Detroit — What a finish to this NHL season it’s shaping up to be.
With a large portion of the NHL competing in the Winter Olympics, and no NHL games for the majority of this month of February, this is a perfect time to take stock of where the NHL stands.
And it’s congested in the standings, with a bunch of teams in both conferences within a win streak of jumping into a wild-card spot.
But what also stands out is a bunch of new names contending for playoff spots.
Buffalo (14 years), the Red Wings (nine) and Anaheim (seven) currently have the three longest NHL playoff droughts but all three are in position to make the playoffs and end that misery. The Sabres and Wings could actually wind up in the second and third spots in the Atlantic Division, which would secure a first-round playoff series and add further intrigue.
For the Wings, celebrating their 100th season in the NHL, ending the playoff drought would be a satisfying accomplishment. The Wings slumped before the break, going 1-3-1 over the last five games, which has caused some fans to sound alarms.
But the poise and resiliency the Wings have showed through 58 games — with 24 to go — gives them confidence they can continue playing hockey in April.
“Playing to our identity and not having those kinds of mental lapses where we’re giving away things for free, things like that have gotten better and better as the year has gone on,” forward James van Riemsdyk said. “We have to continue to find that consistency in our game and just keep raising our execution level because it gets harder and harder as the games go down the stretch.”
As close as the standings are, the competition for NHL individual awards appears to be tight, as well.
Most of the awards likely will be determined in this final quarter of the schedule, in many voters’ minds, with the games at their most important.
Here’s a look, though, in The Detroit News’ estimation, how the individual awards are shaping up at the Olympic break:
HART TROPHY (player judged most valuable to his team): Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay; Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado; Connor McDavid, Edmonton.
Macklin Celebrini (San Jose) is having an incredible second NHL season and has the Sharks within shouting distance of the playoffs, and Grosse Pointe’s Zach Werenski (Columbus) and Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders) are crucial to their team’s success. But Kucherov, MacKinnon and McDavid take it to another level. Tampa Bay has dealt with injuries, and Kucherov has upped his production. McDavid has been his usual all-world self. MacKinnon has 40 goals, been the best player on the best team, and looked focused on reversing last season’s playoff disappointment. WINNER: MacKinnon.
NORRIS (best defenseman): Quinn Hughes, Minnesota; Cale Makar, Colorado; Zach Werenski, Columbus.
Werenski is arguably having his best season, and Hughes has been revitalized since being traded to Minnesota a month ago. Give Lane Hutson (Montreal) and Moritz Seider (Red Wings) a shout out, also. With a strong finish, Hutson, the second-year defenseman could sneak further into the conversation for this award, as could Seider, who has been largely dominant the last several months. But currently, Makar is enjoying the best all-around season, dictating the game from his position, and elite at both ends of the ice. WINNER: Makar.
CALDER (best rookie): Ivan Demidov, Montreal; Matthew Schaefer, N.Y. Islanders; Beckett Sennecke, Anaheim.
Simply put, Schaefer has been a revelation. The first overall pick in June, Schaeffer, 18, has revitalized the Islanders’ organization, made so many memorable plays, and is already among the most exciting players with the puck on his stick in the NHL. WINNER: Schaefer.
VEZINA (best goaltender): John Gibson, Detroit; Ilya Sorokin, N.Y. Islanders; Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay.
Gibson has been as good as any goalie in the league and has been a key reason for the Wings’ resurgence since Dec. 1, completely turning his season around. Sorokin, though, has been consistently superb from opening night, and could be a Hart candidate because of his importance to the Islanders. Vasilevskiy has been vital, as always, for Tampa: WINNER: Sorokin.
JACK ADAMS (coach of the year): Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay; Dan Muse, Pittsburgh; Lindy Ruff, Buffalo.
Cooper probably doesn’t get enough credit for what he’s done with the Lightning, patching together a lineup that has been riddled with key injuries into a Stanley Cup contender. Ruff has finally gotten the Sabres playing to their potential and has them looking to end a 14-year playoff drought. But what Muse has done is remarkable. Nobody had Pittsburgh contending for a playoff spot this season, an organization that was looking to rebuild. But Muse has done a masterful job mixing and matching, pushing and prodding, and has the Penguins believing they can swipe another Stanley Cup. WINNER: Muse.
SELKE (best defensive forward): Nico Hischier (New Jersey); Nick Suzuki (Montreal), Sam Reinhart (Florida); Let’s face it, Florida’s Aleksander Barkov likely would be on his way to winning a third consecutive Selke but tore his knee in preseason and will not play this season, which has opened up the field. It would be great to see Hischier win this award at some point, but Suzuki is having an edge right now, with many other candidates likely to join the fray in the last two months and challenge for this award. WINNER: Suzuki.
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: NHL at the break: Sizing up the races for individual awards
Reporting by Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
