Zachary Gerson is a first-year who has yet to declare a major. He can be reached at zachary.gerson@tufts.edu.
It is the most exciting time of year for hockey fans: the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The two-monthlong playoffs kicked off Saturday night with game one of the Carolina Hurricanes vs. the New York Islanders and the Boston Bruins vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs series, which was just the beginning of the thrill of playoff hockey which we will see in the weeks and months to come.
This week’s focus is once again not a specific award; we’ll go into the most improved teams from this season. These are the teams that have shown the most growth from last season to this season.
This week’s focus, although not a specific award, is on the most surprising teams from this season. These are the teams that most exceeded my expectations and are in a much better position than most thought that they would be in.
This week’s focus is on the Hart Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s most valuable player. The MVP is the player who is determined to be the most important to their team’s success through outstanding on-ice performance.
This week’s focus is on the Jim Gregory Award, which is awarded to the best general manager of the season. Each year, one general manager is honored as the best in assembling their team for that season.
This week’s focus is on the Jack Adams Award, which is awarded to “the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.” Each year, one coach is honored as the season’s best coach.
This week’s focus is on the Norris Trophy, which is awarded to the best defenseman of the NHL season.
This week, I will focus on the first individual award of the column: the Vezina Trophy.The Vezina Trophy is awarded to the best goaltender of the NHL season.
In the spring edition of ‘In the Crease,’ I will be predicting NHL awards, mostly individual awards. However, this week, I will focus on team awards: the Stanley Cup champion and the Presidents’ trophy.
The Anaheim Ducks are yet another team that is in a rebuilding process. The Ducks revolve around forward Trevor Zegras, who is an up-and-coming star, and goaltender John Gibson, who, despite being on the older side, is still playing at a very high level. Apart from these two players, the Ducks do not have any other extremely noticeable pieces on their roster, although there are a few nice role players in place, such as Adam Henrique, Alex Killorn and Troy Terry. Despite the average forward core and good goaltending, the Ducks have one of the worst defensive cores in the league, which will likely be the root cause of many losses this season. As the Ducks continue their rebuild, they are not in contention for a playoff spot, but with the vision they are trying to build on, they aim to be there soon.
