On February 13th, The official Springfield Isotopes account tweeted out a joke about Nikita having MVP buzz after he had a 3 point (1 G, 2 A) game against the rival Amos team. It seemed all in fun as the 'Topes were riding high and heading for 3rd in the Canosa Conference. Then on February 15th, the Calgary Chinook took Zaitsev out and everything started to go wrong in Springfield.
Since the injury, Springfield is 1-4-1, with some serious blowouts against some teams they were hoping to compete against. These games have been a trying time for the team as they slipped back into 4th and although they locked up a playoff spot this week, this isn't the way teams want to enter the postseason.
Does this fall have something to do with playing against tougher competition or is it that Zaitsev is the Isotopes MVP? Let’s look at the stats. If we ignore the games where Zaitsev has been injured the Isotopes would be 5th for Goals against average (GAA) and 10th for Shots against (SA). Instead the Isotopes are 13th and 16th. For context the in the games before this injury the Isotopes had a GAA of 3.12 and averaged 31.7 SA, in the 6 games without Zaitsev the Isotopes have a GAA of 5 and 40.5 SA, both these stats would place them comfortably in last place.
Zaitsev is expected to return soon, will he bring about a change in fortunes for the team? If so, does it mean that the slightly overpaid defensive defenseman with 28 points for the season is the team and potentially league MVP?
Time will tell, we know the voting committee can be a little iffy and not always open to new ideas but Zaitsev is going to get my vote.
Isotopes Unofficial Blogger/Biggest fan
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