Colorado’s Matt Duchene, Tomas Fleischmann join Eric Staal as last week’s three stars

James O'Brien

Dec 20, 2010, 1:00 PM EDT

1 Comment

Late last night, I discussed the fact that the Colorado Avalanche might just be the most underrated team in the NHL. Well, the league’s brass recognizes how hot the team is in at least one way: it named two of their players among last week’s three stars.

The NHL named two Avalanche forwards (Matt Duchene and Tomas Fleischmann) along with Carolina Hurricanes forward Eric Staal as the league’s three stars for the week of December 13-19th. Here are some summaries of each player’s week, with comments of our own combined with tidbits from the NHL’s press release.

First star: Duchene

The league chose Colorado’s leading scorer as its top star of the week and it’s tough to argue with that point. The second year player already scored 34 points in 33 games, which ties him for 11th place in the league. Tyler Myers might have won the Calder Trophy for the 2009-10 season, but Duchene might be the biggest success story from that rookie group in year two.

Duchene notched a League-leading seven points (four goals, three assists) last week, highlighted by a pair of dramatic game-winning goals, as the Avalanche (19-10-4) extended their winning streak to six games and reclaimed first place in the Northwest Division.

Second star: Fleischmann

It’s way, way too early to say that Colorado “won” the Fleischmann-for-Scott Hannan trade. Especially when you consider the fact that the Washington Capitals essentially only really care about the rugged defenseman’s impact during the playoffs.

Still, it certainly seems like Fleischmann is experiencing a Peter Mueller-like liberation with the Avs.

Just check out this split. In 23 games with Washington, Fleischmann scored four goals and six assists for 10 points and a +3 rating and a little more than 14 minutes of ice time per game. He’s already scored more points in Colorado, as he has five goals and six assists for 11 points and a +2 rating in only nine games. Perhaps it’s simply a case of opportunity, though, as his time on ice average with the Avs is more than 18 minutes per game.

Fleischmann joined new linemate Duchene atop the League scoring list, notching four goals and three assists in four Avalanche victories.

Third star: E. Staal

I hate to say it, but it’s hard to imagine the eldest Staal reaching the 100-point mark again. He burst onto the NHL scene in the first post-lockout season, scoring 19 goals on the power play alone and notching exactly 100 points during the 2005-06 season.

All those power play opportunities probably inflated his numbers a bit, as his second best total is 82 points (07-08). While another century mark is out of reach, a few extra weeks like this could give Staal a chance to approach 90 points. He has 33 in 31 games so far, his best start since the 05-06 season.

Staal tallied five points (four goals, one assist) in three games, helping the Hurricanes (15-12-4) post three consecutive victories and close within four points of the eighth playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

(snip)

Staal’s career hat trick total is tied with that of New York Rangers’ Marian Gaborik and Ottawa’s Alex Kovalev for second place among active NHL players, trailing only Teemu Selanne of Anaheim (21).

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One Comment (Feed for Comments)

polegojim - Dec 21, 2010 at 11:08 AM

Duchene is an amazing talent, and he’s only getting started.

Watchout for this Avs team hockey fans. They’re for real, and have yet to reach their full potent potential.

They will expose many teams for what they are, just like the Sens.

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