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The Best of Everything in Hockey
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
THE TEXAS TORMENTOR
STEVE OTT AGE 29 BORN SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. HT 6-0 WT 192 TEAM DALLAS NHL SEASONS 8 DRAFTED 25TH, 2000 There’s a great YouTube video where Steve Ott is trying to annoy then-Anaheim Ducks winger Mike Brown through the Plexiglas between the benches, just like your kid brother used to bother you in the back seat of the car. That is the genius of Ott. As much as he can go crazy at times, he is more of an annoyance – a constant itch that never goes away. He picks at opponents using goofy faces, taunting looks and funny lines, just as much as he does with a well-placed stick jab or face-wash. In fact, the humor he uses to embrace his job is one of the ways he makes the game fun for his teammates and even the opposition. “Sometimes you…
A FLICK OF THE WRISTS
PHIL KESSEL AGE 24 BORN MADISON, WISC. HT 5-11 HT 202 TEAM TORONTO NHL SEASONS 5 DRAFTED 5TH, 2006 Slapshots are for the big and strong. They cave in shin pads and burn holes through nets. They are cannons. But to watch Phil Kessel score a goal with his wrist shot is like watching a hunter kill a bear with a bowand-arrow. It is silent and deadly accurate. In a way, it is beautiful. The thing you notice first with Kessel’s wrist shot is the flex. He makes the stick look like a palm tree in a hurricane, bending it so hard against the ice you expect it to snap in half. But before it does, the stick violently whips forward as though it were a taut elastic band that has finally been released. Our 40-member panel voted Kessel tied…
ONE AND DONE
ATLANTA THRASHERS | 2006-07 Considering the history of the Atlanta Thrashers – winner of zero post-season games in a decade of existence – the concept of “best team” is somewhat relative. Although the New York Rangers swept them in the first round, the 2006-07 Thrashers won a Southeast Division title and made the playoffs, two accomplishments no other Atlanta team can claim. The ’06-07 Thrashers took a hit before the season, when high-scoring center Marc Savard signed with Boston in the summer. However, you wouldn’t have known by their record. They started the year with an 8-2-3 mark through the month of October and benefited from solid goaltending by Kari Lehtonen and a veteran-heavy collection (including Slava Kozlov, Scott Mellanby and Bobby Holik) whose experience was valued by coach Bob Hartley and GM…
ADVERSITY CONQUERED
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS | 1991-92 The Penguins put an exclamation point on their second straight NHL crown by winning their final 11 games, but getting there wasn’t easy. The champs had to overcome contract squabbles, critical injuries and, most significantly, the tragic death of their coach. The secrets to their success? Dazzling depth, top-end talent and fierce desire. “We had spectacular players,” said TSN’s Pierre McGuire, an assistant coach with the ’91-92 club. “It’s scary in terms of what it would cost to keep that team together today.” The depth chart is an honor roll. Start in the middle, with the best player in the league that season, Mario Lemieux, followed by an in-his-prime Ron Francis. The No. 3 center was Bryan Trottier. On right wing, 40-goal man Joey Mullen was followed by Mark…
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