As the new 2007 calendars are about to go up on the wall – mine is “Great NHL Goaltenders,” with the Colorado Rockies’ Hardy Astrom among those pictured – it’s time to assess the season at the turn.
Conceding that reporters don’t vote on all of these awards, these would be my choices at this point:
Hart (MVP): Sidney Crosby, Penguins.
The great thing for the NHL has been that for all the fuss we made over the two-year crop of rookies last season, Crosby and the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin – who won the Calder in 2005-06 – all have shown that they aren’t one-hit wonders. Crosby’s rise to the top of crop is in no way a knock on Ovechkin and Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf. They all have stepped up. And heck, maybe someday fans in Denver even will get a chance to see Crosby play in person.
Also in the hunt: Teemu Selanne and Chris Pronger, Ducks; Marian Hossa, Thrashers; Cristobal Huet, Canadiens; Jarome Iginla, Flames.
Norris (top defenseman): Pronger.
He and Scott Niedermayer are playing more than 27 minutes a game for the league’s best team, and they actually should be running on a combined “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too” ticket. But the Ducks are reaping the benefits of Mrs. Pronger’s antipathy for Edmonton.
Also in the hunt: Niedermayer; Sheldon Souray, Canadiens; Nick Lidstrom, Red Wings; Brian Campbell, Sabres; Zdeno Chara, Bruins.
Adams (top coach): Ted Nolan, Islanders.
This is an absolutely amazing story. He’s getting a lot out of the previously disinterested Alexei Yashin. His GM, Garth Snow, was the team’s backup goalie last season. You sit here and scratch your head and ask: How the heck can this group be above .500, albeit in a rotten division? And to think, when Nolan wins, he could deliver a one-digit salute at the awards ceremony to those who refused to hire him during his nine-year absence from the NHL scene. It also might make you wonder how long it will be before Patrick Roy, who was the winning coach against Nolan in major junior’s Memorial Cup championship game last season, is willing to or is courted to make the jump to the NHL.
Also in the hunt: Bob Hartley, Thrashers; Lindy Ruff, Sabres; Barry Trotz, Predators; Mike Babcock, Red Wings.
Vezina (top goalie): Huet, Canadiens.
As with the other awards, the runners-up all have convincing credentials, too. And there’s a nagging thought in the back of the mind that maybe this phenomenon – overrating a goalie in one of hockey’s showcase traditional markets – is what enabled Jose Theodore to beat out Roy for both the Hart and Vezina in 2002. But the Frenchman has justified his 600 percent salary increase over last season, when he beat out Theodore, and the Canadiens are one of the league’s success stories so far.
Also in the hunt: Dominik Hasek, Red Wings; Martin Brodeur, Devils; Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Ducks.
Calder (top rookie): Evgeni Malkin, Penguins.
If he stays healthy, he’s a lock.
Also in the hunt: Matt Carle, Sharks; Anze Kopitar, Kings; Wojtek Wolski, Avalanche.
Lightning
The most puzzling team in the NHL?
In my book, it’s Tampa Bay. By far.
The Lightning, the 2004 Stanley Cup champion, will be in Denver later this week, for a Friday night game against the Avalanche. Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards – the Bolts’ big-gun forwards, who have combined cap numbers of nearly $20 million this season and were thought to be the cornerstones for a long Lightning run among the elite – all are putting up decent numbers. (Lacavalier and St. Louis more so; Richards to a lesser extent.)
Yet the Lightning is only 9-11 at home and is muddling along in mediocrity, at this point on the outside of the playoff field, looking in.
All of this has raised the possibility that Tampa Bay GM Jay Feaster might have to ponder whether this is the right formula in the cap age, and consider trading one of his big forwards for either defensive help or several players who will make the payroll less top-heavy.
After the loss to Philadelphia the other night, Lightning coach John Tortorella said he didn’t think trades were warranted. “I don’t want to give in to this,” he told reporters.
A major part of the problem has been that Marc Denis, the former Roy backup acquired from Columbus in the offseason and signed to a long-term deal, has been rotten – even worse than Theodore has been for Colorado. Frankly, that has shocked me, too. I thought that Denis did a great job under siege in Columbus and that he would be terrific at Tampa Bay, and he has been anything but that. Johan Holmqvist has been getting most of the work lately.
The financial juggling might make any major deal difficult, and perhaps impossible, but it’s probably worth recalling that Feaster has ties to the Avalanche organization – he was the GM at Hershey when the Bears were a successful Colorado affiliate – and Colorado has been enamored of Levacalier for nearly a decade. So don’t rule out some sort of Lightning-Avalanche dealing, minor or major, in the near future.
Break
The NHL has the right idea in shutting down for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, in lines with terms of the collective bargaining agreement. No practices, no games, no travel. Even conceding the point that Christian beliefs aren’t universal, there’s just something that feels right about shutting down once a season to allow family time and reflection, for players and season-ticket holders and everyone else with even the most of tangential connections to the NHL.
The problem is the 26th. Although the Avalanche had the night off, the league had 12 games the day after Christmas, and the road teams had to scramble and travel that day to get to the other cities and play that night. The result was, in many cases, bad hockey. If the league must have games on the 26th, they all should involve the minimal travel possible. A wiser course would be to agree that the CBA-dictated shutdown should mean three days without games, with travel resuming on the 26th and games the next night.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
