NHL MVP for 2005-06

Okay, maybe it’s a bit dorky to be writing about this but I’m going to do it anyways. Here are my top picks for this year’s mvp. 1. Joe Thornton 2. Mikka Kiprusoff 3. Jaromir Jagr

The New York Rangers have surprised a lot of people this year, and it’s not hard to imagine the importance of Jagr in this. He’s had a bit of a renaissance this year and it looked like he was going to walk away with the scoring title this year. It’s hard to tell what would have happened with the Rangers this year if he wasn’t around.

There cannot be any doubt that Kiprusoff is the key to the Calgary Flames’ success. The Flames get their results for three reasons: their teamwork, their work ethic and Kiprusoff. Kiprusoff is the premier goalie in the NHL right now and his stats are impressive. He leads the league with 10 shutouts, .207 goals against average, 74 games played, and 42 wins. I think Kiprusoff is top 4 in all of the other important stats. Interestingly, Cristobal Huet (Montreal Canadians) has 7 shutouts in only 35 games.

It looks like Joe Thornton will win the goal scoring race. Even more telling of his importance is San Jose’s record since aquiring Thornton. The Sharks were having a horrible year and it looked certain that they would not make the playoffs. Along comes Thornton and next thing you know the Sharks wrap up 5th position in the West. That’s pretty impressive.

To me it looks like this year’s MVP is a toss up between Thornton or Kiprusoff.