Slapshots - The NHL Roundup for January 2017

Written by Zeke Perez Jr.

(Getty Images)

The new year came in with a bang for the National Hockey League. The NHL is celebrating its Centennial Season in 2017, which started with the NHL Centennial Classic – a thrilling outdoor game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings – on New Year’s Day. The rest of the year will continue to celebrate one-hundred years of amazing hockey with a reveal of the top hundred players in NHL history, festivities during All-Star Weekend, and even commemorative patches on all teams’ sweaters. The rest of this season is shaping up to be a tremendous contribution to the league’s legacy. Here’s what is going in hockey this January.
 
The Cannon is Firing in Ohio
The Columbus Blue Jackets’ arena features a replica Civil War cannon that is fired as the Blue Jackets take the ice, when they score a goal, and when they win. Well, the cannon has gotten a lot of work in as of late, as Columbus is the hottest team right now. Typically the laughingstock of the NHL, this year’s Jackets find themselves as the number one team in the standings after riding a historic sixteen game winning streak, a streak that was unfortunately snapped one win short of matching the NHL record of seventeen wins, set by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins. It wouldn’t be unlikely, however, to see Columbus start a new streak. They’re rolling with one of the best goalies in the league right now in Sergei Bobrovsky. “Bob” leads the NHL in wins, is top five among starters in goals against average, and holds a healthy .931 save percentage. Paired with their goalie en fuego, Columbus has a top offense: third in the league with 133 goals scored, or 3.33 goals per game. The Blue Jackets have some company in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy (awarded to the team with the most points/best record in the regular season), but if they keep their current pace, they could be the surprise favorites to take it.
 
Top Defense in Our Nation’s Capital: The Pentagon or D.C. Hockey?
When you have a player the caliber of Alexander Ovechkin, your team will be deep in the playoff mix more often than not. Despite Ovi’s dominance and despite being frequent division winners and Stanley Cup contenders, the Washington Capitals have yet to win the big one. They’re right back towards the top of the league this year though, and they’re playing great team hockey. Ovechkin looks hungry and is sacrificing goals for wins (although he’s still scoring his fair share of goals). Niklas Backstrom, Marcus Johansson, and Evgeny Kuznetsov are holding down the Caps impressive first and second lines, contributing goals and assists in bunches. But the real talk of the town in D.C. might be the Capitals’ shutdown defense. Washington is number one in the league in goals allowed (only 80 over 40 games). Goaltender Braden Holtby is tied for first in shutouts and is second in goals allowed average (1.90) and save percentage (.932). That defense translates to their special teams play too. Washington is third in the league in penalty killing, with an 86.8% penalty killing percentage. Teams are having a hard time getting the puck in the Caps’ net and as the saying goes, “defense wins championships”. The Capitals are an extremely complete team this year. Expect to see a whole lot of them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
 
Curses! Foiled Again!
In a bit of silly news, the Winnipeg Jets can kiss any hopes they had of making the playoffs goodbye. The Jets hosted WWE/UFC star Brock Lesnar, presenting him with a personalized throwback sweater, setting him up in a suite at the game, and inviting him to hang out with the team. Things took a turn for the worse during a tour of the locker room…Lesnar broke one of the most sacred unwritten rules in hockey: he stepped on the team’s logo on the dressing room floor. Hockey players are notoriously superstitious, so you could hear the Jets shouting in fear and horror as Lesnar made a bee-line down the center of the carpet. Sorry, Winnipeg. Season’s over.
 
Going Back to Cali: All-Star Rosters Announced
The rosters are all set for the 62nd National Hockey League All-Star Game in Los Angeles. For the second year in a row, the ASG will feature a three-on-three mini-tournament between each of the four divisions. The NHL limited the amount of fan involvement allowed in All-Star voting since last year, when fans (read: the internet) went on a mission to get journeyman enforcer John Scott into the game. To avoid a repeat of that, the NHL restricted fan voting to a predetermined list of players. Despite a few snubs, the rosters represent a solid mix of talented veterans and exciting newcomers. Captains Carey Price (Atlantic Division), Sidney Crosby (Metropolitan), PK Subban (Central), and Connor McDavid (Pacific) are among the biggest names in the sport right now. They are joined by first time all-stars, including Wayne Simmonds and rookies Patrik Laine and Auston Matthews. The stacked rosters and quick, electric format should make for a fun All-Star week. The 2017 ASG will air on NBC, marking the first time in over a decade that the game will be on network TV. If you have a chance, please watch and support hockey. Tune in on January 29th for the big games, and check out the Skills Competition and the return of the Celebrity Game earlier in the week.  
 
Skating Backwards
Updates on the stories from December’s Slapshots.

• Canadian teams are still doing pretty well. Currently four out of the seven Canadian-based teams are in a position to make the playoffs, with only the Jets dropping out of their wild card position since December. The Montreal Canadiens are the only division leaders among them.
• The New York Rangers are still lighting things up with a league-high 146 goals scored. However, they are currently only in line for a wild card spot.
• The Avalanche are still very bad. They have scored the fewest goals in the league (79) by a mile and have lost eight of their last ten games. They’ve only managed five wins at home and thirteen wins altogether.
• Again, it’s still too early and the race is too tight to think too hard about the Red Wings playoff streak. As of now, however, they are fourteenth out of sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and they sit behind six teams for the second wild card spot, albeit only by eight points.

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