We're now into the
2nd half of the 2011-12 NHL campaign.
Many things have changed in the 2nd quarter that are worth reviewing to
help us project what we should expect to close out the rest of the year. To start, we'll take a quick glance at the
point standings at the end of the first quarter (end of November):
POINT LEADERS
1. Phil Kessel - 31
2. Claude Giroux -
29
3. Joffrey Lupul -
29
4. Kris Versteeg -
26
5. Thomas Vanek - 26
6. Nicklas Backstrom
- 25
7. Jonathan Toews -
25
8. Jason Pominville
- 25
9. Daniel Sedin - 25
10. Henrik Sedin -
25
Obviously, injuries
have played a part in the demise of some players from the top of the heap, but
a few things jump out right away:
- Kris Versteeg (and the rest
of the Florida resurgence) has fizzled out significantly
- The hot start in Buffalo
(Vanek / Pominville) is a memory
- Evgeni Malkin and Steven
Stamkos have surged in the 2nd quarter to the top of the current point
race.
GOAL LEADERS
In terms of goals,
the picture hasn't changed all that dramatically. The top five are pretty consistent:
Then:
1. Kessel - 16
2. Stamkos - 14
3. Neal - 13
4. Giroux - 13
5. Toews - 13
Now:
1. Stamkos - 31
2. Kessel - 24
3. Toews - 24
4. Neal - 24
5. Gaborik - 23
It's worth noting
here that while Giroux has kept up the point production, his goal totals have
dried up. He had just 5 in the 2nd
quarter. Meanwhile, Gaborik surged in
the 2nd Quarter, adding 13 to his total.
TOP 2nd QUARTER
PRODUCTION
So who were the
leaders over the past quarter of action in the NHL? A few names may come as a bit of a surprise:
1. Evgeni Malkin -
30
2. Pavel Datsyuk -
30
3. Matt Moulson - 30
4. Henrik Sedin - 28
5. John Tavares - 28
6. Ilya Kovalchuk -
27
7. Zach Parise - 27
8. Steven Stamkos -
27
9. Jason Spezza - 26
10. Jarome Iginla -
26
T10. Daniel
Alfredsson - 26
The biggest surprise
for me on this list is Matt Moulson. The
guy has flat out come on in the past month.
After the first quarter, he was sitting on just 12 points, good for 128th
place in the NHL. He's now risen to 9th
place in the league in total points.
Taveres and Parenteau have also enjoyed quite a resurgence on the Island
in recent weeks.
The Devil superstars
have also made an impressive run as of late.
Kovalchuk went from 13 to 40 points, while Parise rose from 12 to 39.
RISE OF THE DEFENSE
Turning our
attention to defense, here are your leaders for the 2nd quarter:
1. Erik Karlsson -
23
2. Dennis Wideman -
18
3. Kevin Bieksa - 18
4. Alex Edler - 17
5. Shea Weber - 17
6. Michael Del Zotto
- 16
7. Dan Boyle - 15
8. Kimmo Timmonen -
14
9. Brian Campbell -
14
10. Mark Streit - 13
The biggest surprise
on this list has to be Dennis Wideman (WAS).
At the end of the first quarter, he had a respectable 13 points, good
for 20th in the league. Since Mike Green
went permanent IR, Wideman has assumed the role of point producer and has
surged into 5th in the league among defenseman.
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?
So that's the good
news. Now what of the bad? Most of the major drop offs on the
leaderboard can be attributed directly to injury (Letang, …). Some falls do not have the luxury of that
excuse. Here are some of the biggest
disappearing acts over the 2nd quarter:
- Marc-Andre Bergeron (D-TB) -
Bergeron started the season on fire, ending the first quarter in 3rd among
defensemen with 19 points in 22 games.
He has just 2 points since then.
2 points.
- Alex Burmistrov (WPG) - After
a nice start to the season, Burmistrov has amassed a mere 5 point in the
2nd quarter
- Matt Duchene (COL) - 9 goals
and 17 points in the first quarter was a decent start. He's added just 3 goals and 4 assists
since then.
- Ryan Smyth (EDM) - Smyth was
one of the biggest stories to start the year with 12 goals in the first
quarter. Since then, he has just 3
tallies.
GOALIES
Finally, we'll turn
to the net where there has been a significant swing in production.
Q1 Win Leaders:
1. Fleury - 13
2. Lehtonen - 13
3. Howard - 13
4. Thomas - 11
5. Crawford - 11
Q2 Win Leaders:
1. Anderson - 14
2. Howard - 14
3. Rinne - 14
4. Luongo - 11
5. Kiprusoff - 11
The biggest story
here has to be the re-emergence of Craig Anderson in Ottawa. He was among the worst at this position
through December. Over the past month,
he has been unstoppable, going 9-1-1.
Similarly, Mikka Kiprusoff has breathed new life into his season since
the weather turned cold.
For more on daily
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