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CALGARY — Jarome Iginla, stripped down to his Under Armour after a hard practice this week, was pantomiming the goal everybody is talking about in the NHL these days.
There was Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash in the final minute of a tied game dipsy-doodling around the Phoenix Coyotes' defence pairing of Derek Morris and Keith Ballard. The 6-foot-4, 218-pound Nash turned Morris and Ballard inside out with an ultraswift series of jukes, and as goaltender Mikael Tellqvist tried to sweep the puck away with his stick, Nash regained control of the puck and slid it into the open net.
The game-winning goal touched off a flurry of fist-pumping from Nash, wild jubilation among his Columbus teammates and a stream of superlatives from a Blue Jackets colour commentator that included "goodness gracious," "holy moly" and "wow."
It was an exceptional display of skill by one of the NHL's rising young stars. According to Iginla, it's the kind of highlight-reel goal that probably couldn't have happened three years ago at the height of obstruction.
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash recently scored a spectacular dipsy-doodle goal that symbolizes how creativity has returned to the NHL game. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
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- Rick Nash
- Sidney Crosby
- Marian Gaborik
- Ryan Getzlaf
- Dany Heatley
- Jarome Iginla
- Patrick Kane
- Anze Kopitar
- Ilya Kovalchuk
- Roberto Luongo
- Evgeni Malkin
- Scott Niedermayer
- Alexander Ovechkin
- Zach Parise
- Corey Perry
- Jason Pominville
- Mike Richards
- Brian Rolston
- Joe Sakic
- Brendan Shanahan
- Eric Staal
- Paul Stastny
- Mats Sundin
- Mikael Tellqvist
- Henrik Zetterberg
"The first guy, when Nash threw it through his legs, he would have just got his stick up on him like this," Iginla said, demonstrating a hooking motion, "and that would have been it."
Nash's seeing-was-believing goal not only popped eyes throughout the hockey world, it made a telling statement: a new golden age in the NHL age is on the horizon.
When Gary Bettman faces the news media this weekend, he will undoubtedly face the usual questions about troubled franchises, the continuing struggles to attract viewers on U.S. national television and issues surrounding the collective labour agreement.
But it's unlikely the commissioner will have to defend the on-ice product, as so often has been the case during his 15-year tenure. While Nash's goal is being hailed in some quarters as one for the ages (which has translated into hundreds of thousands of page views on YouTube), there is an ever-increasing number of lift-you-off-the-couch moments from NHL arenas on the nightly reel of hockey highlights. Two emerging trends are largely responsible for that development — the influx of talented young players into the NHL and the gradual weaning away of obstruction from the game. Oh, and you can also toss in the shootout, which provides another opportunity for the game's most highly skilled entertainers to walk in uncontested on opposing goaltenders.
Consider this: Even though Sidney Crosby, the current poster boy of the NHL, isn't in Atlanta this weekend, as he recovers from a sprained ankle, and other perennial stars, new and old — Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Dany Heatley, Henrik Zetterberg and Roberto Luongo — are missing because of injury or personal reasons, there is no shortage of ultratalented players with all-star credentials showing off their stuff in tonight's skills competition and tomorrow evening's all-star game.
Even the fill-ins — emerging talent such as the Pittsburgh Penguins' Evgeni Malkin and the Anaheim Ducks' Corey Perry and old vets such as Scott Niedermayer — are among the brightest stars in the game.
"It's more enjoyable to play and more enjoyable to watch," Iginla said. "I'm a fan of the game. I watch highlights. There are some pretty spectacular goals."
"It is impressive," said Calgary coach Mike Keenan, who began his NHL coaching career in 1984. "The one-on-one skill set of the youngsters has taken it to another level. We always had [Wayne] Gretzky and [Mario] Lemieux and a few fellows before them, but I don't think we've collectively had this many that can show off every night."
Nash, one of those bright young stars, played his rookie season in 2002-03, so his frame of reference is two years of the prelockout NHL and 21/2 years of the postlockout NHL.
"There was a huge change after the lockout," Nash said this week, speaking on a cellphone while headed to an airport on his way to a game in Chicago. "My first year, I don't think there was anyone on my team close to my age, except for Rusty [Klesla]."
Nash paused to laugh.
"You know, I'm one of the old guys on our team and I'm only 23, so ¡K I think it's good," he said. "I think it's exciting. I think it's a great league right now — and I think it was the lockout that brought all the young guys in."
