It is time for the conference championships series in the NHL to start and since I'm in the rearview mirror of nearly everyone in my playoff hockey drafts it is time to quickly change the discussion.
MVP is a term tossed around all to often, but of the playoff teams remaining there has to be players who have helped get them there, if not willed them to the next round all on their own. The Stanley Cup is still eight wins away, meaning a lot can change, but some players have put in some honourable performances so far.
Perhaps the most talked about player as an MVP candidate is Ryan Kesler and with good cause. The Vancouver Canucks' offence stalled in comparison to the high expectations everyone had coming in. Kesler has put Vancouver on his back and willed them to the conference championship. Few had Nashville picked to win the series, so maybe it isn't too much of a surprise Kesler helped Vancouver advance, but he leads the playoffs in points with 15 and 11 of those points came in the Nashville series. Vancouver scored 14 goals against Pekka Rinne and Kesler was in on 11. And his defensive abilities have him nominated for the Selke Trophy. He has been able to draw a hooking penalty and later score the game-winning goal and also set up the series-clinching goal. He is by all definitions a clutch player for the Canucks and is carrying the load while the Sedins were struggling to contribute.
The other Western Conference final was not completed before deadline, but Pavel Datsyuk, another Selke Trophy nominee, and Antti Niemi have to be their team favorites thus far.
In the Eastern Conference, Martin St Louis leads the Lightning with 13 points, but Vincent Lecavalier and Downie are close at 12 points. One of those guys could emerge as the teams true offensive MVP. But, without a doubt, the praise at this time in their journey for the Stanley Cup goes to Dwayne Roloson. He has never lost an elimination playoff game which is hard to believe, but true despite now playing with his fourth playoff team and never winning a Stanley Cup. He led Edmonton to the cup finals, before getting injured, and had relief appearances with Minnesota and Buffalo. He wasn't in net for the elimination game when Buffalo lost the Stanley Cup to Dallas and Minnesota was knocked out by Anaheim. He still has something to prove. Good on Yzerman and Guy Boucher for turning Tampa Bay into contenders, but the turning point of the season was Jan. 2 when Roloson was traded from the Islanders for Ty Wishart.
Picking the goalie to be a team's MVP is always the obvious choice when a team needs to win 16 games, but like Tampa Bay, Boston wouldn't be where they are without Tim Thomas. Last round, he was a god compared to the Philadelphia goaltenders, who weren't even in the same league, but he also outmatched one of the best in Carey Price in the first round.
Boston's depth and toughness are their keys to success and with that it is hard to predict where the goal scoring is going to come from. Bruins fans don't need to worry though since they will get consistently great goaltending from the start of pre-season to the final playoff game from Thomas. He leads the playoffs in goals against average. He battles and does things more unconventionally than any other goalie still in the league, he must have learned from Hasek in Buffalo, but his job is to stop the puck and he does that arguably better than any other goalie in the NHL today.
