From: smale@healthy.uwaterloo.ca (Bryan Smale)
Subject: This year's biggest and worst (opinion)...
Keywords: NHL, awards
Organization: University of Waterloo
Lines: 55


I was thinking about who on each of the teams were the MVPs, biggest
surprises, and biggest disappointments this year. Now, these are just
my observations and are admittedly lacking because I have not had an
opportunity to see all the teams the same amount. Anyway....
  
MVP = most valuable player to his team both in terms of points and
      in terms of leadership ("can't win without him")
  
Biggest surprise = the player who rose above expectation -- the player
      that may have raised the level of his game to a new height, even
      if that new level doesn't necessarily warrant an allstar berth
      (includes those players who at the outset of the season, may not
      even have been in the team's plans).
   
Biggest disappointment = the player from whom we expected more (e.g., I
      picked Denis Savard in Montreal because with the new emphasis on
      offence brought by Demers, shouldn't Savard have done better?)
   
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
                        Team           Biggest       Biggest
Team:                   MVP:          Surprise:    Disappointment:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Boston Bruins           Oates          D.Sweeney     Wesley
Buffalo Sabres          Lafontaine     Mogilny       Audette (jinx?)
Calgary Flames          Roberts        Reichel       Petit
Chicago Blackhawks      Roenick        Ruuttu        Goulet
Detroit Red Wings       Yzerman        Chaisson      Kozlov
Edmonton Oilers         Manson         Buchberger    Mellanby
Hartford Whalers        Sanderson      Cassells      Corriveau
Los Angeles Kings       Robitaille     Donnelly      Hrudey
Minnesota North Stars   Modano      Tinordi(not expected back)  Broten
Montreal Canadiens      Muller         Lebeau        Savard
New Jersey Devils       Stevens        Semak         MacLean
New York Islanders      Turgeon        King(finally) Marois
New York Rangers        Messier        Kovalev       Bourque
Ottawa Senators         MacIver        Baker         Jelinek
Philadelphia Flyers     Lindros/Recchi Fedyk/Galley  Eklund
Pittsburgh Penguins     Lemieux        Tocchet(even for him)  Jagr
Quebec Nordiques        Sakic/Ricci    Kovalenko     Pearson
San Jose Sharks         Kisio          Gaudreau      Maley
St Louis Blues          Shanahan       C.Joseph      Ron Sutter
Tampa Bay Lightening    Bradley        Bradley       Creighton/Kasper
Toronto Maple Leafs     Gilmour        Potvin        Ellett/Anderson
Vancouver Canucks       Bure           Nedved(finally)    Momesso
Washington Capitals     Hatcher        Bondra/Cote   Elynuik
Winnipeg Jets           Selanne        Selanne       Druce
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
As I mentioned up top, these are my *impressions* from where I sit. I
would welcome any opinions from those fans nearer their teams (in other
words, *anywhere* away from a Toronto newspaper!)
   
Bryan