Mid way point of season: hardware winners

[JR Ewing]

 

Oh. And, I think it's Panarin's trophy to lose now, even though young Larkin is a true rookie in every sense.

Edited February 4, 2016 by JR Ewing

[JagerMeister]

On ‎2‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 6:11 AM, MadDevil said:

On the Vezina, Cory Schneider currently has a better GAA and Save % than Holtby and plays on the second lowest scoring team in the league. If they make the playoffs I think he deserves serious Hart consideration.

Playoffs or not, he deserves serious hart consideration. I have no idea as to why playoffs is essential in almost every case for someone to be in consideration.

[JagerMeister]

On ‎2‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 5:34 PM, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Well guys, starting tomorrow we are entering the last leg run to the post season, and I thought it would be BUMP time for this thread as some players have really separated themselves in the races for the various hardware awards....and some races are still close.

 

I will start with the last post in this thread, about the Calder.

 

Occams rightly had Panarin, Domi, and Larkin (and those are still viable of course), but you simply can't leave Jack Eichel out of the equation, and he is MY pick for the Calder.

Ya, it'll be tough sledding for Eichel due to him being 12 points behind point leading Panarin, but there are more than enough games left in the season for Eichel to make a push.

 

Main stumbling block for Jack though, would be who he plays with. Let's face it, if Panarin is playing with Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews, then that right there is a huge advantage over ANYONE on the current Sabres who is playing on the same line with Eichel! Just no getting around that.

 

That said, Eichel is producing and carrying the load on a team that is still quite behind the curve of being a contender. Not a ton of defense and goaltending to speak of, yet Eichel continues to be the one player that can be relied on if the team needs some offense.

 

Panarin is the favorite, but I will channel my inner HJ and say, Jack Eichel pulls a rabbit out of his Sabre hat and steals away the Calder when all is said n done!

 

 

Well, what makes you select Eichel over the other contenders? The only argument I see for him is the fact that he plays on the worse team out of the contenders, but Domi and Larkins teams aren't exactly great either.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

3 minutes ago, JagerMeister said:

Well, what makes you select Eichel over the other contenders? The only argument I see for him is the fact that he plays on the worse team out of the contenders, but Domi and Larkins teams aren't exactly great either.

 

I like Eichel over the others BECAUSE he plays on the worst team and his production is right there with everyone else's save for Panarin who has opened up a distinct advantage since this thread was started.

 

Keep in mind, I am taking Eichel as MY pick....not necessarily that he will win. The easy boring answer to that would be Panarin the way things are shaking out.

But if all things on top of production are taken into account, the fact that Eichel plays on one of the more inept offenses in the league, yet is still finding ways to produce is pretty impressive.

 

Domi is on a team without high expectations as well, so an argument could be made for him as well (though having fellow rookie Duclair to share the pressure sure helps), meanwhile Larkin is on a team that should be playoff bound. NO WAY are the Wings as bad as the Sabres.

 

Finally, I also like the fact that Eichel has the MOST pressure of the leading rookies to make his team better.

Like I said, Domi has Duclair to share the load, Larkin has a pretty solid Wings club with established vets to help him out, and Panarin has a plethora of championship caliber players surrounding him.

 

None of those players have the spotlight and/or microscope on them as much as Eichel does, and despite that, he produces, is a key component over the others in the possession department (I.E. faceoffs) and he seems to have a veteran type savvy about him where he seems to pick the pockets of opposing players with relative ease when compared to the other players, as evidenced by his having the highest amount of takeaways as compared to the other rooks.

 

I am just overall more impressed with his work, given his team, over the others.

 

[JagerMeister]

13 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

I like Eichel over the others BECAUSE he plays on the worst team and his production is right there with everyone else's save for Panarin who has opened up a distinct advantage since this thread was started.

 

Keep in mind, I am taking Eichel as MY pick....not necessarily that he will win. The easy boring answer to that would be Panarin the way things are shaking out.

But if all things on top of production are taken into account, the fact that Eichel plays on one of the more inept offenses in the league, yet is still finding ways to produce is pretty impressive.

 

Domi is on a team without high expectations as well, so an argument could be made for him as well (though having fellow rookie Duclair to share the pressure sure helps), meanwhile Larkin is on a team that should be playoff bound. NO WAY are the Wings as bad as the Sabres.

 

Finally, I also like the fact that Eichel has the MOST pressure of the leading rookies to make his team better.

Like I said, Domi has Duclair to share the load, Larkin has a pretty solid Wings club with established vets to help him out, and Panarin has a plethora of championship caliber players surrounding him.

 

None of those players have the spotlight and/or microscope on them as much as Eichel does, and despite that, he produces, is a key component over the others in the possession department (I.E. faceoffs) and he seems to have a veteran type savvy about him where he seems to pick the pockets of opposing players with relative ease when compared to the other players, as evidenced by his having the highest amount of takeaways as compared to the other rooks.

 

I am just overall more impressed with his work, given his team, over the others.

 

Yeah well, the voters dont exactly assess who should win what based on context...

 

But its just that Larkin and Domi apparently contribute more defensively while also having similar production to Eichel. And while he does have the most pressure among the candidates, he still has Ryan O Reilly. While Larkin is the leading point producer on a team that has Zetterberg and Datsyuk.

 

[yave1964]

On 2/5/2016 at 6:52 PM, JagerMeister said:

Playoffs or not, he deserves serious hart consideration. I have no idea as to why playoffs is essential in almost every case for someone to be in consideration.

I believe that playoffs DO and SHOULD be large factors in award consideration. Not the be all and end all but a factor to consider, that said, Schneider absolutely deserves serious consideration for the Vezina. I would still go with Holtby followed by Luongo and Schneider in no particular order.

  Now lets use a hypothetical. Lets say Holtby injures himself and misses the final third of the season.

  Both Florida and Jersey were not expected to contend, Luongo and the Cats have had a beautiful season, they have been so good this year that it is largely forgotten that they were an also ran last year and didnt go add anything. They hoped to contend but nobody could have predicted they would run away with the division and hide.

  Same with the Devils, nobody could have foreseen them hanging around this long. They have had a remarkable season.

  So do you give extra credit to Luongo for winning the division? I do. Absolutely he is a monstrous part of their success.

 Do you give extra credit to Schneider if they make the playoffs? I do. He is the Devils. Every night he keeps them in the game.

  If they come close and just miss the playoffs, in his case I do not think you can hold it against him, if anything it is a plus. Lets say MA Fleury goes on a run, wins 40 games but the Pens miss the playoffs, I feel it would eliminate him as a candidate.

  So no, in Schneiders case missing the playoffs by a couple of points would simply show how remarkable his year has been, without him they would be a bottom five team. In most goalies cases however, missing the playoffs would eliminate them from all conversations. Just my opinion.

[J0e Th0rnton]

Now that we are 3/4th's of the way through the season, a few interesting things.

 

Joe Thornton has more points than any player in the NHL but Kane since December. Thornton 45 points. Crosby 44 points, Kane 48 points.

 

Damn impressive considering his age. He looks so motivated under Deboer and that system was made for him.

 

Vlasic, while he will never beat Karlsson in Norris voting due to insane scoring, is ahead of everyone else, including Burns on his own team IMO. The best defensive defender in the league is on pace for nearly 55 points. Yup, he is slightly better defensively than Doughty and has almost identical totals. Elite transition game defenseman who can skate and move the puck while playing perfect defense and until this year, was not given much leash to use his skills to score.

 

Should finish top 3 for the Norris at least if this keeps up.

 

Rookie of the year is still wide open, depending on how much Panarin's age and being Kane's linemate impacts voters decisions.