-AJ-

I would agree for sure. I think it's not crazy for one player to get crazy hot and make it happen. Matthews and maybe Bedard are the two most likely IMO, unless McDavid indexes even more into goal scoring. If Draisaitl pops off with McDavid maybe he could do it too.

McDavid had 33 goals in 39 games, so in fact he was still 17 goals away from 50 in 39. Quite a gap to make still.

It really depends on if he can continue his trajectory. With the way he is now, I don't see him beating out those three guys, but if he continues to improve during the playoffs and through the off-season, he could be good enough to contest them for a spot IMO. I've never really bought into Woo hype, but it does feel like this is the best he's ever been based on stats and the games I've seen. I wouldn't call it a disaster though if he doesn't make it. He's not likely to ever be better than 5/6 anyways. That said, Woo is at the age where he will soon move out of prospect stage and into career AHLer stage, so it's a crucial time for him. He's still just 22, but will turn 23 this summer so is only a bit younger than Rathbone.

Gotta be one of his assists ones. 50 goals in 39 games is a good third choice after 163 assists and 1963 assists though. As good as McDavid is, he's not even gotten 2/3 of the way to 163 assists in a season and still hasn't had that many points in a season.

We don't close threads of alumni--hence the reason we have an alumni section. If you don't want to discuss him, you're free to avoid the thread.

I don't expect Pettersson to be a Selke finalist, but I do strongly expect him to get some votes here and there, thrusting him at least a little into the conversation. To say that he's okay I think is contrary to both the eye test and statistical analysis. At the 3/4 mark of the season, he led all NHL forwards in takeaways, just as a taste.

Funny enough, I do sometimes wonder if speculation on social media sites influences asking prices and if I'm part of the problem

You've gotta take inflation into account when considering contracts. A contract signed three years ago is different than one signed today, especially with an impending large rise in the cap expected soon. On top of all that, Petey not only scores 100+ points, but his defense is better than the majority of other players who put up 100+ points, indicating that he's quite possible overall a better player than some of them.

Call me crazy, but I think anyone thinking Petey's contract is less than $11M is living off dreams. A 100+ point player who's also excellent defensively is getting far more than $10M IMO.

Language:

I think there's almost no chance Crosby is traded, given his legacy and the fact that he already has three Cups.

Updated (4/16/23): New Records that came in the 2022-23 Season: All Skaters: Single Season Shorthanded Points (Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller - 9 Points - Tied with Pavel Bure and Russ Courtnall) Defensemen: Single Season Assists (Quinn Hughes - 69 assists) Single Season Points (Quinn Hughes - 76 points) Centres: Single Season Shorthanded Points (Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller - 9 Points) NEW RECORD HOLDERS Single Season Overtime Goals (Elias Pettersson - 3 Goals - Tied with J.T. Miller) Career shootout goals (Elias Pettersson - 12 goals) NEW RECORD HOLDER Right Wingers: Single Season Overtime Goals (C. Garland - 1 Goal - Tied with many players) Team: Most recent 5-goal differential (Mar 23, 2023, 7-2 vs San Jose Sharks) Other notes: - I decided not to count Kuzmenko as a rookie, because most record books won't consider him one (even though technically he is, just not a Calder-eligible one). - Barring injury, Hughes will likely finish next season as third all-time in assists by a Canuck defenseman, passing Ohlund, Lumme, and Lidster. - Pettersson (39 goals) was two goals shy of tying Kesler's record of 41 goals by a Canuck centre - By both beating Gerry Minor's record of 7 shorthanded points by a centre in a season, Pettersson and Miller broke a 42-year old record set in 1980-81. - With their 7-2 win over the Sharks on March 23, 2023, the Canucks broke a 3.5-year drought of winning by a margin of exactly five goals. - With three shootout goals this year, Pettersson has moved into 2nd all-time in shootout goals with 12, passing Ryan Kesler's 11. He's 1st among centres now.

It's very unlikely that Woo is Schenn level next year, but he has shown marked improvement in Abby this year. I do agree that he'll at least fight for a spot next year.

Two amazing wins in a row for Abby. Hopefully they keep up the steam going into the playoffs and can get at least a few rounds in.

Yeah, I'd have them pegged to rebound in a big way next year. We'll see by how much.

I think once a college player plays NHL games, they can't play AHL games, at least for this year.

As far as I know, Garland has no NHL history at centre, so I doubt they move him there. It would make more sense to use Joshua as a C and try him in that role, since he's a solid faceoff man and has shown flashes of 3rd line scoring.

Depends on a lot on how other players play and free agency. Wolanen has some competition with McWard and Hirose and there's always a chance we sign a decent defenseman. Di Giuseppe is probably only playing if we have notable injuries. That said, he does have a history of usually playing at least 25 or so games a year in the NHL.

Yeah, I think Di Giuseppe and Dries earned enough of an NHL spot that they're not going back down this year.

It's hard for me not to think that Markstrom was a huge reason for their failure. Some disappointments on the offensive side like Huberdeau were also problems though.

One of the more respectable players from the 2009-2011 Hawks teams. A fierce competitor. The whole Beach thing is a bit of a stain on his career though.

I'm not sure about all of the various similarities, but I have noticed the marked similarities in the career paths of MacKinnon and Pettersson so far. While they are different players from a playstyle perspective, their trajectories have been very similar thus far.

The question implies I already use Twitter. One of the more toxic places to me. I use Facebook for messaging and that's about it for traditional social media for me, unless you count YouTube, in which case I'm a borderline addict.

To his credit, when Miller puts in effort, he's a great two-way forward and has shown that over the past few months. Since the start of February, he's a +7.