last week's sunday feedback question, spurned by the unfortunate death of don sanderson after an on-ice fight gone terribly wrong, was regarding whether or not fighting should continue to be allowed in the NHL. 72% of you voted in favour of leaving everything as-is in that capacity (although steal thunder queried why returning to the old fighting rules ---no instigator, presumeably here--- was not an option in the poll)... a couple of people voted for the removal of fighting altogether, and another five jokers took the
"only if they fight like alex semin" bait. damn, i love that highlight...
this week, the midway-point of the season, i'm fascinated by the high-end consistency (though relatively small sample size) of one player, and i wonder if his age will prevent him from winning awards at the year-end ceremony.
NOTE: this week's feedback poll allows you to select
more than one answer
:)
Posts
5 comments:
The Vezina's the interesting one for me. With Brodeur out of the running, and Luongo having missed a good chunk of the season, there's a chance for new names to make it in here.
Lundqvist and Nabokov still have a shot, but Kipper is doing a great job of showing that a goalie can accumulate wins without playing at a high level.
i don't think the 'wins' stat is enough to win a vezina.
tim thomas seems to me the frontrunner and is essentially equivalent stats-wise to mason. except that tim thomas is playing for a decidedly better team....
The Vezina is wide open this year. I'd say Mason has a shot at it if he keeps this up - in the absence of a clear front runner, people love Cinderella stories when it comes to awards. Plus, his numbers would be stellar.
As for Kipper, unless he gets his SV% at least up into the .910 range, he has no chance at it. Wins is only one stat of several when it comes to goalies - and it's probably the least relevant.
everyone says ovechkin is a shoo-in for the hart again this year, but the blue jacket's season (how it turned around when mason started playing regularly), is essentially the definition of a hart candidate.
agreed re: the vezina.
the calder is a tough one cause you're comparing apples to oranges. i think versteeg looks good and there's a couple other skaters, but mason is obviously the frontrunner in the goalie dept.
i think he could feasibly take all 3 if his play continues. but i wouldn't actually bet on him winning any hardware at all.
I think maybe I didn't explain myself well:
Because Kipper is obviously not a Vezina candidate this year, he will hamper the chances of Nabokov and Lundqvist. Both of them have mediocre stats, but lots of wins. If Kipper accumulates more wins and worse stats while being Vezina-unworthy, then clearly the Vezina should be judged on stats, rather than wins.
Of course, we know this but the GM's may not. I looked up last season's numbers, and Luongo's poor performance in the vote compared to Nabokov hints that GM's may value other things, like making the playoffs, that are essentially unpredictable right now.
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