Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Eric Staal, Henrik Zetterberg. These are star players, leaders in their respective teams who have excelled in the post-season recently, fighting off and feeding off of tremendous pressure and emerging victors, holding up the Stanley Cup at the end of a glorious battle.
But every year, while only one team can win, 29 others are disappointed. And among those teams are some star players who excel in the regular season but have thus far been unable to lead their teams to playoff glory, some of whom have come under intense criticism for just that.
All of these players have that rare star quality. They lead their teams, they make the highlight reels, they're up there in the top of the stats year after year, they win the individual awards.
But so far, they have come up short when it counts, or have run into a rut in their careers.
They are all coming into this season with a lot to prove. They need to prove they can be real leaders for their teams, that they are capable of winning, that they want to win so badly they can no longer be denied.
Come playoff time, we will see which one, if any of them can ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Arto Jaakkola
Stars Under Fire : Ovechkin and Eight Other Stars with a Lot to Prove
October 3rd, 2010 by Arto Jaakkola Leave a reply »
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