Karlsson for Norris; video review; East, West playoff races (Puck Daddy Power Rankings)

[Author's note: Power rankings are usually three things: Bad, wrong, and boring. You typically know just as well as the authors which teams won what games against who and what it all means, so our moving the Red Wings up four spots or whatever really doesn't tell you anything you didn't know. Who's hot, who's not, who cares? For this reason, we're doing a power ranking of things that are usually not teams. You'll see what I mean.]

8. ERIK KARLSSON DOESN'T PLAY DEFENSE!!!!

The 20 coaches polled by Bob McKenzie this week to see who they thought should win the various awards really kicked a hornets' nest by saying Erik Karlsson was the clear Norris winner.

That's because people around the league are still like in 2012 and think he doesn't play defense or he's bad at defense or he doesn't care about defense. “Whatever, he's only good at offense, guys!”

Except that this isn't true and hasn't been for some time now. It turns out players get better as they age. And, wow, his minutes are getting more difficult, too? And he's still dominating the competition to a ludicrous extent. His corsi relative is 11th in the NHL among defensemen with at least 1,000 minutes at 5-on-5, and he's one of just five defensemen all year to play at least 1,500 minutes there (Drew Doughty, Ryan Suter, Roman Josi, and T.J. Brodie are the others). Of that group, his relative corsi is more than double the next-closest guy's.

This is data from the last three seasons showing offensive production — points and corsi-for per 60 — among all D with at least 1,500 minutes. Look where Karlsson is (and keep in mind Brent Burns spent a lot of his time the last three years as a forward).

That tells a bit of a story, doesn't it? And sure, that's only offense, but it illustrates the extent to which Karlsson keeps play in his attacking end. If this was all he did — and the perception is that this is the case — then you'd have to at least say he's running the show when he's on the ice, which should really be all you want out of any player.

So let's consider his play in his own zone. Going back to the “all defensemen with at least 1,500 minutes this year” criteria, we can examine his play against the other four defensemen who get used the most in the league. And please keep in mind that you can't “hide” someone in your lineup from good competition when he's playing 1,500 minutes in 79 games.

Doughty is by far the best in terms of limiting opponent shooting attempts, allowing just 48.2 per 60 minutes. That's an insanely low number. Suter's a good ways back, at 53.3 per 60. And after that it's Karlsson at 54, which is worth about an extra two attempts every game or so.

Please remember that Suter is seen as a consummate defenseman, and Karlsson as a bum who couldn't find his way out of his own zone with a compass and a Boy Scout troop. And obviously if you're so opposed to Karlsson winning for whatever reason (you haven't watched a Senators game that closely since the most recent lockout, for instance), you'd argue well hey what about Doughty? And I'd argue, hey, what about how much better the Kings are than the Senators at possessing the puck in general? The Senators were awful for much of the year. Karlsson was one of the only things keeping them afloat.

And you know what's funny? This isn't even really Karlsson's best season.

Looking at all the numbers and stuff, the year he did the best in terms of points, goals, assists, possession, toughest assignments, and so on was 2011-12. You know, the year he didn't deserve to win the Norris.

This all relates back to the P.K. Subban thing of, “Well he turns the puck over at critical moments.” Sure, and you know who doesn't is Brooks Orpik. Because no one wants Brooks Orpik to handle it. You want your possession running through Subban and Karlsson because they are the best players on their teams, and among the best at their position in the NHL.

And so yes, sometimes they turn the puck over. But if they're leading, say, 80 percent of the rushes when they're on the ice, then they're going to turn it over more than a guy who leads, say, 10 percent. Even if they have a much higher success rate — and boy do they ever — that's a larger number of turnovers. Look who leads the league in giveaways. It's Subban. Then John Tavares, then Burns, then Joe Thornton, then Karlsson. And as you go down the list you start to say to yourself, “Wow, that's a lot of pretty good players.” Funny how that works.

Karlsson for Norris.

7. Video review

Should it really take two whole days for someone to dig up a camera angle that definitively shows a shot that went wide of the net didn't go into the net? It's 2015, right?

Look, okay, it was terribly close and all that, and you can certainly see where people would be miffed at the review process there. But that Sens/Leafs game was over Sunday night, and it really shouldn't get to the point where we're only getting this above-the-net angle on Tuesday afternoon.

The puck didn't go behind the Stemmons Freeway sign. There were like 40 cameras pointed at it. Figure it out, guys.

6. The East playoff race

Look, it's fun and everything to say, “Hey the Senators really are knocking on the door here,” but their ROW situation really makes them a bit of an outsider, especially with only two games left, both of which are on the road. They probably don't have to win out, but they have to come pretty damn close.

Nothing would be funnier than one of Pittsburgh, Detroit, or Boston missing the playoffs for a team that fired its coach at midseason at had to rely on a submediocre minor-leaguer to win all these games.

In order of comedy: Detroit (snapping the losing streak), Boston (everyone throws rotten eggs and Gregory Campbell), and Pittsburgh (I will feel really bad for all the undeserved blame Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin get).

But my gut says it's all for nothing. That really bums me out.

5. Dougie Hamilton's broken ribs

Hey, remember the last time a high Bruins draft pick tried to play in the postseason with broken ribs? Haha just kidding, have a good offseason in San Jose, Jumbo.

4. The Sharks getting bounced

Speaking of which, Monday night's results well and truly and officially ended the Sharks' chances of making the playoffs this season, which will be the first time in more than a decade that's been the case. Winter is coming in San Jose, and the sunny days of laughing their way to 100 easy points and a top seed in the West are gone, having been blown up pretty good by Doug Wilson and his pursuit of toughness and leadership, rather than good hockey players.

All of which was predictable. You had to see this coming. And maybe it's a good thing for the future of the franchise that this probably is what's going to push Thornton to seek a trade and maybe get Marleau shuffled out of the lineup. Maybe it gets Brent Burns moved back up front, and Wilson fired. Maybe it gets them to use actual hockey players and not John Scott on a regular basis.

Wilson's grand vision for the season wasn't so much a rebuild as it was dynamiting a side of the reliable, concrete foundation upon which so much success has been built and replacing it with Lego. The bottom of this club was an NHL team in name only.

And people are going to pay. Managerial blood will be spilled. It'll all be deserved.

3. Patrick Kane coming back (maybe?)

The reports started coming out around the end of last week: Patrick Kane is skating. Patrick Kane is healing faster than expected. Patrick Kane is taking one-timers. Patrick Kane is eating a peanut butter sandwich.

Great, you all realize Patrick Kane is also six weeks away from returning, right? So let's can it with the breathless updates.

2. One-goal games

James Mirtle touched on this the other day as it relates specifically to the Los Angeles Kings, but in the time since he wrote that, they suffered another one-goal loss, this time in the shootout, to Vancouver.

As is the case every year, games decided by a single goal (or none, really, if you count shootout losses) have a major impact on the standings. For instance, Calgary entered last night 18-14-7 in one-goal games, a winning percentage of .551. Meanwhile, the Kings, following their SOL to Vancouver, fell to 13-9-15, or .539.

Now, that's not a huge difference, but look how many points the Kings have given away in extra time this year. They're 1-7 in overtime, and 2-8 in the shootout. They also entered Tuesday night tied with Calgary in the standings. Suffice it to say that the Flames were 9-4 in OT and 4-3 in shootouts over the same stretch. That's 17 OT games for the Kings, and 20 for Calgary. Who says the loser point doesn't provide (fake) parity?!

Which brings us to...

1. The West playoff race

It's been pretty apparent for a while now the Western Conference playoff spots would be decided in the final two games of the season, and boy are they going to be interesting.

Calgary and Los Angeles play tomorrow night in Calgary, while Winnipeg likely has two gimme points lined up in Colorado. Saturday, on the last day of the season, it's Calgary at Winnipeg, while Los Angeles hosts dead-in-the-water San Jose.

That's a tough out for the Flames, but man it's going to be fun to watch.

(Not ranked this week: Rob Ford on the Hockey Hall of Fame board of directors. I've always said you'd have to smoke crack to have held Pat Burns out as long as they did.)

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