Unleash the Kraken! A Seattle/32-team NHL Story...

[BKarchitect]

Carolina Trades for Petry

The upstart Carolina Hurricanes further beefed up an already impressive defense by snagging veteran defender Jeff Petry from the hopeless Canadiens for young center Nicolas Roy and the rights to recent 2017 3rd round pick Stelio Mattheos.

Carolina currently sits in 7th place in the Eastern Conference seeding but are 5th overall in the East in points and look like good bets to make the playoffs. A possible defensive unit with Petry might look something like:

Slavin-Pesce
Faulk-Petry
Hanifin-van Riemsdyk

That's pretty salty. For Montreal, they acquire a big French-Canadian center in Roy who has upside and could be a nice long-term fit on a club dying for upgrades at that position. And the speedy Mattheos, a former #1 overall WHL Bantam pick, is an intriguing young prospect. Petry was easily Montreal's second best defender but this was good value. The only question left is who else do the Habs look to off-load before next month's deadline? Rumors continue to swirl around superstar Shea Weber and interest is high. Stay tuned...

[BKarchitect]

Anaheim Trades for Cammalleri

The Los Angeles Kings continued their rebuild today by sending veteran winger Mike Cammalleri, who had signed last off-season for another stint with the Kings, to their blood rivals, the Anaheim Ducks for the Ducks' 1st round pick in this spring's draft. The Ducks will look for Cammalleri (11 goals and 27 points in 53 games) to provide short-term secondary scoring as they currently sit in 6th out West. An additional first rounder in the deep 2018 draft is well worth it for LA.

[BKarchitect]

NY Islanders Trade for Tanev

The NY Islanders, in the midst of another disappointing season (currently 13th in the Eastern Conference) made a surprise move today by acquiring excellent defensive defenseman Chris Tanev from the Canucks for a trio of defensive prospects. With Travis Hamonic traded last off-season and Calvin de Haan a pending UFA - Tanev is a welcomed addition. With the Isles able to lock up Tavares through 2025, they need to show him good faith in constructing a better team and this is a step in the right direction, even if the payoff is not for this season.

From the Isles, the Canucks will receive defender Scott Mayfield and the rights to defensive prospects Robin Salo and David Quenneville. Although in 10th place in the West, the Canucks are 10 points out of 8th and are looking towards the future. Whether this package was enough in return for Tanev is the subject of some debate. Mayfield, 25, is a rugged defender who has been an NHL/AHL tweener in his career so far. Quenneville is a talented waterbug of a defender in the WHL where he is currently averaging more than a PPG from the blueline - however, his ultimate upside is questionable due to his small frame. Robin Salo is the main prize here. The Isles second round pick last June is already a regular in Finland's Liiga, playing a reliable brand of hockey against men at age 19.

[BKarchitect]

January 2018 Report

After showing some signs of progress in December, the Kraken went back into the toilet after the holiday break, managing to collect only 3 points in the entire month of January. While there have been a few consistent performers and Stephane Da Costa's return has been a boost offensively - the team continues to leak goals. Jiri Hudler continues to lead the way with 35 points, Brian Gionta has 19 goals and 34 points while John Mitchell (15 goals, 30 points), Thomas Vanek (12 goals, 29 points) and Danis Zaripov (13 goals, 28 points) are the other decent offensive performers with Chris Lee scoring 20 points from the blueline. Look for Kraken management to try and trade as many of these guys as possible for picks before the end of next month - although it remains to be seen if there will be many takers.



AROUND THE LEAGUE:

- With nearly 3/4 of the season gone, it's time for the playoff contenders to step up. In the East, the brilliance of Taylor Hall has lifted the remarkable and surprising New Jersey Devils to the top of the conference, narrowly over Columbus and Washington while the upstart Maple Leafs lead the Atlantic over Tampa Bay. Other spots are up for grabs with really only the once proud Bruins and Habs completely out of it. Out West, Nashville is flexing their muscles and look to do last year one series victory better. The Wild, Stars, Sharks and young Coyotes all look in good shape with really only the 8th spot currently in question - although there is lots of time left.

- Claude Giroux has a sizeable lead in overall scoring right now with Taylor Hall having a big lead in the goal scoring rankings. Hall should easily top 50 goals this season while Giroux could top the century mark in points. Jakub Voracek, Jeff Skinner and Aleksander Barkov continue to have great seasons. While the usual young suspects like Austin Matthews, Patrik Laine and Jack Eichel continue to shine - watch out for Jesse Puljujarvi. The Finnish winger struggled in his rookie campaign last season but is coming on like gang-busters right now and is in the top 10 in goal scoring. His iconic teammate, Connor McDavid, has missed a few games with injury and although 50 points in 53 games is nothing to sneeze at - we all know he has another level he isn't hitting this season. Likewise, it's been a struggle all year for Pens superstars Sidney Crosby (40 points in 51 games) and Evgeni Malkin (only 29 points in 54 games).

- Defensively, the race for the Norris and defensive scoring title are up in the air with no huge standouts. Ryan Ellis (39 points, +29) may be in line for his turn as the star of a star-studded Nashville defense while Jaccob Slavin (37 points, +20) continues to grow into a #1 defenseman for Nashville. The Leafs' Morgan Reilly has had a nice bounce back campaign (35 points, +26) and it's hard to ignore the Blue Jackets duo of Zach Werenski (34 points, +24) and Seth Jones (32 points, +24). Erik Karlsson (26 points) and Brent Burns (27 points) have not been their normal prolific selves this season.

- Nico Hischier looks to have a pretty insurmountable lead in the Calder race with 45 points in 55 games far out-pacing Henrik Haapala's 36 points and Dylan Strome's 33 points. His main challenge looks likely to come from Dallas defender Julius Honka who boasts impressive scoring (31 points) and defensive (+18) statistics while averaging over 20 minutes per game on the Stars blueline. No rookie goalie has taken over starting duties for any team although Edmonton's Laurent Brossoit (9-6-2 record) has been able when called upon.

[BKarchitect]

Predators Trade for Edler

Last season's Stanley Cup runners up, already featuring the most fearsome top 4 group of defenders in the league and boasting the best record in the NHL just got even better. Not content to leave things to chance, Nashville feels it is their year and to that end just added another veteran, top-pairing quality defender to the most ridiculous group of blueliners assembled in a long time. They sent young AHL standout defender Alexandre Carrier, former 1st round pick Dante Fabbro and a 2nd round pick in the upcoming 2018 draft to Vancouver for Alexander Edler.

Josi-Ellis
Ekholm-Subban
Edler-Emelin

That's pretty outrageous. Great deal though for the Canucks as well, having already dealt Chris Tanev a few days prior. Carrier is a skilled puck-mover who should be able to step in as a regular by next season while Fabbro is the real prize, a first round pick with all-around ability having a breakout season with Boston University in the NCAA's. With those two added to the collection of defenders including Robin Salo obtained for Tanev and Olli Juolevi making a real impact as a rookie this year, the defensive future in Vancouver has been revamped.

[BKarchitect]

Kraken Make Series of Trades/Pick-ups

This past week the Kraken have been busy making a series of relatively small moves that don't grab the headlines but nonetheless should be discussed.

Seattle traded winger Lauri Korpikoski to Arizona for wing/center Jordan Martinook and then traded winger Daniel Winnik to the NY Rangers for winger Jesper Fast.
- A couple of similar moves where the Kraken have been able to get younger players back for older ones. Although all of the players being exchanged are no better than third-line type talents, Martinook and Fast are better long-term fits on this building franchise. Martinook is an industrious, heady player who can play a bit physical and chips in just enough offensively. Fast is...well...fast and also excels defensively and works hard. These are lead by example players with lots of energy and never-say-die attitudes.

Seattle picked up winger Nathan Walker and winger Emile Poirier off waivers from Washington and Calgary respectively.
- If you think Martinook and Fast are hard workers - they have nothing on Walker who is just a fireball on ice. His overall skillset at the NHL level is limited but hes still young and is at the very least a guy who can play on the 4th line and not hurt you. Poirier is kind of the opposite - fast and physically talented but has never been the sum of his parts. This may be his last good shot to make a name for himself...and if he can't, Europe is probably calling.

[BKarchitect]

Winnipeg Trades for Yandle

Winnipeg has signaled their intent this season with a bold move for All-Star defender Keith Yandle from the Florida Panthers. The Jets are in 7th place in the West but well-positioned to do some damage and the addition of Yandle on the left side gives the Jets a nicely balanced and strong defensive unit with Trouba, Byfuglien, Morrissey, Myers, Kulikov and now aging Tobias Enstrom can come off the bench. Florida has struggled this year but Yandle has been brilliant, with 37 points and a +21 in 56 games. The Western powers are really starting to load up and we aren't even to the trade deadline yet.

Going to Florida in exchange are 2017 1st round pick Kristian Vesalainen, 2017 5th rounder Leon Gawanke and the Jets' 1st round pick in this June. Florida loves their Finns and Vesalainen is a good one; he's got 10 goals for HPK this year in Liiga against men. Gawanke is a project but has terrific offensive tools as witnessed by his 48 points in 47 games in the QMJHL this year. Add in a valuable 1st rounder and it's a pretty satisfying package of futures as the market for Yandle was red-hot.

[BKarchitect]

2018 Trade Deadline Extravaganza!

Trade deadline week was extra busy this year with two expansion teams and the Olympic Break giving clubs a chance to really wheel and deal without having to worry about NHL games on the schedule. Here's a recap of all the deals made this season:

AUGUST '17
- Colorado trades center Matt Duchene to Columbus for defenseman Ryan Murray, winger Vitali Abramov and a 2018 1st round pick
- Washington trades center Lars Eller to Edmonton for the rights to winger Ostap Safin and 2018 4th and 5th round picks

OCTOBER '17
- Montreal trades defenseman Jordie Benn to Washington for two 2018 3rd round picks

NOVEMBER '17
- Vancouver trades defenseman Ben Hutton to Boston for a 2018 3rd round pick and 2019 3rd round pick
- Vegas trades defenseman Deryk Engelland and rights to center Ben Jones to Washington for a 2018 1st round pick

DECEMBER '17
- Nashville trades winger Cody McLeod to Pittsburgh for a 2018 2nd round pick and a 2019 4th round pick
- Boston trades winger Tim Schaller to Anaheim for 2018 3rd and 4th round picks
- Chicago trades center Tommy Wingels to Nashville for goalie Matt O'Connor
- Pittsburgh trades winger Ryan Reaves to Chicago for 2018 3rd and 5th round picks

JANUARY '18
- Vancouver trades defenseman Erik Gudbranson to New Jersey for a 2018 2nd round pick
- Calgary trades winger Kris Versteeg to San Jose for rights to goalie Mike Robinson and rights to center Noah Gregor
- Calgary trades center Matt Stajan and rights to winger D'Artagnan Joly to Anaheim for goalie Angus Redmond, a 2nd round 2018 pick and a 3rd round 2019 pick
- NY Islanders trade defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and a 4th round 2020 pick to New Jersey for winger Stefan Noesen and rights to defenseman Reilly Walsh
- Los Angeles trades defenseman Jake Muzzin to Detroit for winger Evgeni Svechnikov, rights to defenseman Gustav Lindstrom and rights to defenseman Malte Setkov
- Toronto trades center Eric Fehr and rights to defenseman Fedor Gordeev to Pittsburgh for defenseman Derrick Pouliot and two 2018 5th round picks
- Montreal trades defenseman Jeff Petry to Carolina for center Nicolas Roy and rights to winger Stelio Mattheos
- Winnipeg trades winger to Brendan Lemieux to Florida for defenseman Mac Weegar
- Toronto trades defenseman Calle Rosen to Vegas for rights to winger Lukas Elvenes and rights to goalie Dylan Ferguson
- Los Angeles trade winger Mike Cammalleri to Anaheim for a 2018 1st round pick
- Seattle trades winger Lauri Korpikoski to Arizona for winger Jordan Martinook
- Seattle trades winger Daniel Winnik to NY Rangers for winger Jesper Fast
- Montreal trades center Torrey Mitchell to Edmonton for a 2018 2nd round pick
- Vancouver trades defenseman Chris Tanev to NY Islanders for defenseman Scott Mayfield, rights to defenseman David Quenneville and rights to defenseman Robin Salo

FEBRUARY '18
- Vancouver trades defenseman Alexander Edler to Nashville for defenseman Alexandre Carrier, rights to defenseman Dante Fabbro and a 2018 2nd round pick
- Florida trades defenseman Keith Yandle to Winnipeg for rights to winger Kristian Vesalainen, rights to defenseman Leon Gawanke and a 2018 1st round pick
- Boston trades center Ryan Spooner to Tampa Bay for winger Gabriel Dumont and 2018 2nd and 3rd round picks
- Seattle trades defenseman Chris Lee to Nashville for 2018 2nd and 3rd round picks
- Seattle trades winger Danis Zaripov to New Jersey for 2018 1st and 4th round picks
- NY Islanders trade defenseman Calvin de Haan to New Jersey for defenseman Steve Santini and a 2018 3rd round pick
- Vegas trades winger James Neal to Columbus for rights to winger Alexandre Texier, rights to defenseman Andrew Peeke and a 2018 2nd round pick
- Seattle trades defenseman John-Michael Liles to Toronto for a 2018 2nd round pick
- Seattle trades winger Brian Gionta to NY Rangers for a 2018 3rd round pick
- Detroit trades goalie Petr Mrazek to Tampa Bay for a 2018 1st round pick
- Philadelphia trades center Valtteri Filppula and rights to winger Matt Stone for rights to winger Alexei Lipanov
- Seattle trades winger Jiri Hudler, winger Alex Chiasson and defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka to Philadelphia for center Sean Couturier, winger Michael Raffl and defenseman Samuel Morin
- Seattle trades winger Thomas Vanek to Anaheim for 2019 1st and 4th round picks
- Seattle trades goalie Jaroslav Halak to Edmonton for a 2018 3rd round pick and a 2019 4th round pick
- Buffalo trades Evander Kane to Vancouver for winger Sam Gagner and defenseman Guillaume Brisebois
- Seattle trades center Stephane Da Costa, center John Mitchell and center Peter Holland to Buffalo for center Johan Larsson, center Jacob Josefson and center Kevin Porter
- Montreal trades winger Max Pacioretty to Nashville for center Vladislav Kamenev, rights to winger Patrick Harper, rights to winger Grant Mismash, a 2018 1st round pick and a 2019 1st round pick
- Seattle trades defenseman Jakub Kindl and winger Chris Vande Velde to Dallas for defenseman Patrik Nemeth and defenseman Dillon Heatherington
- NY Islanders trades defenseman Thomas Hickey to Columbus for defenseman Blake Siebenaler
- Buffalo trades defenseman Marco Scandella to Minnesota for winger Luke Kunin and rights to defenseman Jacob Golden
- Florida trades winger Radim Vrbata to San Jose for defenseman Jeremy Roy and rights to winger Scott Reedy
- Seattle trades winger Michael Raffl, winger Henrik Samuelsson, defenseman Aaron Irving, goalie Mackenzie Skapski and 2018 3rd and 4th round picks to St. Louis for center Paul Stastny, winger Vladimir Sobotka, defenseman Carl Gunnarsson and goalie Carter Hutton
- New Jersey trades goalie Scott Wedgewood, goalie Ken Appleby, rights to defenseman Jocktan Chainey, a 2018 5th round pick and a 2019 2nd round pick to St. Louis for winger Beau Bennett and rights to defenseman David Noel
- NY Rangers trade winger Matt Puempel and a 2018 4th round pick to Columbus for defenseman Scott Harrington
- Montreal trades winger Ales Hemsky and rights to defenseman Jarret Tyszka to Tampa Bay for defenseman Matthew Spencer, defenseman Erik Cernak and two 2018 4th round picks
- Colorado trades winger Blake Comeau to San Jose for goalie Troy Grosenick and 2018 4th and 5th round picks
- Carolina trades winger Lee Stempniak to Pittsburgh for two 2018 3rd round picks
- Vegas trades defenseman Jon Merrill and rights to winger Jonas Rondbjerg to Calgary for winger Andrew Mangiapane
- Seattle trades center Paul Stastny, defenseman Cody Golobeuf and goalie Reto Berra to WInnipeg for center Jack Roslovic, winger Shawn Matthias and goalie Michael Hutchinson
- Seattle trades center Andrew Desjardins to Philadelphia for winger Matt Read

Highlights from February's deals:

Already in 1st place and having added Alexander Edler to the defense, Nashville goes out and makes the biggest splash of the year, adding Montreal Captain and premier sniper Max Pacioretty to the offense:


Columbus is looking to win it all and have complimented the Duchene acquisition earlier in the year by adding sniping winger James Neal from Vegas:


Vancouver traded basically everybody on their defense (Edler, Tanev, Hutton, Gudbranson) but did make a big add up front, dealing Sam Gagner and a prospect for enigmatic but talented power forward Evander Kane:


Winnipeg added Keith Yandle earlier in the year and then added center Paul Stastny up front:


The Devils were very busy all year, upgrading the defense with Calvin de Haan, Erik Gudbranson and Dennis Seidenberg and adding Danis Zaripov up front:


Tampa brought back Valtteri Filppula along with Ryan Spooner up front and gave Vasilevskiy some competition in net by acquiring Petr Mrazek from Detroit:


Minnesota brought back Marco Scandella on defense from Vegas but the cost was high:

[BKarchitect]

Kraken Post-Trade Deadline Depth Chart

The Kraken made no less than 14 trades this season and also have 4 waiver wire claims on the team. To say the team is different now than a month ago is an understatement. The league has never seen a flurry of activity from one club like this - but then again, the circumstances of Seattle's entry were also a unique handicap. The goal the past month was to start shaping a roster for next season and the long-term. To that end, most of the better performing veterans this season so far, all of whom were all one year deals, were dealt to acquire longer-term assets.

Prior:


Post:


- In goal, there is a completely new duo with Michael Hutchinson and Carter Hutton. Neither is a great long-term solution but neither Halak nor Berra distinguished themselves in their time in goal so being able to move them and not significantly downgrade while getting younger was a net gain.

- On defense, the group has gotten overall tighter defensively with Carl Gunnarsson and Patrick Nemeth replacing Lee and Liles. Samuel Morin and Dillon Heatherington provide a couple of nice prospects for the future to go along with Will Butcher.

- The group of wingers on each side has probably lost skill overall with the likes of Hudler, Vanek and Zaripov shown the door. In their place, a younger group with speed, grit, defensively ability and most of all tons of energy has taken their place with the likes of Vladimir Sobotka, Jordan Martinook, Jesper Fast, and J.T. Brown.

- The biggest improvement is at center where the Kraken have been able to acquire a couple of real building blocks in Sean Couturier and Jack Roslovic. Couturier will get a chance to shine both defensively and offensively as the #1 pivot while Roslovic was called up immediately upon acquisition and has good upside. Johan Larsson is a versatile addition who is fierce defensively.

[BKarchitect]

United States is Golden At 2018 Olympics!

The USA edged Sweden in a shootout thriller to bring home the Gold as Sweden settled for Silver. The Czechs took down their neighbors Slovakia to take the Bronze. Here is a breakdown of how the tournament unfolded:

Group Stage: Sweden edged the USA to take Group A, with the USA having to join Switzerland and Italy in the playoff qualifying round. The Czech Republic won Group B with Finland, Slovakia and Belarus sent to the playoff qualifiers. And Russia edged Canada to take Group C although Canada got the 4th and final automatic quarterfinal spot, with Norway and Latvia sent to the playoff qualifiers out of Group C.

Playoff Qualifiers: With Sweden, Czech Republic, Russia and Canada having byes, the other 8 teams faced off in the playoff qualifying round. The USA crushed Italy 14-0, Finland beat Belarus 5-1, Slovakia triumphed over Latvia 5-2 while in the only upset, Norway upstaged the Swiss 3-1.

Playoff Quarterfinals: The quarterfinal round was much more exciting. Sweden won as predicted 3-0 over Norway getting great games from their future Hall of Famers - Henrik Lundqvist with the shoutout and Henrik Zetterberg scoring a goal and captaining the side flawlessly. The Czechs dominated the Finns 5-2 with Jiri Hudler, Jakub Voracek and David Krejci scoring 2 points apiece and Petr Mrazek playing well in net. Tuukka Rask laid a stinker for Finland. In a shock - Slovakia edged Russia 1-0 despite being outshot 38-20. Jaroslav Halak was brilliant in net with veteran Marian Gaborik netting the game-winner as the usually explosive Russian offense was held completely in-check. And in the round's most exciting game, the USA edged rivals Canada 3-2 in a shootout. Goals from Joe Pavelski and Max Pacioretty gave the USA a 2-0 lead heading into the 3rd period but Canada stormed back to tie the game on goals from Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin. Defenseman Seth Jones won it for the USA in the shootout with USA goalie Cory Schenier stoning all the Canadian shooters. Carey Price and Jamie Benn were standouts for Canada while Johnny Gaudreau was the straw that stirred the drink for the American offense.

Playoff Semifinals: No drama in the semi's as luck ran out for both the Czechs and Slovaks. The USA pounded the Czechs 6-0 with Phil Kessel and young Matthew Tkachuk each neeting a goal and 2 assists while Max Pacioretty and Derek Stepan chipped in a goal and assist each. Same scoreline in the other game as Slovakia was pushed aside easily by Sweden, 6-0. The Swedes held a ridiculous 51-16 shot advantage. Oliver Ekman-Larsson roamed the offensive zone at will with a goal and 2 asissts while Marcus Johansson, Nicklas Backstrom and Elias Lindholm had 2 points each.

Bronze Medal Game: The Bronze Medal Game was a thriller between the rival Czechs and Slovaks. The Czechs went up early in the first period, 3-1 with goals from Martin Hanzal, David Krejci and Ondrej Palat. Marko Dano reduced the Slovak deficit to 3-2 in the second period before Martin Reway's second goal of the game tied things up. Tomas Tatar then gave the Slovaks a 4-3 leads in the third before Jakub Voracek's goal sent things to overtime. Neither team scored in the extra frame and then Petr Mrazek proved the hero for the Czechs, stonewalling the Slovaks in the shootout with a Jakub Voracek's shot winning Bronze for the Czechs.

Final: A thrilling back-and-forth final was everything that the Olympic committee could have asked. The teams combined for 4 goals in under the first 6 minutes of the first period with explosive end-to-end action. Matthew Tkachuk got the USA up 1-0. Andrei Burakovsky answered for Sweden to tie things at 1. Filip Forsberg scored a minute later to send the Swedes up 2-1. But Ryan Kesler tied things again a minute after that. Johnny Gaudreau would give the USA a 3-2 lead in the second period and it looked as if the USA would win in regulation but with 53 seconds left, Alexander Wennberg again tied the game and sent things to overtime. Nobody scored in OT so the game headed to yet another shootout. Gaudreau found the twine on the USA's first attempt and then Cory Schneider shut the door on the Swedes' shooters as the USA celebrated their golden moment. Gaudreau would win MVP with a tournament leading 14 points, many of the in clutch situations.

[BKarchitect]

2018 Report - The Home Stretch

Shorn at the trade deadline of basically all of their previous top performers this season, the new-look and still historically bad Kraken collected 3 points in the last 14 games since the January update. The big break provided by the Olympics provided no relief as the team continued to struggle after the layoff. In one of the most laughable team stats screens you will ever see, defender Cody Franson leads the club with 20 points...although he is also a -32 and is only on the team because he was hurt at the deadline and there were no takers! Nobody else has double digits in points. Of course now most of the main players on the team have been with the club for only 10-15 games...still none of set the ice on fire since their arrival. Sean Couturier in particular will be counted on; his 3 goals and 4 points in 10 games is an ok but not great start. Another key addition, young rookie Jack Roslovic got hurt and is out the rest of the season.



AROUND THE LEAGUE:

- Most teams have around a dozen games left in the season so it's coming down to the wire in a lot of races. In the East, Washington has surged and is battling Columbus for the top spot in both the Metro and the conference. In the Atlantic, Tampa has a comfortable lead over Toronto. New Jersey has all but assured themselves a playoff spot but there are still spots up for grabs. In the West, it's a three-way battle for the Central with Nashville currently having a slight lead of Minnesota and Dallas. Those three teams are also battling Edmonton for the conference's top spot, although Edmonton's division lead over San Jose is far from assured. Winnipeg is also sitting pretty and the Coyotes look promising for a playoff spot. It's really on that last spot up for grabs with Anaheim currently leading.

- Claude Giroux looks set to take home the Art Ross, baring a cold streak, over the like of Auston Matthews, Mark Scheifele and Tyler Seguin. Similarly, Taylor Hall looks set for the Richard Trophy, currently holding a 6 goal lead over Scheifele, Jakub Voracek and Patrik Laine. As it stands today, I would wager the three Hart candidates being Giroux, Hall and Scheifele. Braden Holtby has eased passed Henrik Lundqvist in most of the goaltending catagories and combined with the Caps surge to the top of the conference, he's looking on track for the Vezina and Devils' #1 overall pick Nico Hischier (59 points in 69 games, +14) battling Stars' blueliner Julius Honka (43 points in 69 games, +25) for Calder favorite.