Luongo ties Broda in all-time shutouts, passes Hasek in games played

Unfortunately for anybody watching, it was a classic 1-0 game against the Predators last night in Nashville.  Fortunately for Roberto Luongo, it meant facing a season-low 23 shots for his second shutout in eight starts.  And in the process of blanking the Preds, he made two significant moves up the NHL's all-time goaltending lists.  Luongo simulatensouly tied Turk Broda for 15th overall in shutouts (62) and surpassed Dominik Hasek to enter the top 20 in games played (736).



Luongo remains behind Hasek in wins (344 to 389) and shutouts (62 to 81), however.

Steve Nash and Mark Messier: Basketball for Canadian Dummies

If Steve Nash were the type of person that required a lot of attention, he would have quite a dilemma.  As a skinny, white Canadian incapable of dunking, he commands an undeservedly miniscule amount of fanfare in the NBA.  Meanwhile in Canada, where the reverse is true, the average sports enthusiast's puck-riddled brain wants to, but cannot properly, appreciate his genius.  Yours truly, included.

So when the Lakers point guard became the fifth player to record 10,000 career assists on Tuesday night, I scrolled through the NBA record books pretending to know exactly how prestigious it was to be in the company of one Mark Jackson (third all-time).

While the other three players to reach 10,000 helpers – John Stockton, Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson – yield a significantly higher profile than Jackson, those names simply do not mean much in Canada.  They don't, at least, to me.  So rather than continue feigning NBA expertise, I gave into my 2 a.m. stupor and... wait for it... turned to the NHL record books in hopes of understanding the basketball milestone.

A hockey-based analysis of an NBA achievement.  In honour of the the country's greatest basketball export, it was the most Canadian response I could think of.  If Nash's statistical ranking were applied in an NHL context, where would he rank?  Is he an Adam Oates?  Dare I suggest, a Ron Francis?

Well, at fifth overall, his hockey doppleganger appears to be Paul Coffey at 1,135 assists.  For those of you appropriately questioning the validity of this endeavour, I propose to you that 10,000 assists in the NBA are uncannily akin to 1,100 in the NHL.  (One-thousand would be a nice, round number, but the extra 100 seems to account for what appears to be longer careers in the NHL.)  An elite passer in the NBA should boast somewhere around a 10.0 assists-per-game pace, while the same such player in the NHL hovers at about a-tenth of that rate.  Meanwhile, both leagues typically operate on an 82-game schedule. 

Five players in the NBA's 10,000-assist club.  An equal five in the NHL at 1,100.  And just as Wayne Gretzky put his record-setting total permanently out of range, so too has John Stockton.  Way to help this ridiculous comparison along, sporting gods. 

Unlike Coffey, however, Nash is still pluggin' away at his trade.  With 8.9 assists per game at 38 years old, his current output remains three-tenths above his career average.  (Forget Paul Coffey; Nash is clearly the NBA's response to Gordie Howe.)  At that rate, he will have passed Johnson and Jackson by the end of the season for third overall.  Depending on how many years Kidd has left, Nash has an outside chance at second-best all-time... better known as Ron Francis stature.  Unfortunately, third means Mark Messier for Canada's basketball legend, a fate no one even remotely from Vancouver deserves.

But nevermind that (or any of this, if you lack a sense of humour).  Point is, we need to celebrate Nash as we would any of hockey's equivalents.  The reasons are exactly 10,014 and counting.

-HC

Jason Garrison: Top 5 Career Goals

A little over a month ago, someone on the Canucks.com forums came to me with a suggestion for my next Top 5 video countdown.  So because I should never take for granted that there are interested people out there actually reading this blog...


When Garrison first expressed interest in signing with Vancouver, quick YouTube searches city-wide determined that, simply put, the guy's got a shot.  In fact, 13 of his 16 goals last season (or 81%) were scored à la Sami Salo (making the loss of said player to free agency a much easier pill to swallow). Without that particular asset, you can guarantee Gillis would not have made him the highest-paid defenceman on the team. 

But as exciting as a howitzer from the point can be, no one seems to be paying any credence to his ability to jump into the rush, which is why I purposefully omitted any cut-and-dry slapshots from these five goals.  This set of highlights showcases an underrated and doubtlessly valuable ability of Garrison's that should be fun to watch once his groin and the lockout have both resolved themselves.

Number five and four are both milestone goals and uncanny carbon copies of each other, while the last three coincidentally feature some sort of Canucks-related cameo appearance (no surprise, given that the Panthers and Canucks have a seemingly exclusive trading partnership with each other).  In number three, Garrison takes a page out of the Sedins' book, deflecting a pseudo-slap pass into the slot while on a power play.¹  Number two sees him on a two-on-one with David Booth, while his buzzer-beating OT winner against Tampa Bay begins with a defensive play from former Canuck Mike Weaver.

A lot has been said about Brian Campbell playing a significant role in Garrison's breakout year.  But whether he's pinching in or hanging back at the blueline, you can bet he'll have just as much space to work with on shifts with, oh let's say...the Sedins?  That said, it'll be exciting to see what he'll be capable of as a Canuck. 

-HC

¹ Though the goal was announced in the play-by-play as a record-breaker for powerplay goals by a Florida defenceman, if you pay close attention, the penalty had ended by just a second.  Rather than 10 powerplay goals, Garrison was left with 9 on the season, tying him with former Panthers Jay Bouwmeester (2008-09) and Gord Murphy (1993-94).

*See the online discussion regarding this article on the Canucks.com forums here.

The deepest blue are Canucks

Outside of Vancouver – with the exception of the most observant NHL followers – the Canucks' group of defencemen may be among the league's most underrated.  For virtually as long as the team has been in existence, the Canucks have lacked a bonafide Norris Trophy candidate and this past year's edition was no exception.  But what the Canucks' blueline may lack in a world class player à la Shea Weber or Zdeno Chara, they make up for in, arguably, unparalleled depth.  This was reflected in the Norris's most recent voting results, as the Canucks were one of only two teams to have three defencemen receive a vote for the award – Dan Hamhuis, Alex Edler and Kevin Bieksa.  (The other team was the New York Rangers with Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto and Ryan McDonaugh.) 

Offensively, this was further exemplified by the Canucks' fifth place ranking in defensive goal-scoring (see table to the right).  Among the top five teams, Vancouver and Los Angeles were the only ones to statistically do so "by committee".  Alex Edler led the Canucks' defencemen with 11 goals, accounting for just over a quarter of the Vancouver blueliners' total output.  Comparatively speaking, the other three teams topped the league by virtue of one standout player.  At 19 goals a piece, Shea Weber and Erik Karlsson scored nearly half of their teams' defensive goals, while Niklas Kronwall's breakout 15-goal campaign accounted for more than a third of Detroit's total. 

Statistically, that may all change for Vancouver if newly-signed Jason Garrison (who himself accounted for 53% of the Panthers' goals by a defenceman – the highest proportion in the league) can match his 16-goal output from last season.  And while Edler's play in the post-season left many wondering how he ever got voted best defenceman by Canucks fans, the reality is, when he's at his best, the big Swede could be just a few years out of a Norris nomination.  All things considered, however, Vancouver remains a balanced force on the blueline with no individual head-and-shoulders above the rest.  Garrison and Edler will share their equal portion of the load with Bieksa and Hamhuis, not to mention the ever-enigmatic Keith Ballard and the ever-improving Chris Tanev representing the blueline's potentially high-reward wild cards.

No one's saying that a player like Weber wouldn't put Vancouver over the top, cause that could very well be the case.  But Canucks fans would be wise to appreciate the group of guys we do have, 'cause collectively, they're among the league's very best.  So in salute of Vancouver's standout rearguards, here are the Top Five¹ of the group's 40 total goals from last season:


-HC

¹ Technically 4 of the Canucks defencemen's 40 goals, as Edler's shootout goal does not count towards official statistics.  Bonus fact: Edler had four shootout goals to lead all league defencemen.

*See the online discussion regarding this article on the Canucks.com forums here.

Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr...Henrik Sedin

Did everyone miss the headline at the end of the regular season last month?  With 67 assists in 2011-12, Henrik Sedin became just the 5th player in NHL history to lead the league in that category for three consecutive years.¹  The other four?  Joe Thornton (2005-08), Wayne Gretzky (1979-92..!), Bobby Orr (1969-72) and Stan Mikita (1964-67).  And if Henrik manages to out-assist the Crosbys and Thorntons of the league for a fourth straight go in 2012-13, the club shrinks to two – just him and Gretz. 

Pay special attention to the tasteful sign
behind held to Henrik's right.


You didn’t find it on NHL.com or The Vancouver Sun for two reasons.  The assist will always be the overlooked middle child of a player’s statline.  How the league can stand to award the Lady Byng every year, but not have any hardware for the top playmaker is a tragedy.  Secondly, unless he or Daniel hit 100 points again, no one really gets excited about these two players anymore. 



Now, there are admittedly countless schools of thought to disprove Henrik’s place (or Thornton’s for that matter) among the Gretzkys and Orrs of the game.  And rightfully so.  Bobby Orr led the league as a defenceman.  The Great One lasted a consecutive 13 years atop the league, more than quadruple Henrik’s current streak.  Also implicit in Gretzky’s monopolization of the league’s assists board over two decades is the fact that any other elite playmaker competing in this timeframe was overshadowed in this regard.  Think Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Ron Francis…to name a select, select few.  These players would have likely put together a run of several years themselves, had they played in any other era.

What about the fact that Henrik’s highest assists total in these three years, 83, ranks exactly 52nd all-time.  Not quite elite.  Many would also argue that his streak has largely benefited from an unhealthy Sidney Crosby.

All these things are true, but let’s give Henrik some credit where credit is sorely due.  It's derived from the simple fact that in this time and space in the history of the NHL, he has perennially dominated the league as a playmaker.  Yes, Crosby has been injured, but remember the year Henrik won the Art Ross?  The Pens captain had played a full season and was 25 assists Hank’s inferior.  And as Thornton’s play in San Jose has deteriorated in this same three-year span, the assists crown has not only been Crosby’s to lose, but Evgeni Malkin’s, Nicklas Backstrom’s and Pavel Datsyuk’s among many other arguably more high-profile players.

Also, a closer look at that 52^nd-best assists total reveals that Henrik’s 83 assists is the 21^st-highest achieved by any individual.²  That is a heavily underrated stat because among the 20 players ahead of him, only Thornton, Crosby and Jagr achieved their marks in the current dead-puck era (ie. post mid-to-late 90's).  Common wisdom dictates that Henrik might have racked up far more had he played in the freewheeling 80’s.

All things considered and in the grand scheme of NHL lore…no, you probably won’t see Henrik’s name alongside Gretzky and Orr ever again in perhaps more telling analyses.  But for these past three years in the current NHL, the elder Sedin is, statistically, the absolute best at what he does.  And that’s a headline the league should see much more often.

-HC

¹ For the full list of single-season assist leaders, see it on Hockey-Reference.com here.
² Only counting each unique player once, ie. players like Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr have multiple single-season assist totals in the top 50 or so, but in this regard we only count each player once. See the list on NHL.com here.

*See the discussion regarding this post on Canucks.com forum here.