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With only two NHL teams still playing and some off time before crazy season really picks up, I decided to look back at 5 vs 5 production over the last few seasons.

People seem to put special teams on a platter, but the reality is most of the game is spent at even strength playing 5 vs 5, and if you want to be successful - as a player or a team - you have to produce at full strength.

No player has done a better job of doing that over the last few seasons than Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel.

For all the talk that Kessel isn't a true star, you can't win with him, he disappears in big games - all of which I think is a bunch of crap - he's done pretty well for himself over the last few seasons.

As you'll see in the graph below, he's 1st among all NHL players in individual shot attempts (i.e. individual Corsi) as well as 1st in 5 vs 5 points.



Note: the top-15 5 vs 5 point producers over the last three years are graphed.

Funny enough, the key piece heading to Boston in the Kessel deal is 2nd place.

Probably the biggest surprise for me on this chart is how effective Eberle's been at full strength. Obviously he's a very talented player, but I didn't expect his production to rival that of Jamie Benn or Patrick Kane, two players who have been healthy over the last three seasons.

He's also ahead of Tavares who, even with his injury last season, saw more ice time than Eberle over the three year span.

Overall the key point this graph hammers home is just how good Kessel is. His top line center is Tyler Bozak, he plays in a market that shreds him if he goes five games without a goal, and he's coached by a man who runs the worst 5 vs 5 team in hockey. Despite all that, he produces more than anyone.

It's time for people to get off Kessel's back and treat him as one of the league's truly elite players, because he is one.

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