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The recognition flowing Zdeno Chara’s way in the wake of the 44-year-old breaking Chris Chelios’ record for NHL games played by a defenseman, when he hit the 1,652 mark Thursday at San Jose, is more than merited, for it has long been my contention that Big Z has been one of the more overlooked forces of his time.
Only one Norris Trophy, in 2008-09, for the player against whom teams game-planned night after night. Never a finish higher than eighth in the Hart Trophy balloting, also in 2008-09, for a defenseman against whom opponents just wouldn’t go down his side. He was like a cornerback so dominant that his man was never targeted.
When Rick Nash lined up on the left for the Rangers, Chara moved to the right. When Nash moved to the right, Chara shifted to the left. There was no escape.
The best free-agent signing in NHL history by Boston in 2006, Chara should have multiple Norris Trophies to place on his mantel. Being habitually overlooked for the Hart is a function of his position that I do not quite comprehend.
Somehow, Chris Pronger, in 2000, is the only defenseman to be named MVP since Bobby Orr’s three-year run from 1970 to 1972. That makes no sense at all, certainly when the league’s best defensemen are often on for up to 27 or 28 minutes a night while forwards generally are in the 20-minute range.
Raymond Bourque never won a Hart, and neither did Larry Robinson, through eras in which elite defensemen routinely played 30-plus minutes per game. Brian Leetch finished in the top 10 of the balloting once and did not get a vote in 1993-94. Nick Lidstrom, generally regarded as the best defenseman of his time as his seven Norris Trophies attest, did not get a Hart vote in his Norris-winning 2001-02 season in which he averaged 28:49 for a Stanley Cup-winning team.
This year, while usual suspects Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby are leading contenders for the Hart, Igor Shesterkin has crashed the party. But Cale Makar, the defenseman who truly makes the Avalanche a different entity, should be among the crowd at the top.
Of course Patrice Bergeron is a special one. But Chara was the backbone of Boston’s prominence through the 2010s and a link to its intimidating Big Bad Bruins era. It is good to see this force get his due.
What a surprise, Alex Ovechkin using the term, “Both sides,” while addressing his thoughts about the Russian invasion of Ukraine during which he was all but spoon fed the phrase, “Please, no more war.”
This was an appropriate line of questioning for Ovechkin, who for years has publicized his fealty to his homeland’s dictator and whose Instagram profile photo, as late as Saturday, featured No. 8 and Vladimir Putin standing side by side and smiling.
And while every citizen of any country has a right to express an opinion on the matter, there is no need to interrogate every Russian hockey player. If that were the case, there would also be an obligation to ask every American player what he thinks of Donald Trump’s praise of Putin and to ask every Canadian his view on the truckers’ convoy. And maybe hit up the Swedes about how they think their country responded to the pandemic.
While we’ve been told by several agents that their North American and non-Russian, European clients are seeking to leave the KHL immediately, the IIHF has a decision to make regarding Team Russia’s entry in the rescheduled 2022 World Juniors, now set for August in Red Deer and Edmonton following the Omicron-related winter postponement.
Of course, no organization within the international hockey community seemed to have second thoughts about going to Beijing, so there is no reason to expect too much from the IIHF in this regard.
Two decades later, it still remains impossible to process.
But with Mike Milbury running the Islanders’ show — and under Charles Wang’s ownership, he ran things as a sideshow, to be more precise — in successive Junes at the 2000 and 2001 drafts, the team wound up trading Roberto Luongo, Olli Jokinen, Chara, either Marian Gaborik or Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza in exchange for Rick DiPietro, Alexei Yashin and Mark Parrish.
Taken individually, those deals are mind-numbing enough. Trading 21-year-old Luongo in order to clear the net for DiPietro, who was selected first overall in 2000 while both Gaborik and Heatley were on the board? Trading 24-year-old Chara and the second-overall selection in 2001, which became Spezza, in return for 27-year-old Yashin, who played five seasons on the Island before he was bought out? Lunacy.
Collectively, there’s never been anything like them.
Question: Which of Nashville forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen, each making way more than his worth at an average annual value of $8 million, has been the more egregious career underachiever?
Fool you once, shame on David Poile. Fool you twice, shame on you, which would apply to any general manager seriously engaging the Predators’ general manager regarding Filip Forsberg, the upper-echelon pending free agent winger, who has been teased as an available rental property.
Poile did this last year for months with Mattias Ekholm. The Rangers, we learned after the fact, were hot on the trail. Until, that is, Poile pulled the plug and signed the Swede to an extension that kicks in next year.
Buyer beware.
I’ve got Colin Miller, the 29-year-old righty defenseman on an expiring contract with Buffalo, who played two seasons in Vegas for Gerard Gallant, as a possible depth acquisition on the Blueshirts’ blueline.
We’re told that Hartford’s 20-year-old righty defenseman Hunter Skinner, the 112th overall draft selection in 2019, is attracting some interest as teams drill down on the Rangers’ pipeline beyond Nils Lundkvist, Zac Jones, Brennan Othmann, Matt Robertson and Will Cuylle.
It’s hard for me to believe that an Avalanche team that would otherwise be a clear-cut favorite to win the Cup is entrusting the goaltending to Darcy Kuemper.
Is the bar to clear for the Maple Leafs winning four games in the playoffs or, more like 16? If the latter, good luck with Jack Campbell in net. Maybe applies to the former, too, and certainly so if they wind up in a first-round matchup with the Lightning.
And just asking, but has anyone ever seen Lt. Kelly Severide of ”Chicago Fire” in the same room at the same time as Eric Lindros?
Finally, I do not believe there is a player in the league who shows less respect for his opponents than P.K. Subban, who is winding up his time in New Jersey as an unrepentant menace.
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