Sergei Zubov Still Rocks Your Socks

If somebody asked you to name the NHL's top scoring defenseman, which names would pop into your head first? Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Pronger, Sergei Gonchar, or Tomas Kaberle, right?

Well, amazingly enough, the 37-year old Sergei Zubov is the king of d-men this year, leading all blueliners with 28 points in 31 games. Trust me, I'm as shocked as you are that Zubov is in the top spot for defensemen scoring.

Sergei Zubov is somewhere near 10th in All-Star voting for defensemen.

But he's first in the league in scoring among blue-liners.

That seems the perfect dichotomy for one of the league's most underrated players.

"He quietly goes about his job, but the guys who get to see it in here understand what he means," Morrow said. "We know how valuable he is."

Given Dallas' stifling defence-first system, and Zubov's age, it's amazing that the veteran Russian is on pace to have one of the best offensive seasons of his career.

Of course, this speaks to how little attention and respect that Zubov gets among the fans and the media. How many of you would consider Zubov a Hall of Famer? Even with 760 points in 1043 regular season games, most would not have Zubov on their Hall of Fame lists beside Nicklas Lidstrom or Scott Niedermayer, the latter of which he has more career points than. The fact that Zubov has just ONE award nomination tells you just how under-the-radar his career has been. It would be nice if he got a little more attention every now and then, wouldn't it?