? #vgktalk #goknightsgo #vegasborn /rYtRLhnExH- Bryan Upton March 16, 2021 Only Marc-Andre Fleury can rob a man that is already bankrupt.
But Fleury is my pick.Įmily: Definitely taking Fleury here for the same reasons everyone else has said, plus I love the gold pads and helmet combo. He’s still putting up decent numbers one year removed from winning a Vezina. Julian.mckenzie: Connor deserves some credit. Plus he’s like the nicest dude in hockey. Terrence.doyle: The playoff experience and the Cup winning know-how, coupled with the big year - no-brainer for me. Helps that he doesn’t have that sword through him. Julian.mckenzie: I love how Fleury has bounced back this year. OK, now let’s talk about the 15-seeds, reigning Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets against former Stanley Cup winner Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s having an amazing year for the Golden Knights. Neil: Hmm, maybe there will be a Cinderella story though! (There won’t.) (sees Petry’s future opponent in the bracket) Julian.mckenzie: Petry will also help on the power play for this fictional win-now team we’re thinking of. But, fine, I’m fine with Petry for the WIN NOW factor. He’s been sorta mediocre throughout his career (maybe a tad better than mediocre, to be fair), whereas McAvoy is likely to win a Norris or two in the future. Terrence.doyle: Yeah, Petry is scoring on 15 percent (!!!) of his shots this year, which, as you said Neil, is an outlier in terms of his career numbers. (And this is really saying something, since you are a diehard Bruins fan, Emily.) But what say you, Emily, as the deciding vote?Įmily: If we’re going with winning now, I think I’d have to go with Petry here. Neil: I agree with Julian that Petry has been better this year - in a pretty big outlier career year - while McAvoy has a brighter future. Terrence.doyle: No no, they’ve been good as a unit at limiting shots, especially dangerous shots, which is big because their goaltending has been … suspect at best. Julian.mckenzie: Is that all on Charlie, though? If you’re in this to win now, why not take the player who’s better right now? Neil: This is why I struggled so much with this one (and took the cop-out of tossing them in the play-in).
but even if the Bs have been slumping lately, they’re still one of the best defensive teams in the NHL, and Chucky Mac (his new nickname, according to me) is a big reason why. Petry is having a monster season, no doubt about it. Terrence.doyle: I have to go with Charlie here.
I’ll put things to a vote from the group, so provide a short stat and/or piece of video evidence for your choice, and the winners will advance until we have an official champion!
(Feel free to me with complaints about the “committee”’s seeding.) 1 For each matchup, I’m looking for the player whom you would rather have if you were trying to build a team to win this year. My selection process included the past few years of stats and award voting, along with this year’s favorites, with an emphasis on performance in 2021. In the spirit of March Madness, I took the liberty of making a bracket - complete with play-in games for the last four seeds - of players who might potentially be in the convo for the NHL’s best player. Neil ( Neil Paine, senior sportswriter): Hello, and welcome to our FiveThirtyEight hockey chat! The crew is back together, and I’m ready to drop the puck on a debate we had to blow the whistle on with minutes left on the clock last chat: Who’s the best player in the league?