I’m a coward. I freely admit it, because there’s really no way to assess my decision other than “cowardly.” I'll explain.



In pre-season I got about three quarters of the way through a rough draft of an article on Winnipeg Jets sniper Patrik Laine with this confident headline:



Patrick Laine's dumb-good shot is going to win him the Rocket Richard Trophy



Didn't even leave myself wiggle room or an out. It was happening.



If you recall, in pre-season he scored five times in four games, with just a bevy of beauties. There was one goal in particular that I watched and was like “KAY, IT’S OVER, GIVE HIM THE TROPHY.” (I had wrongly assumed Alex Ovechkin — coming off a measly 33 goal year in 82 games, finishing behind 12 other skaters – was in decline and his years of Rocket dominance were over.)



Anyway, Laine was in the fabled Ovechkin spot on the power play, and a rebound kicked out in his...