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Going two NHL games without registering a point isn’t typically considered a slump for an NHL defenceman unless your name happens to be Erik Karlsson that is. Heading into the San Jose Sharks’ game on Jan. 15^th the 28-year-old Swedish blue liner had gone pointless in his two previous outings. But considering he posted 25 points in his 14 appearance before that, yes he’s in a bit of a drought.

It took the two-time Norris Trophy winner several weeks to get rolling this season after his blockbuster trade to San Jose from the Ottawa Senators shortly before campaign faced off. Karlsson was well known around the league for his scoring exploits and that’s one of the reasons the Sharks took a risk on him. San Jose gave up a multitude of draft picks and young prospects to acquire the Ottawa captain even though he’s scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1^st.

Some fans also felt the club didn’t really need more point production from the blue line since the Sharks already have one of the top-scoring defenders in the league in Brent Burns. There’s no guarantee Karlsson will re-sign with San Jose, so the club could be left out in the cold when the summer arrives. Still, they’re hoping he inks a new deal and will help the squad challenge for the Stanley Cup this spring. If he doesn’t, they’ll definitely live to regret it considering what the return for him might be before next month’s trade deadline.

While Karlsson hasn’t exactly been igniting the opposition goal light on a regular basis this season with just three markers, he’s definitely been an elite playmaker with 38 assists in 45 games and has been scoring at a rate of 0.91 points-per contest. He hasn’t been a liability in his own end either as he was a plus-eight. Karlsson wasn’t acquired for his defensive prowess though as offense comes first with him. As of Jan. 13^th he had scored 129 goals in 672 regular-season games and added 430 assists for 559 points and was a minus-28. He’d also added six goals and 37 points in 48 playoff outings.

During the first quarter of 2018/19 Karlsson notched just 10 points and it seemed he wasn’t really happy or comfortable in San Jose. However, it turns out he was just getting used to his new teammates and surroundings and is now feeling quite at home on the west coast. Karlsson recently set a San Jose franchise record by recording at least one point in 14 straight appearances and became the fifth NHL blue liner to notch an assist in 14 consecutive appearances. However, his streak was then snapped as he attempted to equal Paul Coffey’s league milestone of an assist in 17 straight games.

Karlsson’s name was rarely mentioned earlier this season when the topic of the Norris Trophy and league’s best defenceman came up, but he’s now on the tip of everybody’s tongue following his recent spurt. He’s being counted on by head coach Peter DeBoer in all types of game situations as he’s been averaging 25 minutes of ice time per night. Karlsson’s play of late has helped the Sharks in their challenge for top spot in the Western Conference and the Pacific Division. The team has gone 15-3-2 since early December and would have to completely come off the tracks to miss the postseason.

If Karlsson can manage to keep up his current scoring rate he’s on pace to finish the season with five goals and 68 assists for 73 points, which would be the fourth-highest point total of his NHL career. Ottawa missed the playoffs in four of the nine seasons Karlsson played in Canada’s capital, so he’s obviously looking forward to playing this April. However, he also needs to decide on his future plans. If he hasn’t given the Sharks any hint of staying with the club, it’s possible he’s shipped out as a rental player before or at the trade deadline. With the Sharks looking like a legitimate cup contender though, that’s a scenario the club hopes doesn’t happen.

Scoring in the NHL reached a new level in 2018 as the puck was deposited in the net 7,662 times in 1,282 regular-season games. This broke the previous record for a 12-month span which was 7,410 goals scored in the 2006 calendar year. The playing field was a little unbalanced though since there were 31 teams in the league in 2018 and just 30 in 2006.

The top scorer in the 2018 calendar year was Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers as the team captain posted 121 points in 81 games from 48 goals along with 73 assists. Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche was second on the scoring list with 113 points from 34 goals and 79 assists. Fellow Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon was next with 110 points and Russian forward Nikita Kucherov followed with 109 points. Evgeni Malkin and his Pittsburgh Penguin teammate Sidney Crosby each scored 102 points and Philadelphia Flyers’ forward Claude Giroux reached 100 points.

It was the first time since 1996 that seven NHL players scored at least 100 points in the same season, when eight players managed to do it. When last year’s playoff totals are added, Kucherov jumps to number one overall with 126 points in his total of 101 games played with 40 goals along with 86 assists. The top goal scorer in the 365 days of 2018 was Washington Capitals’ sharpshooter Alexander Ovechkin with 54 goals in 80 contests while Winnipeg Jets’ youngster Patrik Laine was the runner up with 50 in his 81 contests.

It was the sixth time Ovechkin led the league in scoring for a calendar year to tie Phil Esposito for second place all-time while Montreal Canadiens’ legend Rocket Richard led the league seven times during his career. Ovechkin, who’s now 33 years old, became the fourth player to lead the regular-season goal-scoring parade in the NHL after turning 33. He also topped the list in total goals for 2018 as he scored 15 times in the postseason for 69 goals in a total of 104 games. To top things off, the veteran was named the Conn Smythe Trophy for the playoffs as he led Washington to the Stanley Cup for the first time in club history.

Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks led all defencemen in regular-season scoring last year when he notched 82 points from a dozen goals and 70 assists. Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild ranked number one in goals though with 19. Even though the goals came fast and furious last year, NHL goalies still performed well. Veteran Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights posted the most wins in the regular-season with 44 in a total of 73 appearances. Fleury has now won at least 40 games in three different seasons as he registered 46 victories in 2009 and 45 more in 2013.

The highest-scoring team in 2018 was the Tampa Bay Lightning with 313 goals. They also registered the most victories in the regular season as well as points with 57 and 119 respectively. When looking at the current NHL season it’s obvious scoring hasn’t slowed down and last year’s record may be smashed in the 2019 calendar year. As of January 7^th there were 13 players on pace to score over 100 points in the 2018/19 campaign with several others just off the mark. In comparison, just three players reached the 100-point plateau in 2017/18 as Giroux, Kucherov and McDavid achieved the milestone.

In the previous seven years only five players in total netted 100 points in a season and there was never more than one player per season to reach the mark. We have to go back to 1995/96 to find the last time the league had 10 or more players with at least 100 points. Team-wise, Tampa Bay was scoring at a rate of 4.17 goals each game at the halfway mark of 2018/19 with 171 goals in their first 41 contests. For the 10th-highest total in the last 28 years.

With two consecutive hat tricks last week, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals jumped into the NHL goal scoring lead with 29 goals in 32 games and also set a new career-best point streak of 14 straight contests. The Russian sniper has 17 goals and six assists during his hot stretch and is three games away from tying the franchise record of 17 straight outings with a point set by fellow winger Mike Gartner. With just one more tally this season Ovechkin will hit the 30-goal plateau for the 14^th straight season since breaking into the league.

Most fans believe he’ll eventually slow down, but if he doesn’t he’s on pace to score 75 times in 2018/19. This is even more remarkable considering he’s 33 years old, which is more than a decade older than the current crop of young stars such as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Patrik Laine. Ovechkin’s previous best in goals was 65. He’s scored fewer than 40 in just three of his 13 full seasons which includes 32 goals in the 48-game campaign of 2012/13. He’s hit the 50-goal mark seven times and is also tied with Bobby Hull for leading the league in goals on seven occasions.

The two hat tricks last week give him 23 for his career which ranks 10^th on the all time list. He’s also number nine in history for multi-goal games with 127. Wayne Gretzky leads the way in both categories with 50 career hat tricks and 189 multi-goal outings. Gretzky is also the all-time leader in goals scored with 894, followed by Gordie Howe at 801 and Jaromir Jagr with 766. As of December 17^th Ovechkin had notched 636 regular-season goals to rank 15^th and could realistically finish his career in third place all time. One record he should break in the next couple of years is Dave Andreychuk’s mark for 274 power-play goals as Ovechkin is just 37 behind with 237.

In addition, if The Great Eight manages to reach 50 goals again this season he’ll become the third-oldest NHL’er to achieve the feat behind Jaromir Jagr and Johnny Bucyk. But even though Ovechkin is lethal on the power-play with his patented one-timer from the left faceoff circle, he’s scored 21 of his 29 goals this season at even strength while his shooting percentage stands at 22.5. Scoring goals just comes naturally to the Capitals’ captain though as he banged in 52 as a rookie back in 2005/06 and took home the Calder Trophy and was named to the All-Rookie Team.

Ovechkin is simply one of the greatest players to ever skate on a hockey rink. He’s an 11-time All-Star and has been recognized for his greatness with 16 individual NHL awards. This included three Hart Trophies along with his seven Rocket Richard Awards. He enjoyed his finest season in 2007/08 when he took home the Art Ross, Hart, Lady Byng and Richard Trophies after scoring 65 goals and 47 helpers for 112 points. And let’s not forget he was last season’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the MVP of the playoffs for leading the Capitals to their first ever Stanley Cup.

Goaltenders simply have a difficult time stopping Ovechkin’s shot even though they know exactly when and where it’s coming from. This is probably because his shot has been clocked at more than 101 miles per hour in the past and it hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. He’s a very accurate shooter and if there are bodies in front of the net when he lets it go it’s almost for a goaltender to react quickly enough to stop it. Ovechkin isn’t slowing down either when it comes to his overall play. He’s still just as physical as he always was and his enthusiasm for the game hasn’t waned.

Even though he plays a reckless style, Ovechkin has been lucky enough to remain relatively healthy during his career due to his pure strength. It’s hard to predict how much longer he can keep it up, but don’t be surprised if he’s still filling the net five years from now and challenging Gretzky for the number one spot on the all-time goals list.

When the Ottawa Senators traded former Norris Trophy-winner Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks during the offseason many fans believed the club’s blue line would struggle offensively this season. That hasn’t been the case though. Yes, the defence corps may have a hard time in their own end most nights, but they’ve found an excellent replacement for Karlsson’s offensive skills in 21-year-old Thomas Chabot of Sainte-Marie, Quebec. As of December 10^th, Chabot was leading all NHL defencemen in scoring with eight goals and 25 assists for 33 points in 31 games.

He’s on pace for over 20 goals and 85 points this season if he can keep it up and he’s also even in the plus/minus stats on a struggling team which was minus-17 overall. He’s been a huge surprise for the Senators and their fans considering he had played just 64 big league games prior to this season. He did show signs of things to come in those 64 games however with nine goals and 25 points in them. If Chabot should happen to reach the 90-point mark this season he’d become the first blue liner since 1993/94 to reach the milestone when hall of famer Ray Bourque achieved it.

Chabot was drafted by the Senators in 2015 with the 18^th overall pick from Saint John of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He played junior hockey until the end of the 2016/17 campaign and posted 34 goals and 119 assists for 154 points in 202 regular-season contests with Saint John. He also chipped in with eight goals and 45 points in 40 playoff games, was a two-time All-Star, a playoff MVP and winner of the Defenceman of the Year Award in both the QMJHL and CHL as a youngster. He helped Saint John win a league championship in 2016/17 and earned an appearance in the Memorial Cup.

He also shone internationally in the 2016/17 World Junior Championships where he was named to the All-Star Team as well as being honoured with the MVP and Best Player Awards. He scored four goals and 10 points in seven outings as Canada finished fourth. The 6-foot-2-inch 195 lb rearguard then opened the 2017/18 campaign in the American Hockey League season with the Belleville Senators and posted two goals and seven points in 13 games before being called up by Ottawa for the remainder of the year.

But while Chabot has more or less been leading NHL defenceman in scoring for most of the current season, he may be an outsider when it comes to winning the James Norris Trophy as the league’s best blue liner. If he keeps the scoring pace up he should at least be one of the three finalists for the award, but he’s unlikely to win it. The main reason for this is the fact the Senators are likely to finish quite low in the league standings and miss the playoffs. If we look at the history of the Norris Trophy, which was first handed out for the 1953/54 season, we find not a single blue liner has won it while playing for a non-playoff squad.

The Senators started the season well, but have now fallen in the standings and also have to deal with injuries to two of their top forwards in Bobby Ryan and Matt Duchene. There’s also a possibility Duchene could be traded before the deadline since he’s a pending free agent at the end of the season. Of course, if Chabot is the top-scoring defenceman at the end of the season it’ll be almost impossible not to name him as a finalist for the Norris. He could also buck the trend and become the first rearguard in NHL history to win the award while not making the postseason. But the odds are he’ll have to reach break the 90-point barrier to do so.

Toronto Maple Leafs fans can finally relax after the club and forward William Nylander reached a deal on December 1^st just before the 5 pm deadline arrived. The 22-year-old put his signature on a new six-year contract that will pay him a total of $41.77 million over six years. If the two sides didn’t come to an agreement by the deadline Nylander would have been ineligible to play for any NHL team this season. The deal will take up just over $6.9 million a year in salary cap space. There’s no guarantee he’ll remain with the club though since the Leafs still have the option of trading him if they run into salary cap problems in the future.

That’s a possibility since general manager Kyle Dubas has several players who will become free agents at the end of the current season. These include two of the squad’s top performers in Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews as well as promising youngsters Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen as well as high-scoring veteran defenseman Jake Gardiner. Everybody, but Gardiner will be a restricted free agent while the blue liner will be an unrestricted free agent. With Marner and Matthews likely looking for somewhere close to $10 or $11 million each and Gardiner being worth $6 or $7 million on the open market it’s going to be tough for Dubas to keep everybody happy, especially with John Tavares already making $11 million a year.

Nylander’s contract may be front loaded and filled with bonuses, but it’s still going to take up just over $6.9 million in cap space each year. With Nylander rejoining the team the Leafs appear to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender as they were sitting second in the league standings as of Dec. 3^rd without him with a record of 19-8. Dubas had to shuffle the roster to make room for the youngster and instead of putting somebody on waivers or sending them the minors he traded winger Josh Leivo to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Michael Carcone on December 3rd.

The 25-year-old Leivo had four goals and two assists in 27 games this year with 14 goals and 14 assists in 84 career regular-season contests. The 22-year-old Carcone has been playing with the AHL’s Utica Comets and has six goals and 11 assists in 20 games this season with 26 goals and 36 assists in 149 career AHL outings. The debate over whether Nylander is worth $6.96 million dollars a year will still rage on though. He posted 61 points in both the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons and after 185 regular season games has 135 points. It’s true that Nylander played much of this time with Matthews as his centre, but it’s still Nylander who has to put the puck in the net.

He was one of the top-20 NHL players in five-on-five scoring last season and he averaged more points per minute played than star players such as Tavares, Vladimir Tarasenko and Sidney Crosby. Nylander has already missed 27 games this season, but should soon be ready for action as he’s been skating and working out in Sweden. Nylander will need to produce at the same pace though or he could still be traded. The Leafs have shown they can win without him and would still like some help on the blue line. If Nylander is shipped out it would also free up some cap space for Gardiner or another top-two defenceman.

There’s nothing like posting a five-goal game to climb the standings in the NHL’s overall goal-scoring race. That was the case for right-winger Patrik Laine of the Winnipeg Jets on November 24^th when he found the back of the net a handful of times in an 8-4 victory over the Blues in St. Louis. The scoring feat propelled the native of Tampere, Finland to first place on the scoring chart and as of November 26^th he was leading the league with 19 goals in his 22 games.

Laine becomes the 57^th player to score five times in an NHL game, but the first since Johan Franzen of the Detroit Red Wings achieved the feat in February of 2011. The only other player to do it in the last 21 years was the Minnesota Wild’s Marian Gaborik when he pumped five past the New York Rangers in December, 2007. But while you may think Laine is the first 20-year-old NHL’er to reel off a five-goal contest he isn’t. Wayne Gretzky pulled the same rabbit out of his hat not once but twice back in 1981 at the same age. Don Murdoch of the Rangers was the only other 20-year-old to do it, which he did in October of 1976.

In fact, Gretzky managed to record a dozen games of at least three goals (hat tricks) by the time he was 21 years old. Laine ranks second in NHL history in this category as he now has seven hat tricks in his young career of just 177 games. His scoring outburst in St. Louis enabled him to leapfrog both Dale Hawerchuk and Jimmy Carson as they both registered six hat tricks by the time they were 21. Laine’s next goal will also be a milestone as it will be the 100^th regular-season marker in the league. When he scores it he’ll become the seventh player to bang in 100 goals before reaching 21.

Gretzky had the most goals at that age with 167 while Carson had 141 and Hawerchuk 122. Steven Stamkos was next at 114 followed by Ilya Kovalchuk with 108 and Brian Bellows with 102. Laine has notched three of his hat tricks this season and all of them have come since November 1^st. He scored three times against the Florida Panthers in a 4-2 triumph on the 1^st and another three against the Vancouver Canucks in a 6-3 win in Vancouver on November 19^th. The three goals against Florida were special for Laine as they came in his homeland with the game being held in Helsinki.

This has definitely been Laine’s month as he’s netted 16 of his 19 goals in November. This sets a new franchise record for Winnipeg and he still had two games remaining in the month. The last time somebody scored that many times in a single month was back in November of 1996 when Pittsburgh Penguins’ legend Mario Lemieux slipped 17 past the goalie in 15 games. His teammate Jaromir Jagr wasn’t far behind him as he scored 16 times in 13 contests the same month. Laine has managed to score his 16 goals in just 10 games this month.

Scoring goals comes naturally to Laine though. He was drafted second overall by the Jets in 2016 behind Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He scored 36 goals and 28 assists in 73 games as a rookie and followed it up last season with 44 goals and 26 assists in 82 contests with 20 of them coming on the power-play. If you’re interested in comparing Laine’s numbers to the somewhat injury-prone Matthews here goes. As of Nov. 26^th Laine had 99 goals and 57 assists for 156 points in 177 games. Matthews had 84 goals and 64 assists for 148 points in 155 games. Laine has five goals and 12 assists in 17 playoff games while Matthews has five goals and two assists in 13 postseason outings.

The Colorado Avalanche should expect to write some big numbers on Mikko Rantanen’s paycheques over the next several years once his three-year entry level contract expires at the end of this season. The 22-year-old Finnish forward has definitely shown general manager Joe Sakic he deserves the big bucks after his first two years in the league and a red hot start to his third campaign. The right-winger was drafted 10^th overall by Colorado in 2015 while playing in is homeland. He played just nine pointless games for the team the next season while scoring 24 goals and 36 assists in 52 contests in the AHL with the San Antonio Rampage. He was named to the league’s Second All-Star Team, the All-Rookie Team and also shared the AHL’s rookie of the year award that season.

Rantanen cracked the Avalanche lineup for good in 2016/17 and posted  a team-high 20 goals along with 18 assists in 75 games. He improved on those numbers by racking up 29 goals and 59 assists for 84 points in 81 contests last year and finished 16^th in league scoring. He was also the first Finnish player to reach 80 points since Teemu Selannne did it in 2006/07. Rantanen certainly didn’t cool off during the offseason as he was leading the NHL in scoring after 20 games this year with eight goals and 24 assists for 32 points as of November 19^th. He was the first player to reach the 30-point barrier this year and the first Colorado/Quebec Nordique franchise player to score 30 points in 20 games since Sakic and Peter Forsberg achieved the feat in 1996/97.

Rantanen has led the league in scoring or has been tied for first most of the season as he’s been at the top of the hit parade since October 23^rd. He has obviously formed an excellent working partnership with his linemate Nathan MacKinnon as MacKinnon was close behind Rantanen in scoring with 16 goals and 16 assists for 29 points after 20 games. Rantanen is one of the league’s biggest players at 6-feet-4-inches in height and 212 lbs, but he plays a very skillful game. He’s an excellent skater and playmaker with an exceptional pair of hands around the net.

His success isn’t really surprising though since Rantanen has excelled as an elite hockey player at every level he’s performed at, including internationally. He helped Finland win the World Junior Championships in 2016 and also won a silver medal with the senior squad at the IIHF World Championships the same year. Rantanen scored 28 points in 26 career games with the Finnish junior side and in 23 games with the senior team he has scored nine goals and 13 assists up to now.

The Avalanche would have been wise to sign Rantanen to a long-term contract before the 2018/19 season got underway. However, the player and his camp were willing to wait until the season ended as they were confident he’d enjoy another high-scoring campaign. There’s a good chance Rantanen will finish in the top five in the scoring race this year and he’ll have a lot of leverage when contract negotiations get under way. He’ll be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and with the salary cap going up each year he’ll likely benefit by delaying contract talks.

Of course, there’s no guarantee Rantanen and Sakic will agree on his worth to the team though. The player doesn’t have arbitration rights and the pair will be at an impasse if they don’t see eye to eye. We’ve seen that exact same situation in Toronto this year as the Maple Leafs have yet to sign high-scoring forward William Nylander to a new contract. Sakic will need to open talks with Rantanen as soon as the player is ready since he’s far too important to the franchise to lose for any period of time. As the Leafs have found out, it often takes several weeks or even months to come to an agreement on a contract so the sooner Colorado begins negotiating with Rantanen the better.

It may seem odd to fire the second-winningest coach in NHL history just 15 games into a season, but that’s what the Chicago Blackhawks did after starting the 2018/19 campaign at 6-6-3. Sixty-year-old Joel Quenneville was given his pink slip recently and replaced by Jeremy Colliton, who at the age of 33 now becomes the youngest bench boss in the NHL. Quenneville is considered a legend in Chicago as he led the Blackhawks to Stanley Cup triumphs in 2009/10, 2012/13 and 2014/15. However, the team has been struggling recently and failed to make the playoffs last season.

Quenneville was an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche back in 1996 when the team won the Stanley Cup and then had stints as a head coach with the St. Louis Blues and back in Colorado before joining the Blackhawks in September of 2008. He was originally brought to the Windy City as a pro scout and soon found himself behind the team’s bench. Quenneville spent 10 full seasons as the Blackhawks’ head coach and failed to make the postseason just once, which was last year. As well as hoisting the Stanley Cup three times with the team he also led Chicago to a trio of Central Division titles.

Quenneville spent 707 games behind the bench during the regular season in Chicago and posted a record of 452-249-96 while going 76-52 in the postseason. His career NHL coaching record stands at 890-532-77-137 with Scotty Bowman being the only man to have more victories and Al Arbour being the only one to coach more games. Quenneville’s current salary is reportedly $6 million a season, but it’s doubtful he’ll be out of work for long. His replacement Jeremy Colliton played just 57 games in the NHL and kicked off his coaching career with Mora IK in Sweden in 2014.

The Blackhawks saw potential in him and hired Colliton to coach their Rockford IceHogs AHL farm team last season. Chicago GM Stan Bowman liked the way Colliton communicated with his AHL players and is now hoping he can do the same at the NHL level. He’ll be coaching several players that are older than him, but the Blackhawks also have 15 players under the age of 30 on their current roster. He won’t be working with former Chicago assistant coaches Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson though as they were both fired along with Quenneville.

The Blackhawks have some fine talent in Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Alex DeBrincat, Artem Anisimov, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, but goaltenders Cam Ward and Corey Crawford are on the downside of their careers at the respective ages of 34 and 33. It’s now up to Colliton to get his roster to play the way it’s capable of or the Blackhawks could miss the playoffs for the second straight season. Many coaching changes bring instant dividends, but Chicago lost their first two games with Colliton in charge and as of November 12^th were in the basement of the Central Division at 6-8-3 for 15 points and were on a seven-game losing streak.

The Blackhawks need to improve in all areas of the ice if they hope to make the playoffs though and Colliton has his work cut out for him. Their goaltending, defence and and goal scoring are all below par while their penalty-killing and power-play special teams are among the worst in the league. Chicago lost several good young players after their Stanley Cup triumphs since they couldn’t fit them all under their salary cap. They’re now paying the price for that on the ice and should be regretting the trade that saw high-scoring forward Artemi Panarin shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets for former Blackhawk Brandon Saad in June, 2017.

If there is a bright side for the Blackhawks it’s the fact that there’s still over 75 per cent of the NHL season to play and they are only a handful of points out of a playoff spot. The team’s definitely heading in the wrong direction though with seven straight defeats and this will place a ton of pressure on the shoulders of Colliton. With no previous NHL experience, it’ll be interesting to see how he handles it.