Backstrom Profile At NHL.com

Shawn P. Roarke profiles Nicklas Backstrom over on NHL.com (and in case you're wondering, yes, Roarke makes the obligatory Peter Forsberg reference).

Respect Ranking: Special Edition!

Do I owe Sean Roarke an apology? Just hours after taking him to task for his revisionist history, I stumble across his NHL Mid-Term Grades. Roarke's first grouping - "Head of the Class" (a tribute, no doubt, to Howard Hesseman) - contains the usual suspects: the Ducks, Sabres, Predators, Sharks and... the Capitals?! Sure enough. Quoth Roarke:

Yes, they have just 45 points; but that is still an impressive showing for a team that was left for dead by many before the season ever started. If the season ended Tuesday, the Capitals would make the playoffs for the first time since 2001 and that should be an accomplishment in anybody's book. Plus, they are one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the League today.

I know this is based largely upon dire preseason expectations, but it is still impressively high-praise. One wonders, however, how Roarke will remember this seven months from now...

UPDATE: More grades, these from Professor Cazeneuve at SI.com.

From The Department Of Historical Revision

As the Crosby/Ovechkin debate rages on, one thing that can't be debated is the fact that one of them won the Calder Trophy last year and one didn't. Still, the MSM, apparently dissatisfied with that result, continues to engage in a brand of revisionist history that would make George W. Bush blush (ok, maybe not). Take a gander at this line from NHL.com's Sean Roarke:

Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin, who nipped Crosby for the Calder Trophy last season, will play one of the wings [at this year's All-Star game].

Nipped? Nipped?! AO received 124 of 129 first place votes and totalled 1,275 total voting points to Crosby's 831. In fact, at the time NHL.com said that Ovechkin "ran away with the award."

Seven months later, AO "nipped" Crosby for the trophy. Mission accomplished.

[H/t to Decline the Penalty for the pointer]