Your team awards?

Question

So far who has been your team's MVP? Your team's biggest surprise? Your team's biggest disappointment?

For the Flyers I'd say Richards has been the MVP. I would also say Richards for the biggest surprise (who would have thought he'd be leading the Flyers in scoring?). For biggest disappointment, I'd say Gagne, not his fault I know but I was really looking forward to seeing what he could do with Briere centering him, to me that has been disappointing.

Joe- I think Hartnell has helped out in the physical department and the Forsberg deal was Upshall, Parent and 1st and 3rd rounders.
Philly then traded the 1st rounder back to Nashville for the rights to Hartnell and Timonen, whom bith signed long term deals.
Besides, 8 more points than Peter.

Snoop- Tough call between Staal (he might have less goals this year then he had SH goals last year. Sophmore slump indeed.
And to see future HOFer Recchi (of whom I am a big fan) play his way out of the line-up was just sad. You could even say Roberts or Fleury- Lots of downers in Pitt so far.

Cdn Fan- I expected more of Markov too.

LITY- Yeah, Samsonov is no shocker-some thought a darkhorse with a change of scenery- he looked like such a can't miss his first couple of years. One would also think that a player of his stature would have been helped by the new rules- not the case. A great hockey mystery.

Hello- Prospal is no surprise to me. As soon as I saw he was in a contract year, I knew he would perform.

Answer 1

MVP - Campbell, It seems like he has set up all of the goals for the Sabres this season. Great offensive defense man that loads up on assists. Plus he can throw a nasty hit here and there. And how about that spinorama he does? Seems like he always leaves defenders in the dust when he does it.

Surprise - Connolly or Roy, They certainly stepped up their game in order to replace Drury and Briere. They are one and 2 in points on the team.

Disappointment - Max, it just seems like when this guy is on a cold streak, he gets ICE cold. He scored his first goal in a while against the Canes and he celebrated like he had won the Cup. They defiantly need more production out of him.
Or how about Vanek, $54 million for this guy? Nobody is worth that much cash.

Answer 2

Tampa Bay Lightning

MVP- Vincent Lecavalier, he's picked up exactly where he left off from last season he practically is the team on most nights, and there never could have been a better time for him to become the player everyone thought he'd be when drafted in 1998.

Biggest Surprise- Vaclav Prospal- probably because he plays on the Lecavalier, St. Louis line but he's chipping in alot more this year, and has been a big contribution.

Biggest Disappointment- The goaltending contiunes and will continue to be our biggest issue until we get ourselves a true #1 goalie, may be time to try and trade St. Louis or Richards (both have no-trade clauses though) if they'd be willing and get us a legit goalie because this Holmqvist-Denis tandem sure doesnt work.

Answer 3

Chicago MVP: Duncan Keith
- he has shown outstanding development this year and along with Perreault's ability to win face-offs, Keith has been an offensive catalyst having improved his transition game greatly over the last year. He's also shown some quiet leadership on the blue line as well. Maybe more of an unsung hero than an MVP but he's been a huge reason for the improved play of the Hawks.

Chicago's Biggest Surprise: Obviously this goes to upper management. William's death, Peter's stepping aside, Rockwell's takeover, Pulford's ouster, and home games on TV. Nobody expected any of this.

Chicago's Biggest Disappointment: Cameron Barker not making the club. I want to say Sergei Samsonov, but he's been invisible for years so his lack of production, while disappointing, really isn't a surprise

Answer 4

The MVP of the Avs so far is Paul Stastny. There haven't really been any big surprises here, I definitely didn't think that Hensick would get called up though. The biggest disappointment has been John-Michael Liles, he had 44 points last year, he's not doing to well this year. He's been playing much better of late though. The goaltending hasn't been dissapointing, I pretty much knew in the back of my mind that it was gonna suck again. There was a brief glimmer of hope early in the season, but that went away quickly.

Answer 5

As a Habs fan I would say that so far Alex Kovalev has been the biggest surprise and potentially the MVP. He has shown up for each game as opposed to last yrs 1 in 4.

Roman Hamerlik has been a close second- he is a horse on defense.

Biggest disappointment has to be Ryder, a two time 30 goal scorer who has been invisible this year.

Answer 6

Pittsburgh Penguins

MVP- Sidney Crosby. While serving as captain, Crosby's numbers have been consistent with his current career trajectory. He has lived up to the billing thus far.

Biggest surprise- Evgeni Malkin. I expected him to level off somewhat after winning the Calder trophy (almost everyone not named Lemieux does, even a little). However, he has proved to be the Scottie Pippen to Crosby's Michael Jordan every step of the way.

Biggest disappointment- Jordan Staal. What the heck happened to this guy? Someone decide to kidnap the real Staal and replace him with Milan Kraft?

Disappointment #2- Anyone over 25 years of age. I have never seen such a stark decline of production out of a group of accomplished vets as I have with this Penguins group (one less with the likely departure of Mark Recchi). Reminds me too much of 2005-06.

Answer 7

MVP- Rick DiPietro, Ted Nolan

Biggest Surprise- Beating Ottawa last week wasn't bad and surprising. Campoli's start was nice, he seems to have cooled a bit.
With all the additions in the Atlantic division in Philly and New York, if you would have told me the Isles would be 8th in the division and ahead of Pittsburgh a third into the season at the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have bought it, so that is a surprise.

Biggest disappointment- Jon Sim. Not his fault but I expected him to add the same grit and put up the same good third line numbers he did last season with Atlanta. He would have been a good character player this season if he could have stayed healthy.
I also thought Bill Guerin would be putting up more points, if he ends up putting up the same kind of numbers he put up with Dallas in '06, the Isles have no chance to stay in the hunt.

Answer 8

Islanders MVP has to be Rick DiPietro. Only thing keeping them above water right now.

Surprise- Josef Vasicek- They got him for 750,000 and has been one of the few players to have a positive +/- on the team

Disappointments- Agree with Jude..errrrr The Mocker about Sim. Another unfortunate injury. I'm also going to add Wade Dubielewicz. After his performance at the end of last season, he was expected to take some of the pressure off D.P. and has just not gotten it done.

Answer 9

MVP-Sergei Brylin, I was going to say Zach Parise but, you can put Brylin on any line in the Devils line-up an he'll play well there, is filling in nicely for Pandolfo at the moment.
Biggest surprise-Colin White actually coming back from the eye injury
Biggest Disappointment-the first month of the season.

Answer 10

Moose here. Team--Red Wings

MVP--Osgood. He's been pickin up the slack for Hasek. 13 wins in 15 oppurtinities. Pretty damn good.

Surprise--Osgood and Hasek. You would think that roles would of been different. Hasek having 13 wins and Osgood having 6, but this is great news for the Red Wings. Osgood is showing that if needed, he can start next year.

Disappointment--Franzen. Sure, hes been bugged by injuries, but he hasn't been producing as much as they thought he would. I love the guy, he gives 150% every day. But time for him to start scoring some goals!