The other day we looked back at our preseason comparison of the top two goaltenders in the league. Our “Versus Series” had the New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist and the Los Angeles Kings Jonathan Quick. Fast forward seven months and it was interesting to see how the two key backstops have fared.
Today we’ll take a look at two of the elite offensive talents in the league. Evgeni Malkin and Steven Stamkos battled last season all year in the NHL scoring race. While Malkin took home most of the individual hardware, including the Hart Trophy (MVP) and Ross Trophy (Scoring Title), Stamkos finished the season as the league leader in goals scored with 60.
Back in September, eDraft’s Jon Reid took a look at the two players and compared the merits of selecting either for your fantasy roster
Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay appear to be headed in different directions, but the two high scoring centers have lit the lamps again this year. Malkin has been dogged by a series of injuries but still managed to average over a point-per-game through 21 games.
Though he is due back this Friday, Malkin currently sits fifth on his own team in scoring. The Penguins are the highest scoring team in the league and getting a player like Malkin back from injury is a pretty sweet luxury. Pittsburgh has won ten straight games, almost half of them without the reigning MVP.
Steven Stamkos has to be getting frustrated. Tampa Bay spent a lot of money this off season and though they had addressed their most glaring weakness by trading for Anders Lindback in goal. Though he is the NHL’s goal scoring leader with 20 tallies so far, the Lightning are seeing their collective playoff dreams swirl down the toilet.
A hot start for Tampa Bay was followed by multiple losing streaks. Though they are still mathematically alive, the Lightning will require a super-human effort from their best player to have a chance.
From a fantasy perspective Stamkos has had a more successful season if for no other reason than he has stayed healthy. As the most productive offensive player in the league not named Crosby in the NHL so far this year, the nod goes to Stamkos. Here’s a stat comparison of the two.