In the shadow of Kaprizov: how Shesterkin broke into the race for the MVP title, and Svechnikov and Buchnevich give out the best seasons in their careers

Igor Shesterkin

In the two years since his debut in the National Hockey League, Igor Shesterkin managed to go from reliever Henrik Lundqvist to one of the strongest goalkeepers in the championship.

After the departure of the legendary Swede, he not only won the competition against another Russian Alexander Georgiev and strengthened himself in the status of the first number of the New York Rangers, but also became one of the main contenders for the prize for the best goalkeeper in the regular season (Vezina Trophy).

At the end of January, it was he who took first place in the midterm voting, and over the past month he has only strengthened his position.

But his fantastic performances lately allow him to be seriously considered as one of the participants in the race for the most valuable player award - MVP - of the regular season ("Hart Trophy").

Starting in February, Shesterkin went on the ice eight times from the first minutes and helped the Rangers win six victories.

Only Jakob Markström, Thatcher Demko and Jake Oettinger have more, but each of them played more games.

At the same time, only the 23-year-old Jeremy Swayman from Boston can be compared with the Russians in terms of the percentage of reflected shots, if we take into account those who have played more than five matches.

Igor removed the threat in 95.4% of cases and conceded an average of only 1.48 goals per meeting.

The American has slightly higher figures (95.7% and 1.24, respectively).

True, they threw at his gate less often.

Shesterkin's next benefit came in a confrontation with the New Jersey Devils.

The goalkeeper scored 32 saves and, although he failed to record his fourth shutout of the season, helped the Rangers score two points.

After the match, he earned praise from both New Yorkers coach Gerard Galland and opponents mentor Lindy Ruff.

He admitted that on that day it was the Russian goalkeeper who did not allow his hockey players to take over.

Andrey Svechnikov

The Carolina Hurricanes striker is still far from fighting for NHL awards in the regular season.

But its systematic development allows us to hope that this will become possible in the near future.

Andrey Svechnikov is showing the best performance in his career this season, averaging almost one point per game (0.98).

He already has 23 goals and 28 assists to his credit, and before the end of the championship, the 21-year-old striker will certainly set a personal performance record.

Two years ago, he finished the championship with 61 (24 + 37) points scored in 68 matches.

Yes, while Svechnikov lacks stability.

He can both score three points in 60 minutes, and give out a “dry” series of four meetings.

But there are more and more bright segments, as well as decisive goals.

Andrei has already repeated his personal record for the number of winning goals (five), the last of which he scored in the confrontation with Pittsburgh.

In the fourth minute of overtime, the Russian caught a rebound on the penny and helped his partners to realize the majority.

As a result, the title of the second star of the match and the opportunity to strengthen the status of the third best sniper in the league among Russians.

More often than not, only Kirill Kaprizov (26) and Alexander Ovechkin (33) hit the opponents' gates.

Evgeny Kuznetsov

Ovechkin's partner in the Washington Capitals also begins to remind himself of himself in his best years.

Evgeny Kuznetsov again becomes one of the leaders of the "capital" and makes you forget about two unsuccessful seasons, as a result of which he almost lost his place in the team.

In the summer, there were rumors about a possible exchange of the center forward, which was indirectly confirmed by CEO Brian McLellan.

The functionary made it clear that the club was waiting for the Russian to return to its former capacity, otherwise they would not rule out parting with him.

Kuznetsov correctly perceived the criticism and in the shortest possible time regained the title of one of the leading hockey players of the Capitals.

In 53 matches, he chalked up 16 goals and 35 assists and is second only to Ovechkin in terms of the number of points scored (65).

The last time he was so productive was three years ago, before the cocaine scandal that cost him the opportunity to represent the Russian national team at international competitions under the auspices of the IIHF.

And if Evgeny improves a little, he will be able to spend the brightest season in his career and surpass the bar of 80 points.

He managed to do this only in the 2017/18 championship, as a result of which Washington won the Stanley Cup for the first time in history.

Pavel Buchnevich and Ivan Barbashev

In the summer of 2021, St. Louis added another Russian hockey player to the roster - Pavel Buchnevich, who had defended the colors of the Rangers for five years, joined Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev.

Moreover, in exchange for the fourth scorer, the club from New York received only a choice in the second round of the 2022 draft and 25-year-old Sammy Blay, who had never scored more than 15 points in the regular season.

As it turned out, the Blues did not fail.

In the top three with Vladimir Tarasenko and Robert Thomas, the striker has flourished and has already scored 19 goals and 27 assists.

To repeat the personal performance record, he had only two points left to put in the piggy bank, which is more than realistic for the remaining 29 games.

Ivan Barbashev continues to progress.

Previously, he came out mainly in the fourth link and was forced to perform mainly defensive functions, but this year he began to enjoy much more confidence from the coaching staff.

The Russian was given a place in the top 6, for which he immediately thanked.

If before this season he had never crossed the mark of 26 points for the regular season, now he has 41 (17 + 24) points in his asset.

Moreover, he scored seven of them in the last four meetings, and his performance in the confrontation with Buffalo turned out to be especially striking, during which the striker assisted partners three times.

Nikita Kucherov and Evgeni Malkin

The successes of the leaders of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Pittsburgh Penguins also look slightly underestimated.

Yes, the Russians are not even in the top 150 top scorers of the championship, but only because they missed about half of the season due to severe injuries.

Kucherov was forced to undergo surgery due to a groin injury, and Malkin due to problems with his knees.

However, upon their return, both immediately began to demonstrate a phenomenal level of play and bring great benefits to the teams.

Kucherov now leads the league in points per game (1.47), ahead of Connor McDavid (1.46) and Leon Draisaitl (1.42).

Malkin's performance is a little more modest, but 10 goals and 14 assists in 21 matches is more than a decent indicator for a 35-year-old hockey player, whom many were quick to write off after last year's championship.

Then Eugene only for the second time in his career fell below the mark of one point on average per meeting, and the media began to discuss the possible exchange of the striker with renewed vigor.

However, now the Penguins are unlikely to take this step.