Forsberg, Naslund title favorites
The NHL's scoring champ will come from the Western Conference. And there's no ifs, ands or pucks about it.
Art Ross probably didn't have much reason to go to Denver or Vancouver on business.
The trophy that bears his name?
That's another story.
When the hockey legend got started in the National Hockey League, running the new franchise in Boston in 1924, "out west" on the league map was Hamilton, Ontario. When he donated a trophy for the league scoring champion in 1947, the NHL map had expanded westward as far as Chicago.
| IN THE RACE | |
Top five candidates to win the 2004 Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading point producer:
1. Markus Naslund, Vancouver. Sniper is in his prime and his numbers have been moving up the last four years. He's got the touch and a running mate to play Sundance to his Butch in Todd Bertuzzi.
2. Todd Bertuzzi, Vancouver. The league's top power forward has learned to contain his fury.
3. Joe Thornton, Boston. Sergei Samsonov is back and, along with Thornton and Glen Murray, gives the B's a potent top unit. Thornton is the best bet to bring the Art Ross back to the East.
4. Peter Forsberg, Colorado. The defending champ has greater depth behind him with the addition of Kariya and Selanne, but that could be a double-edge sword. Will there be enough ice time to go around?
5. Joe Sakic, Colorado. He looks to the right and sees Selanne. He looks to the left and sees Kariya. If he doesn't want to pass, he's got the best wrist shot in the league.
-- Chris Stevenson |
Up until two years ago, the Art Ross Trophy had gone westward only 11 times in its 54-year history to that point, 10 times thanks to Gretzky's residency in Edmonton and then Los Angeles.
Things have changed.
Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames won the title two years ago, taking the trophy out of the Eastern time zone (from Pittsburgh, specifically) for the first time in seven years.
Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche maintained the West's grip on the trophy last year, edging out Northwest Division rival Markus Naslund of the Vancouver Canucks. Five of the top six scorers were from the Western Conference last year.
Notice a trend?
The Art Ross will be heading for the wild, wild West again this year. It has to.
The West is untamed and wide open with a sharpshooter with an quick hand and an itchy trigger finger behind every rock and tree. The Western Conference has long been viewed as the more wide open of the two conferences with the Eastern side viewed as the home of more conservative, defensive-oriented teams.
The gap is only widening.
There is historical precedent, of course. During the last two seasons, the two top goal-scoring teams have come from the Western Conference with the Detroit Red Wings and the Vancouver Canucks taking turns leading the way.
But the biggest reason why the NHL's leading scorer will come from the West this year is the consolidation of offensive talent, marked by the reuniting of Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne with the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs should be a goal-scoring machine this year with their first two lines glittering with Forsberg between Milan Hejduk, last year's goal-scoring champ, and Alex Tanguay; Joe Sakic is expected to center Kariya and Selanne on the other line. There are seven 50-goal seasons in that group.
If you are an opponent, how do you stop them? Focus on one line and the other will beat you.
One could argue that there won't be enough ice time or pucks to go around, which might prevent any one of those six from posting the type of numbers necessary to win a scoring title.
Maybe.
OK, so if the scoring champ isn't going to come out of The Mile High City, there's just as good a chance he will come from Vancouver.
The tandem of Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi, a combo that has size and skill, should be right at the top of the NHL scoring pyramid again this year. Naslund, 30, is in his prime and his numbers have been trending upwards the last four years (his point totals over that time: 65, 75, 90, 104). He has finished second in the Art Ross race the last two seasons.
His running mate, Bertuzzi, who has evolved into the NHL's top power forward, has seen his numbers do the same (50, 55, 85, 97). They are the go-to guys for the Canucks and get all the prime ice time, so there is no reason to believe -- except for injury -- that their numbers shouldn't continue to climb. Just a little more will be enough to earn Naslund top-scorer honors.
That's not to say there won't be some contenders from the East. The problem facing the players on the top teams in the East is the balance of their attacks. The Ottawa Senators are regarded as a Stanley Cup favorite by many, but their offense is so well-balanced it is difficult for a Marian Hossa or Daniel Alfredsson to compile the kind of numbers necessary to win the Art Ross.
Last year, for instance, despite playing for the third-highest scoring team in the league, no Senator cracked the top 10 in scoring (Hossa was 14th while Alfredsson was 16th).
The best bet from the East for the scoring title remains Boston Bruins center Joe Thornton, who finished third last year, just five points behind Forsberg, despite missing wingman Sergei Samsonov. Samsonov is back this year and, along with Glen Murray, gives the Bruins what might be the top scoring line in the Eastern Conference this season.
Two other contenders are Jaromir Jagr of the Washington Capitals and Dany Heatley of the Atlanta Thrashers, but there are questions surrounding both. Jagr has seen his production drop dramatically since leaving the Penguins (217 points during his last two years in Steeltown vs. 156 during first two years in Washington). If he can find happiness in D.C., he could be a threat. It remains to be seen how Heatley's serious car accident Monday will affect him both physically and mentally. While he sustained a broken jaw, teammate Daniel Snyder suffered a fractured skull and was in critical condition. Before the accident, Heatley might have been poised to crack the 100-point barrier this season.
The biggest wild card in all of this debate, of course, is Pittsburgh Penguins star Mario Lemieux. He is in great shape and he can never be written off as a threat to win his seventh Art Ross Trophy and bring it back to Pittsburgh, the trophy's unofficial home (between Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, it's been there in 11 of the last 16 seasons).
Though the Penguins lack for depth, they still have the likes of a Martin Straka and Aleksey Morozov, who could combine with Lemieux to give them a potent top line, and, along with defenseman Dick Tarnstrom, a good power play.
If Lemieux has anything to say about it, Art Ross will be back "home" in the East.
Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.
