We’ve been looking at 2017 in a month-by-month series over the past few days, but we’ll take a detour to look at something a little different. 2017 saw some incredible individual performances, and with just a few games left before the calendar turns over it’s interesting to inspect who has been the most productive players.
Here are your statistical leaders for the calendar year of 2017:
Goals:
Nikita Kucherov – 51
Brad Marchand – 44
Anders Lee – 42
Alex Ovechkin – 39
Four players tied at 38
Perhaps the most interesting name in the top five is Lee, who few would put on the same level as his goal-scoring contemporaries this year. Lee ranks third in the NHL this season with 22, and set a career-high with 34 in 2016-17. At just 27 years old and carrying a $3.75MM cap hit for one more season, it will be interesting to see if he starts getting mentioned among the “Superclass” of free agents set to hit the open market in the summer of 2019.
Assists:
Connor McDavid – 70
Nicklas Backstrom – 63
Blake Wheeler – 62
Josh Bailey – 60
Johnny Gaudreau – 55
When you look at the 6’5″, 225-lbs freight train on skates that is Wheeler, it’s hard to imagine that he’d be among the other speed demons and playmakers on this list. His ranking among the league’s best shows just how efficient he has been over the last year in Winnipeg, and proves what Mark Scheifele has been trying to tell people for some time—Wheeler is simply one of the best passers in the game.
Points:
Nikita Kucherov – 101
Connor McDavid – 100
Patrick Kane – 87
Three tied at 86
You have to wonder how far ahead Kucherov could be had Steven Stamkos not been injured last season. In the first month of the 2016-17 season while they were together, Kucherov was on an 108-point pace, but only finished the season with 85. Now that they’re back together, he has 51 in 35 games and looks like he’ll easily be the next 100-point player in the NHL. It’s hard to believe he’s just 24 years old.
Powerplay Points:
Nikita Kucherov – 39
Phil Kessel – 34
Nicklas Backstrom – 33
David Pastrnak – 31
Claude Giroux – 30
Shots:
Alex Ovechkin – 338
Evander Kane – 335
Tyler Seguin – 324
Vladimir Tarasenko – 320
Jack Eichel – 309
Hits:
Luke Schenn – 290
Matt Martin – 276
Ryan Reaves – 263
Marcus Foligno – 262
Tom Wilson – 252
Penalty Minutes:
Tom Wilson – 190
Cody McLeod – 172
Ryan Reaves – 162
Micheal Haley – 161
Austin Watson – 137
Blocked Shots:
Kris Russell – 229
Alec Martinez – 184
Nikita Zaitsev – 177
Ryan McDonagh – 176
Two tied at 168