Takin' a T/O with BT: The NHL's Unheralded Christmas Stars

Well another year has come and gone, and another Christmas with it.

As of 12:00am tonight, it's another 365 (and a quarter) days until it happens all over again.

But while some receive gifts that flash, buzz, or whir and others just enjoy spending time with the family the day has hopefully brought you everything you expected it would.

To each and every Bleacher Report writer, I'd love to extend my heart felt congratulations on a year full of hard work that's truly paid off—and you can see it by just browsing around the NHL page.

But while we wait for tomorrow to come with the Boxing Day sales and the return of hockey, let's just think for a second about the past year and where the great stories have come from.

There's been Carey Price's NHL debut, Alexander Ovechkin taking the world by storm, and the institution of the (now annual) Winter Classic. We've also witnessed some of the prettiest saves and slickest goals we've ever seen.

But while the superstars of the league provide the fans with breath-taking plays and tantalizing facts to use for next year's round of Trivial Pursuit, and this current season continues to provide us with long-lasting memories, why not enjoy the last few sips of Christmas spirit by acknowledging the not-so-talked about players without whom teams can't get by.

Jonas Hiller (7-6-1, 2.21 GAA, .931 save percentage) and Brian Boucher (8-1-1, 1.88 GAA, .928 save percentage) have offered the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks respectively, relief for their All-Star tenders throughout the season.

Despite an injury to top Calder candidate Derick Brassard, the Columbus Blue Jackets have had a pair of pleasing rookies this season with Brassard and Steve Mason finally offering Jackets' fans hope while the Los Angeles Kings have sprouted their own fresh-faced prodigy in Drew Doughty (Along with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown just to name a few).

When you talk about production from unlikely places, some may mention the names of Brooks Laich in Washington, Rene Bourque in Calgary, Antti Miettinen in Minnesota, and Trent Hunter for the Islanders. Of course Hunter is bouncing back after a few off years, but each and everyone of them are helping their teams with career seasons.

People talk about Shea Weber in Nashville and how he paces the power play attack, but Ryan Suter is no slouch either with 18 points and six power play assists, while Filip Kuba has at least provided some secondary scoring to a struggling Ottawa Senators lineup (22 points), even though he's the only player on the roster outside of the "Big Three" to net more than 20 points.

The Boston Bruins have had a stellar start and a dynamic offense, but their defense (which has allowed the fewest goals in the NHL) is certainly no slouch, especially with the way rookie defenseman Matt Hunwick has stepped in. Speaking of slouches, many people counted the Pittsburgh Penguins out when they lost their two top defenders in the offseason but Alex Goligoski and Kris Letang have come up with big years in the mean time.

The Colorado Avalanche have wobbled through injury troubles to stars Joe Sakic and now Paul Statsny, but through it all sophomore T.J. Hensick has shown some offensive flair and has started to come into his own, while the Carolina Hurricanes have found a way to bring out the best in Tuomo Ruutu—likewise with the Florida Panthers and goalie Craig Anderson.

While the Atlanta Thrashers have worried for a while what life would be like if Ilya Kovalchuk ever decided to leave, the emergence of Bryan Little will have them sleeping a little easier hopefully, while the Buffalo Sabres are giddy at the future prospects of their top line (Thomas Vanek, Jason Pominville, and Derek Roy) and Philadelphia is just happy Simon Gagne came back alive and well.

While Ryan Malone and Steven Stamkos have produced far from ideal totals this season for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Mark Recchi is proving that some soon-to-be 41 year olds can still play the young man's game, while the Phoenix Coyotes—who should be all about the young man's game—are hoping their kids start producing like "old men" Shane Doan and Oli Jokinen soon.

As the Dallas Stars try to climb their way back into the West, Loui Eriksson is two goals away from surpassing his previous career total for goals this season, while the Edmonton Oilers are just happy that Sheldon Souray has only missed one game so far this year—same goes for the Chicago Blackhawks with Martin Havlat and the St Louis Blues and Carlo Colaiacovo.

Sidenote: I feel really sorry for Blues fans right about now. They have three full-time defensemen on IR and are now relying on Colaiacovo who is two points away from surpassing Barrett Jackman as the team's leading scorer amongst defensemen. There's no real feeling for it....it's just strange.

Just wait though, something big is going to happen right when you think he's turned the corner and that he won't get hurt again. It's like Rob Schneider showing up in an Adam Sandler movie: you keep hoping it won't happen and that you're in the clear, but you're really not.

Either that or I'm bitter. Very, very bitter.

I guess it works out that the Vancouver Canucks ended up with Mats Sundin; the New York Rangers get to keep a lineup that features leading scorer Nikolai Zherdev intact (the entire state of Ohio just threw up into their Ohio Buckeyes trash can), and hopefully Mats helps Kyle Wellwood feel more at home and keeps him from that whole "scoring goals" thing that he couldn't do in Toronto but just happened to find on the West coast.

Thankfully for the New Jersey Devils Brian Gionta has recaptured his scoring touch to compliment that of Zach Parise and Patrik Elias, while the Montreal Canadiens are thanking their lucky stars that the Robert Lang trade worked out for them—after all, someone has to score goals for this team right?

As for the Detroit Red Wings, they don't really have a part that no one knows about: They have eight players with 20 or more points, two players within three points of the benchmark, and only five active players with a minus rating.

I guess it's nice that they still have the creator of the puck on their roster.

But with the Toronto Maple Leafs and their season, while there have been bright spots (The play of Dominic Moore, Luke Schenn, Mikhail Grabovski, John Mitchell, and Jeremy Williams) there's one gift that I'll treasure above all else:

Justin Pogge had nothing to do with the Leafs 8-2 loss to Dallas.

Talk about picking your battles.

Bryan Thiel is a Senior Writer and an NHL Community Leader for Bleacher Report. If you want to get in contact with Bryan, you can do so through his profile. You can also check out all of his previous work in his archives.