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Loui Eriksson Voted NHLs Most Underrated Player

Jan 14

Posted by Matt in News | No Comments

Loui Eriksson of the Dallas Stars

Loui Eriksson of the Dallas Stars was voted the most underrated hockey player by his NHL peers

A few days ago, we brought you Sports Illustrated’s poll about the NHL’s most overrated players. Today, we’re gonna take a look at the opposite end of the spectrum. In this SI poll, NHL players voted on who they thought was the most underrated hockey player.

Taking the crown of most underrated player is Dallas Stars winger Loui Eriksson. The Swedish star has grown into a standout player who has recorded new career highs in points every year since entering the league in 2006-07. So far this season, Eriksson has piled on 40 points through 16 goals and 24 assists. He’s on pace to approach the 80 point mark, which would be another career best.

As Eriksson’s offensive numbers begin to grow, so does his defensive prowess. Eriksson is lined up against some of the oppositions best players, and proving he can handle the workload by posting a plus 12 rating at the seasons midway point. Not only is Eriksson turning into a solid defensive forward, but he does it the right way – without taking penalties. In all of last season, Eriksson only picked up four minor penalties, he’s on pace for the same this season with only two penalties thus far. With tremendous talent and ability, along with great numbers that are only getting better by the year, it’s no wonder Loui Eriksson is the league’s most underrated player.

Coming in at 2nd on the list is Eriksson’s teammate, and Dallas Stars winger, Jamie Benn. Just like his teammate, Benn has consistently improved year after year. This season, his third in the league, Benn is a mere 14 points shy of setting a new career high. His 13 goals and 29 assists thus far have him on pace to easily best his numbers from last season, and Benn is also on his way to finishing the season as a plus player for the first time in his career.

Third on the list is Joe Pavelski, the young San Jose Sharks center. In his short six season career, Pavelski has already notched 119 goals and 155 assists for a point total of 274. This year, Pavelski looks to best his previous career high of 25 goals. He is currently tied for second on the team in goals with 16.

Having an incredible rookie season with 7 shorthanded goals, along with being a prominent defensive forward, might have helped Jordan Staal land at number four on the list. Staal was on pace for career numbers both last season, and this season, but has continued to be plagued by the injury bug. Staal is an important piece to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and should help them turn things around once he is healthy again.

Rounding out our top five is Chris Kelly of the Boston Bruins. Kelly has never stood out on the scoresheet, but is one of those depth players that is vital to a teams success. Obviously a lot of NHL players think he could be more than that too. Kelly helped the Bruins to a Stanley Cup Championship last season, and his 23 points have helped them get off to a 28-11-1 record.

Here are the remaining most underrated hockey players:

6. Pavel Datsyuk
7. Patrick Sharp
8. Claude Giroux
9. Frans Nielsen
10. Zach Parise
11. Tomas Fleischmann
12. Mikko Koivu
13. Martin St. Louis
14. Anze Kopitar
15. Ryan Suter

How accurate do you think the NHL players were? If it were your list, who would you have voted most underrated?

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2011-12 NHL Season Preview: San Jose Sharks

Sep 20

Posted by Chris in Season Previews | No Comments

Key Offseason Additions: Jim Vandermeer, Brent Burns & Martin Havlat (both traded from Minnesota), Michal Handzus, Colin White, Andrew Murray, Thomas Greiss, Ben Guite, Sean Sullivan and Matt Pelech.

Key Offseason Losses: Devin Setoguchi, Ben Eager, Ian White, Niclas Wallin, Kent Huskins, Scott Nichol, Jamal Mayers, Charlie Coyle and Dany Heatley

Last Season Ranking: 2nd in the West

Offense: After two consecutive Western Conference Finals losses, the San Jose Sharks made some major roster changes this offseason. The question is whether these changes will be enough to finally get San Jose over the hump and make them Stanley Cup contenders?

One of the biggest trades of the summer involved the Sharks sending Dany Heatley to Minnesota in exchange for Martin Havlat in basically a tit-for-tat trade. While Havlat always carries injury concerns, he is capable of roughly the same point production as Heatley. The major reason the Sharks pulled the trigger on Havlat, however, is his ability to score in the playoffs, an area that Heatley seemed to struggle in his two years in San Jose.

Havlat will join Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau as the big offensive guns on the team this season, but San Jose sports great secondary scoring in Joe Pavelski, Ryane Clowe and Logan Couture, who is coming into his second season in the NHL and will look to prove that his 32-goal rookie outburst wasn’t a fluke. With players of this caliber rounding out your top two lines, San Jose remains one of the deepest offensive teams in the league and should have no trouble putting goals in the net.

Defense: The other big trade of the summer also involved San Jose and Minnesota. The Sharks sent forward Devon Setoguchi to the Wild just days after he signed a contract extension in exchange for defenseman Brent Burns. Burns is young, mobile and capable of providing offense while maintaining solid defensive pressure. He will help alleviate some of the burden from Dan Boyle and should pay immediate dividends for the Sharks on the blue line. A 50+ point season may not be out of the question for Burns, who posted 46 with the Wild last season.

While the Sharks lost three defenseman in Niclas Wallin, Kent Huskins and Ian White, the team still has Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jason Demers and Douglas Murray to help round out their blue line. It’s likely that Jim Vandermeer, Colin White and perhaps Justin Braun will all fight for the remaining spot on the ice.

The Sharks finished 10th in the league in goals against per game last season with an average of 2.54. Expect more of the same from the Sharks this season.

Goaltending: After a rough start last season, Antti Niemi emerged as the number one in San Jose and ultimately became the playoff starter as well. He posted solid stats in the second half of the season and was rewarded with a contract extension and pay increase. The number one job is Niemi’s to lose this year.

Behind Niemi is 31-year-old Antero Niittymaki, who had a decent season last year with a 2.72 goals against average and a .896 save percentage. The Sharks would probably like to see a better save percentage this season, but Niittymaki is a capable backup who should start 20-30 games and win 12-18 of those.

HWB Playoff Prediction: The Sharks are playoff bound no doubt. But will their offseason moves make them Stanley Cup bound?

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Hockey World Blog Season Previews 2010: San Jose Sharks

Sep 19

Posted by Chris in Season Previews | No Comments

Key Offseason Losses: Evgeni Nabokov, Manny Malhotra, Rob Blake

Key Offseason Additions: Jamal Mayers, Antero Niittymaki, Antti Niemi

Last Season Ranking: 1st in West

Offense:

Rumor has it that the NHL is considering a change to the All-Star game format. Instead of East versus West, they will make it the San Jose Sharks versus the world. Yeah, they’re pretty good.

The Sharks will again be anchored by the offensive production of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau who scored a combined total of 103 goals and 254 points last season. It’s not so much a question of whether or not these three will thrive; it’s how much they will thrive. And the sky seems to be the limit for the Sharks’ trio of stars.

As if those three weren’t deadly enough, the team also witnessed the coming out party of 26-year-old Joe Pavelski during the playoffs last season where he led the team with nine goals and 17 points in only 15 playoff games. The team will look for Pavelski to be a huge pivot on the offense this season and pick up right where he left off in the playoffs. Pavelski certainly gives the team more options but it definitely makes them a greater threat and harder to contain in the offensive zone. Add in the offensive capabilities of Ryane Clowe and you have one of the most threatening offenses in the NHL.

Defense:

Don’t believe for a second that the offense gets to have all the Tampa+Bay+Lightning+v+San+Jose+Sharks+KdfVbJtUBzSlfun. In fact, defenseman Dan Boyle was fourth on the team in points last season with 58, including 43 assists. But what really works for this team is the fact that everyone helps out on defense. The Sharks were not only 8th in the league in goals against per game last season, but four of the top six players in plus/minus on the team were forwards. Only two players who skated in 50 or more games produced minus stats. This team not only knows how to put the puck in the opposition’s net, but they know how to keep it out of their own, too.

Look for Marc-Edouard Vlasic to have a big year as he gets called up to the top defensive pairing alongside Dan Boyle to help replace the recently retired Rob Blake. Vlasic tied for the team-lead in plus-minus with a plus-21 and is capable of chipping in 30 or more points. Vlasic could have a career year this season.

Goaltending:

San Jose’s biggest changes in the offseason came in goal. The team decided not to extend an offer to unrestricted free agent Evgeni Nabokov and instead signed Antero Niittymaki to take over starting duties. In 49 games with Tampa Bay last season, Niittymaki had 21 wins and a 2.87 goals against average. While Niittymaki’s numbers aren’t terribly by any means, they should drastically improve with a much better defense in front of him.

Still, as insurance, the team also added Stanley Cup winner Antti Niemi to compete for the starting job. Niemi finished the season last year for the Chicago Blackhawks with 26 wins and a 2.25 goals against average before backstopping the Hawks to the Stanley Cup.

It’s still unclear whether or not both goalies will share duties in net or if coach Todd McLellan will designate a number one starter. The most likely scenario will have the starts going to the hot goaltender who is playing well.

Season Outlook:

There’s no reason why San Jose shouldn’t be at the top of the Western Conference rankings again this season. They are a great regular season team and can score goals with flair and style. Been there, done that. When the pressure is on and the intensity turns up come playoff time, the Sharks sink. Sure, Thornton, Heatley and Marleau may have led the team in points during last year’s postseason, but they certainly need to be better than the collective minus-21 that they exhibited. Unless San Jose’s top players can step up and be the best players throughout both the regular season and the playoffs, the Sharks will continue to be a great regular season team and a sub-par playoff performer.

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San Jose Sharks

Sep 19

Posted by Chris in Season Previews | 3 Comments

High expectations for the San Jose Sharks in the regular season often leads to brutal disappointment in the post season, or at least that’s been the trend the last several years. Last year, the Sharks trounced the competition and strode into the playoffs as the NHL’s best team only to be ousted by Anaheim in the first round. The bitterness from that loss resulted in a slight overhaul in San Jose, but the expectations are just as high rolling into this season. Nothing short of a Stanley Cup victory will be acceptable, and the pieces are in place for that to happen.

The Sharks made one of the biggest off-season acquisitions by trading Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek to the Ottawa Senators for sniper Dany Heatley. This move finally gives San Jose a dominant scoring threat night in and night out. After scoring 56 goals in 2005-06, Cheechoo’sjoe-thornton(2) production slowly declined over subsequent years and he couldn’t be counted on to be the wing man for Thornton. Heatley, however, is a two-time 50-goal scorer and still managed 39 goals in an “off” season last year with the Senators. Alongside center Joe Thornton, who has contributed 60 or more assists in each of his four seasons with the Sharks, Heatley could easily find his way into the 50-goal scorers club this season.

Players like Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi and Ryan Clowe supplement the secondary offense and are all capable of putting up 20 goals and 40-60 points a season. Setoguchi, who came out of nowhere and chipped in a stunning 31 goals in his first full season with the Sharks, might even find himself on the right side of the top line with Thornton and Heatley. If this happens, look for Setoguchi to improve his production from last year’s 65 points.

And don’t forget about the likes of former captain Patrick Marleau, who seems to be somewhat of an enigma in recent years. While Marleau can usually be counted on for nearly 30 goals and 70-80 points a season, trade rumors consistently pop up regarding Marleau’s departure and many media outlets have suggested that Marleau isn’t the least bit phased about losing the captaincy. As a possible free agent at season’s end, Marleau might be trade bait if his production doesn’t live up to expectations or if the effort isn’t consistent night in and night out.

Goaltending should again be quite impressive this season with Evgeni Nabokov in net. The 34-year-old goaltender won 41 of the 62 games that he started last season for San Jose and finished the season with a 2.44 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. Expect the Sharks to ride Nabokov hard between the pipes again, and expect a similar outcome. Nabokov is a vital part of San Jose’s success this season.

The problem with this team, however, seems to be effort and leadership. Each spring as the Sharks enter the playoffs, the team fails to take the next step to the level of play required night in and night out in order to hoist the Cup. There aren’t any players who get out on the ice and lead by example. Stripping Marleau of the captaincy was a great move by head coach Todd McLellan. Hopefully this forces someone to take the reins and be a real leader on this team and lead them to the Promised Land in June.

The Sharks have all the right pieces, and barring a huge meltdown or major injuries, the Sharks could easily swim their way through the regular season to become President’s Trophy winners again. But the Sharks have been there and done that. It’s now or never to step up and go all the way. The NHL’s biggest choke artists have something to prove this year, and they are reloaded and ready to begin their quest.

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