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Calder Trophy might be a split decision this season

A very nice and varied batch this week, kids. So nice that I won't waste your time with any of my blather. Let's just open the 'bag ...

Any chance that Red Wings rookie Pavel Datsyuk will get some real consideration for the Calder Trophy? After all, he's among the top 10 rookies in goals, assists, points, plus/minus, takeaways, shooting percentage and faceoff percentage ... with NO penalty minutes! He's doing this with limited minutes (not even in the top 50) on a veteran team. Not bad for the 171st draft pick in 1998.
—Joe Mainardi, Tucson, Ariz.

No, not bad at all. Let's talk about Datsyuk for a minute. He's a nice story in Detroit and a welcome sparkle of youth in the Red Wings' sea of gray. No question he gets overlooked because of all the BIG NAMES around him. He's strong in terms of hockey fundamentals -- as you imply -- which bodes well for his long-term future. I'm not sure, though, what impact he'll have on Detroit a few years from now. Given his size and style, it's hard to determine how much staying power he'll have when the time comes for him to shoulder a heavier load.

As for your specific question: Does he have a shot at the Calder? No chance at all, barring a complete collapse by Ilya Kovalchuk, Dany Heatley and Kristian Huselius. (If you want to make a case that Datsyuk should get more consideration than, say, Erik Cole or some other guys who have more points than Datsyuk does, you certainly could.) The Calder is bound to wind up in Atlanta. Even though Kovalchuk and Heatley are on a lousy team and are profiting from all the ice time they get, those are two very deserving players. I'm predicting they'll be co-Calders.

What do you think the problem is with Pierre Turgeon? Is he just not a fit for the Stars' system? In the last week he has picked up a few points, but, overall, he has been a total bust for the Stars. If it weren't for Joe Nieuwendyk, Mike Modano would be a one-man show. What needs to happen for Turgeon to pull his weight?
—Wade Fowler, Arlington, Texas

You could see this coming when the Stars signed Turgeon in the offseason. By "this" I mean a longish adjustment period for Turgeon to settle into a team that has two first-class centers in Nieuwendyk and Modano. In St. Louis Turgeon was, for the most part, The Show. A few points: While Turgeon has made his name over the years as a goal scorer (he's the only player other than Brett Hull to have potted 20 goals in each of the last 13 seasons), in recent years he has developed into an even more dangerous passer than he is a sniper. You can ask Scott Young about him in St. Louis. Young thrived with Turgeon feeding him the puck and pined for him when he left. In Dallas, when Turgeon was relegated to a third line, he had trouble finding linemates to jibe with and who could capitalize on his tape-to-tape passes. When Ken Hitchcock used Turgeon with Modano or Nieuwendyk, Turgeon made some huge passes, even during the awful December-to-mid-January goal-scoring drought he endured.

The Stars have needed time to gel as a team this season and it has been particularly rough in Turgeon's case. Now, you can see him coming around. Remember that he missed about a dozen games with a nasty ankle sprain this year. And while his 25 assists and 32 points in 37 games to this point aren't up to his usual standards, it's not shabby. Turgeon will benefit when Hitch settles on some line combinations. The bet here is that Turgeon winds up with more than a point per game this season.

How is it that Mike Peca was left off of the All-Star team when he's one of the top three two-way forwards in the game today?
—Karl Anderson, New York City

Defense counts for nothing in making the selections for the All-Star forwards. Zilch. You have never seen a forward play defense in an All-Star Game. That, and the fact that the North American side has a pretty nice group of centers -- Lindros, Lemieux, Sakic, Damphousse, Thornton, Roenick -- meant that Peca had no chance. I love Peca as a player, but he's not the All-Star type.

What will the future hold for Rick DiPietro now that the tandem of Chris Osgood and Garth Snow is working for the Isles? I'd heard that DiPietro might be traded to Chicago for Tony Amonte.
—Tom Mackenzie, Selkirk, Manitoba

Hey, Mike Milbury traded away Roberto Luongo, so I suppose anything's possible. He'd be nuts to give up DiPietro at this point, however -- even for a player like Amonte (who'll probably end up staying in Chicago after all). DiPietro is destined to be a stud in the NHL. His progress in the minors this year -- after a lousy beginning he has a 2.63 goals against average and will start in the AHL All-Star Game -- is further confirmation of the ability and makeup that we knows he has. DiPietro is 20, and by the time he's ready to enter his prime in the NHL, the Islanders will very much need him. Osgood's a strong starter, and much more solid than DiPietro at this stage, but if Garth Snow's season of adequacy is enough to spur Milbury to trade DiPietro, then Milbury is loonier than any of us imagine.

Is there any chance that the NHL will do away with the overtime loss system? While it is true that four-on-four play in overtime is exciting, awarding a team a point for a loss can really skew the standings -- one day it may affect who makes the playoffs. I'd like to see the league get back to the old system where a loss is a loss and gains zero points.
—Peter Stone, Cambridge, Mass.

A loss is still a loss. Teams are getting a point for a tie. The extra point for the team that wins in overtime is just a little bonus. The system works well and it's very entertaining. There may be a team that misses a point here or there but there's no great skewing going on.

When will the NHL produce a product I can allow my kids to watch? I can barely accept the mean spirit in which the game is played and the blatant attempts to maim, but hockey is a sick joke when the designated thugs on each team ritually square off as thousands cheer. I'm trying to teach my kids to play to win but not play to maim. The NHL is the only professional sports league that condones this goonery. Why? And now long will they continue to allow it?
—Jim Becker, Honolulu

The goonery is there for a simple reason: a lot of fans love it. It's ridiculous and has nothing to with good sports or good hockey. It's a veritable hockey mockery. But it won't change, because fighting sells -- you can see that by how the NHL is marketed. I don't imagine you have a lot of options out there in Mai Tai country but your best bet is to turn your kids on to college hockey. And by all means get them to watch the Olympics, where the hockey should be great and the fighting essentially nonexistent.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy covers the NHL for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. To send a question to his Mailbag, click here.

 

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