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If Chris Higgins has learned one thing during a nomadic eight-year NHL career, it's the importance of not changing his game despite changing addresses.
It's a lesson that served the wing well while bouncing up and down -- and often on both sides of -- the Canucks' forward lines this year. Despite the ever-changing circumstances and an 11-game absence caused by staph infections, higgins approached the 20-goal plateau.
For two seasons, Marc Staal was the Rangers' No. 1 defenseman, leading the team in minutes played while slowly improving the offensive side of his game.
However, concussion symptoms stemming from a hit during the previous season kept him out of the team's first 36 games of the 2011-12 campaign, and Staal has been playing catch-up ever since making his season debut in the Winter Classic on Jan. 2.
Coach John Tortorella says Staal will need an offseason and full training camp to return to his earlier form, but the 25-year-old has been improving throughout the second half of this season. Staal is showing more confidence in terms of joining the rush and has been playing more than 20 minutes per game since mid-February.
Sharks captain Joe Thornton calls forward Joe Pavelski a "dirty player." And yes, that's a huge compliment.
"He just gets in dirty areas," Thornton said. "He wills himself in front of the net. A lot of guys don't want to necessarily go there. But he's made a living going to the front of the net."
Pavelski doesn't command as much of the Sharks' spotlight as Thornton, Patrick Marleau or first-time All-Star Logan Couture, but he could make a huge impact in San Jose's first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series with his gritty play and knack for getting the puck on his stick in front of the opponent's net.
It's becoming a more common sight for the Chicago Blackhawks.
An opposing defenseman heads back to get a puck in his own zone, thinking he's in the clear. Suddenly, a blur in a Blackhawks uniform comes motoring along and beats the defenseman to it -- scooping the puck himself and heading for the net at top speed.
That blur's name is Viktor Stalberg and the 6-foot-3, 209-pound Swedish forward is starting to make a name for himself across the League in just his second full season. Blessed with overpowering speed, the 26-year old Stalberg has become an "X-Factor" as the Hawks head into the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Everyone marvels at Zdeno Chara's famous workout regimen and incredible physical fitness.
His long-distance cycling, climbing of Mt. Kilimanjaro and near-30-minute average ice time each season are all front-and-center in the story of the NHL legend. With less fanfare, however, another Boston Bruins defenseman combined with Chara to gut out nearly 30 minutes of ice time a night to help the Bruins win last season's Stanley Cup.
Dennis Seidenberg averaged 27 minutes, 37 seconds to Chara's 27:39 as the two formed a No. 1 defense pair that kept opposing snipers at bay through most of Boston's monumental run. This year, Seidenberg hopes he can repeat that feat.
To say that 2011-12 was a breakout season for Erik Karlsson would be putting it mildly.
The Senators expected big things from Karlsson when they took him with the No. 15 pick in the 2008 NHL Draft. He was OK as a rookie in 2009-10 and improved to 13 goals and 45 points the following season -- though his minus-30 rating hinted at problems in the defensive zone.
But a young player's third season is often the one in which the light goes on, and few lights have been shining brighter this season than Karlsson's.
The 21-year-old has been far and away the NHL's biggest point producer among defensemen. He joined Hall of Fame members Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey and Denis Potvin as the only players in NHL history to lead all other defensemen in scoring by more than 20 points. He's the biggest reason the Senators have gone from No. 13 in the East this past season to seventh -- and back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After back-to-back 28-goal seasons, Chris Stewart was one of those players labeled to have a breakthrough campaign, one in which eclipsing the 30- or 40-goal plateau seemed reachable.
But heading into the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stewart hasn't even reached the 20-goal mark, which was far below what was expected of the power forward.
But in the 200-foot game of coach Ken Hitchcock, there have to be concessions made by some players. Playing both ends of the ice can take away from a player's personal stats.
"He's got a lot of talent, and I think he'd be the first to admit that this year hasn't been perfect for him," Blues winger Jamie Langenbrunner said of Stewart. "But he's also learned to play a lot more of a team game. It's one thing to go out and score 30 goals when you don't have to play in your own end and do that; but playing for Hitch, that's not going to happen.
DETROIT -- Jonathan Ericsson is another one of those Detroit Red Wings who make people marvel at the team's European scouting system.
The 28-year old defenseman, who signed a three-year contract extension this past summer to stay in Detroit, was selected in the ninth round (No. 291) of the 2002 NHL Draft. By the way, that also happened to be the last pick in that draft. The NHL Draft has since been shortened to seven rounds.
The NFL would've labeled Ericsson "Mr. Irrelevant" and mockingly honored him with all kinds of fun gift packages. The 6-foot-4, 221-pound Ericsson, however, just began his journey to the NHL in relative obscurity.
As this season progressed and the Los Angeles Kings, expected to be a contender for the Stanley Cup after adding Mike Richards and Simon Gagne in the offseason, one thing became pretty clear -- they needed to score more goals.
Jonathan Quick was producing a Vezina Trophy-quality season in net, but the Kings were unable to find a place among the top teams in the Western Conference because the offense was severely deficient. General manager Dean Lombardi went searching for an upgrade as the trade deadline approached and he landed Richards' old friend, Jeff Carter, from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Carter had six goals and nine points in 16 games for the Kings after his arrival. Nothing spectacular, but his presence was clearly felt. The Kings, who were 30th in the NHL in goals before the trade, started scoring like a team closer to the top of the offensive standings.
| Laden with AHL talent
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