Whether or not the Bruins’ spectacular common season results in the coveted Stanley Cup is anybody’s guess. But with lower than a month to go earlier than the tip of the 82-game slate, it’s fairly clear that they’ll be properly represented on the NHL Awards ceremony in Nashville in June.
Linus Ullmark ought to be a shoo-in for the Vezina Trophy and Jim Montgomery is an effective guess for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the yr.
But don’t sleep on Hampus Lindholm’s candidacy for the Norris Trophy.
The race for the award given to probably the most excellent defenseman is without doubt one of the extra fascinating of the season. San Jose’s Erik Karlsson is a singular participant having a singular season. With 11 video games to go within the Sharks’ season, he’s simply 13 factors shy of the 100-point mark, a magical plateau for a defenseman solely achieved by 5 gamers within the historical past of the sport – Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey 5 instances every, and Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch and Denis Potvin, who all did it as soon as. They’re all Hall of Famers.
But Karlsson can also be a minus-14 participant who doesn’t kill penalties on the second worst group within the league. The Sharks have a grand whole of 19 wins, so he hasn’t precisely affected that group’s fortunes a heck of loads. His defensive work in his personal zone will be detached.
Lindholm, then again, has been probably the most persistently glorious defenseman with a group on the verge of some historic achievements. He’s produced 10-38-48 numbers, solely 15 factors of which have come on the ability play as a result of, till just lately, he’d been relegated to the second unit for a lot of the season.
He’s the league chief in plus/minus with a plus-46 (sure, it’s a flawed stat however that doesn’t imply it ought to be ignored) and performs in all conditions. And when it was nonetheless anybody’s guess what sort of group the B’s could be once they began the season with out Charlie McAvoy, Brad Marchand and Matt Grzelcyk in October, Lindholm was arguably the group’s MVP among the many skaters. He helped set the desk for what this Bruins group would grow to be.
It is not at all a two-man race. Past winners like Adam Fox and Cale Makar are having advantageous seasons, although Makar has missed 13 video games with concussion points. Dougie Hamilton and Quinn Hughes will get votes.
But requested to make a case for Lindholm, Montgomery spoke about how each he and McAvoy (a troublesome promote right here for the Norris just because he missed 13 video games) have impacted the outcomes of video games.
“If you look at how he’s driven play at both ends of the ice, especially carrying the load of the ‘D’ corps while (McAvoy) was out early in the year … and then just how he continues to have an impact, night in and night out with the plus minus and the goals scored when he’s on the ice and the impact he has on those goals is significant. And how much we lean on him to match up against top players and top lines. That plays into it, too. That would be the significant arguments for him,” stated Montgomery. “Our problem is we have two D-men who could or should win the Norris.”
To be certain, whereas Karlsson will lose votes due to how dangerous his group is, Lindholm may lose votes due to how good his group is. Five of the league’s prime 10 gamers in plus-minus are Bruins, and a few voters may understand that he’s merely driving a wave with an incredible group.
But one factor that has caught out to Montgomery about Lindholm that he didn’t find out about was the “it” issue he possesses.
“What’s really surprised me, not knowing him coming in, is … he could be having a below average game for him and his belief in that he’s going to make something positive happen to help us win … he never gets deterred. And I always marvel at the players who have that ability,” stated Montgomery. “It’s the old thing with Michael Jordan. He could go 2-for-21 but he wants that ball in the last minute because he goes, ‘I’m going to go 3-for-22 ‘…. I would have thought, ‘It’s not my night.’ But it’s always his night. Great players have that and I think Hampus has that.”
Lindholm has heard his title bandied about for the award and appreciates what it means, however it isn’t driving him.
“I just try to focus on the process and get better each day, because we’re playing for something bigger here and that was my goal coming to Boston,” stated Lindholm. “I want to win something as a team and that’s the mindset to this group this year. It’s my mindset every year. It’d a feather in the cap, but at the end of the game, you try to improve each game and do your best to give us a chance to win a hockey game. That’s my goal every game. If people think you’re doing a good enough job to be mentioned with those names, then just it’s a feather in your cap.”
Hall progressing
There remains to be no timeline on the return of Taylor Hall, who continued observe in a non-contact jersey on Wednesday, however Montgomery likes what he’s seeing.
“Honest to God, he looks really good. He’s skating out there, flying like he usually does. I know there’s some more steps that have to happen, but he does look good,” stated Montgomery. … Nick Foligno, behind Hall in his restoration, had a scheduled time off the ice.
Source: www.bostonherald.com