Believe it or not, the first quarter of the 2014-15 NHL regular
season has already happened. And with that, here are our picks for
first-quarter team MVPs for Canada’s seven NHL clubs. Some of them you
will believe and some, perhaps, you will not:
Calgary Flames: This one’s a no-brainer, it’s defenceman Mark Giordano. Maybe you could go contrarian and build a case for goalie Jonas Hiller or blossoming blue liner T.J. Brodie or up-and-comers Sean Monahan or Johnny Gaudreau, but … no. It’s Giordano and it’s not close. Not only is he the Flames’ best player, he’s the top Norris Trophy candidate as the league’s best defenceman. He leads Calgary in scoring, he leads NHL defencemen in scoring, and he’s Mr. Do-It-All for the Flames. He plays more than 24 minutes a night against the opponents’ best players, and leads the Flames in shorthanded ice time (2:30) and power-play ice time (3:15). He leads Calgary in PP points (seven) and he’s also scored their only shorthanded goal. His plus-9 rating is second only to Brodie (plus-12), and his 52 shots are second only to Monahan (54). His 22 points are six more than the next-best player (Brodie) and seven more than Calgary’s most productive forward (Jiri Hudler). Oh yeah, and he’s also the captain. What more do you want?
Edmonton Oilers: To expedite matters, we’ll eliminate the Oilers’ goalies and defencemen right off the top. It’s not quite the slam-dunk in Edmonton that it is in Calgary, but that’s just because Taylor Hall missed six of the Oilers’ first 19 games with an MCL sprain. Still, it’s pretty evident Hall is the only legitimate choice. Despite missing nearly one-third of the regular season’s first quarter – don’t worry, that’s about as close as we’ll get to analytics in this column – Hall leads Edmonton with seven goals and he’s practically a point-a-game player with 12 in 13 contests. He’s clearly the engine that drives the Oilers’ offence, and he’s even standing up for oft-criticized coach Dallas Eakins, at least publicly, so he’s doing what he can to be a leader. Could he be better defensively? Of course he could, but he’s got plenty of company in that regard in Edmonton. And it’s worth noting that at plus-4, he’s the only Oilers regular other than defenceman Andrew Ference (plus-1) who’s a plus player. If he stays healthy, he’ll join Giordano as a runaway team MVP by the end of the season.
Calgary Flames: This one’s a no-brainer, it’s defenceman Mark Giordano. Maybe you could go contrarian and build a case for goalie Jonas Hiller or blossoming blue liner T.J. Brodie or up-and-comers Sean Monahan or Johnny Gaudreau, but … no. It’s Giordano and it’s not close. Not only is he the Flames’ best player, he’s the top Norris Trophy candidate as the league’s best defenceman. He leads Calgary in scoring, he leads NHL defencemen in scoring, and he’s Mr. Do-It-All for the Flames. He plays more than 24 minutes a night against the opponents’ best players, and leads the Flames in shorthanded ice time (2:30) and power-play ice time (3:15). He leads Calgary in PP points (seven) and he’s also scored their only shorthanded goal. His plus-9 rating is second only to Brodie (plus-12), and his 52 shots are second only to Monahan (54). His 22 points are six more than the next-best player (Brodie) and seven more than Calgary’s most productive forward (Jiri Hudler). Oh yeah, and he’s also the captain. What more do you want?
Edmonton Oilers: To expedite matters, we’ll eliminate the Oilers’ goalies and defencemen right off the top. It’s not quite the slam-dunk in Edmonton that it is in Calgary, but that’s just because Taylor Hall missed six of the Oilers’ first 19 games with an MCL sprain. Still, it’s pretty evident Hall is the only legitimate choice. Despite missing nearly one-third of the regular season’s first quarter – don’t worry, that’s about as close as we’ll get to analytics in this column – Hall leads Edmonton with seven goals and he’s practically a point-a-game player with 12 in 13 contests. He’s clearly the engine that drives the Oilers’ offence, and he’s even standing up for oft-criticized coach Dallas Eakins, at least publicly, so he’s doing what he can to be a leader. Could he be better defensively? Of course he could, but he’s got plenty of company in that regard in Edmonton. And it’s worth noting that at plus-4, he’s the only Oilers regular other than defenceman Andrew Ference (plus-1) who’s a plus player. If he stays healthy, he’ll join Giordano as a runaway team MVP by the end of the season.