First Star, Worst Star: November 15, 2015

Another day, another dollar, another edition of First Star, Worst Star! This week’s edition is dedicated to Rhonda Rousey, whose soul left her body last night on live TV. Hopefully Rhonda from Canada Post can fill the hole that is now left in our hearts. RIP Rhonda, you will be missed. 

He’s only in his third NHL season, but Nathan MacKinnon’s career has already seen its fair share of ups and downs. Everything was set up perfectly for the Avalanche to draft hometown kid Seth Jones first overall in 2013, but they went off the board so to speak and went with the Halifax Mooseheads star instead, which a lot of people questioned at the time. 

MacKinnon shut everyone up in his calder winning rookie campaign, and looked to be on his way to somewhat live up to the “Next One” expectations placed on him. The next season however, the dreaded sophomore slump crashed into him head on, and he regressed in every category, only putting up 38 points in 64 games. 

This season? I’d say he’s trending upwards again. He’s leading the Avs with 19 points in 17 games, and he put on an absolute clinic against the Canadiens on Saturday night, scoring two goals in the span on 13 seconds! 

Good Gord, that backhand! Nathan MacKinnon will probably never live up to the Crosby comparisons that were bandied about when he was drafted (THEY’RE BOTH FROM THE SAME TOWN YOU KNOW!), but if he continues to play like this he’ll definitely be in the conversation as one of the elite forwards in the NHL.   

Presented without comment:

“Useful center”. Time to shut down the internet gang. We’re done here.