NHL Transactions, Injuries & Rumours

[Loki]

Or it's just a fluke season with an extraordinary set of circumstances. They wouldn't be the 1st team in history to rally around the misfit mantra and put it all together for one year and then fade into the abyss.

I fully suspect they won't be as good next year as most of their team are UFAs this offseason but they definitely got a much better roster than they realistically should have this year. A lot of it was the draft process, some was teams like Florida throwing up all over themselves to protect the wrong players, and some were flukes like Karlsson.

[kyuss]

what fluke

[CasperX22]

what fluke

Definition of a fluke.

[kyuss]

go ahead

[Bruyns]

Have you seen his SH%?

[Loki]

Karlsson is a good player, shooting percentage aside, he'll obviously regress a bit, but none of the three organisations he's been in knew he'd be this good.

[CasperX22]

Karlsson is a good player, shooting percentage aside, he'll obviously regress a bit, but none of the three organisations he's been in knew he'd be this good.

Because he's not this good.

[Matthew]

He did win shl rookie of the year a few years ago. Young players who win that award typically go onto have quite good NHL careers. So there is certainly the pattern potential for him to be this player.

[Loki]

He did win shl rookie of the year a few years ago. Young players who win that award typically go onto have quite good NHL careers. So there is certainly the pattern potential for him to be this player.

That's not to suggest that he wasn't on pace for be a decent NHL player, he was still the obvious pick from CBJ, but there's a big gap between that and 43 goal, 78 point first line center.

[Matthew]

mckinnon(97) hall(93) kopitar (92) for the hart.

Meanung none of the top 4 point getters mcdavid(108) giroux(102) kucherov(100) malkin(98) were even nominated. Dont think ive seen this before.

[Shoalzie]

Without MacKinnon, Hall or Kopitar...do you see their respective teams making the playoffs? Granted none of these teams amounted to much in the playoffs but this is a regular season award. I think for once the award is being giving out to the player that played the biggest part in their team's success instead of just awarding a guy for putting up a bunch of points on a stacked team.

You look at Hall having 41 more points than their next most on the Devils (Hischier) and they made the playoffs. That to me is the definition of valuable to a team. Kopitar had 31 more points the next most on the Kings (Brown). MacKinnon doesn't have nearly the gap to the #2 scorer on the Avs (Rantanen) but he had a league-high 12 GWG and the guy could've flirted with the Art Ross if he didn't miss 8 games.

I think Kucherov or Giroux were worthy of nomination but I think the 3 best choices were made.

[Bruyns]

Hall and MacKinnon won the BBKL championship, pretty sure that was taken into account.

[kyuss]

yeah, now, taking that away, kopitar should win it (doubt he will though)

[Matthew]

Saying a player made the biggest impact because he got his team into the playoffs...personally, i think a player who can make his team a top team in the league has a better impact.

"I made my team mediocre! Yay!"

"I made my team elite and far more likely to win the championship!"

[Handsome&FairMike]

I think Mackinnon ends up taking Hart and Lindsay

[Shoalzie]

In the regular season, the key is to make the playoffs. You win a Conn Smythe when you help your team work towards winning the title.

In terms of exceeding expectations...who had the Avs and Devils in the playoffs? The kind of seasons Hall and MacKinnon had were the quality of seasons those teams needed to even a chance at the playoffs.

You look at McDavid's season. His best statistical season but it was on a team that seemingly went backwards from year before. He racked up a lot of his points when the season was already lost.

I think you can make a case for a guy like Kucherov who was outstanding from Day 1 this year and probably was one of (if not the main reason) they were the best team all season. You can argue Stamkos' hot start helped. Hedman had another strong year. Vasilevsky is a Vezina finalist. Gourde was 3rd in rookie points. Point was tied with MacKinnon for most GWG. It's not like Tampa needed one guy to get them where they were. That's a complete team.

[CasperX22]

He did win shl rookie of the year a few years ago. Young players who win that award typically go onto have quite good NHL careers. So there is certainly the pattern potential for him to be this player.

1st round pick on him reaching 43 goals and 78 points next year?

[kyuss]

so you mean.. a fluke like the season when Gretzky scored 92 goals, ok

[CasperX22]

so you mean.. a fluke like the season when Gretzky scored 92 goals, ok

Comparing him to Gretzky now?

[kyuss]

more like comparing their flukes