CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The NHL’s two biggest stars are tearing up the North Division a quarter of the way through this shortened season.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews are the early front-runners for the Hart Memorial Trophy as this year's league MVP.
McDavid, 24, entered this week leading the league with 25 assists and 37 points in 20 games. At that pace, he’ll reach 100 points if he plays the full 56-game schedule. Those are the type of numbers not seen since the high-scoring days of the 1980s and early ’90s.
The 23-year-old Matthews, meanwhile, began the week leading the league with 18 goals in as many games. He’s on track to become the first player to score 50 goals in 50 games since Brett Hull did it in 1991-92.
Critics will argue McDavid and Matthews are putting up big numbers against limited opposition in an unusual season. Nevertheless, their rate of production provides excitement for pandemic-weary hockey fans.
Milestone for Crosby
It's seems like only yesterday Sidney Crosby made his NHL debut in the fall of 2005. More than 15 years later, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain celebrated his 1,000th career game on Saturday. It's another impressive milestone for the Cole Harbour, N.S., native.
The 33-year-old Crosby is no longer “Sid the Kid” and has been supplanted as the league’s best player by McDavid. However, he remains among the league’s elite stars and the greatest player of his generation.
Cooling Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens were among the league’s hottest clubs in the opening month of the season, bursting from the gate with a 7-1-2 record in their opening 10 games. However, they won only two of their next six contests, scoring just 13 goals through that stretch.
Opponents have stymied Montreal’s offence by clogging up the neutral zone to negate the Canadiens’ speed and keeping the Habs skaters away from prime scoring areas. Promising young centres Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi have struggled of late while veterans such as Carey Price, Shea Weber, Jonathan Drouin and Phillip Danault haven’t been at their best.
Exceeding expectations
The Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers weren't expected to be serious playoff contenders entering this season.
The Blackhawks lacked a reliable starting goaltender, and key players such as Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach were sidelined by illness and injury, respectively. Meanwhile, the Panthers went through several roster changes under new general manager Bill Zito.
Both clubs, however, began this week jockeying with the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Central Division.
The Blackhawks owe their surprising play to veteran star Patrick Kane and youngsters such as goalie Kevin Lankinen and forwards Alex DeBrincat and Pius Suter. Forwards Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau are leading the way for Panthers, whose scoring depth has been augmented by off-season additions Patric Hornqvist, Anthony Duclair and Carter Verhaeghe.
Lyle Richardson is a freelance writer with Bleacher Report and Featurd.io and runs the website Spector's Hockey. His column will appear in The Guardian through the NHL season.
