2013: The NHL season that almost wasn't

Maybe Toews will win. I won't have any problem at all if he does. Just think he MIGHT split some votes with Kane (even though he shouldn't) and that will be enough to sneak someone else through. I also think you can flip a coin between Toews and Tavares, especially when you consider the supporting cast that each are working with. Great, great young players.

As long as it's not Ovechkin, I'll be completely fine with the winner among the list of expected finalists. You can't reward someone who was MIA for a month. Crosby is a slight exception because of just how ridiculously dominant he was before the broken jaw. But he shouldn't win, either.

 

plus mimus might be the worst stat in hockey. Toews was a minus player the playoffs he won the Conn Smythe.

I'd still take Toews over Tavares, you put Toews on the Islanders he would have at least the same impact as Tavares and I don't think the reverse is true. Different players for sure, but I'll take Toews all around game over Tavares right now.

 

That's fine. You might be right. I was just pointing out it's only happened once. 45 years ago. And that might have been the first year they even kept the stat, because none of the previous Hart winners had +/- listed.

 

I've just seen too many occasions where Holtby leaves his net to play the puck, misses it and doesn't get back and gives up an easy goal. I'm not saying that's not fixable and that he can't be good. But I don't see him carrying a team the way, say, Jonathan Quick did with Los Angeles last year.

 

I can definitely see Toews winning the Hart Trophy, especially given Crosby's injury.

 

Well, he was their best player in the playoffs last year with a 1.95 GAA and a .935 save percentage and took them to a game seven of the second round. Over the 14 games they played, Ovechkin had nine points, Backstrom eight, Chimera and Laich seven each. Yeah I think he is capable of carrying them on a long playoff run.

 

The Hart winner usually comes from a kickass team, and kickass teams generally don't have minus players.

If Tavares is a minus 2, I'm guessing his linemates are too. Put another player on that line and they could all be minus 20.

 

I continue to have no freaking clue how valuable Patrick Kane is or isn't.

About six times a game, his worthlessness on the boards or weak defense will cost the team a major scoring chance. And another six times, he'll do something amazing to create one.

 

Kane is a great scorer. I just think Toews contributes in more different areas: passing, faceoffs, defense.

 

Detroit beats Nashville 5-2. Stars dust off the golf clubs.

 

Interesting to note that the two top seeds, Chicago and Pittsburgh, have used two goalies quite regularly throughout the season. I suspect that once the playoffs begin, we'll see a heavy dose of Marc Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh and Corey Crawford in Chicago, though.

I know Philadelphia got to the Final in 2010 rotating three goaltenders, but that seemed like the exception.