The NHL season is approaching the halfway point, so the first speculations about individual awards begin.
We gave a hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen holds its own midway groovin awards gala for the most important awards. Lehkonen chose the most valuable player, rookie of the year, goalkeeper of the year, defender of the year and coach of the year.
Most prized: Nathan MacKinnonColorado
– Played at a pretty hard level, even though a lot of players have been injured. The number of minutes is huge and the team is in the playoffs. As an athlete, he is as committed as can be.
Newcomer: Dustin WolfCalgary
– A goalkeeper has to be tough to get to the field, especially for a rookie. Calgary is in the playoff race, which only emphasizes the importance of goaltending when it comes to a team that is still in the construction phase. Without Wolf, there wouldn’t be.
Defender: Cale MakarColorado
– I can only give it to Makari. I appreciate a lot the way he defends, steals and intercepts passes. This is the main reason I give it to him. Makar plays a lot of understrength and all 3-5 situations.
Keeper: Connor HellebuyckWinnipeg
– This cannot be given to others. There are two goals conceded per game again. An absolute key player for Winnipeg.
Coach: Spencer GarberyWashington
– This story is a clear continuation of last year’s rally. Although new players came in again, that team is really united and committed. Goal difference +41. No one would have believed beforehand that this team would even fight for the conference win.
Who surprised?
Toronto’s development, maturity and readiness have undoubtedly managed to surprise. Toronto has bought its defense-oriented new head coach in a nice way Craig Beruben philosophical.
Toronto is no longer just a team of boys excited about attacking and scoring goals, but a team of grown men determinedly committed to the five-man game.
The Maple Leafs are the fourth best team in the NHL right now. Even thinking about spring, the situation in Toronto looks better than in memory.
– That team had no other choice but to buy Berube’s ideas. With him, on the other hand, there are no explanations either. You either do what he wants or you’re on the outside. That orchestra needed a big change and the new coach’s message sunk into the team at the right time, Lehkonen sees.
The balance in the goalkeeper department has also managed to surprise. At the moment, there is not a single bit of information about the turbulence of previous years in the bag department. Mixed Anthony Stolarz that Joseph Woll have played excellently.
– It largely comes from how we now fully come into our own there. It makes it a lot easier for goalkeepers to play, when they now take care of the defensive play in their own area with high quality and define where the shots come from. The club also made good acquisitions in the summer for the defense department.
Who cheated?
The days of Boston’s greatness from the 2010s and 2020s are starting to look like a distant mirage in the rearview mirror.
The big bad Bruins seem to have drifted into the middle of a difficult identity crisis. Of course, it’s still locked in a playoff spot, but the deck is messed up and my image as a collective is in big trouble.
Of the ten previous games, only three have ended in Boston’s victory. It has scored the fewest goals per game in the Eastern Conference: 2.58.
– I’m worried about Boston for the first time. Where is the rough team of workmen who always squeeze everything into the game and who never spill into their own. Now we’re starting to be pretty tight-lipped about where this thing will turn. Should the old captain Patrice Bergeron invite to the place to remind that first things first, Lehkonen laughs.
The most worrisome are the problems of the top department. From the previous week alone, the captain by Brad Marchand the power stat reading shows eight goals minus. Elias Lindholm it’s freezing seven, Charlie McAvoy and almost single-handedly responsible for scoring David Pastrnak five hits.
The club previously gave the shoe to the head coach To Jim Montgomerybut not officiating From Joe Sacco haven’t had to change course.
– After all, it’s still a tough team that looks like Boston, with some big corners, but that’s not going to play now. They can’t score goals, but that’s no explanation either. Then the defender should be tougher, but that team is not committed to playing 1–0 games at the moment.
– I didn’t know how to foresee Boston in this state, sighs Lehkonen.
Finnish goal of the week
If any Finn has longed for success, it has been Utah’s Matias Maccelli. The forward from Turku scored two goals in the Dallas net last week.
23 matches and almost two months had passed since the previous goal. There were only three feeding points that could fit into the dry period specifically for the live pier.
Maccelli, who scored a handsome 57 (17+40) power points last season, has had a nightmarish first half of the season. The playing time has been decreasing and only 12 (5+7) marks have been produced.
– There have been constant tough players coming alongside, which of course has tightened the competition. I personally expected that Maccelli would challenge even the number one berth Clayton Kellerbut he hasn’t been there at all.
– Maybe goals and points have become a little stressful, because he is seen as a player of the profit unit. Yes, more things must start happening in the second half of the season, Lehkonen insists.
What next?
Kaapo Kako was traded from the New York Rangers to Seattle in December, where the forward from Turku has been given comfortable responsibility right away.
Enjoying the responsibility of the top line, Kakko played no less than 19 minutes against New Jersey at the end of the week, recording one assist point. The balance of the first eight games in Seattle is recorded as 1+4.
The beginning is promising and so are the chain friends (Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers) of the team’s elite, so what can Kako expect in the future?
– The biggest thing is that he would be able to be the guy in the first row in both directions. Those little insightful things about his game in the attacking area haven’t disappeared anywhere. For Kako, the door has now been opened for him in Seattle to take the place of the top striker in the team. He must be able to take that now, says Lehkonen.
As a threat, Lehkonen sees a part of the area that he has talked about before with Kako.
– There is still a lot to be done about the movement. Think how much easier it would be for him to play if his general skating skills were on par with other top players. If Kakko was a soap similar to the previously mentioned Clayton Keller through skating, he would score 100 points in that league.