Who is the Best Hockey Player in the NHL Right Now?

There's a lot of discrepancy when it comes to choosing the best player in any sport. There are a lot of variables that a lot of people tend to overlook. Being the best player, especially in hockey, comes down to more than just offensive production. Are Evgeni Malkin and Steven Stamkos the best offensive players in the NHL right now? Yes, and there's no doubt about it. But are either of them the overall best player in the NHL? Hardly.

Yes, Malkin won the Art Ross Trophy and Stamkos won the Rocket Richard, and both are candidates for the Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the player deemed most valuable to his team. I personally don't think Stamkos deserves the Hart Trophy at all, but that could just be me. The point here is that there is much, much more to being a great NHL player than strictly offensive talent. A great two way forward will always be more valuable to a team than a strictly offensive player. Just look at what happened in the first round series between the Flyers and Penguins. Malkin, the best offensive player in the world, was essentially shut down by Sean Couturier, a two way forward and penalty kill specialist. Malkin had 75 even strength points in 75 games this season. In 12 games (regular and post season) against the Flyers, Malkin was held to 3 even strength points when both Malkin and Couturier were on the ice at the same time. Now, am I saying that Couturier is better than Malkin? Not even close. But how he performed against Malkin is a prime example of why having a two way forward is incredibly beneficial to a team. A goal scorer is effective in generally one area of the ice, the offensive zone. A two way forward is effective in all areas.

To find the best overall player in the league, it is important to look at more than just goals, assists, and points. Look at their plus-minus rating, whether they play the penalty kill, rather than just the power play and even strength. There are two players that come to my mind when I think of the best player in the league right now. Those players are Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk and Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews. Both of these players are near the top of their teams' scoring stats each season, but they also are incredible in the defensive zone.

Anyone who has watched Datsyuk play knows that he is one of, if not the best, puck handlers in the league. He has great vision and a strong wrist shot, but his game doesn't end there. Datsyuk had 67 points in 70 games played this season, was +21(he's +208 in his career) and was on the Red Wings' first penalty kill line. Datsyuk does it all. He can set up and score goals, and he can also prevent his opponents' top centers from doing so. Jonathan Toews, while younger, is also a very similar player. Due to injury, Toews only played 59 games this season, but had 57 points and was +17 this season. He's +87 in his short 5 year career thus far. Toews also plays on his teams' first penalty kill unit. Flyers young center Claude Giroux is much like both of these players also, but is only in his 3rd full season and I don't feel he can be compared to them just yet.

A strictly offensive player can make plays in the offensive zone, a two way forward can make plays from the defensive zone and shut down chances by the other team. For these reasons, I firmly believe that Pavel Datsyuk and Jonathan Toews are the two best players in the NHL right now.

Boston the First Game 7 Victims

3 series have gone to 7 games in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Two series will be decided tomorrow when the Ottawa Senators play the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils play the Florida Panthers. The first game 7 took place tonight, with the Washington Capitals beating the Boston Bruins 2-1 in overtime. Joel Ward scored a greasy rebound goal after a Mike Knuble backhander bounced off Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas' pads and out into the slot. Four of these seven games went to overtime, the Bruins winning games 1 and 6 in overtime and the Capitals winning game 2 and the decisive game 7 in extra time.

Both goalies played incredible this series, something we've come to expect from Tim Thomas. Braden Holtby, however, shocked everyone by playing an incredible series in net for the Capitals. He had only played a few games for the Capitals this season, spending most of his time in the AHL until goaltending injuries in the Capitals organization at the end of the season allowed him to have his chance in net in the playoffs.

The Capitals have always been an offensively dangerous team, and with Holtby playing incredibly, it makes the Caps even scarier.  Their blue line is still a little suspect, but their offensive firepower and Holtby's surprising performance more than made up for it. The Caps are going to be a very tough opponent for any team that meets them in the 2nd round.

Who Are the New Cup Favorites?

With both Stanley Cup favorites, Pittsburgh and Vancouver, losing in the first round, it's a little more difficult now to determine who will represent the East and West in the Cup Finals. Nashville, St. Louis, and Los Angeles all won their series in 5 games in the West and the Flyers, the only team to win their series in the East so far, beat Pittsburgh in 6 games.

I'd say the Cup favorites from West have to be either Nashville or Los Angeles. Both of those teams had a very tough first round matchup and made very quick work of their opponents, LA beating the President's Trophy winner Canucks in 5 games and Nashvile beating Detroit in 5.

In the East, I'd have to go with either Philadelphia or Boston as the Cup favorites. Philly took down the Penguins, the best offensive team in the league, 4 games to 2, behind Claude Giroux who tallied 14 points in the 6 games. Boston still has to beat Washington in a game 7 in Boston, but if they do, they definitely have the depth, experience and goaltending needed to make it.

So what do you think, after the early exits of both Pittsburgh and Vancouver, who do we see in the Cup Finals this season?

Who Will Win the Atlantic Division?

With roughly two weeks left the in the NHL regular season, the race for the Atlantic Division has become much closer than anyone had anticipated. Just a month ago, the New York Rangers had a commanding lead in the Atlantic Division and for the first seed in the Eastern Conference. The past month, however, has seen the Rangers lead in the Atlantic and the Eastern Conference shrink to just 1 point. The Rangers have 101 points on the season (5-5 in their past 10), the Pittsburgh Penguins have 100 points (8-1-1 in their last 10 games), and the Philadelphia Flyers have 96 points (7-2-1 in their last 10). While the Rangers are falling apart, the Penguins and Flyers continue to get better.

The Penguins are undoubtedly the best team in the East and possibly the entire NHL right now, but the Flyers are also getting hot at the right time. Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov has been easily the best goalie in the NHL for the month of March and players who have been relatively quiet all season have been stepping up. The Flyers are 3-1 against the Penguins this season and have not recorded a win against the Rangers this season in 5 games. The Flyers play the Penguins twice to end the season and the Rangers once, games which will factor greatly in which team gets the Atlantic title and the 1st seed in the East.

The most likely scenario I see happening is the Penguins take the 1 seed at the end of the season, the Rangers taking the 4th and the Flyers taking the 5th seed. While the Flyers have proven their ability to beat the Penguins, the 4 point gap will be very difficult to erase with only 7 games left, especially considering how well the Penguins have been playing. No team in the league can match the Penguins' depth at either the forward or defensive positions.

Who Will Represent the East and West in the Stanley Cup Finals?

There's just over a month left in the NHL regular season and the best teams in each conference are starting to separate themselves from the rest. The Red Wings, Canucks and Blues are looking like the most likely to represent the West and the Rangers, Bruins and Penguins are all looking good in the East. Personally, I think the Stanley Cup Finals will come down to the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings. The Rangers have the ability to put up goals in bunches and Henrik Lundqvist is having the season of his life in the net. In the West, Detroit's finesse and passing game seems unable to be matched yet again and with their incredible home record this season, I see them making short work of just about any team they face in the Western Conference playoffs this year, assuming Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Howard can get and stay fully healthy. So what do you think, who battles for the cup this season?

Career Interest Area

The career interest area I have chosen is Sport Marketing. I would like to work in the marketing department of a professional sports team, preferably in the Philadelphia area. I chose this as my career interest area because it's something that I feel would offer a both challenging and rewarding career. I've always wanted a career in sports and marketing has always been a field that interests me.

Is the NHL Winter Classic Losing its Meaning?

 A photo of the first annual NHL Winter Classic game, played between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins in Buffalo, New York at Ralph Wilson Stadium

As many of you have already heard, the 2013 NHL Winter Classic will be played between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings at the University of Michigan football stadium in a game that will undoubtedly shatter NHL attendance records. While the Winter Classic games continue to provide a great deal of entertainment to hockey fans everywhere, it's impossible not to notice the repetitiveness and popularity of the teams being chosen to participate.

As a Flyers fan, the day I found out that the Philadelphia Flyers would play the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Winter Classic, I was inexplicably excited. My favorite team was going to be showcased in the third year of an increasingly popular annual NHL tradition. After hearing the news, I went out and bought a Flyers Winter Classic jersey along with some t-shirts and a hat specifically made for the game. I was feeding into the hype but I didn't care. At the time I thought this was going to be a once in a lifetime experience, watching my team play an outdoor hockey game against a bitter rival. Well maybe not once in a lifetime, but definitely not something that would become a regular occurance. This past January, the Flyers played in the Winter Classic against the New York Rangers, another hated rival, this time in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. I was unable to get as excited for this game as I had been for the one in 2010. It wasn't new and exciting anymore. It was the 2nd time in three years that they were playing in this game and it had effectively lost most of the excitement surrounding it.

The 2013 Winter Classic will mark the 2nd time that the Detroit Red Wings have been chosen to play in the outdoor spectacle, joining the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins who have each also played in two. The Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals and New York Rangers have each been invited to play once. All of these teams mentioned are big market teams with large fan bases. I will admit that, in terms of business, it's understandable that the NHL would want the biggest regular season game to be played between teams that consistently sell out their respective arenas. However, there are plenty of other big market teams that should have been given a chance to play in the Winter Classic before the Flyers, Penguins and Red Wings got to play in two. The Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues were all in the top 10 in attendance last season and yet the NHL chooses to feature Detroit in another Winter Classic. Then there are teams like the the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers, who are two of the most well known teams in the NHL and would without question draw a large attendance and respectable ratings. The Minnesota Wild consistently have a solid fan base as well and a state that loves hockey as much as Minnesota would make an incredible host for this event.

Basically, the point is that the NHL needs to change the way they handle the Winter Classic game if they want fans to continue to be excited for it. Nobody wants to see the same teams over and over again. It seems the NHL wants to only feature big market teams in these games, but what better way to increase exposure for less popular teams than to have them play in the most popular game of the regular season?