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The NHL handed out the rest of its annual awards on Sept. 21^St, prior to the second game of the Stanley Cup Final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars. The big winner was centre Leon Draisaitl of the the Edmonton Oilers as he took home both the Hart Memorial Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award.

The Hart Trophy goes to the player deemed the most valuable to his team as voted by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) while the Ted Lindsay Award is basically awarded to the best player in the league as voted on by his peers in the NHL Players’ Association. The 24-year-old also won the Art Ross Trophy earlier as the league’s leading scorer this season with 110 points. He had the fourth-most goals in the league with 43 and led the NHL in assists with 67.

The other Hart and Lindsay finalists were forwards Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche and Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers. MacKinnon was the fifth-highest scorer in the league this season with 35 goals and 58 assists for 93 points while Panarin was tied with Pastrnak for third overall with 32 goals and 63 assists for 95 points. MacKinnon finished second in the Hart and Lindsay voting followed by Panarin.

Draisaitl becomes the fourth Oiler to win each of the awards  after Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Connor McDavid. Draisaitl also led the league in points-per-game at 1.55 and 44 power-play points. He co-shared the lead for 10 game-winning goals with David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins and placed second for his 66 even-strength points and 16 power-play goals.

Defenceman Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche was honoured with the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year to become the sixth franchise player to win it. The others were Peter Stastny and Peter Forsberg of the Quebec Nordiques as well as Chris Drury, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon with the Avalanche.

The 21-year-old Makar led all rookie blue liners in goals with 12 and power-play markers with four. His 38 assists and 50 points were good enough for second place. He tallied 19 power-play points, four game-winning goals, finished with a plus-12 rating and played an average of 21:01 of ice time each contest.

The voting was done by the PHWA with Vancouver Canucks’ rearguard Quinn Hughes placing second and Chicago Blackhawks’ forward Dominik Kubalik coming third. The 20-year-old Hughes led rookies with 45 assists, 53 points and 25 power-play points while the 25-year-old Kubalik led first-year players with 30 goals, 38 even-strength points and 26 even-strength goals.

The Norris Trophy winner as the best defenceman was awarded to captain Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, making him the first player from the franchise to win it. Josi posted a career-best 16 goals, 49 assists and 65 points and ranked second in the NHL in each of those offensive categories. He also set club records for his assists and point total.

John Carlson of the Washington Capitals finished second in voting with Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning coming third. Carlson led all blue liners with a career-best 60 assists and 75 points as well as six-game-winners  while tallying 15 goals. Hedman notched 11 goals and 44 helpers for 55 points. This was also voted on by the PHWA.

The Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender went to Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets. He led the league with six shutouts and tied for games played at 58. He placed second in wins with 31, seventh in save percentage at 92.2, posted a goals-against average of 2.57 with a 31-21-5 record and faced the most shots in the NHL at 1,796 and made the most saves with 1,656. He’s now the first player in franchise history to win the award after placing second in voting in 2017-18.

Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins finished second on the ballots and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning placed third with the votes coming from the league’s 31 general managers. Rask went
26-8-6 this season and led the league with a (2.12 goals-against average and was second with a 92.9 save percentage and five shutouts. He won the Jennings Trophy earlier this season for allowing the fewest goals against. Last year’s Vezina winner, Vasilevskiy, led the league with 35 wins and posted a mark of 35-14-3 with a 2.56 goals-against average, three shutouts and 91.7 save percentage.

With the 2019/20 NHL season being paused back in March due to Covid-19, the league’s annual awards show on the Las Vegas strip didn’t take place in June as it usually does. However, the top players haven’t been forgotten as the league began handing out its famous pieces of silverware in September.

Several winners were already known as soon as the league officially halted the campaign. The Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard trophy for leading the league in goals during the regular season was shared by Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins as they scored 48 times apiece.

Forward Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers took home the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in scoring with 110 points while Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak of the Boston Bruins won the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals against during the regular season.

The King Clancy Memorial Trophy is given to the player who exemplifies leadership on and off the ice as well as making a humanitarian contribution to the community. This award is decided on by a committee of senior league executives including deputy commissioner Bill Daly and commissioner Gary Bettman. Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild was this season’s winner with the other finalists being Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and P.K. Subban of the New Jersey Devils.

The finalists for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy were Stephen Johns of the Dallas Stars, Oskar Lindblom of the Philadelphia Flyers and Bobby Ryan of the Ottawa Senators with Ryan getting the nod. The trophy goes to the player who exemplifies sportsmanship, perseverance and dedication to the sport of hockey and is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. Ryan left his team in November of 2019 to enter the league’s player assistance program help battle alcohol abuse and returned to the Senators in late February.

The Jack Adams Award for the best coach during the regular season is voted on by the NHL’s Broadcasters’ Association with this year’s finalists being Bruce Cassidy of the Boston Bruins, John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Alain Vigneault of the Philadelphia Flyers. Cassidy was named the winner with 37 first-place votes and being named on 82 of the 132 ballots. He helped the team win the Presidents’ Trophy this season as the top team during the regular season with 100 points from a record of 44-14-12 and a .714 points percentage.

The Bruins had a goal differential of 53, were ranked second on the power play at 25.2 percent and third in penalty-killing at 84.3 per cent. The team also allowed the fewest goals against at 174 in 70 games. Cassidy becomes the fourth Bruins’ coach to win the award after being named a finalist two times in the past three seasons. Other Boston coaches to take home the trophy have been Pat Burns, Claude Julien and Don Cherry. Vigneault raked in 32 first-place votes in the balloting this year while Tortorella received 28.

Sean Couturier of the Philadelphia Flyers won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the league with the other finalists being Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins and Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues. The centre posted 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points in 69 contests and won a league-high 59.6 per cent of his faceoffs. He was also the only player to win at least 58 per cent of his draws in each of the offensive, defensive and neutral zones. The voting was done by the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association with Couturier being named on 163 of the 170 voting slips with 117 of them being first-place ballots.

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for combining gentlemanly conduct, a high level of play and sportsmanship was also voted on by the Writers’ Association and was contested by Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The award went to MacKinnon, who led Colorado in scoring with 35 goals and 58 assists for 93 points in 69 games while receiving just 12 minutes in penalties.

Meanwhile, the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award is voted on  by a panel of media members, general managers and NHL executives. This year’s finalists were Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars, Julien BriseBois of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders with Lamoriello being named the winner. In addition, Calgary Flames’ defenceman and team captain Mark Giordano was named the winner of the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award for exemplifying excellent leadership qualities on and off the ice.

The NHL also announced that the winners of the Calder Memorial Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy,
James Norris Memorial Trophy, the Ted Lindsay Award, and the Vezina Trophy will all be revealed during the Stanley Cup Final series.

The NHL’s final four teams will all be based out of Edmonton, Alberta from now until the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs after the quarterfinals were all completed on Labour Day weekend. The New York Islanders shut out the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 in game seven of their series on Saturday night after the Dallas Stars edged the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 in overtime and the Vegas Golden Knights blanked the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 in their respective game sevens on Friday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had already taken care of the Boston Bruins in five games earlier in the week. The Eastern Conference clubs, which played the qualifying series and first two rounds of the postseason in Toronto since July 27th, now head west to compete at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The Western Conference Final features Vegas vs Dallas while the Eastern Final pits Tampa against the Islanders.

When it comes to the starting goalies, it appears Robin Lehner will get the nod over Marc-Andre Fleury for Vegas while Anton Khudobin will start for Dallas. Khudobin has taken over in net for the Stars as Ben Bishop has been Ben Bishop listed as unfit to play for the team in 10 of the last 11 games. Bishop started the fifth game of the series against Colorado but  was pulled after conceding four goals on 19 shots before 14 minutes had elapsed in the contest. Bishop was then listed as unfit to play for the final two encounters of the series.

So far, Khudobin has compiled an 8-5 record in the playoffs with a 90.9 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.94. It’s still unknown if Bishop will be healthy enough to play against Vegas but if he is, fans may see head coach Rick Bowness start him again since he’s still considered to be the team’s number one netminder.

One of the hottest players entering the semi-finals is blue liner Miro Heiskanen of Dallas as he’s riding an eight-game scoring streak of two goals and 10 assists to set a franchise playoff record for a defenceman. Heiskanen has racked up five goals and 16 helpers for 21 points in 16 postseason outings so far. Just seven rearguards have managed to reach 20 points in fewer playoff contests in NHL history with these being Paul Coffey, Bobby Orr, Brian Leetch, Ray Bourque, Al MacInnis,Denis Potvin and Larry Robinson. All seven are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In Vegas, Lehner has taken over as the top goalie from Fleury but Fleury has played a few games in the playoffs this season. Lehner’s record so far stands at 8-4 with a 91.8 save percentage with a 1.99 goals -against average and three shutouts while Fleury has gone 3-0 with an 89.3 save percentage to accompany his 2.67 goals-against average.

Both Dallas and Vegas replaced their head coaches during the season with Rick Bowness taking over the Stars on Dec. 10^th when Jim Montgomery was let go and Peter DeBoer getting the job in Vegas on Jan. 15^th to take over from the fired Gerard Gallant. Bowness coached in a conference final 28 years ago when he was behind the bench with Boston while this is DeBoer’s third conference final after guiding the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012 and the San Jose Sharks in 2016 with both teams losing in six outings.

In the East, Tampa’s win over Boston came early enough to give the team an extra five days of rest. This could turn out to be beneficial or it may be too long of a layoff. However, in Tampa’s case the rest may have done more good than harm since the club played a total of nine overtime periods in the first two series for a total of 134:29 extra minutes. They technically eliminated the Bruins and Columbus Blue Jackets in 10 games but in reality played the equivalent of 12 games.

On the injury front, Tampa winger Nikita Kucherov should be ready to play after being injured in the fifth game against Boston and center Steven Stamkos may make his first appearance of the playoffs against the Islanders.

For the Islanders, this is the first time since 1993 they have reached a conference final and they haven’t been to the Stanley Cup Final since 1984. The team has used both Thomas Greiss and Semyon Varlamov in net this postseason with Greiss starting just twice and posting a shutout. Varlamov has started the other 14 encounters with a 9-4 record, a 92.1 save percentage, a 2.00 goals-against average and two shutouts.

Sitting on top of the NHL’s playoff scoring parade on the last day of August was centre Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche with seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points in 12 games. What made the numbers even more impressive was the fact MacKinnon’s consistency has shone through as he had recorded at least one point in all 12 games.

He’s also set and tied some Avalanche club records along the way in the postseason such as three points in a period, four points in a series-winning game and most consecutive games with a point from the start of a playoff season. The 24-year-old has now appeared in 37 career NHL games and has produced 18 goals and 32 assists for 50 points with a plus-22 rating and five game-winners. His 12-game point streak to start this postseason eclipsed the old team mark of 10 set by Joe Sakic in 1995/96.

He’s been producing in the postseason all through his career though as MacKinnon racked up 61 points in 34 games as a junior with the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and added seven goals and 13 points in four Memorial Cup contests. This isn’t to say he doesn’t chip in during the regular season because he certainly does.

In 525 career games he stands at 190 goals and 305 assists for 495 points. He also has a plus-39 rating, 56 power-play markers and 39 game-winners. In the last three seasons, MacKinnon’s points totals were 97, 99 and 93 for 289 in 225 outings. His 99 points this season resulted in being named as a finalist for the Hart Trophy as the player deemed most valuable to his team.

The Avalanche chose MacKinnon first overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and was named the league’s rookie of the year for 2013/14 when he notched 29 goals and 63 points in 82 games with a plus-20 rating. He was the youngest player ever in franchise history to step on the ice in an NHL contest and earned a pair of assists in his debut.

And since he hails from Springhill, Nova Scotia, which is close to Cole Harbour where Sidney Crosby was born there has always been comparisons with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ star. With MacKinnon growing up and playing minor hockey in the Cole Harbour community he’s a friend of Crosby’s and also lists him as his mentor.

MacKinnon is used to winning, be it the QMJHL title, Memorial Cup, or World Championships, but for all of his heroics, the Avalanche are unlikely to get past the Dallas Stars in the second round of this year’s playoffs as they trailed 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. MacKinnon has certainly been doing his job, but the team’s secondary scoring has dried up since downing the Arizona Coyotes in five games in the first round.

On the bright side, if the Avalanche is eliminated this round MacKinnon has an interesting hobby to fall back on during his down time as he’s been dabbling in acting. He’s appeared several times in the past on the Canadian comedy shows “Mr. D” and “Trailer Park Boys” and has filmed a series of commercials with his buddy Crosby for Tim Hortons restaurants.

But if MacKinnon’s teammates can lift their game to his level, they’ll be able to come back against Dallas and continue their 2019/20 postseason journey.

Once again it was proven that defending the Stanley Cup is usually quite a bit more difficult than winning it as the St. Louis Blues were ousted from the playoffs in the first round. The Vancouver Canucks did the damage as they took the best-of-seven set in six games. The Blues, who were seeded fourth in the West, were trounced 6-2 in the deciding game last week after posting a 0-2-1 mark in the round-robin section of the postseason qualifiers.

However, they were seeded first going into the qualifying round after going 42-19-10 in the regular season with a points percentage of .662. St. Louis dropped the first two games of the series with the Canucks with one coming in overtime before bouncing back to win the next two. They then blew a 3-1 lead in game five and were edged 4-3 before playing their worst game of the series in game six.

One of the reasons for the quick departure was the fact goaltender Jordan Binnington couldn’t save the day for his teammates like he did last season. He went 16-10 in the 2018-19 playoffs with a goals-against average and a save percentage of 91.4 but was 0-3 this time around while conceding 13 goals on just 65 shots for a save percentage of 80.0. He allowed six goals on 10 power-play chances and allowed nine goals against in the first two contests against Vancouver on 47 shots.

Jake Allen took over in the Blues’ crease for the next three outings and won two of them but losing game five. Head coach Craig Berube went back to Binnington for the sixth game but he allowed four goals on just 18 shots and was yanked and replaced by Allen at the 8:06 mark of the second frame. The Blues also suffered from too many turnovers in the series and injuries started to build up the longer it went.

St. Louis played game six without forwards Tyler Bozak, Vladimir Tarasenko, Troy Brouwer and Alexander Steen as well as defender Gunnarsson. The last time all five were in the lineup was in game two with Tarasenko leaving after the second encounter to have his injured shoulder checked out.

Next season’s St. Louis squad could look a little different as defenders Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents along with Brouwer. There are also several restricted free agents who need to be dealt with such as forwards Jacob de la Rose and Jake Walman as well as blue liners Vince Dunn, Austin Poganski and Derrick Pouliot.

The players who are signed for at least the next two seasons include forwards Tarasenko, Sammy Blais, Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron, Brayden Schenn and Oskar Sundqvist and defencemen Colton Parayko, Marco Scandella and Justin Faulk. In addition, Binnington is also still under contract and he’ll be determined to bounce back next campaign.

He was fine during the 2019-20 regular season with a 30-13-7 record along in 50 starts with a 2.56 goals-against average, 91.2 save percentage and three shutouts. Allen is also a dependable netminder but both Allen and Binnington are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents in June of 2021.

The Blues have the leadership and skill required to return to the playoffs again next season to challenge for the Stanley Cup and should be able to learn from the mistakes they made this postseason.

The NHL, like most sports leagues around the world, has temporarily postponed its 2019/20 season due to the Covid 19 virus and the fear for public safety. The league’s commissioner Gary Bettman released a statement on March 12^th which officially announced the suspension of all NHL activities for the time being. Bettman and NHL fans across the globe hope to resume action in the coming weeks whereas the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) has officially cancelled its season and the playoffs.

Since the time frame for resuming games is unpredictable it’s unclear at the moment what the NHL has in mind if and when its teams get back on the ice. In a best-case scenario the league will be able to play out the remainder of the 82-game regular season and get in the full slate of playoff games. But with each passing week this may not be possible. Currently, the league has completed 1,082 of its 1,271 games this season.

The season would need to be extended either way whenever games resume and the first thing the NHL needs to do is make sure the rinks are available for games. Most teams have between 12 and 14 games remaining on their schedule and then four rounds of playoffs need to be played with the preferred length being four-of-seven game series.

If games resume in two or three weeks the league may try to fit everything in. If the break is extended there are plenty of options such as scrapping the rest of the regular-season contests or changing the playoff format. The league could shorten some of the postseason series to the best two-of-three and/or the best three-of-five formats. If the regular season games are eliminated though the NHL will have to come up with a method to decide which teams make the playoffs.

Since teams have played an unequal  number of games the fairest way to decide the playoff competitors would be to evaluate the league standings based on each team’s winning percentage. If teams are tied they could go to a head-to-head tie-breaking system or devise a different method. In addition, more teams could be added to the playoffs with a brand-new format put into place.

One thing’s for certain and that’s the fact Bettman wants to make sure the NHL has a Stanley Cup winner in 2019/20. The board of governors will have to come up with some creative solutions the longer the league is forced to sit out. Nobody wants to play to empty arenas but it may still be a better solution than having to wipe games off the schedule. Playing televised games in empty rinks could be an answer for a few weeks when the league returns.

The NHL may end up playing into July if necessary but there will also need to be some type of cutoff date on the calendar which will indicate when it’s too late to save the season. In the meantime, players have been advised to self isolate themselves but they also need to stay in the best condition possible and be ready for action at any given time. The league would likely let teams hold three-day training sessions before games officially face off again.

If there is any type of silver lining in the postponement of the season it will mean that some of the league’s injured players may have the chance to heal during the downtime. Several of the league’s top stars including Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche are currently on the sidelines.

The NHL will continue to monitor the situation and won’t return to the ice until medical professionals and the American and Canadian governments give the league the all-clear signal. Also, the league has announced the players will still receive their last two paycheques of the season while they wait in limbo. The last time the NHL cancelled a season was over a century ago when the 1918/19 campaign was halted after five games of the Stanley Cup final due to the Spanish flu breakout. There was also no cup winner in 2004/05 because of a lockout.

The Philadelphia Flyers are currently in the midst of a nine-game winning streak and have soared up the NHL standings because of it. As of March 9^th, the team has a record of 41-20-7 with 232 goals for and 194 against. They had 89 points and were tied with the Washington Capitals for first place in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division. They were also tied for fourth place in the overall league standings.

Of course, a playoff spot isn’t guaranteed but the Flyers owned an eight point lead over the fourth place Columbus Blue Jackets in the Metropolitan with two games in hand. They were also 10 points in front of the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders who were tied for fifth place in the division on March 9 with the Islanders and Carolina having a game in hand on the Flyers. One of the main reasons for Philadelphia’s success of late has been the goaltending of sophomore Carter Hart.

The way Hart’s been playing lately it looks like the Flyers may have finally found a worthy franchise goalie after searching for one for many years. Flyers’ fans may be wary though considering the franchise has seen a league-leading total of eight goaltenders start a minimum of 99 contests for the team in the past 20 years. This includes netminders such as Roman Cechmanek, Robert Esche, Ilya Bryzgalov and Antero Niittymaki.

Hart was drafted by the Flyers in 2016 in the second round with the 48^th overall selection from the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League (WHL) and was the first goaltender taken that year. Hart recently returned to the Flyers’ lineup on February 10^th after being sidelined for four weeks with an injury. Since making his return, Hart has gone 9-1 in his last 10 starts with a 92.9 save percentage and he’s won 11 of his last 12 decisions. He’s been excellent in net over the past few months after a terrible start during October.

The future looks very bright for Hart since he’s just 21 years old as most goalies don’t mature until later in their careers. In fact, there have been just six NHL goalies to play in 40 games before the age of 22 with a save percentage above 91.0. The other five were Roberto Luongo, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Martin Brodeur, Carey Price and Felix Potvin. The 6-foot-2-inch, 180 lb Hart of Sherwood Park, Alberta had played 73 regular-season NHL games as of March 9^th with a 40-25-4 record while posting a 91.5 save percentage and a 2.60 goals-against average.

This means Hart tops the list of under-22 goalies when it comes to save percentage. He went 16-13-1 last season with a 2.83 GAA and a 91.5 save percentage as the Flyers missed the playoffs. So far this season Hart is 24-12-3 with a 2.43 GAA and a 91.3 save percentage. Since being drafted he’s played just 18 games in the minors as he went 9-8-1 with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League in 2018/19 while posting a 3.05 GAA and a 90.2 save percentage.

Hart has actually performed better at the NHL level since being called up in December of 2018 than in the AHL. And unless the Flyers collapse in their last 14 games of the regular season he should have no problem leading the team to the playoffs this spring. If they do happen to make the postseason, Hart and his Flyers’ teammates could possibly be one of the favourites to go all the way to the Stanley Cup final if they can continue their fine play of late for the next couple of months.

With the 2019/20 NHL season heading into the stretch run it looks like the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer is Leon Draisaitl’s to lose. The 24-year-old native of Cologne, Germany had posted 34 goals and 61 assists for 95 points for the Edmonton Oilers after 60 games and had an 11-point lead over his closest rivals, David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.

Draisaitl has also proved he has the flare for the dramatic and is a clutch performer as he was leading the league with 10 game-winning goals and had assisted on 12 game-winners by his teammates. There’s an outside chance that he reaches 50 goals this season and he’s currently leading the league in assists. The forward, who was drafted by Edmonton with the third overall pick in 2014, has already set a new career high in assists this year after notching 50 goals and 55 helpers for 105 points last season. He’s on pace for a career best 130 points this season.

Draisaitl had accumulated 125 goals and 187 assists for 312 points in 351 regular-season games after his first five seasons with the Oilers and came in second in team scoring to Connor McDavid over the past three campaigns. He also has 16 points in 13 playoff games. However, McDavid is currently injured and his reign as the team’s top scorer is likely to come to and end this year. With Draisaitl enjoying such a fine season there’s also a good chance he’ll be nominated for the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.

The young forward was scoring at a pace of 1.58 points-per-game after 60 outings this season to lead the NHL. He was also leading the league in ice time for forwards at at 22:33 per night as well as power-play points at 38. Draisaitl has proven he doesn’t have to depend on McDavid to produce points for the Oilers since he has posted 14 goals and 32 assists for 46 points in 45 games without his superstar teammate in the lineup. In the first four games without McDavid this season he notched three goals and seven assists.

If Draisaitl happens to win the Hart Trophy this season he’ll become the first German-born player to do so. However, his chances might fall if the Oilers fail to make the playoffs. Edmonton is in a dogfight in the Pacific Division with the the Vegas Golden Knights, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes. With a quarter of the season to go any one of those teams could realistically finish the season as division champions or as low as fifth place in the eight-team division.

The San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and  Anaheim Ducks occupy the bottom three spots in the Pacific and would need to catch fire down the stretch to have any hope of making the postseason. Draisaitl inked an eight-year deal with Edmonton in the summer of 2017 which sees him paid an average of $8.5 million a season. With five more years to go on the deal it looks like the Oilers have definitely signed themselves a bargain. But if Edmonton fails to make the playoffs this year it will be such a waste of a fantastic offensive season by Draisaitl.