Follow @james_tanner123 Since +/- is the NHL's worst stat, I thought it would make sense to appropriate it and make it useful as we review the best and worst of the past week in the NHL.
MINUS: It would have been fun to watch a hockey game last night. Considering the last game was Thursday, they could have potentially awarded the Cup Saturday night, the traditional night of watching hockey.
I get that at this point the players are probably so injured that the extra day is helpful, but it's June 12th.......and if there's game seven, ridiculously, that isn't until Wednesday.
PLUS: Overall, the quality of this year's Playoffs has been outstanding. Usually, since I cheer for the Leafs, Oilers and Coyotes, I don't generally have a rooting interest in the Playoffs, and things take a turn for boring after the first round (which is 99% of the time the best round).
But this year there were good series in every round, basically a good game on every night and at least one excellent series per round. More importantly though - no LA, Chicago or Boston!
New blood in the Final has made it more interesting and of course it's always nice to see a classy Hall of Famer like Thornton get a chance win a Cup. (I still remember when the Bruins drafted him and Samsonov in both rounds and Samsonov won the Calder - which seems impossible)
PLUS: New Hip Single:
And of course, he is considered to be one of the best all-time players ever to have played the game, which makes you think how lucky we are to be able to witness the simultaneous careers of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, two players who rank with Howe, Orr, Gretzky and Lemieux.
MINUS: Perhaps the greatest injustice in today's NHL is the exclusion of Eric Lindros from the Hall of Fame. Lindros may not have had the longevity, but for a while he deserved to be on the list with Gretzky, Howe et. al. and it is indefensible that he is not in the Hall of Fame - he should have been inducted the second he was eligible.
PLUS: Supposedly there are going to be big changes on Hockey Night in Canada this summer. Here's hoping Ron McLean is back as host, there is more Don Cherry and that steps are taken to give the show deeper, more intelligent analysis.
Note to avid reader Scott Moore: If you're on a budget, I am very cheap.
MINUS: The NHL Awards are voted on by a group of people I am convinced are not even hockey fans. That being the case, here is who should win this year's awards:
Hart: Crosby Vezina: Holtby Calder: McDavid Norris: Karlsson Selke: Thornton Conn Smyth: Kessel
PLUS: Speaking of Kessel, after the crap he took, despite being one of the top goal scorers over a five year period played entirely on a garbage team, it is amazing to see him having success on the biggest stage possible.
For the five years he played in my hometown, he was my favorite player and one of the best players to ever put on the Blue and White. The way he was blamed for the stupidity of Brian Burke, Dave Nonis and Randy I can't Believe Anyone Is Seriously Going to Hire Him to Coach Their Team Carlyle was really unfair.
I really hope he wins the Cup and the MVP - he deserves it.
MINUS: It's example #4639 in how you can't shake a reputation once you get it: Justin Schultz.
Look, it's not like he's been amazing, but considering the state of his career when the Pens took a chance on him, he's been quite impressive. He's appeared in 14 of the Penguins games and has put up a 57% possession rating, despite just 11 ES minutes per game and one assist.
He's been solid. And for a guy who was never as bad as people made him out to be, it's nice to see.
Late Editions:
PLUS: A while ago, maybe a year or so, I posited that if I was a GM, I would assemble six puck moving defenseman and zero 'stay at home' guys and use that formula to win the Cup. I was unanimously called an idiot who needed to watch more games, and maybe actually play the game, so I could learn how real men play hockey.
Anyways, I told you so is really fun to say and now that we are about to watch the Penguins win the Cup with zero Roman Polaks in the lineup, I am happy to say that I was right. Please ignore the other 4 million times I was not right.
Thanks.
MINUS: On my way to the office this afternoon I heard Darren Millard on the Fan 590 struggle to explain the resurgence of Phil Kessel despite having to 'downgrade' from Tyler Bozak to Nick Bonino.
I am not sure anything explains the Toronto bias of the NHL's main media members better than that. I don't even know what to say to such nonsense. If Nick Bonino is inferior to Tyler Bozak than I am Mike Babcock's long lost son.
That needs to go down in history as the wackiest player assessment in NHL history.
Thanks to OwnthePuck.Blogspot.ca once again for the awesome charts.
The two things you want to notice about this comparison is that Bozak's shot suppression is wore than a 4th liner and doesn't even appear on the chart, and that Nick Bonino actually improves his teamates, while Bozak's get worse when he hits the ice.
Thanks for reading.