The Puck Stops Here

The Olympics caused NHL play to stop for a couple weeks in February. Since play has returned, the top scorers in the NHL have been different players from those who lead the season's scoring race. Since Olympic break, the top scorers are Daniel Briere of the Buffalo Sabres and Teemu Selanne of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Both have 30 points since Olympic break.

Briere has had a very good season, although he missed 24 games with a sports hernia and 8 more with a previous abdominal injury. He has scored 53 points in his 42 games so far this year. This puts him in the top 10 in the NHL in points per game. He has done this "under the radar" in a smallish market without much fanfare. Briere is likely a good pick for future hockey pools if he can keep this scoring rate up and stay injury free. Briere could emerge as the star leader of the rising Buffalo Sabres. His trade from Phoenix for Chris Gratton and an exchange of draft picks is starting to look like a great trade for the Sabres (and an awful one for Phoenix).

Teemu Selanne had a great playoff where he was the top scorer in the Olympic tournament. In fact, Selanne is the highest scoring active player all time in Olympic play (he is beaten by some Soviet stars in the Central Red Army days on the all time list). His Olympic success coupled with his NHL record are starting to make a case that I should consider him a player who belongs in the hall of fame regardless of what happens in the rest of his career. I am not quite there yet, but a strong end to the season where he maybe makes second team all star or leads Anaheim into a playoff upset or two might do it. Selanne's signing is one of the main reasons Anaheim is a playoff team.

Briere and Selanne have been some of the hottest players in the NHL in the past little while. They should remain dangerous into the playoffs and if their teams have playoff success, it will likely be because of their strong play.