from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

With Christmas fast approaching, it’s time to recount the 12 biggest hockey stories of 2016 in a partridge-in-a-pear-tree style:

One Sterling Sidney: It was one of the best individual years by a hockey player ever, yet not enough for Sidney Crosby to win the Lou Marsh Award. Stanley Cup. Conn Smythe Trophy. World Cup of Hockey. World Cup MVP. The only thing missing was the Hart Trophy. Oh, yeah, Crosby has also scored more goals (47) in the 2016 calendar than anyone else.

Two Faces of Torts: With every team now one-third of the way through the schedule, John Tortorella’s Columbus Blue Jackets lead the NHL in points percentage (.741). This comes after Torts was behind the bench for the worst showing of an American team in best-on-best competition at the World Cup in September. Quite the turnaround.

Three to Five Falling: The Vancouver Canucks ended up as one of the NHL’s biggest losers in April’s draft lottery. They fell from third to fifth overall based on the ping pong balls, missing a chance to pick one of the ‘Big Three’ in Jesse Puljujarvi. Defenceman Olli Juolevi, picked fifth, could well develop into a star....

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