Kaprizov's breakthrough, Shesterkin's recognition and Kucherov's return: what surprised the Russians in the NHL regular season

Achievement of Kaprizov

One of the main newsmakers of the NHL regular season was the Minnesota striker, who celebrated his 25th birthday four days before its end.

Kirill Kaprizov was in the spotlight back in the summer, when he refused to renew the agreement with the club for a long time and insisted on signing a bridge contract lasting three to four years.

Subsequently, he arrived at the training camp later than his partners and did not start the tournament in the best way, scoring the first goal only in the ninth match.

But then he picked up an incredible pace and was not only the first of the Wild hockey players to overcome the bar of 100 points, but also became the club's record for goals in a season.

The final chord Kaprizov played in the confrontation with the leader of the West - "Colorado".

Already in the fifth minute, he made a breakthrough on the left side, drove behind the gate, made a circle in a strange zone and, only completely disorienting his opponents, gave Tyson Jost a throw.

And already at the beginning of the second period, he distinguished himself, albeit not so spectacularly.

One way or another, he helped Minnesota win another victory (4:1) and take second place in the conference for the second time in history.

And he himself was not only recognized as the first star of the meeting, but reached the mark of 108 (47 + 61) points and broke into fifth place in the scorers race.

Kirill lost only to Leon Draisaitl (110), Jonathan Huberdeau and Johnny Gaudreau (both - 115 each), as well as the unsurpassed Connor McDavid (123), becoming the best of the Russians.

Artemy Panarin (96) got closest to him.

Thus, at the finish line, Kaprizov scored in seven games in a row (4 + 11) and showed the tenth result in history in terms of points for the championship among hockey players from Russia.

Only Pavel Bure, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Sergey Fedorov, Alexander Mogilny and Nikita Kucherov recruited more than him.

Kirill has already earned the right to be called a league superstar, and this status will be confirmed in the playoffs, where his team will face a tough test in the first round.

The Wild will face off against St. Louis driven by Vladimir Tarasenko, Pavel Buchnevich and Ivan Barbashev.

For three, they shot 218 points - among the Russians, only Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Viktor Kozlov managed more (230).

Shesterkin's progress and Bobrovsky's revival

However, the highest productivity did not help Kaprizov to be among the main contenders for the prize of the best hockey player of the season.

According to the results of the last day before the end of the regular voting, he was in seventh place with eight points.

For comparison, Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin received four times more.

In his third year in the NHL, he became a real leader for the New Yorkers and helped them get into the playoffs for the second time in the last five years.

Moreover, immediately from fourth place, which guarantees them the advantage of home ice in the 1/8 finals of the Stanley Cup.

As a result, the Russian was deservedly recognized as the best player of the team in the competitive year.

But if it will not be easy for Shesterkin to take the upper hand in the dispute for the Hart Trophy, then the award for the best goalkeeper is practically in his pocket.

He ranked first in save percentage (93.5%) and safety factor (2.07), and in the number of wins he took sixth place.

Immediately, 16 journalists from the official NHL website called him the first contender for the Vezina Trophy, and only one preferred Jacob Markström from Calgary.

It is noteworthy that two other Russian goalkeepers became leaders in the number of victories.

And if everyone is used to the success of Andrei Vasilevsky, then the return of Sergei Bobrovsky to his former positions was a pleasant surprise.

The first two seasons in Florida did not work out in the best way, as a result of which many were quick to write him off.

But in the current championship, the 33-year-old veteran reminded himself of the time he played for Columbus, which was instantly reflected in the results of the team.

The Panthers scored 122 points and won the President's Cup for the first time in history.

The next goal is to get rid of the stigma of an unsuccessfully playing goalkeeper in the playoffs and help the team overcome the barrier of the conference quarterfinals.

The first and last time he succeeded was in 1996.

The Fall of Washington and the Islanders

To prevent Bobrovsky from making history, Washington will try, which has had one of the worst seasons in recent years.

While the whole world watched Alexander Ovechkin's pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's record and rejoiced at the high performance of Evgeny Kuznetsov, Peter Laviolette's wards were wrecked.

They ended the regular season with a humiliating series of four defeats in a row, scored exactly a hundred points and for the first time since 2014 fell below the second line in the Capital Division.

But if then it cost them a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, then this time they were a little more lucky.

The rest of the conference competitors fell hard and were unable to take advantage of the failure of the Capitals.

For Ovechkin himself, the end of the championship was not the most successful.

In the confrontation with Toronto, he flew into the board and was injured, because of which he missed the remaining three meetings.

But that makes his performance even more impressive.

Not only did Alexander score 50 goals, overtaking Marcel Dionne, Brett Hull and Jaromir Jagr as the top scorer in NHL history, but he also hit 90 points.

The last time he did it was in 2010.

And that's not counting the many other records that fell under the onslaught of the legendary striker.

And if he manages to recover from the injury and properly approach the series with Florida, he could very well help Washington create a sensation.

Surely many expected that the misfires of the Capitals would be able to take advantage of the Islanders, who over the past two years have reached the semi-finals of the Stanley Cup and were second only to future champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

An additional argument in favor of this was the progress of Ilya Sorokin.

The former CSKA goaltender had an outstanding season and finished second in save percentage (92.5%), making him a Vezina nominee.

It is all the more surprising that the wards of Barry Trotz finished only fifth in the division and ninth in the conference.

It is unlikely that Vegas and Winnipeg are satisfied with their performance.

The Golden Knights failed to break into the top eight in the West for the first time in their existence, and the Jets broke a four-year playoff streak.

But the most discouraging was the fall of Montreal.

In July, the Canadiens fought the Lightning for the trophy, and a year later they finished last, 32nd in the league.

Indeed, there is a good reason for this.

Due to an injury, the legendary goalkeeper Carey Price missed almost the entire tournament, and his replacements were not ready to compensate for his absence.

Return of Kucherov and Malkin

The champion of the last two years was forced to do without his leader for a long time.

In October, Nikita Kucherov suffered a groin injury and fully returned to the ice only in January, which is why he has played only 47 matches this season.

But that didn't stop him from scoring 69 (25 + 44) points and becoming Tampa Bay's third top scorer.

The Russian lost only to Stephen Stamkos (106) and Victor Hedman (85).

As for points per game, according to this indicator, he only let one hockey player forward in the entire league - McDavid.

Kucherov's finishing spurt was especially impressive.

In the last nine meetings, he broke out with 23 (10 + 13) points, and in eight he invariably hit the opponent's goal.

This allowed him to repeat two records for the duration of the goal streak at once.

Among the Tampa hockey players, only Brian Bradley was able to do this, and among the Russians, Mogilny and Bure.

And although against the background of Kucherov, Malkin's successes seem not so significant, but they cannot be ignored.

Like his compatriot, he recovered from the operation for a long time and returned to duty only at the beginning of 2022, but immediately regained the status of one of the Pittsburgh leaders.

In 41 matches, he scored 20 goals and 22 assists and became one of three hockey players who managed to overcome the bar of one point per game.

Besides him, only Sidney Crosby (1.22) and Jake Gunzel (1.11) succeeded.

The ascent of Svechnikov and the awakening of Nichushkin

The Carolina forward is also getting closer to the elite level.

Andrei Svechnikov attracted attention a few years ago when he conquered everyone with his lacrosse-style goals, and now he is trying to become the leader of his club.

And although it is not easy to stand out against the background of Sebastian Aho, in comparison with other partners of the Russians it already looks more impressive.

This season, he set a personal best in points (30 + 39) and became the second scorer for the Hurricanes.

Largely thanks to his bright game, they were able to become second in the East, having received opponents in the first round of the playoffs that are going through hard times, Boston.

But if Svechnikov's successes can hardly surprise anyone, then hardly anyone expected such a rate of fire from Valery Nichushkin.

Previously, the striker has never scored more than 34 points in the regular season, and "became famous" thanks to a record "dry" streak of 91 matches.

But this time he jumped over his head and scored 52 points, and almost half of them due to goals.

As a result, respect from partners and praise from coach Jared Bednar.

According to the mentor, the Russian knows absolutely everything on the ice and makes every link the first.