Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

Michael Cammalleri.

A player's regular season reputation and history mean nothing once the NHL playoffs begin.

The great thing about the NHL playoffs is, as much as you might base your prognostications on history; history is one of those things that simply has a mind of its own.

So when the 1989-90 playoffs rolled around, and everybody expected the Washington Capitals would be led by the likes of Dino Ciccarelli, Dale Hunter and Geoff Courtnall, we were all shocked when a career plugger named John Druce emerged as the Capitals go-to player.

Druce, an up-and-down grinder with about as much flash and dash as a Volvo, suddenly erupted with 14 goals in 15 games. After scoring just eight goals and 11 points in 45 regular season games, Druce went to bed one night and woke up the next morning Wayne Gretzky.

In 15 playoff games Druce managed 17 points. Although he would never recapture that lightning in a bottle during the remaining 10 years of his professional hockey career, Druce remains the poster child for unexpected playoff eruptions.

And now we have a couple of other Druce-like heroes emerging.

Start with Joe Pavelski in San Jose.

To date in his four-year NHL career, Pavelski has been an effective contributor; a solid two-way player with a decent offensive upside who doesn’t shy away from the danger areas on the ice. In other words, unlike a certain other Joe on his team, he’ll go to the net. But until the past couple of weeks, there was nothing special about his game.

Nobody could have projected what we have seen from Pavelski in this year’s playoffs. In the opening round against the Colorado Avalanche, Pavelski set the table with a game-tying goal after his team had pulled the goalie for an extra attacker, a game-winner and the series-clinching goal.

He wasn’t done yet.

In the second round against San Jose’s nemesis, the Detroit Red Wings, Pavelski has continued to work his magic. In the first two games against Detroit, Pavelski has managed back-to-back two-goal and one-assist performances. For those of you not keeping score, that is three straight games of two goals and one assist, which leaves him with nine goals and 14 points in eight games.

He’s two points off the playoff scoring lead held by Sidney Crosby.

In Montreal, where reality rarely meets expectations these days, veteran Michael Cammalleri is also writing a pretty decent script for himself. Signed as an unrestricted free agent by former Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey last summer, Cammalleri did not arrive with an impressive playoff resume that would suggest he’d be the player to lead this team to glory.

In fact, he made his first trip to the playoffs last season with the Calgary Flames and it really wasn’t anything to write home about. Cammalleri had been booted down the pecking order upon the arrival of Olli Jokinen and managed just one goal and three points in six games. This year however, it has been a different story.

On a team that does not have a captain and facing numerous injuries to key personnel, including himself during the year, he has emerged as a leader both on and off the ice. Through Montreal’s first nine playoff games, the 27-year-old Richmond Hill native has eight goals (including two game-winners) and 13 points.

Despite Montreal’s impressive 3-1 victory over the Penguins in Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon, most would still agree it is going to be awfully difficult for the Habs to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions. If they do, you can bet Cammalleri will have a huge hand in it.

Obviously, Cammalleri is not alone. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak has stepped up, too, while veteran defenceman Hal Gill rarely gets the credit he deserves. Gill is not the most fleet of foot skater the NHL has ever seen, but there was a reason why Gainey wanted him for this team. For starters, he is a very difficult defender to play against because of his long reach. Jaromir Jagr once told The Hockey News that Gill was his toughest opponent.

Also, Gill played a huge role in helping the Penguins win the Cup last season.

It is way too early to determine who will win the Cup this season. From where I sit, no team has established itself as a clear-cut favourite. That’s what makes the emergence of players such as Pavelski and Cammalleri, not to mention Mikael Samuelsson with the Vancouver Canucks and the suddenly-hot Mike Richards with the Philadelphia Flyers, so much fun to see.

It has been 20 years since John Druce took the hockey world by surprise with one of the most amazing playoff performances of all-time.

It makes you wonder, are we seeing something of historical significance this season?