then and now my mvp was MSL. i have to remember my reasoning but i’ll come back to this. i was very sure of it at the time.
I agree (not about St. Louis)
ok i’ve been sitting on this and this is how i remember the 2011 season:
basically, after crosby got hurt, the year was dominated statistically by three sets of linemates: getzlaf/perry, stamkos/MSL, and the sedins.
perry had the absolutely bonkers stretch run, but outside of that he and getzlaf were producing at the same clip when both were in the lineup. so this is where my memory and me looking at the stats don’t quite add up: my memory is when getzlaf came back into the lineup after missing six weeks, perry exploded. but looking at the game logs, perry got hot two games before getzlaf’s return, two assists in a loss to SJ and all three goals in a 3-0 win against colorado, which brought his non-getzlaf scoring pace up to exactly the same pt/game average he had before getzlaf got hurt. but that was a very good stretch, with them each going 2 pts/game in getzlaf’s first five games back, before perry goes cold (2 pts in his next 7) but getzlaf keep scoring (7 pts). i think this is where my misremembering came from, and i think at large most ppl were giving getzlaf a lot of the credit here for their recent hot streak, which makes sense because through their careers getzlaf was objectively the key guy offensively in their duo.
then in the last month perry goes nuts. 19 goals, 30 pts in 16 games. getzlaf is not chopped liver (21 assists, 24 pts) but perry leaves him and everyone else in the dust.
i’m replaying all this because the reason i had MSL as my MVP that year was his scoring consistency that year, especially relative to his linemate stamkos.
- through the first month and a half, stamkos had 19 goals in 19 games, and was 5 pts up on crosby for the league lead (MSL was in third place, one assist from an assist/game)
nov 18 | | goals | assists | pts |
1. | stamkos | 19 | 15 | 34 |
2. | crosby | 13 | 16 | 29 |
3. | MSL | 8 | 18 | 26 |
9. | perry | 9 | 13 | 22 |
- then he cooled down and only scored 2 goals, 6 pts in his next 9 games (MSL has 8 pts).
dec 7 | | goals | assists | pts |
1. | crosby | 24 | 24 | 48 |
2. | stamkos | 21 | 19 | 40 |
3. | ovechkin | 12 | 23 | 35 |
4. | MSL | 11 | 23 | 34 |
14. | perry | 12 | 16 | 28 |
- then stamkos gets going again: 10 goals, 16 pts in 10 games. MSL has the same 16 pts, but with the assists and goals inverted.
dec 30 | | goals | assists | pts |
1. | crosby | 32 | 33 | 65 |
2. | stamkos | 31 | 25 | 56 |
3. | MSL | 16 | 34 | 50 |
6. | perry | 20 | 22 | 42 |
- then cold again: 0 goals, 1 assist in the next 6 (MSL also cools down but has 1 assist, 2 goals, both GWGs — one was in OT, the other broke a third period tie in an eventual 2-1 game).
jan 12 | | goals | assists | pts |
1. | crosby | 32 | 34 | 66 |
2. | stamkos | 31 | 26 | 57 |
3. | daniel | 25 | 30 | 55 |
4. | henrik | 9 | 46 | 55 |
5. | MSL | 18 | 35 | 53 |
8. | perry | 22 | 25 | 47 |
- and one last good run for stamkos: 9 goals, 17 pts in 12 games. MSL has “only” 11 assists, 13 pts.
feb 12 | | goals | assists | pts |
1. | stamkos | 40 | 34 | 74 |
2. | daniel | 29 | 44 | 73 |
3. | henrik | 12 | 55 | 67 |
4. | MSL | 20 | 46 | 66 |
4. | crosby | 32 | 34 | 66 |
8. | perry | 28 | 31 | 59 |
- over the rest of the season, stamkos scores only 5 goals and 17 pts in the remaining 26 games. by contrast, MSL takes the team by the horns and puts up 11 goals, 22 assists, 33 pts. he’s third in the league, within spitting distance of perry and getzlaf over those last seven weeks. and most importantly (and this got lost in perry’s hot streak that propelled the ducks into the #4 seed), in the last eight games, tampa went 7-1, pulling them from 11th in the league to tied for 7th (although unfortunately for their playoff seeding they only passed western teams, and the team they tied — boston, same amount of wins and pts, but lost on the tiebreaker — ended up getting the game 7 home game over them in the eastern finals). anyway, this was tampa’s first playoff berth in four years and MSL outscored everyone in that span other than perry and a bonkers 1.5 goals/game//2+ pts/game run by ginla, carrying lecavalier back from the dead.
end | | goals | assists | pts |
1. | daniel | 41 | 63 | 104 |
2. | MSL | 31 | 68 | 99 |
3. | perry | 50 | 48 | 98 |
4. | henrik | 19 | 75 | 94 |
5. | stamkos | 45 | 46 | 91 |
doing all this again, i think i’m still convinced that MSL was my MVP. he just was the motor no matter what. no shade to perry’s rightfully excellent season, and daniel sedin, who was marvellous as well. but hard to give it to daniel when that team had four absolutely top guys (previous year’s hart/ross winner, the selke winner who also was top five in goals, and a vezina finalist) and the depth to be the league leader in pts, GF, and GA.