Overall Standings
News
Sturm wins Art Ross, Hart Trophy
Following Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Chicago Saints and the Miami Tropics, the league announced the winners for the major RSHA awards.
Hart Trophy
It was a breakthrough season for Minnesota's Marco Sturm. The homegrown winger, selected 12th overall in the 1997 RSHA Entry Draft by the Lights, has improved his offensive output every season of his career.
This season, it all came together as the German superstar scored 47 goals and 102 points. For his efforts, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's scoring champion and was voted the league's Most Valuable Player as the Northern Lights won the President's Trophy once again. His 47 goals ranked second in the league (behind teammate Mariusz Czerkawski), and he led the league in power-play goals and game-winning goals as well.
Evgeni Nabokov, who did not go home empty handed, placed second in the voting, and Denver's Patrick Marleau - who had a breakthrough season of his own - finished third.
1. Marco Sturm - 124pts (9-4-0-2-0)
2. Evgeni Nabokov - 89pts (4-4-3-1-3)
3. Patrick Marleau - 78pts (2-4-4-3-1)
4. Pavel Datsyuk - 50pts (0-1-5-5-3)
5. Mariusz Czerkawski - 45pts (0-2-3-4-4)
6. Eric Lindros - 2 pts (0-0-0-0-2)
T7. Felix Potvin - 1pt (0-0-0-0-1)
T7. Mike Sillinger - 1pt (0-0-0-0-1)
Norris Trophy
Wade Redden became the fifth defenseman in league history to win multiple Norris Trophies, and the New York defender did it at the age of 26. Redden notched 8 goals and 63 points (which led defensemen), and his all around solid season in the Big Apple won over the voters.
A pair of Denver Pilots finished second and third, as Roman Hamrlik's massive plus/minus and solid offensive season edged out Zdeno Chara's more physical style for second and third.
1. Wade Redden - 59pts (10-3-0)
2. Roman Hamrlik - 36pts (2-8-2)
3. Zdeno Chara - 18pts (3-0-3)
4. Rob Blake - 18pts (0-3-9)
5. Nicklas Lidstrom - 4pts (0-1-1)
Vezina Trophy
While he may have fallen short of becoming RSHA's first goaltender to win the MVP since Mike Vernon, Evgeni Nabokov was the unanimous Vezina Trophy winner. Nabby picked up all 15 first place votes after leading the league in GAA (2.63), Save % (.906), and SO (6).
1. Evgeni Nabokov - 75pts (15-0-0)
2. Miikka Kiprusoff - 30pts (0-8-6)
3. JS Giguere - 28pts (0-7-7)
T4. Felix Potvin - 1pt (0-0-1)
T4. Tommy Salo - 1pt (0-0-1)
Calder Trophy
Martin Havlat was the runaway winner of the Calder Trophy this year. The Hunters winger potted 27 goals and averaged a point per game and +23 rating in Edmonton, and was a big reason his team was a surprise contender this season. He outdueled former #2 overall pick Ilya Kovalchuk and teammate Mike Smith for the honours.
1. Martin Havlat - 71 pts (13-2-0)
2. Ilya Kovalchuk - 39 pts (0-12-3)
3. Mike Smith - 19 pts (2-1-6)
4. Marian Gaborik - 3 pts (0-0-3)
5. Niklas Hagman - 2 pts (0-0-2)
6. Randy Jones - 1 pt (0-0-1)
2003/04 RSHA All-Stars
The votes have been counted, and today the RSHA Head Office released the list of all-stars for the 2003/04 regular season.
Center - Pavel Datsyuk (EDM)*, Patrick Marleau (DEN)*, Joe Thornton (PHI), Pierre Turgeon (EDM)
Left Wing - Vyacheslav Kozlov (DEN), John Madden (VAN), Mike Ribeiro (CHI), Sergei Samsonov (WPG)
Right Wing - Mariusz Czerkawski (MIN)*, Eric Lindros (DEN), Mike Sillinger (TOR), Marco Sturm (MIN)*
Defensemen - Rob Blake (EDM), Zdeno Chara (DEN), Joe Corvo (MTL), Roman Hamrlik (DEN), Nicklas Lidstrom (NYB), Wade Redden (EDM)
Goalie - Evgeni Nabokov (NYB)*, Miikka Kiprusoff (MIN)
* - unanimous pick
Mets to become Nats next year
After a busy trade deadline which saw the Seattle Metropolitans sell off a pile of players, including long-time captain Vyacheslav Kozlov and recent prized free agent signing Martin Brodeur, Metros management announced one more blockbuster move just days after the deadline.
After a season of speculation, it has been announced that after 29 seasons in Seattle, the Metropolitans will officially move east to Ottawa and become the Ottawa Nationals.
'General Manager Greg might hate the people of Seattle, but we're going to play our hearts out for them,' stated veteran underachieving Seattle winger Todd Bertuzzi. 'We won't go down without a fight.'
Bertuzzi is putting his money where his mouth is, as since the trade deadline the Metropolitans are the hottest team in the league.
'If we can just win the Stanley Cup, we can stop all this relocation nonsense dead in its tracks,' explained rookie underachieving Seattle winger Ilya Kovalchuk.
The league has previously stated that the reigning Stanley Cup Champions will not be allowed to relocate - a situation that almost came to pass when the Washington Generals nearly won the Cup in 1988/89 to prevent a move to Buffalo.
'I just got here, what the hell is happening,' questioned new Metros goalie Jose Theodore.
With the relocation finalized for the end of the season, the league is set to realign as well, as the divisions are geographically based. All the divisions will be affected, so the league will be completley refreshed for the first time in almost a decade. To begin RSHA's 30th season next year, here is how the league will be structured:
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division: Buffalo Wings, Miami Tropics, New York Blades, Philadelphia Keystones
North-East Division: Boston Colonials, Montreal Olympiques, Ottawa Nationals, Toronto Jazz
Western Conference
Mid-West Division: Chicago Saints, Detroit Chargers, Minnesota Northern Lights, Winnipeg Wanderers
Pacific Division: Denver Pilots, Edmonton Hunters, Los Angeles Archers, Vancouver Millionaires
Next Games
Day 9
Day 10
Leaders
Skaters
- John Madden 16
- Brenden Morrow 15
- Joe Thornton 13
- Martin Straka 13
- Patrick Elias 11
- Pavel Datsyuk 11
- Adam Graves 11
- Martin Gelinas 11
- Alexander Mogilny 11
- Andrew Brunette 10
- Brenden Morrow 9
- Adam Graves 7
- Alexander Mogilny 7
- Niklas Sundstrom 7
- Patrick Elias 6
- Andrew Brunette 6
- Mike Modano 6
- Pavel Bure 6
- Paul Kariya 5
- Steve Sullivan 5
- Joe Thornton 11
- John Madden 11
- Martin Straka 10
- Marc Savard 9
- Martin Gelinas 9
- Scott Hannan 9
- Pavel Datsyuk 8
- Michael Nylander 8
- Pierre Turgeon 7
- Mike Fisher 7
Defenseman
- Sandis Ozolinsh 9
- Scott Hannan 9
- Ed Jovanovski 8
- Nicklas Lidstrom 7
- Scott Niedermayer 7
- Paul Martin 6
- Kimmo Timonen 6
- Joe Corvo 6
- Lubomir Visnovsky 5
- Adrian Aucoin 5
- Sandis Ozolinsh 3
- Adrian Aucoin 3
- Scott Niedermayer 3
- Chris Pronger 2
- Teppo Numminen 2
- Janne Niinimaa 2
- Joe Corvo 2
- Wade Redden 2
- Roman Hamrlik 2
- Filip Kuba 2
- Scott Hannan 9
- Sandis Ozolinsh 6
- Paul Martin 6
- Kimmo Timonen 6
- Nicklas Lidstrom 6
- Ed Jovanovski 6
- Oleg Tverdovsky 5
- Sami Salo 5
- Rob Blake 5
- Lubomir Visnovsky 4
Goalies (Played in 3 or more games)
- Craig Anderson 1.40
- Antti Niemi 2.17
- Jose Theodore 2.38
- Ray Emery 2.44
- Johan Hedberg 2.50
- JS Giguere 2.51
- Nikolai Khabibulin 2.58
- Manny Fernandez 2.80
- Jocelyn Thibault 2.80
- Henrik Lundqvist 2.81
- Craig Anderson .933
- Ray Emery .926
- Antti Niemi .924
- Johan Hedberg .914
- Manny Fernandez .907
- Nikolai Khabibulin .906
- Jose Theodore .906
- Jocelyn Thibault .902
- Evgeni Nabokov .897
- Niklas Backstrom .890
- Jocelyn Thibault 1
- Roberto Luongo 0
- Manny Fernandez 0
- Henrik Lundqvist 0
- Marc-Andre Fleury 0
- Nikolai Khabibulin 0
- Felix Potvin 0
- Craig Anderson 0
- Olaf Kolzig 0
- Tomas Vokoun 0