The Colorado Avalanche may still NOT make the playoffs, but there is simply no denying the season Nathan MacKinnon is having. Because of McDavid and Matthews, it is sometimes forgotten that MacKinnon was also thought to be in the range of "generational player" when he was drafted. He had a phenomenal start in Colorado and then fell back quite a bit. Until this year. You could tell this season was going to be his coming-of-age campaign right from the start...
Had MacKinnon not been hurt for almost 10 games the Avalanche would likely be in the playoffs and he would be right atop the scoring leaders...His 71 points in 55 games puts him at 1.29 PPG...the ONLY player with a higher PPG is Kucherov at 1.30...and he is leading the NHL in scoring.
There have been MANY MVP candidates this year, but the race also feels pretty wide open. In general the MVP goes hand in hand with the scoring race and to a player on a top team...But when you define the award as "MOST VALUABLE" it is hard to argue with MacKinnon..
What's the Buzz? *Do you think MacKinnon deserves to be MVP? *Does an MVP's team have to be a playoff team?
David Poile Top GM Ever.
David Poile is one of the quietest GMs in hockey. I have always joked he is "the spock" of the NHL world. Everything serious. Everything highly logical. And yet, Poile is far from conservative. Of the biggest trades and signings in the past few years MANY of them have involved Nashville.
And no GM in NHL history is better at drafting and developing defensemen...Even going back to his time with the Caps, Poile has been bringing not only enough D men for his team but stocking other NHL teams as well with players Poile has traded for forwards...
Many (not from Philly) may not know this, but David Poole's dad, Bud Poile, was a longtime player with the Leafs and became the first GM of the expansion Philadelphia Flyers. The happiest and least serious discussion I have ever had with David Poile was him talking about being young and hanging around the Spectrum and watching the Flyers develop a culture with his dad and Ed Snider. The kind of family culture and solid organization he wanted to bring to Nashville.
He has more than accomplished this in my opinion, and we see this best in how the Mike Fisher situation has been handled seamlessly and with great care...
And now he can say he has done something that no other GM in NHL history has EVER done...Win 1320 games. It is a remarkable accomplishment in this day and age of constantly shifting GMs and Coaches...Congrats David!
I will be adding in the adjusted NHL Projected Final Standings in the next little bit and tonight's picks...(we had a good night last night!)
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) August 2, 2017