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Favorite players - Pacific Division

July 18, 2018, 12:51 PM ET [53 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
For the next series of blogs this July I am going to find my personal favorite player from each team in the NHL. They might not necessarily be the best player on a specific team, just the player I like the most. Sometimes it will be the best player on the team. I'm going to do a division per day.

Anaheim - Ryan Getzlaf

I've always been fascinated by Getzlaf. I was fortunate enough to see him in person during the Ducks 2007 playoff run and I was amazed at the brute force he played with and the delicate puck skills that he possessed. It is an incredible combination and while he isn't Mario Lemieux I'll always be a sucker for the big frame players who have incredible puck skills with brains to match. Even at 33 years old he put up a 5v5 points per 60 of 2.56 last year. While Corey Perry is falling apart Getzlaf continues to be excellent.


Arizona - Marian Hossa

How do the Coyotes keep doing it? First they go out and get Chris Pronger. When his contract is up they move on to Pavel Datsyuk. When Datsyuk's contract ran out this past offseason they go out and get one of my favorite wingers of the cap era in Marian Hossa.

Hossa is the best winger that Sidney Crosby has played with. It didn't last long. The Crosby/Hossa combo was excellent in the 2008 playoffs and the Penguins didn't miss any of the assets given up to get him. He probably should have won a Selke Trophy at some point, but playing wing was held against him. I'm not a huge fan of how Chicago was able to finagle their way out of Hossa's contract, but I am not going to hold that against the player. When people talk about a 200 foot player they are talking about players like Marian Hossa.



As far as real Coyote players I think Clayton Keller is going to be a lot of fun to watch.

Calgary - Johnny Gaudreau

Johnny Gaudreau is awesome. He is cerebral and has the hands to actualize the creativity. He is the type of player that USA Hockey's development program should use as an example of how to play hockey. You don't have to be big to play big. He is one of the most exciting players in the league to watch on a regular basis. Sports are for entertainment and he provides it. He is a part of a solid generation of American hockey players. Unfortunately, this young core missed out on an Olympic cycle this past year. He did however play for the legendary Team North America and did a lot of cool things during the tournament.



Edmonton - Connor McDavid

It's the only choice here. He's the best player in hockey and is electric. He does the things that are difficult to do standing still except he does them at top speed. His speed creates time and space like no other player in the sport. His hands turn that time and space into magic. When he doesn't have time and space his hands create some anyways. It's a damn shame he has to play for the Oilers. Let me be more specific, it's a damn shame he has to play for the Oilers ran by Peter Chiarelli. It's a pathetic waste of who will be an all-time legend.



Los Angeles - Ilya Kovalchuk

One of the best goal scorers in the NHL during his first run. Much like McDavid he was dealt a crappy hand by landing with the Atlanta Thrashers. When he finally escaped he was landed in New Jersey of all places. He did however get them to a Stanley Cup Final before pulling the plug and heading back home to Russia.

He has 417 goals in 816 career games in the NHL. He has missed the last five NHL seasons. If you gave him 65 games played for each of these past five years at his previous .511 goals per game pace he would have an additional 166 goals. That would put him at 583 goals. I think we forget just how great Kovalchuk was as a player because he played for Atlanta and then disappeared for five years.



San Jose - Brent Burns

There really isn't anything to dislike about Brent Burns. He has an amazing outgoing personality in a sport that desperately needs it. He is ridiculously talented to be able to play both forward and defense in the NHL. I think we are a number of years away from eliminating forward/defense positions and playing as a five player unit that moves seamlessly between the different roles, but if and when that happens Brent Burns is your prototype for the kind of player that would excel in that format.

I loved the Chewbacca moment from the All Star Game weekend and his love for animals is a plus as well. Truly one of the good guys in the NHL.



Vancouver - Chris Tanev

There are two reasons why I'm choosing Tanev. The first reason is that he is an alum of the Rochester Institute of Technology. I watched quite a number of games that he played during his lone season in the NCAA. This was a time when RIT had first made the jump to Division 1 hockey and were not able to give out scholarships yet (I don't understand it, but that's how it was). He was a huge part of leading the RIT Tigers to the Frozen Four in 2010 less than five years after making the jump.

The second reason is that I hate the term defensive defenseman because it is normally the most misleading misnomer in hockey. These players normally labeled as such because they play in their own zone all the time, not because they are actually good at defending. Chris Tanev is one of the few players where that label is appropriate. He actually has shown an above average ability at suppressing shots during his career.



Vegas - Jonathan Marchessault

Here's a player that was flying under the radar his entire career. He intrigued me during the 2015-16 season when playing for Tampa Bay. When covering the Eastern Conference Finals I wondered why he was so buried on the depth chart. He could clearly skate and make plays. He was finally given a more prominent role in Florida before Dale Tallon unplugged all the computers. His debut season in Vegas was awesome. He combined with William Karlsson and Reilly Smith to form one of the best lines in hockey. I don't know if he has another 75 point season in him, but I do know that it's nice to see skilled players finally be given a chance and succeed.



Thanks for reading!
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