Declaring your team's most important player is not a simple thing. It's not always the most valuable guy or the highest points producer. It is the player who makes your team go; the one you can't afford to lose, even if all he contributes can't be measured by fancy stats.
Most Important Player: Erik Karlsson, Defenseman
You can debate the merits of Karlsson as a Norris Trophy winner -- an honor he’s earned in two of the past four seasons -- and we will admit he doesn’t necessarily fit the traditional model of the game’s best defenseman. But for us it comes back to a conversation we had a couple of seasons ago with a top NHL executive as we watched Karlsson tear around the ice.
The talent evaluator described Karlsson as one of those rare talents who makes something happen virtually every time he steps on the ice. Karlsson has the ability to change the face of a game at a moment’s notice, he added, and bring fans to the front of their seats or out of them altogether every time he touches the puck.
In short, if sports are about entertaining as well as "playing the right way," Erik Karlsson is the real deal, folks.
What makes Karlsson even more integral to the Ottawa Senators' future is that at just 25 he is not nearly at his peak. Not even close.
When the Senators looked dead in the water in December last season, it was Karlsson’s reinvigorated play that was a catalyst to what was an inspiring run to the playoffs last April. And he ended up leading the Senators in scoring for the second consecutive season. He was the top point-producing defenseman in the league with 66 points and was second among blueliners with 21 goals. Last season marked the third time in the past four seasons Karlsson was the top-scoring defenseman in the league. The only time he wasn’t at the top of the list was in 2013, when he missed 31 of 48 games to injury.
His 30 power-play points last season were also the most of all NHL defensemen (tied with Philadelphia's Mark Streit), a total that was almost double that of the teammate (Kyle Turris) with the next closest power-play point total. Karlsson also averaged a whopping 27:15 a game in ice time -- third most in the league.
Beyond his obvious statistical importance to the Senators, Karlsson has grown into his role as team captain and his effervescent personality makes him the ideal leader for a young Senators team that will be under significant pressure to prove last season was no fluke.
Plus, and this is apropos of nothing, we love Karlsson’s sartorial style and he may well be one of the NHL’s snazziest dressers.
Add it all up and it seems as though the talented Swede is the perfect fit for a Senators team that very quickly has revitalized its hopes of returning to contender status.