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INDEPTH: NHL HOCKEY
One Month Later A
look at the top players, teams and trends a month into the 2005-06
hockey season.
CBC Sports Online | Last updated Oct. 26, 2005
It's NHL report card time at Sports Online, now that the league has finished its first month reborn and rejuvenated.
New rules, new lineups and a whole new attitude to the game have generated
a season, so far, like no other: former also-ran teams are at the
top of their divisions, snipers who were chained by the old clutch-and-grab
game have been liberated, and a new generation of burgeoning stars
is proving all the pundits right.
So with a little more than 100 games now in the stats book, here's our assessment of the season so far:
1. Best Team
2. Worst Team
3. Surprise Team
4. Best Player
5. Best Goalie
6. Best Rookie (not named Crosby or Ovechkin)
7. Best Comeback
8. Surprise Player
9. Surprising impact of rule changes?
Which team has been
hockey's best so far?
The Ottawa Senators have been stellar so far this season (Getty
Images) |
Considered by many pundits as a favourite
to go all the way, the Ottawa Senators began the 2005-06 campaign
by reeling off six consecutive wins, including a 4-1 decision over
the defending Stanley Cup champions from Tampa Bay.
All of their Northeast Division rivals – Boston, Montreal, Toronto,
and Buffalo – have been duly dispatched as Ottawa climbed to
the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a 6-1 record.
What's been especially impressive about the Senators is that they're
clicking on all fronts, combining brilliant goal scoring with steady
defence and solid goaltending.
Forwards Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza have 31
points between them. Blue-liners Wade Redden and Anton Volchenkov
are both plus-5. And veteran goaltender Dominik Hasek is 5-1 with
a 1.95 goals-against average.
Despite their impressive start, the Senators remain grounded and play
down any talk of winning the Stanley Cup.
"We're a talented team, we can score goals, I have very talented defencemen
in front of me … but it's 82 games [in a season] and it's too early
to tell," Hasek recently told Hockey Night in Canada.
Which has been the NHL's worst?
The Blue Jackets are struggling to score goals without Rick Nash. (Getty Images)
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Forget the winless Penguins, who've lost more
than half their games in overtime and have a crew replete with new
faces who may yet gel and prove the pundits right. And Atlanta's mediocrity
and on-ice thuggery are offset by the fact they've already had to
employ four goalies, two of whom were nowhere near ready for the NHL.
The nod here goes to Columbus (2-7). While no one expected a run to
the Cup this year, a playoff appearance was a reasonable expectation.
But the Blue Jackets have actually regressed in their fifth season
of play.
General Manager Doug MacLean has had plenty of opportunity to mould
the team into a winner. Always among the leaders in shots allowed,
the team acquired the defensively reliable Adam Foote and Radoslav
Suchy, while adding Bryan Berard to provide some offensive punch from
the blueline.
Nothing has helped. All of those players are in the minus, and the
team has given up nearly twice as many goals as they've scored.
Of course, the injured Rick Nash is the horse that drives the offensive
cart, but it has been astonishing how much production has suffered
without him. Forwards David Vyborny and Nik Zherdev, counted on to
provide offence in Nash's absence, have one goal apiece.
When Manny Malhotra is leading the forwards in points, there are issues.
Which team's performance has been most surprising?
Things haven't gone according to plan for Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins. (Getty
Images) |
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been surprising
... surprisingly bad.
The addition of power forward John Leclair, slick defenceman Sergei
Gonchar, sniper Zigmund Palffy, and phenom Sidney Crosby to a lineup
that already included the legendary Mario Lemieux had most observers
convinced the Penguins were going to thrive in the new, offence-friendly
NHL.
So far? Not even close.
The Pens' star-studded attack has stumbled. Leclair's play has been
mediocre at best, Gonchar looks lost and Lemieux is showing his age.
Only Crosby has lived up to the advance billing.
Pittsburgh's power play is the NHL's worst, its defence porous. And
after nearly a month, the Penguins are still looking for their first
win of the season.
The Pens are the opposite of the Nashville Predators, the league's
most surprising success. Who would have guessed Barry Trotz's squad
would go undefeated in the season's first month?
Who's been the game's best player so far?
While Detroit and Nashville have set a torrid
pace without one dominant player, Vancouver (8-1-1) would not likely
be near the top of the standings without Markus Naslund.
A model of consistency, Naslund has scored at least one point in all
but two Canuck games. He is tied for third in NHL scoring with seven
goals and six assists – two of those goals were game-winners – and
is a plus-8.
Naslund just edges out two other superstars: Jaromir Jagr and Peter
Forsberg.
Jagr leads the NHL in scoring, is averaging a goal a game and is propelling
the Rangers back to respectability. All but two of his goals have
come on the power play.
And while Forsberg hasn't netted a single goal as a Flyer, the majority
of his points have come even-strength. He has 12 assists in seven
games, including helpers on each of Simon Gagne's seven goals.
Who's been the league's best goalie?
Manny Legace has racked up Vezina-like numbers so far. (Getty
Images) |
Goalie Manny Legace is making Detroit Red
Wings fans forget all about Dominik Hasek and Curtis Joseph.
Legace boasts the best record (9-1) in the NHL, sports a sensational
1.79 goals-against average and an impressive .927 save percentage.
He's also recorded two shutouts, tied for tops in the league with
Florida's Roberto Luongo.
Detroit sits atop the Western Conference thanks in large part to Legace.
The 32-year-old netminder, who has been in goal every game for the
Red Wings, tied the NHL record and set a club mark for wins by a goaltender
in October.
Legace credits his unbelievable start to intensive off-season training
that improved not only his physical play, but also his mental game.
"My mind doesn't get as tired," Legace told the USA Today. "When you
are out of shape, you get a little winded, and it goes to your mind.
The stronger I get, the clearer I am on the ice."
Who's the best Rookie not named Crosby or Ovechkin?
After The Big Two, Chicago's Pavel Vorobiev and Colorado's Marek Svatos are next in rookie scoring, but both gained invaluable experience with their respective clubs late in the 2003-04 season, so we (perhaps unfairly) aren't choosing either.
Mike Richards of the Flyers edges Toronto's Alex Steen as the best all-around rookie so far. In seven games, Richards has three goals and five assists.
He's performed the rare trick of having his first three NHL goals include one each on the power play and penalty kill, as well as even strength. His shorthanded goal was a memorable shot with two men down to beat Ed Belfour of the Leafs.
As far as rookie rearguards, take your pick between teammates who twice played together for the Canadian junior team.
Dion Phaneuf is the more celebrated, and has been one of the few bright lights on the Calgary blue line. He has six points, and is a threat to teams with his shot from the point.
And of course, there is his physical presence. Colorado's Antti Laaksonen was the first of undoubtedly many who'll feel his open-ice wrath.
Chicago's Brent Seabrook has been equally impressive, albeit with
a different style than Phaneuf. Seabrook has six assists in nine games,
and is a plus-one on a team that has given up its fair share.
Which player has been the best comeback story?
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Eric Lindros is once again playing
like it's 1994. (Getty Images)
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Eric Lindros appears reborn in Toronto.
As a member of the Philadelphia Flyers, Lindros established himself
as one of the best players in the NHL when he won the Hart Trophy
as the league's most valuable player in 1994-95.
Injuries began to take their toll on the Big E, however, and his goal
total slowly dwindled from 37 to 19 to 10 over the past three seasons
with the New York Rangers.
Coming home to Toronto to fulfill a lifelong dream to play for the
Leafs seems to have rejuvenated his career.
The seven-time NHL all star has rediscovered his scoring touch in
Toronto, potting seven goals and adding three assists through the
first nine games of the season. He's currently on a six-game point
streak.
More importantly, the 32-year-old forward has demonstrated key leadership
skills and picked up the slack while captain Mats Sundin has been
sidelined with an eye injury.
"Mats is our captain, our leader, he's our horse. I come in and do
my job, whatever needs to be done. Whatever needs to be done, you've
got a responsibility," Lindros told ESPN.com.
Who's been the most surprising player?
Leaf defenceman Bryan McCabe is flourishing in the new NHL.
(Getty Images) |
The only statistical category one would expect
Bryan McCabe's name to be near the top of is penalty minutes.
But after one month and to the surprise of many, the Toronto Maple
Leafs defender is staying out of the penalty box and is at the forefront
of the NHL scoring race.
The at-times volatile McCabe has adapted well to the new NHL and is
flourishing as the quarterback of the Leafs' power play.
After nine games, McCabe already has just as many points as superstar
sniper Jaromir Jagr.
And while it's unlikely McCabe will win the NHL scoring title (the
last Leaf to do so was Gordie Drillon almost 70 years ago), one future
Hall-of-Famer says he's in line for a different award.
"I think [McCabe] can win the Norris Trophy," former Leaf and current
Boston Bruin Brian Leetch recently told the Toronto Star.
"He's the best player I've played with in my career as a [defence] partner."
What's been the most surprising impact of rule changes?
Critics argue the new NHL is devoid of passion and emotion. (Getty Images) |
Overall, fans are enjoying the new-look NHL.
There are more goals, more chances, less clutch-and-grab and the neutral-zone
trap is extinct. But one change many hockey purists weren't expecting,
and aren't happy about, has been the disappearance of the physical
part the game.
The new rules have neutered the NHL's tougher defencemen. Hulking
blueliners like Chris Pronger and Derian Hatcher are struggling to
find a way to throw their weight around without landing in the penalty
box.
That change was decried by Don Cherry in a recent Coach's Corner.
Grapes said the front of the net has become crowded with players because
defenders aren't allowed to use their muscle to clear the area.
The result: a plethora of point shots deflecting off sticks and legs
and finding their way into the net. "That's not hockey,"
Cherry said.
Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock has also openly lamented that the hitting
has disappeared.
Case in point is a recent game between Philadelphia and Toronto. Despite
having end-to-end skating, nifty passing and pretty goals, it was
widely acknowledged by fans and pundits that the game was boring.
What was missing? The violence and intensity fans have come to expect
from the teams' storied and bloody rivalry. "It seems to be a little
bit of a softer game," Hatcher said, "to be honest. With
these rules they've taken a lot of emotion out of the game."
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