STRAIGHT SHOOTERS
What a season by some blue liners this year. As far as points go, we had 2 break the 80 point mark, and 3 others the 70 point mark. Also, four of the top 5 hit leaders were from the back end.
In our preseason, we had Gary Suter at the top spot, coming off an amazing season, with Boimistruck, Svoboda and Sweeney right behind them all. All these guys had a good seasons, but a few others stepped up their game.
On a team that was unable to make the playoffs, Nicklas Lidstrom had a year for the ages. He would go on to lead defensemen in points (85) and assists (66) for the scoring race. He also added 19 goals on the season. His point total tied Gary Suter's mark set last season, while his assists tied Al MacInnis' mark that was also set last season. He did all this while also missing 5 games of action this year. He also finished 3rd on the hits standings, just 15 hits fewer than the leader, while again playing 5 fewer games. While delivering the 272 hits, he only took 31 PIM’s all season long. The only blemish was his -12. This is why the +/- is such a dreadful tool to look at a player, as its more a team stat than any other. A top-notch season by Lidstrom, which will garner him a lot of Norris votes.
Another guy who wasn’t on the radar high in the pre-season was Mathieu Schneider. What a season this kid put together. Coming off a career high 61 points in 1994, he pushed his point total this season to 81 points. That is actually tied for the 2nd highest before this season with Bobby Orr back in 1980. His 27 goals puts him into a 4th place spot all by himself with 3 others scoring 29. Remarkably also while he dished out 231 hits, good enough for 8th in the league, he only took 8 PIM’s all season. Also adding 7 PP markers while firing 200 shots at net. Then to show the difference between a Rockies and Rangers team, he was a +39 on the season.
While he didn’t put up his 1994 season, Gary Suter put up another very good season from the back end. This time he scored 23 goals with 51 assists and 74 points. His 242 hits was 5th in the league in the leaderboard. A remarkable stat was the fact he led the league in short handed goals with 5 on the season. He was a big piece in helping the Whalers take top spot in the Wales Conference and also top team in the league. He was also a +44 on the season.
Another solid performance was put in by Al MacInnis in Winnipeg. He finished 3rd in scoring with 15 goals, 60 assists and 75 points on the season. He also put up 220 hits for 16th on the hit chart, which was a career high. He played over 24 minutes a night and was a big contributor to the Jets special teams which finished 3rd on the PP and 1st on the PK. He was a +25 on the Campbell Conference top team.
So, with all that said, we at Straight Shooters feel that Lidstrom will win his first Norris. However, this will be possibly one of the tightest races, and most likely come down to whoever has more 3rd and 4th place votes.
Lidstrom – 10 1st place votes
Schneider – 8 1st place votes
Suter – 5 1st place votes
MacInnis -3 1st place votes
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STRAIGHT SHOOTERS