Diskussionsbereich » its time to take a closer look at the players

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - With the majority of NHL teams already past their midway points of the 2014-15 season, its time to take a closer look at the players who have stood out among their peers. Although the league wont hand out its individual awards until the summer, debates about who deserves the trophies begin shortly after the season begins. Sometimes guys run away with an award and distance themselves from the rest of the field, but the 2014-15 races appear to be extremely competitive at the moment. So, without further ado, lets take a look at whos on their way to winning some of the most coveted hardware this spring. HART TROPHY (MOST VALUABLE PLAYER) Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins The problem with the Hart Trophy race is some of the best individual efforts this season have come from players on teams that may not even make the playoffs. Philadelphias Jakub Voracek leads the league in scoring and his teammate Claude Giroux isnt far behind, but the Flyers are struggling as a whole and the clubs poor season will hinder both star players MVP quests. Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars finds himself in a similar situation. Malkin, meanwhile, is second only to Voracek in points and is leading a Pittsburgh team in the race for the Metropolitan Division title. The Russian star has 19 goals and 49 points in 42 games and could wind up winning his third Art Ross Trophy as the leagues leading scorer. Malkin also has a Hart Trophy to his credit, winning the MVP for the 2011-12 season. We also cant count out Malkins teammate Sidney Crosby, a two-time Hart Trophy recipient who has 47 points on 12 goals and 35 assists. Anaheim centerman Ryan Getzlaf and Chicago winger Patrik Kane also are in the Hart race, as is goaltender Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. Of course, its extremely rare for a netminder to win the MVP. Jose Theodore was the last goalie to do it when he won the Hart with the Montreal Canadiens in 2001-02. Other finalists: Getzlaf (Anaheim), Rinne (Nashville) NORRIS TROPHY (BEST DEFENSEMAN) Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames The advanced statistics community has been talking up Giordanos Norris credentials for a few years now, but 2014-15 could be the season he actually wins the award for top defenseman. Giordano received one first-place vote for the Norris in 2013-14, but wound up finishing 10th in the overall voting as Chicagos Duncan Keith won it for the second time in his career. The difference in 2014-15 is Giordano has the offensive numbers to bolster his case. Last season he finished 12th in scoring among blueliners with 47 points. He is currently second with 10 goals and 26 assists in 43 games, and his 36 points are only one behind Kevin Shattenkirk of the St. Louis Blues. While this season has served as a coming-out party for Giordano, he hardly has the Norris race wrapped up. Keith is likely to be in the mix again, and Shattenkirk, Nashvilles Shea Weber, Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings are a few other names worthy of mention at the midway point. Other finalists: Weber (Nashville), Keith (Chicago) VEZINA TROPHY (BEST GOALTENDER) Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators Like Giordano for Norris, Rinne is leading the way in a stacked field for the Vezina. A trendy pick to win the Hart, the Finnish star has been hailed as one of the biggest reasons for Nashvilles resurgence this season. The club finished out of the playoffs in 2013-14 and the Predators struggles were due in large part to Rinne missing over four months due to a infection in his surgically repaired hip. A healthy Rinne has helped alter Nashvilles fortunes in 2014-15, with the team currently tied with Anaheim for the most points in the NHL. Rinne, a two- time Vezina finalist, has posted a 29-6-2 record in 37 games this season while sporting a 1.96 goals against average and .931 save percentage. However, an injury suffered on Tuesday night against Vancouver could wind up derailing Rinnes award-worthy season. The 32-year-old suffered a sprained knee in a collision with Canucks forward Chris Higgins and it will cause Rinne to be sidelined until after the All-Star break. Nashville fans are hoping the club is simply being careful with its franchise goaltender, but the injury does seem to open the door for another Vezina candidate to swipe the award. The rest of the field is packed with worthy goaltenders like Tampa Bays Ben Bishop, Montreals Carey Price, Pittsburghs Marc-Andre Fleury and Jaroslav Halak of the New York Islanders. Other finalists: Halak (NY Islanders), Price (Montreal) CALDER MEMORIAL TROPHY (ROOKIE OF THE YEAR) Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers Its not rare to see one standout rookie run away with the Calder Memorial Trophy, but 2014-15 gives us no shortage of worthy first-year candidates. Earlier this season, it did seem like Nashvilles Filip Forsberg would skate away with the Calder, but the gap has been closed considerably thanks to the emergence of guys like Aaron Ekblad, Johnny Gaudreau and Michael Hutchinson. Ekblad gets the nod for me because it is so rare to see an NHL defenseman thrive as a rookie, let alone an 18-year-old. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, has made a seamless transition from Canadian junior hockey to the NHL and given Florida a cornerstone defenseman to build around. The blueliner has helped Florida, a young team which was expected to be near the bottom of the NHL standings, stay in the race for a playoff spot this season. Ekblad is leading all rookie defensemen with 24 points on five goals and 19 assists and also is logging over 22 minutes of ice time per night. His point total trails only Forsberg and Gaudreau among all rookie skaters. But, if this is purely a scoring race, Forsberg is still the leading candidate for the Calder. The 20-year-old Swede leads all rookies with 39 points over 42 games for Nashville, but Calgarys Gaudreau, the former Boston College standout better known by his nickname Johnny Hockey, has been gaining ground on Forsberg. Gaudreau only managed a goal and two assists through his first nine games this season, but he currently has 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) over 42 contests. Hutchinson, meanwhile, is making a Calder case from the Winnipeg crease. The Jets goaltender has formed an effective tandem with veteran Ondrej Pavelec and the 24-year-old is 12-4-2 with a 2.00 GAA and .931 save percentage in 19 games. There is plenty of time for any of these candidates to distinguish themselves from the pack, but Ekblad is my front-runner. Other finalists: Forsberg (Nashville), Gaudreau (Calgary) ADAMS TROPHY (COACH OF THE YEAR) Peter Laviolette, Nashville Predators Last season, Colorados Patrick Roy earned the coaching award in his first season behind an NHL bench. In 2014-15, a mainstay of the coaching scene is leading the Adams field. Peter Laviolette reached the top of the NHL mountain by leading Carolina to a Stanley Cup title in 2006, but the American has never won the Adams. However, Laviolette may get his hand on the trophy this season for his stellar work in his debut season with the Predators. Laviolette was fired by Philadelphia after just three games in 2013-14 and was out of coaching until Nashville came calling last spring. He had big shoes to fill, taking over for Barry Trotz, the only head coach the franchise knew until he was fired for missing the playoffs in two consecutive seasons. As mentioned above, a healthy Rinne has helped Nashville rebound in 2014-15, but Laviolettes impact cannot be forgotten, either. After all, we are in the middle of January and the Predators still have yet to lose consecutive games. That level of consistency is rare and has everything to do with a veteran coach like Laviolette knowing which buttons to push and when to push them. Laviolette was tasked with transitioning the Preds from Trotzs defense-first style to a more up-tempo strategy and to say it has been a success would be an enormous understatement. Nashville has gone from an average of 2.61 goals per game in 2013-14 to 3.00 goals per game this season, and it has done so while somehow improving on defense. The Preds were 23rd in the league in team defense (2.84 GPG) in Trotzs last season in Music City and are currently first with only 2.17 goals surrendered per contest. The drastic improvement in overall play has Nashville at the top of the league standings and well on its way to the best regular season in franchise history. Its worth mentioning that Trotz also could get Adams consideration for getting Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals to buy into his defensive system. Unlike Laviolettes Predators, who have been great from Day 1 of 2014-15, Trotzs changes needed time to take root, but the Caps are playing with great confidence at this point of the season. Laviolette is a clear front-runner for the Adams with his stiffest competition coming from New York Islanders bench boss Jack Capuano, who has the Isles neck-and-neck with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Metropolitan Division crown. Other finalists: Capuano (NY Islanders), Trotz (Washington) Bulls Jerseys Outlet . -- Zach Johnson asked his short-iron approach on the par-4 18th to "Do something right, baby. Womens Bulls Jerseys . Cox started the season with San Francisco, but was released by the team on Nov. 12 before being signed by Seattle, where he appeared in two games and tallied three tackles before being released on Dec. http://www.cheapbullsjerseyschina.com/ .That means, of course, that John Wall beat the Spurs for the first time ever — within weeks of his first wins in head-to-head games against nemeses Chris Paul and Derrick Rose. Wholesale Bulls Jerseys . But last years runner-up Jarkko Nieminen crashed out despite winning the first set against Denis Istomin. Istomin fired 10 aces and won 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 to even his career record against Nieminen at 3-3. Youth Bulls Jerseys . CBS Sports Jon Heyman is reporting that Santana will sign a one-year deal, likely in the next two days with one of a trio of suitors, with the Toronto Blue Jays believed to be heavily involved.RALEIGH, N.C. -- Dunk City is long gone. Make way for the next bunch of bracket busters from the little-known Atlantic Sun Conference: Mercer. The 8,300-student school from Macon, Ga., delivered the biggest shocker in an already topsy-turvy NCAA tournament on Friday, going into Dukes backyard and knocking off the No. 3 seed Blue Devils 78-71. "This," Atlantic Sun player of the year Langston Hall said, "is what March Madness is all about." The 14th-seeded Bears -- with a starting lineup of five seniors -- came back from five points down in the last 4:52 as Dukes offence collapsed. They sent home one of the true blue-blood programs, coached by Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski and starring freshman Jabari Parker, sure to be one of the top NBA picks this year. Mercer is coached by former Oklahoma Baptist player Bob Hoffman, who has banged around the coaching ranks from womens teams to the American Basketball Association to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Developmental League. Next up: 11th-seeded Tennessee, which upset sixth-seeded Massachusetts 86-67, on Sunday in the third round. Jakob Gollon scored 20 points and Daniel Coursey scored 17, helping the Bears overcome a season-high 15 3-pointers from Duke. Mercer qualified for its first NCAA tournament since 1985 by winning the Atlantic Sun conference championship over Florida Gulf Coast, nicknamed "Dunk City" for the teams above-the-rim offence. A year earlier, the Bears lost that game and watched FGCU advance to the Sweet 16. "When they were going on their run, we were sitting at home thinking, Man, that could have been us," Anthony White Jr. said. Now it is. Mercer scored 11 straight points during the late 20-5 run that clinched the biggest victory in school history and sent the Blue Devils to their second first-game exit in three years. Quinn Cook scored 23 points and Rasheed Sulaimon added 20 for Duke. But their defence -- an uncharacteristic weakness all season -- did them in again while all those Mercer seniors simply got any shot they wanted. The Bears shot 56 per cent -- 58 per cent in the second half. "Theyre a team thats been together a long time," Duke forward Rodney Hood said. "They sliced us up. Theres no other way to put it." Duke weent up 63-58 with 4:52 left after Parker converted a three-point play and Tyler Thornton hit three free throws.dddddddddddd The Blue Devils didnt score again until the final minute. "I dont know if we panicked," senior Andre Dawkins said, "but we didnt do the things we needed to do." Like score. Or defend. Coursey countered by rattling in a jumper in the lane, and after two empty possessions for Duke, some slick ball rotation by Mercer set up Whites open 3 that tied it at 63. Hood picked up his fourth foul on the Bears next possession and Gollon hit two free throws to put Mercer ahead for good. By that point, Duke could do nothing right. Parker missed a 3-pointer in traffic before Hood was called for walking, leading White to give a fist-pump to those noisy Mercer fans who stood all day. The Bears hit 12 of 14 free throws in the final 2 minutes to seal it. After the buzzer sounded, the Bears players formed a circle on the sideline and danced. In the middle was guard Kevin Canevari, a Charlotte native whos one of the seven seniors on the roster. "We were confident all week," Canevari said. "We dont really look at it like were an underdog in this tournament. Obviously, everyones a great team, theres already been so many upsets." White finished with 13 points, and A-Sun player of the year Langston Hall and Ike Nwamu added 11 apiece for Mercer. Watching Florida Gulf Coast upset Georgetown and San Diego State last year gave the Bears an off-seasons worth of fuel. Hoffman said his players "worked harder than any team in the country individually to get a chance to get back to the same moment." Mercer has 1,176 wins as a program -- only 191 more than Krzyzewski has all by himself. Parker, one of a long list of high school All-Americans on Coach Ks roster, finished what might have been his final college game with 14 points. Hood -- a redshirt sophomore who also could be headed to the pros -- had just six points. Duke has been to 11 Final Fours and has four national titles under Krzyzewski, but his Blue Devils have lost their first tournament game five times. Parker said he doesnt know what his future plans are. Hood said he also was undecided because "I thought Id be playing after today." 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