Thoughts on the NHL

The NHL has been trying to recover from the 2004-05 lockout for the last three and a half years. By choosing Sydney Crosby as the game's new Wayne Gretzky, it's allowed for numerous other young players in the league to flourish without the pressure of keeping that "poster boy" look. The most obvious player to benefit from the spotlight being on Crosby is Alexander Ovechkin.

I understand that Crosby led his team to the playoffs but Ovechkin won the Rookie of the Year award and adds a whole new dimension to his with his size. He can make defensemen nervous with his size and strength and his willingness to play the body in order to put himself in position to score. These two young superstars are pioneers in the new NHL that have paved the way for a plethora of younger players to break into the league. The two teams where it's most obvious are in Boston and Chicago.

Phil Kessel is one of the league leaders in goals, David Krejci is quietly becoming a clone of Marc Savard and Vladimir Sobotka will eventually take the place of the current longest-tenured Bruin, Per Johan Axelsson. The Boston blueline also features some young faces in Matt Hunwick and Mark Stuart with Johnny Boychuck among the league leaders in scoring in the AHL. Milan Lucic is becoming a household name because of his willingness to drop the gloves along with his scoring touch. I believe that the Bruins are taking a cue from the Red Sox by developing their youth and looking for internal solutions to fill roster spots. I'll admit, I was very distraught when the B's didn't resign Glen Metropolit, but Krecji and Co. have more than made up for it. The only problem with the B's is they may not be able to keep the team intact because Kessel and Krejci are in contract years and the Jacobs regime never pays their best players enough money. I hope they decide to change their miserly ways.

Now for the Blackhawks. First of all, they should've beat the Red Wings in the Winter Classic today. Tough luck. They also feature some of the best young talent in the league. Jonathan Toews is one of the youngest captains in league history at age 20 and Pat Kane is right on his heels in terms of production. Kane is another player who draws comparisons to Gretzky and with good reason. He more than proved that he was ready for the NHL last year by garnering Rookie of the Year honors. The Hawks also feature scoring depth from youngsters Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg and Dustin Byfuglien. Chicago will definitely be a force to be reckoned with for years to come with such explosive young talent.

As much as I love hockey, the NHL All-Star voting system is flawed. They're gonna have to fix it for next year somehow but leaving Tim Thomas off the ballot is an absolute travesty. That being said, Manny Fernandez could make the squad as well as the two are currently ranked 2 and 3 in the league in goaltending. In my opinion, Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Kessel and Savard should all make the squad and the only deserving Montreal player is Alex Tanguay. Why Tanguay? He's the only Hab I could find in the league leaders of anything worthwhile, shot percentage at number 19.

UPDATE: Andrei Markov is actually the 7th best scoring defenseman in the league. Forgive me, he deserves the spot over Tanguay.