My column may be a few days late, but as the saying goes, better late than never. There is no more time to delay the hockey schedule does not wait so let us jump in.
The first two to fall
In my season predictions I picked four teams that missed the playoffs last year to make it this year. So far, two of the four teams I picked are already eliminated.
Vancouver was the first team to be eliminated. The Canucks came into this season with all the drama of last season behind them. Thatcher Demko was healthy, they made some questionable moves but, overall the team seemed to be in a good spot. Not one single thing went right.
The team has no player with 50 points, no 20-goal scorer, they have scored the least amount of goals in the league and have the most goals against by a wide margin.
The Canucks have tried Band-Aid after Band-Aid and none of it worked. Lukas Reichel (14 GP, 0 G, 1A), David Kampf (38 GP, 2 G, 4 A), Mackenzie MacEachern (8 GP, 1 G, 3 A) and 2016-17 Canucks βlegendβ Joseph LaBate for a game.
It has been ridiculous. From the line deployment, to coaching decisions, to not trading Evander Kane, all of it is the problem.
This season is a culmination of not doing a proper rebuild after the Sedin twins retired. Vancouver was promising, with Elias Pettersson (the forward), Brock Boeser, Demko and of course, Quinn Hughes.
Hughes has been the story of the team this year. Hughes was the first causality of the so-called rebuild and everything spiraled after that.
Hopefully the Canucks stick to their words and actually start a rebuild. Either way, it is a dark time in Vancouver.
On the other side of the continent, is a very similar story.
Like the Canucks, I picked the New York Rangers to get back to the playoffs. Like Vancouver, it all fell down.
Ironically, the Rangers acquired two Canucks last year in JT Miller and Carson Soucy.
Miller has been a disaster and has been bad on the ice only scoring 42 points, compared to his 103-point season just two years ago.
The rest of the offense has been a letdown too, mostly on account of the team not developing Alexis Lafreniere properly.
The team has gone through so much turnover the last few seasons and that has led to a product on the ice that just does not mesh.
The Rangers sent a letter to fans earlier this season announcing a retool. What that means with the makeup of the team and not selling at the deadline? Who knows?
Ovi continues to make history
Alex Ovechkin has hit another goal. He becomes the second player in NHL history to score 1,000 playoff and regular season goals.
His 1,000th goal came in non-other-than typical Ovi fashion. In the third period of a game between the Washington Capitals and the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday, the Capitals got a power play. Ovechkin placed himself in his office (the top of the left face-off dot) and fired a slap shot home for the goal.
With this milestone checked off, there is only one more for Ovechkin to look toward, 1,000 regular season goals. As of March 27, he is 74 away so conceivably, he would have to play another two season to get it.
Knowing Ovechkin, there might be a chance he continues to play to chase the record. Ovi is 40 and he is slowing down, so the cards are not in his favor.
The question also is, does hitting 1,000 regular season goals do anything for his legacy? He is already the greatest goal scorer in NHL history, he has a Stanley Cup, a Conn Smyth, the Calder and a litany of other trophies.
Personally, there is nothing Ovechkin can do to increase his standing all-time other than another Cup. He is already a top 10-15 player all-time so, another goal-scoring record does not move the needle too far.
Nonetheless, you have to wonder if his career does not get sidetracked by shortened seasons and lockouts, if he would have hit the 1,000 mark by now.
Pacific Division is the worst division
Historically, the Pacific Division has been one of the most competitive. In the 2010s, the division was home to some of the top NHL teams. Now the division is by far the worst in the league, with only one team having more wins than total losses.
The division is in this mess because of several factors. For one, half of the division is in some point of a rebuild. Anaheim, the only team that has more wins than losses, has just finished its rebuild, Calgary began its rebuild this year, San Jose is on the precipice of breaking out of its rebuild and the Canucks, well you read about them earlier.
Two teams, Seattle and Los Angeles, are stuck in the middle. Not bad enough to be a bottom feeder, but not good enough to be a playoff team.
Finally there is Vegas and Edmonton. Both are paying their dues after years of playoff runs. They both are playoff contenders, but not Cup contenders anymore.
With all of that, the division pulled of a historic feat last week. The division became the first division to have six-plus teams play on the same day and have all of them lose by multiple goals, twice.
Most divisions have had a day where all of its teams lose in on one day, but never twice in one season (or week for that matter) and never by multi-goal deficits.
It really is a testament to how bad this division has become. It is a βboys clubβ situation. Everyone is fine being mediocre, or bad because at the end of the day, they get to enjoy it all with their buddies that manage the other teams.
It is what has led the the Canucksβ and Flamesβ demise, the Kraken being a middling team since their inception and why the Oilers are slowly fading.
It will be interesting to see how this mess of a division performs in the playoffs. With my luck, one of these teams will go on to win the Stanley Cup after saying how bad they are.
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