Hey, remember NHL hockey?

It's this thing that was played up until June 2012 or so, and then it disappeared, like Amelia Earhart or the Roanoke Colony, and no one can explain it. (Sure, we all know where it went, but come on, no explanation can justify its absence.)

But I digress. There was a time, back when the NHL was still doing hockey games, that what some of the players were accomplishing on the ice was all we could talk about. The L.A. Kings' incredible turnaround. Mike Smith's incredible turnaround. Gabriel Landeskog's rookie season, which led him from Calder to captaincy. Evgeni Malkin's year of domination.

Nothing made us miss hockey more than compiling this list and reminiscing on what went on the last time the NHL was in session. Here are Puck Daddy's top 10 players of 2012.

10. Gabriel Landeskog

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The back half of Landeskog's rookie season was something to behold, as the Swedish first-year pro notched 14 goals and 32 points total in 2012, good enough to edge out one-time lock Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to win the Calder Trophy. He fell just short of leading the Colorado Avalanche to a playoff berth, but Avalanche management saw enough in Landeskog to believe he'd be capable of it in the future nonetheless. On September 4th, Landeskog was named the youngest captain in NHL history.

9. Ilya Kovalchuk

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No doubt Kovalchuk moves up a couple notches in the minds of Devils fans simply by virtue of not being Zach Parise, but that wasn't all he did in 2012. The Devils' left winger was their leading scorer in the playoffs, guiding them on a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final that fell just two games short of being a Stanley Cup lift. In the process, Kovalchuk managed to do what few thought possible in 2011: made that contract look tolerable. That alone is worth inclusion on this list.

8. Mike Smith

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At one point, Mike Smith was 10-0-0 in the month of February. He closed out the month an astounding 10-0-1. In April, he set the NHL record for most saves in a regulation shutout win, making a whopping 54 stops in a 3-0 victory over Columbus. Smith's play down the stretch was nothing short of a revelation, as the Coyotes netminder kept Phoenix in the playoff race, then helped them vault all the way up to the third seed with their first division title in franchise history. But it didn't stop there. Smith led the Coyotes through two rounds of postseason action, first dispatching the Chicago Blackhawks in 6, then the Nashville Predators in 5 before running into the red-hot L.A. Kings.

7. Dustin Brown

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