Kempe on goal rush, NHLPA Player Poll takeaways, and Hawks go outside the box

Shoot the puck!

Walk into any hockey arena, and no matter the age or skill level of the players on the ice, that directive will bounce off the walls sooner than later. It's what fans fall back on when the offense isn't clicking for one reason or another.

It's also what Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings would say to himself toward the end of the 2020-21 season. The winger always felt like he had a better-than-average shot to pair with blazing speed. He just wasn't tapping into it.

Shoot the puck!

He finally did, letting go of all hesitancy. And off a career-high 4.3 shot attempts per game, Kempe ended up with 14 goals in 56 games - which, on a per-game basis, counted as the most productive season of his NHL career.

"Going into this year, I wanted to shoot even more," Kempe told theScore last week, a day before pouncing on a loose puck and firing it top corner for his 34th goal. On Thursday, he sniped his 35th and final of the season.

Kempe continued: "Especially when you play with a guy like (Anze Kopitar), you basically just try to get open and be ready to shoot. He's been telling me that every single night. 'Be ready. When I get it to you, let it rip.'"

Kopitar, the Kings' captain and No. 1 center, was virtually inseparable from Kempe during the regular season. Kopitar's vision and passing ability blended perfectly with Kempe's quick wheels and even quicker release. This stylistic match led to 5.7 attempts per game for Kempe.

"Going back to my previous years," Kempe said, "I was bouncing around for a long time - all kinds of different lines - so it's hard to find that consistency and what kind of role you want to bring to the line. Now, I definitely know my role."

Over the offseason, Kempe realized he could add at least a handful of goals to his 2020-21 total by simply hanging out around the crease more frequently. This year, his average shot distance shrunk from 37.8 feet to 31.4 feet.

After a slow October, his confidence grew during a seven-goal November. And then he took off, scoring 14 goals over a 21-game span from Dec. 19 to Feb. 25. That hot stretch included a trip to Las Vegas for All-Star Weekend.

Kempe also credited internal competition as a driving force behind his increased production. Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson have impressed as new Kings, dominating the opposition territorially most nights alongside Trevor Moore. "(Danault's) line has been unreal all year," Kempe said. "They can play against any line, and the best part is that they produce as much as we do."

Those two trios have helped lead the Kings to the playoffs for the first time since 2018. That postseason, the Vegas Golden Knights swept them in the first round. Starting next week, the underdog Kings are tasked with shutting down Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Edmonton Oilers.

Only goalie Jonathan Quick, forwards Kopitar and Dustin Brown (who's set to retire at season's end), and defenseman Drew Doughty (who's out for the season with an injury) are left from the 2014 Stanley Cup team. And it's those four players, plus Kempe and forward Alex Iafallo, who are still kicking from the 2018 team.

In other words, it's been a long four years for veteran Kings, as the club retooled on the fly. Making the playoffs was the objective in 2021-22.

"Right from the training camp, we all felt like we were tired of being in the bottom half of the league for the last few seasons," Kempe said. "This is really the time where we want to really take a step in the right direction, be more of a threat, and push for a playoff spot. We are where we wanted to be."

On an individual level, Kempe's where he wanted to be, too. Heck, he's blown past that mark all the way to 35 goals and 54 points in 78 games.

NHLPA Player Poll takeaways

The NHL Players' Association revealed the results of its annual player poll earlier this week. The report isn't earth-shattering, but as usual, there are a few things we can glean from a survey involving more than 500 active players.

Takeaway 1: Matthews and Shesterkin underappreciated

Both Auston Matthews and Igor Shesterkin - the potential winners of this year's Hart and Vezina trophies, respectively - didn't receive enough votes to crack the leaderboard in the categories that asked players, "If you need to win one game, who is the one goalie/skater you would want on your team?"

Connor McDavid (42.4%), Sidney Crosby (17.3%), Victor Hedman (6.7%), Aleksander Barkov (3.5%), and Nathan MacKinnon (3.3%) beat out Matthews in the skater question, while Andrei Vasilevskiy (37.4%), Carey Price (13.9%), Marc-Andre Fleury (6.7%), John Gibson (3.5%), Jacob Markstrom (3.1%), Quick (3.1%), and Juuse Saros (3.1%) beat out Shesterkin in the goalie category.

Was the survey sent out in the preseason? That's the only explanation I can think of for Shesterkin being left off the goalies list. As for the skaters list, none of those five players are underserving, but Matthews is the sport's top goal-scorer and a plus defender. You don't want him on your team?

Takeaway 2: Crosby is still a giant among his peers

Sidney Crosby is having a fantastic season. He was the Pittsburgh Penguins' regular-season MVP, and at 34 years old, No. 87 remains an elite player in the NHL.

That said, I was mildly surprised to see Crosby atop the "most complete player" category with 29.5% of the votes. Fans and media think highly of Crosby's well-roundedness, but I bet Patrice Bergeron (third-most votes) and maybe even Barkov (second-most votes) would win out in a non-player poll.

Crosby was also crowned the NHL's "best role model." Bergeron, McDavid, and Fleury were second, third, and fourth, respectively, in that ultimate good-guy category.

Takeaway 3: Canadiens' rink in league of its own

In the era of traveling ice-making gurus, ice quality tends to be nearly identical across the league. Two thumbs-up to the Bell Centre for crushing the other 31 barns in the "best ice" category. The Montreal rink reeled in 39.6% of the votes. Edmonton's Rogers Place ranked second with 13.7%.

Hawks go outside the box

On Thursday, the Chicago Blackhawks made a splash by hiring Jeff Greenberg, a longtime baseball executive and scout. Greenberg joins the Blackhawks as an associate general manager following stints within the Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations.

It's an outside-the-box hire by NHL standards. While Greenberg's name might sound familiar (he interviewed for the Hawks' GM job, losing to Kyle Davidson), the 36-year-old has no hockey operations experience.

According to a press release, Greenberg will oversee the Hawks' "strategic systems and processes that will fuel the entire hockey operations group."

Without knowing more about Greenberg's work in baseball, it would be dishonest to applaud the hire itself. However, I can certainly applaud the approach taken here.

There's value in hiring women, people of color, and other minorities. There's also value in hiring industry pros from outside hockey. At the very least, Greenberg is injecting the Hawks' front office with a fresh perspective.

Former NHL forward Anson Carter is a believer in cross-sport pollination. Within his own social bubble, he's gained insight into injury prevention and rest and recovery methods by picking the brains of NFL and NBA people.

"Coming from a baseball perspective, maybe analytics is really driving the way (Greenberg) sees the game, the way he thinks the game," said Carter, who's now a TV analyst for TNT. "You don't necessarily have to be a quote-unquote hockey person. But if you have hockey people in the room, then you can figure out how to use that data and apply it to what you're trying to figure out."

Carter added: "Good for the Hawks for trying to think outside the box, because at the end of the day, everyone's trying to win a Stanley Cup championship, so you use whatever tools are available to try to get it done."

Props to the Blue Jackets

With one game remaining, the Columbus Blue Jackets' record is a mediocre 37-37-7. They own a minus-36 goal differential and will finish 10th in the Eastern Conference.

Those aren't good results. However, considering the talent pool available to first-year head coach Brad Larsen and the circumstances surrounding some of his players, those results are about as good as one could expect.

The rebuilding Blue Jackets came into training camp mourning the unexpected death of goalie Matiss Kivlenieks. In November, top forward Patrik Laine took time away from the team to grieve the loss of his father. Then, in March, forward Alexandre Texier was granted a leave of absence for personal reasons, and he never returned to the club.

And yet, there are some silver linings.

Larsen, a longtime assistant, proved himself capable of running an NHL bench. New captain Boone Jenner has received rave reviews for his leadership. Cole Sillinger, the youngest player to appear in an NHL game this season, has showed a ton of promise at center. Laine battled multiple injuries and never skated with a premier playmaker yet still racked up 26 goals in 56 games, the equivalent of 38 goals in 82 games. Kent Johnson, the highly skilled and creative fifth overall pick from the 2021 draft, got his feet wet.

The most optimistic preseason view was that 2021-22 could be a stepping-stone year for Columbus. Despite many challenges, it was.

Parting thoughts

Ovi Watch: Alex Ovechkin has scored 50 goals this year. The Washington Capitals' regular season wraps up Friday night, so if he's healthy enough to crack the lineup, Ovechkin could add to that tally, but let's assume for a moment he finishes with 50. That would mean a 37-year-old Ovechkin will start the 2022-23 season at 780 career goals, or 21 shy of Gordie Howe's 801 and 114 short of Wayne Gretzky's 894. Passing Howe is well within reach. To pass Gretzky, Ovechkin would need an average of 28.8 goals per season over the final four years of his contract. That's very doable. To pass Gretzky before he turns 40, he would need 38.3 per year. That's also doable.

Ice Wars: I recently stumbled upon a Reuters article about an upstart sports "league" called Ice Wars. The concept: No sticks or pucks, just two, one-minute rounds where players in full gear and wearing MMA gloves punch each other's face. "Join us for the most extreme combat sport ever invented," the Ice Wars official website proclaims. Given what we know about the link between hits to the head and CTE, the idea is frankly absurd. AJ Galante, star of the Netflix documentary about the minor-league Danbury Trashers, is running the show. The first Ice Wars event is scheduled for May 21 in Enoch, Alberta, west of Edmonton.

Steven Stamkos: Eight players have reached the 100-point plateau this season. Stamkos, who with one game to go has 39 goals and 64 assists for a career-high 103 points, is the only triple-digit guy over the age of 28. It's a massive accomplishment for the 32-year-old Lightning captain. Stamkos has suffered through multiple long-term injuries over his career, so if his production happened to fade in his 30s, it would have been understandable. Instead, Stamkos has hit the milestone by toying with defenses down the stretch, recording 12 goals and 25 assists over his last 19 games.

Takes, Thoughts, and Trends is theScore's biweekly hockey grab bag.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).