Most productive player
He's still not the most productive player in the competition, but he's continuing his traditional point streak. Edmonton's Connor McDavid didn't score a goal in three games and only took seven shots, but he was enough to be the points player of the week thanks to his 10 assists.
He was especially pleased with his team's 8-4 win over Detroit, where he picked up six assists.
Goaltender of the week
There is still speculation that New Jersey will be looking for goaltending reinforcements before the playoffs, but it may not be necessary. Nico Daws gave an outstanding performance in the four games over the previous week, celebrating three wins, catching a total of 129 shots and stopping his goals per game average at 2.02. The Canadian's 94.7% save percentage was also outstanding.
Highlight of the week
It's hard to pick another moment than the hanging of the jersey of the second most productive man in NHL history, Jaromir Jagr, from the ceiling of the Pittsburgh arena. Legends such as Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson, former Czech teammates Robert Lang, Jiri Sluger and Jiri Hrdina, as well as famous coach Scott Bowman, also attended the ceremony.
"Thank you to everyone in Pittsburgh who made it possible for me to have such a great career. From my first day to my last day with the Penguins, I had a wonderful time with the club thanks to all of you. It's been a wonderful 11 years, probably the best years of my life, and I'm proud to call this city my second home," he said, thanking all his teammates and fans.
He had enjoyed a lot of media attention in the previous days, working out with Pittsburgh and was remembered on every corner. He subsequently went out with the Penguins for a pre-game warmup before their match against Los Angeles, and there was no shortage of iconic wigs.
Stat of the week
Toronto dominated all three games of the week, with American goal scorer Auston Matthews the clear leader. He didn't score against the Blues, but he did score a hat-trick against Philadelphia and Anaheim, and there were some interesting numbers to go with it.
Matthews is the tenth player in history to score six hat-tricks in a season, and he still has 29 games left in the season. As a percentage, he has scored a hat-trick in 11.5% of the games this season. In the aforementioned game against the Blues, Bobby McMann scored a hat-trick and Toronto became the 15th team in history to score a hat-trick in three straight games.
From social media
He who waits, will wait. But sometimes it can be a pain in the backside. Noah Juulsen could tell you about it, the Vancouver defenceman and 26th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft scored only his third NHL goal on Saturday against Winnipeg, but more importantly, his first since November 5, 2018. Back then, he was still in Montreal colours.
Photo of the week
Jagr became famous for his shaggy mane in his Pittsburgh years, a mane he no longer wears, but other players on the club wore it for pre-game warmups. Sidney Crosby, for example.
Ladislav Smid's view
"Patrick Roy recently took over the New York Islanders and it didn't surprise me much, there was already a lot of talk about him last year, it was clear that it was a matter of time before he took over a team. The general manager of the club is Lou Lamoriello, an old-school manager, and Roy seems similar to me.
I see the connection as a positive, but the fact is that you have to keep up with modern hockey trends and you can't solve everything just by having the coach smother the players at practice, like maybe it used to be. That can happen, but not very often, because then the coach regrets losing the whole team.
Roy was an incredible goalie, one of the best in history. He's always been quirky and I'd guess he'll be a quirky coach too, hopefully he'll find a balance. It can work for the Islanders, I think he has something to give them."
