For years the Central division has been a feasting ground for teams looking to scoop up easy points. The Columbus BlueJackets have never made the playoffs, Nashville went through a similar stretch upon their inception into the league, and St. Louis and Chicago have had some miserable seasons since the dawn of the new millennium. Detroit is the only team in the bunch that has been consistently excellent. The tides have certainly turned this year. Prior to action tonight, all five teams in the division occupied Western Conference playoff spots. Whether they are all still there come April 13th is indeterminable, but it is an intriguing possibility. Detroit's success has long been achieved through the employment of capable scouts and their subsequent drafting of excellent young players. After years of failure, the other teams in their division are beginning to reap the benefits of having solid drafts - this should be the focus for the next few seasons for teams in peril, such as Colorado, Atlanta, and Toronto.
- In Columbus, much of the credit has been bestowed upon rookie goaltending sensation Steve Mason, and he deserves the accolades. There is endless talk about him garnering league MVP consideration and just yesterday I read an article which all but guaranteed he would be representing Canada at the Olympics next winter. Oddly enough, nowhere have I read that Pekka Rinne will be nominated alongside Mason for the Hart Trophy. Rinne is also absent from Finland's projected Olympic roster. Now I know nobody except Taylor Swift (I do love those commercials) and Vince Gill go to hockey games in Nashville, but somebody out there has to be starting a campaign for this guy. Maybe that guy should be me.
For arguments sake, and we all know I love a good argument, what if I were to suggest to you Nashville's rookie goaltender, Pekka Rinne, is actually MORE valuable to his team? You can go about this one of two ways. First, you can look at the numbers.
Mason has 32 wins and 23 losses (9 games over .500). His goals against average is 2.22 and his save percentage is .918. He also has 10 shutouts. Pretty amazing stuff. Believe me I know, because every time you turn a Canadian sports program on, the analysts all remind us.
But what of the mysterious Pekka Rinne?
He has 27 wins and 16 losses (11 games over .500). His goals against average is 2.25 and his save percentage is .922. He has 7 shutouts. Equally amazing stuff right? They both win two categories. I disagree, it is more amazing.
Why is that? Go ahead and try and name more than six forwards that suited up for the Predators tonight. I'll tell you who didn't - Erat, Arnott, and Legwand. Those are three of their top four forwards. The other is J.P Dumont, and he left the game with an injury. These guys have all missed some time this year, which hurts Nashville, but even when they are all in the lineup, the Predators roster is no match, on paper, in contrast to a healthy BlueJackets team. Nashville, given their overall talent level, has no business whatsoever being involved in the playoff race. Don't get me wrong, I love Radek Bonk, but the biggest reason they are still in the hunt,without question, is the monsterously dominant and criminally under-appreciated play of Pekka Rinne.
I don't know which, or how many, teams from the Central division will end up qualifying for the playoffs beyond Detroit and Chicago. However, if Nashville does get in and you're standing in a room full of people who are voting Mason for MVP (believe me, they're out there), how about making them aware of guy they should be voting for instead.
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