Give Montreal Canadiens' Michael Pezzetta The Hart Trophy Right Now After This Celly
Here's something that you have to realize about Michael Pezzetta--the dude rules.
He's got the luscious mane of hair. He's got the stache. He looks like the NHL's fun uncle who teaches the kids all their first curse words and let's them throw rocks at trains. He might not have the numbers that blow your dick away. You're not going to find him on any leaderboards around the stats section on NHL.com. But don't let that fool you. This man is a superstar in every sense of the word.
If you want to be one of the greats, you need to learn from the greats who came before you. Study their habits. Get an understanding of what allowed them to elevate themselves over the rest of the competition. Michael Pezzetta clearly spent hours upon hours on YouTube studying from one of the best to ever do it.
He's scored 11 goals in his NHL career so far. Technically a goal in the shootout isn't going to count towards his actual total, but none of them were bigger than that one right there. Game on his stick, on the road, a chance to be the hero and Michael Pezzetta delivered. Definition of clutch.
"Maybe it was a little bit much, but it's funny and I'll definitely remember it"
Those right there are words for everybody to live by. If the whole world could just have a little more Michael Pezzetta in them, we'd be in a much better place. The man is a superstar who transcends the game of hockey. Connor McDavid has said like 18 words in his entire NHL career so far, and they've all been some iteration of "get pucks deep". Guy has scored so many goals in his career that he doesn't even celebrate shootout goals anymore.
All I'm saying is that "juice" and "vibes" may not be stats that are tracked by the nerds at NHL.com, but let's not act like they aren't a real thing. And Michael Pezzetta provides all of the juice and all of the vibes for the boys in Montreal's locker room. If that isn't adding value to a team, then I don't know what is. At the very least, Michael Pezzetta belongs in the Hart Trophy conversation.