The Calgary Flames played the spoiler last night and beat the Stars in a shootout, meaning that Dallas remains only two points ahead of the Coyotes for the final playoffs spot.
Dallas has tonight off while the Coyotes will return home from a 2-2 road trip to face the Flames. The last time the Coyotes played the Flames, Calgary won 3-2, but the teams are an even 2-2 in four games this year.
Calgary is the 5th worst team in the NHL this year, but they have won two in a row and are 5-5 in their last ten. As they refuse to tank - probably a bad idea - due to Brian Burke's prohibitive team building strategy, the Flames remain a competitive team and Phoenix has to be sure to not take them lightly after coming off a game vs. the Bruins.
One assumes that Mike Smith will be in goal for nearly all of the remaining games, as he has been on fire lately and gives the Coyotes by far their best chance at winning. I will update when I hear about Hanzal, but the fact that there is no news yet suggests he will miss yet another game.
---- NHL Awards
The NHL season is nearly over and since this Coyotes gig has lead me to watch and read 300% more hockey than I ever have before in seasons past, I thought I would add my two sense to the the NHL awards discussion. People who actually have a vote on these awards gave the Norris Trophy to PK Subban last year, so I think my opinions are at least that valuable, but feel free to tell me how stupid I am in the comments section!
HART
The obvious choice for the league's best player is Sidney Crosby. He leads the next leading scorer by 15 points and is inarguably the most talented player in the game.
There is always some semantics discussions regarding the NHL's MVP award because it is supposed to go to "The player judged most valuable to his team," which means it isn't strictly an award for the best player.
Using this rational, I think the HART trophy should go to Phil Kessel. Kessel is second in the NHL with 73 points and third in goals with 34.
While Crosby skates on a team with Malkin, Fleury, Letang, and James Neal, Phil Kessel is the only player on Toronto who can be considered among the League's best players. James Van Riemsdyk is a great player who may one day be considered in this company, but If Perry has Getzlaf and Toes has Kane, Kessel's sidekick just isn't on the same level.
Secondly, if we consider secondary scoring, the Leafs don't have much. Until Kadri and Lupul establish themselves as a consistent scoring threat, Kessel has to contend with a steady diet of the best defensive players in hockey. Even Crosby probably doesn't face as tough of competition because Malkin will kill you if you don't split up the coverage.
The fact remains that Phil Kessel has stats that match up against anyone in the league without the benefit of the level of help accorded to the rest of the players on his level.
I think Kessel has the stats to be considered the HART Trophy winner if it was just a "best player" award, but when you factor in who is the "most valuable to his team," it's not even close. Without Crosby, the Penguins still have a star studded lineup, without Kessel, the Leafs are closer to Buffalo than they are to the Penguins.
Remember when Burke was an idiot for making this trade? Me neither.
Norris Trophy
The Norris Trophy always seems to go to the defenseman with the most points. I don't think that is really a good way of recognizing the best defenseman in the NHL because it disregards what is most important about that position - stopping goals.
Now, I don't think you'll ever see a strictly defensive defenseman win the award, but what about the games best hybrid?
Oliver Ekman-Larsson does everything for the Coyotes. He has the 12th most points in the NHL by a defenseman with 36 and he is tied for fourth with 11 goals. He is also 6th among defenseman for ice-time, averaging almost 26:00 minutes per game.
With OEL, stats don't tell the whole story. He isn't an overly physical player and he doesn't even lead his team in scoring by a defenseman. What he does do is play every shift against the top players in the NHL. He's the first option on the PP and the PK. Though only somewhat physical, his game is dependent on angles and positioning. He is never out of position is a master of using his stick to disrupt players instead of his body. In short, he plays exactly like another Swedish defenseman - Nicklas Lidstrom.
I know that awards do not generally go to players whose teams don't make the playoffs, but whether or not Phoenix ultimately qualifies is irrelevant. They simply do not have any first line scoring forwards, which is not something OEL can help.
A lot of players give you offense or defense. It is my position that no player in the NHL this season has done so well at providing both. Oliver Ekman-Larsson deserves the Norris Trophy.
Calder
This is pretty much a lock for Nathan MacKinnon. He leads all rookies by a mile and is clearly going to win the award.
Jack Adams
Patrick Roy - barring a late season collapse - also has this one locked up pretty tight. The Avalanche picked first overall last season and this year are one of the NHL's best teams. Now, I think that coaches get too much blame and too much credit, but no matter how you judge this award, Patrick Roy wins it. He also happens to be 10X more entertaining than John Torterella - and that is saying a lot. Patrick Roy is awesome in every way a coach can be awesome. The NHL needs more Roys and I say give him as many awards as you can because the NHL Awards show sucks worse than any award show that there is (Chaka Kahn? Def Leppard? They should be due to at least get some celebrities from the 90's this year.......Dustin Diamond maybe?) and Patrick Roy would make it infinitely more watchable with even one speech.
Vezina
This is a tough call. You could give it to Varlamov, Rask or Price. Too bad Josh Harding couldn't remain healthy because he was a lock at Christmas and easily the best story in the NHL and he still leads the league in save % and GAA.
Rask has 6 shutouts and is top four in every major goalie statistical category and has a history of success, in case anyone is weary of giving out a major award to a guy like Varlamov who may just be a one year wonder. Rask gets my vote, supposing I had one.
Thanks for Reading.
Twitter:Coyotes1234