Key Highlights
- Currently, there have been 27 hat tricks to open the year. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe list includes some unusual names from, Justin Sourdif to, Marat Khusnutdinov to, Alexandre Texier to, Pavol Regenda and others you look at and just say, those guys are scoring?It is an a fun phenomenon to see and it is a part of a larger scoring trend that has occurred over the last 10 years. Exactly a year ago, the league’s leading scorer was Patrick Kane with 73 points, following him was Jamie Benn 58.
- Kane would finish the season with 106 points and Benn with 89. You look to today, the top two scorers are Connor McDavid with 90 and Nathan McKinnon with 88, both well on their way to smashing Kane’s 106 total to end the season. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLast we alone we saw six different 100 plus point getters.
- Ten years ago, we saw only Kane. Being able to witness a new NHL golden age is fantastic, the product on the ice has never been better. It is time to part from Thatcher DemkoThe Vancouver Canucks have shutdown star goalie Thatcher Demko once again, announcing that he will undergo hip surgery that will keep him out of the rest of the season. Over the last three seasons, Demko has only played in 95 out of a possible 258 games for the Canucks, that is only 36.8% of games for Vancouver, way less than you expect a superstar goalie to play. Over his nine year NHL career, Demko has been injured in the ballpark of seven times, with most of them being long term.
- With this latest injury, you have to take a look at the situation and ask yourself, is Demko part of the rebuild?AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTo me, there is no world where Vancouver should hold on to Demko past this season.
- If the team is truly serious about a rebuild, you do not keep a 30-year old goalie with injury problems around, no matter how good he is. From a managerial prospective, it is unfortunate that this is the last year on Demko’s deal.
