes that Oiler management has made it clear that the team will just be making quiet moves as they attempt to re-tool their roster to fix the teams’ struggles this season. He includes a list of team needs, which includes a first-line shooter, a top-four defenseman, a third-line center, a backup goaltender and a penalty-killing forward. He writes the team’s lack of cap space, after the extension of Connor McDavid kicks in, will not allow them to be big players in the free agent market, which will force the team to look for quality low-cost free agents and the young players from within their own organization.

Jesse Puljujarvi is the most likely candidate to continue to shoot next to McDavid, while Jujhar Khaira might make a quality third-line center if the team wants to keep Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as their second-line center and move Leon Draisaitl to the first line. Also, don’t forget about 2017 first-rounder Kailer Yamamoto, who played nine games for Edmonton this year. He continues to thrive with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs and might be ready to take a bigger role next season.

  • Kevin Kurz of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that despite the injury to veteran center Joe Thornton, the San Jose Sharks’ top line continues to be highly efficient with winger Kevin Labanc in his place. The 22-year-old Lebanc has two goals and four assists in those four games since Thornton went down. He especially seems to be thriving on the power play. “Just feel confident,” Labanc said. “A lot of great players around me, too. … We break in cleanly, and I think that’s the big thing on our power play, is breaking in on the entry, settling things down, and once we do, just do our thing. We work well together.”
  • The Vancouver Canucks are going to try to do everything they can to ink Northeastern star center Adam Gaudette after his season is over. While there is no guarantee that will happen, Ryan Biech of The Athletic (subscription required) goes into deep analysis of Gaudette’s game and says he sees similarities between him and former Canuck Ryan Kesler. Gaudette has already scored 57 goals and 64 assists in three seasons so far for Northeastern, could be a valuable piece to the team’s puzzle if the team can sign him.
  • Chicago Sun-Times’ Mark Potash tweets that Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford continues to make progress towards a return. The netminder worked out on the ice for the first time since suffering a head injury in December. Coach Joel Quenneville said Crawford is expected to work out again Sunday. The team needs the veteran goalie more now than ever as they sit outside the playoffs and need a solid run if they want to get back in.

Coaches, GMs To Meet With NHL Today About Goaltender Interference

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With goaltender interference becoming one of the most talked about topics in the NHL in recent weeks if not months, TSN’s Darren Dreger tweeted that the four NHL All-Star coaches, NHL general managers and team executives are meeting today in Tampa Bay with league brass to discuss it. Dreger adds that NHL director of officiating Stephen Walkom will also attend the meeting.

The debate has been glorified recently as goals scored by Toronto’s Auston Matthews and Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid both had their goals taken away due to the rule. Matthews’ goal was called back Monday against Colorado after it was found he got caught up in goaltender Jonathan Bernier’s blocker. Both he and coach Mike Babcock said after the game that they didn’t understand what constitutes goaltender interference.

“There’s definitely a bit of grey area there,” Matthews said Saturday, according to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. “Night in, night out, some stuff is goalie interference and some stuff isn’t. You kinda compare and it doesn’t make sense sometimes.”

McDavid had his goal called back Thursday against Calgary when his skates hit the stick of goaltender David Rittich.

“I think everyone just wants black and white,” McDavid said post-game. “I think everyone just wants it to be goaltender interference or not.”

That debate continues as Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby today said he has no problem with the goaltender interference rule, pointing out that the referees made the right call in both situations involving Matthews and McDavid.

“There’s been some situations where it’s probably been magnified. It happened in Toronto, and it happened in Edmonton, so you tend to look at it a little more,” Crosby said during the all-star game’s media day. “As a player, you have a pretty good idea. If you affect the goalie’s ability to make a save, it’s not going to be a goal. I think it’s been pretty consistent. It’s tough in the moment to understand that. I watch a lot of hockey, and I like to think, as a player, I’m pretty aware when it’s going to be called back.”

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