I’ve had a weird career as a hockey writer.
Not many people in the history of the sport have been a beat writer for four different NHL teams. Not many beat writers will ever cover 17 Game 7s. I’ve never covered a Stanley Cup winner on one of the four beats, but I covered every Cup Final game from 2011-15 as a staff writer at NHL.com.
I’ve also been fortunate to cover some of the best players and best individual seasons of the salary cap era. In 12 seasons as a beat writer, I’ve covered the Hart Trophy winner four times (2008, 2009, 2018, 2024), and it might be five times for the Lester B. Pearson/Ted Lindsay Award winner.
Watching Alex Ovechkin and the “Rock the Red” era of the Washington Capitals was incredibly entertaining, but even some of the bad teams I covered in New Jersey and San Jose featured individual brilliance. Getting to watch Ovechkin, Jack Hughes, Erik Karlsson and now Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar at the peak of their powers is something I’ve tried to never take for granted.
So that led to this personal, but hopefully fun idea: What are the best individual seasons I’ve covered? I think I’ve seen the three best offensive seasons by a defenseman this century, by three different players. And at least two of the very best seasons by a forward as well.
Here’s the list I came up with:
15. (tie) Mackenzie Blackwood, Devils, 2019-20
The numbers: 22-14-8, .915 save%, 2.77 GAA
Mackenzie Blackwood, 2024-25, Sharks/Avalanche
The numbers: 28-21-6, .912 save%, 2.55 GAA
I haven’t seen a lot of great goaltending, though. In fact, no goalie who started the year in my city has earned any votes for the Vezina Trophy. Cristobal Huet finished 8th in 2008, but arrived at the trade deadline.
Blackwood had a really strong half-season rookie debut for a bad team, then made his own journey to Denver via San Jose and should get some Vezina love when the voting is revealed June 12. He can break this “trend” next season.
14. Jack Hughes, Devils, 2021-22
The numbers: 26 goals, 56 points (in 49 games)
The stats don’t look like much, but this was a “had to be watching a lot to see it” kind of thing. Hughes was a force of nature, when healthy, for a really bad team. He’s had his injury issues, but he looked like a future MVP candidate this season, then had a full breakout the following year.
13. Nicklas Backstrom, Capitals, 2009-10
The numbers: 33 goals, 101 points
Forever overshadowed by the guy at the other end of his silky setups, but also just a delightful player to watch if you’re into passing, vision and manipulating time, space and defenders without elite speed. Like Gabe Landeskog, his road to the Hockey Hall of Fame was likely derailed by a serious injury.
12. Mikko Rantanen, Avalanche, 2023-24
The numbers: 42 goals, 104 points, 22:54
When I got the Avs job, a few people relayed some version of, “You already know how great Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar are, but wait until you see Mikko Rantanen on a daily basis.” They were right. The discourse about him in this city has changed, maybe forever, because of this past season. But there haven’t been many hockey players more gifted at his size in league history.
11. Alexander Semin, Capitals, 2009-10
The numbers: 40 goals, 84 points
Speaking of gifted, Semin was a hockey genius. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes frustrating and endlessly fascinating. One of the best releases in league history. For a brief period of every season, I was on the beat, he was basically Ovechkin, with less hitting but also Selke-level defense. But never for more than a few weeks. This was his best year, even with nine missed games.
10. Cale Makar, Avalanche, 2023-24
The numbers: 21 goals, 90 points, 24:46 TOI/g
He set the franchise record for points by a defenseman (again) and was disappointed with how his season went. He scored one of the greatest goals I’ve ever seen in person against the Jets in the playoffs, and played it off as lucky because the puck glanced off him at the right angle while he was dancing through the Winnipeg defense.
9. Taylor Hall, Devils, 2017-18
The numbers: 39 goals, 93 points
I’m cheating a little here, because I didn’t start covering the Devils until close to the end of this season. But it was remarkable to watch Hall at the peak of his powers, carrying a mediocre team into the playoffs. I’m glad I didn’t have a PHWA vote that year, because I had no idea how to choose between him and MacKinnon for MVP. Still don’t.
8. Alex Ovechkin, Capitals, 2009-10
The numbers: 50 goals, 109 points, 368 shots
Ovechkin’s underrated superpower was his durability, but he did miss 10 games this season. And a bunch of his teammates were great, so the Caps still rolled to the Presidents’ Trophy and a now-famous opening-round date with Jaroslav Halak and the Canadiens.
7. Mike Green, Capitals, 2008-09
The numbers: 31 goals, 73 points, 25:46 TOI/g
It’s hard not to put Green higher just because he was the first. People hadn’t seen an offensive explosion at his position like this in a long time. Ovechkin’s one-timer from the left circle is legendary, but Green could hammer them as well. His offensive skill set wasn’t far from Makar’s, just without the hypersonic gear.
6. Cale Makar, Avalanche, 2024-25
The numbers: 30 goals, 92 points, 25:43 TOI/g
This is too low, or at least it feels like it. Before the season, I asked a bunch of people what a peak Makar season would look like. Got a lot of 30-plus goals, 100-plus points in response. It’s scary to think he might find one more small bump from here, and do something truly silly like 35 goals and 110 points if he has “one of those years.”
5. Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche, 2024-25
The numbers: 32 goals, 116 points, 320 shots, 22:47 TOI/g
Given the injuries and some of his bad finishing luck, there’s a real argument that MacKinnon had a better narrative case for MVP this season, after having such a great statistical resume a year ago.
4. Alex Ovechkin, Capitals, 2008-09
The numbers: 56 goals, 110 points, 528 shots, 243 hits
Those last two numbers are not typos. That’s the second-most shots on goal by a player in league history, behind Phil Esposito’s 550 in 1970-71. It was Ovechkin’s second-most hits in a season, though the league didn’t track them officially until his third year.
3. Erik Karlsson, Sharks, 2022-23
The numbers: 25 goals, 101 points, 25:37 TOI/g
Makar had a better all-around season this year (and the year before, and the year before that, etc.), but this was a pièce de résistance from Karlsson. The Sharks were a bad, rebuilding team, but they were also very fun to watch and lost a bunch of high-scoring, entertaining games. That was almost all because of Karlsson. It was two different games — one when he was on the ice and one when he was on the bench — most nights.
2. Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche, 2023-24
The numbers: 51 goals, 140 points, 405 shots, 22:49 TOI/g
1. Alex Ovechkin, Capitals, 2007-08
The numbers: 65 goals, 112 points, 446 shots, 220 hits
Calling these two seasons 1A and 1B would have been a cop out, but they were both brilliant, all-time years. I’m sure MacKinnon would not only say Ovechkin’s year was better, but he’d scoff at me if I suggested otherwise.
Ovechkin had 14 goals in the 21 games before Boudreau took over, but the new system and freedom from his coach unlocked an offensive force unlike anything the league had seen since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr toyed with defenses in 1995-96.
Ovechkin was incredibly fast, incredibly violent and like MacKinnon had an engine that just never stopped. There was also an urgency every night because the team roared back from last place in the league standings to make the playoffs, but it was also still a young team that could look terrible for two periods and then blow the doors off someone in the third.
Like the Makar-Karlsson comparison, MacKinnon is/was a better all-around player, but in a sport where defense usually wins, watching the apex predator of Ovechkin was something else.
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