GLENDALE, Ariz. — Martin Hanzal never sets statistical goals.

“I always try not to look at my numbers,” the Coyotes center said. “All they will do is get in my head and throw me off of my game.”

If that’s the case, Hanzal won’t like this angle. With five goals and 19 points in his first 21 games, he is nearly halfway to his career-high of 40 points set in the 2013-14 season.

The 2005, first-round pick (17th overall) is on pace for a career year.

“Maybe, but I think it’s still way too early,” he said, nearly recoiling from the idea. “It’s the end of November and the season is really long. I had a good start but if you’re going to be a great player you’d better keep it going and be the best player every night, and that’s what I want to be.”

Hanzal has been on many nights this season. Although he didn’t score his first goal until he netted a pair in a 3-2 win in Los Angeles on Nov. 10, Hanzal had already recorded 13 assists — many of those on goals by linemates Tobias Rieder and Anthony Duclair.

Couple that with his normal role of playing against the other team’s top center, and you could make a strong argument that Hanzal has been the team’s MVP through the first two months of the season.

“He’s been a valuable, valuable player,” coach Dave Tippett said. “Him and Rieder together have been a real good tandem for us.”

Hanzal said he is still learning the tendencies of his linemates, so he hasn’t yet reached the chemistry level he had with veterans Ray Whitney and Radim Vrbata a few years ago. He’s also taken on the additional role of mentoring his younger wings.

“The key for us is going hard every game and playing fast,” he said. “When we do we create chances and we’re hard to play against.

“Tobi is more of a two-way player so I kind of know what to do more with him. Duke is more of a shooter. He’s offensively skilled, a scorer who can really fly to the net so I’m still figuring out how to work with him.”

When Hanzal is on his game, he’s playing the cycle game with his wings, getting pucks off the wall and driving to the net to create traffic and get deflections or rebounds.

The most difficult aspect for Hanzal has been playing that physical game while maintaining his health. He had back surgery in mid-February to repair the same herniated disc on which he had an operation in July of 2008. The most recent injury sidelined him for the remainder of the 2014-15 season.

The 2008 surgery was supposed to alleviate the problem but Hanzal said he experienced pain off and on over the past few seasons and it steadily “got worse.” He started feeling greater pain and numbness around Christmas, 2014 and called it “the exact same thing” he experienced in 2008.

“I had pain that was shooting down my left leg and there were days where I couldn’t feel my leg,” he said. “They kind of cut the piece out that was pushing on my nerve and that was the reason I couldn’t feel my leg. Now it’s all good; all healed up.”

Following the second surgery, Hanzal said he never wanted to go “under the knife” again. To ward off recurring problems, he arrives 45 minutes before practice and games to do stretching and strengthen his core. He does additional weight-training exercises and he stays after practice or games for more stretching and exercises.

Tippett said that regimen will be critical to maintaining his health, but the reality is that Hanzal takes a pounding due to his role on the ice. There will be times when he hits lulls, whether through fatigue or bumps and bruises.

“The Ottawa game (Saturday) was probably his worst game thus far but I chalk some of that up to (being) overextended,” Tippett said. “He’s played a lot of hard minutes for us here. The rest (Sunday and Monday) will do him good.”

Hanzal said there may come a time this season where he has to taper off his regimen a bit in order to maintain his health and energy.

“I’m probably not at that point because it’s still very early in the season,” he said. “But when we have a tough schedule or lots of travel, maybe less morning skates is a good idea. Less sometimes more because you want to rest your body.”

In the meantime, he’s not concerning himself with the odd streaks this season has produced. After averaging better than an assist per game through the first 10 games, Hanzal has just two assists in his last 11 games, but five goals.

“As long as I’m putting up some points I don’t care if its goals or assists,” he said. “It’s really more a matter of winning and we are. Goals and assists are just numbers. Winning is a better feeling.”

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