Columbus Blue Jackets MVP: Also Most Skilled Player?
By Tyler West
Several years ago I heard a bit on Mike and Mike in the morning discussing the MVPs of the baseball season. They weren’t talking about who was the most valuable player, but rather what makes a player the most valuable.
First, we have to ask ourselves what makes you a skilled player in hockey. Most would say scoring, and it’s pretty hard to argue with that. But since hockey is low scoring in nature, there are a plethora of intricacies that involve being skilled. A defenseman is skilled at cutting off passing lanes and mastering body positioning when defending, among other things. A goalie is skilled at, well, stopping the puck.
Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports
This can be a gray area. When I ask, “Who is the best player on the team?” am I asking, “Who is the most valuable player on the team?” The complicated answer to that is both “yes” and “no.”
Value is subjective. There’s a reason why we call it the most valuable player award as opposed to the Best player award. It’s not necessarily about who your most skilled player is, but about who brings the most value to your team, whatever that is, whatever that means. It’s the player who makes the team who they are, the player that gives the team the identity they currently have. The best, or most skilled, player does not always give your team the most value.
It depends on what your team needs, and who fills that needs. You may have multiple all- star forwards, but if your goalie can’t stop the puck, then your forwards don’t seem too valuable.
Let’s say, however, your team picks up a net minder at the trade deadline and he propels them to the playoffs. Even though you have more than one guy netting 30 goals a year, your goalie would probably be your MVP because he addressed the need of the team. He added the most value.
Having said all of that, I turn to the idea of having a league MVP. What makes a player valuable to the league? The NHL can’t pick the player that is most valuable to the league because no player plays for the league. How can you say one player is more valuable than the other in such broad terms? You can’t compare the value that Sergei Bobrovsky has for the Columbus Blue Jackets with the value that Jamie Benn has for the Dallas Stars. They are two completely different sets of circumstances.
With that, I steer this discussion to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Who was the MVP? And was he the most skilled?
Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
My vote for the most skilled player on the team last year would be Marian Gaborik. His speed and ability to score just makes too much sense not to pick him. I understand that he only played (half of a) half season with Columbus, but a skill set doesn’t change just because a player changes teams. However, I do not think he was our MVP.
Let me explain.
I mentioned earlier that one ingredient for being the most valuable is to be the player that brings to the team whatever it was lacking. And that player was Sergei Bobrovsky. The Jackets lacked goaltending something awful and Bob brought to the table not only consistency but also excellency. For that very same reason, however, is why I don’t believe he will be our MVP this upcoming season.
Before the vezina-winning performance, it seemed like goaltending dominated Columbus headlines. Once Bob did his thing though, goaltending was no longer an issue. He is our franchise, point blank. It is not something we are lacking anymore so his value may seem under appreciated.
Scoring is a different issue. Because of both the shortened season and the fact that Gaborik was only with us since the trade deadline, scoring remains a question mark, and thus something Columbus is lacking. But if Gaborik can improve our inability to put the puck in the back of the net, then he brings value to a situation where value is much needed. If Gaborik can be the elite lighter of lamps we all know he is, then he will be our most valuable player because, just like Bobrovsky a year ago, he will bring that something to the table, the something that is missing.
It may seem complex, and that’s because it is. Value is a very subjective thing. With multiple personnel, positions, and circumstances, it comes from everyone. The question will always be, then: who’s the most valuable?