Fast-flying Avs forward Nathan MacKinnon closing in on 1,000-point milestone

Sport

Fast-flying Avs forward Nathan MacKinnon closing in on 1,000-point milestone

2025-03-10 02:09 Last Updated At：02:21

DENVER (AP) — Let’s make this quick: Nathan MacKinnon's fast. Every defenseman and goaltender around the league knows about his elite speed all too well.

Knowing that doesn’t make containing the hard-charging, fast-flying Colorado Avalanche forward any easier.

MacKinnon’s swiftness on the ice has led to an accelerated pace through the record books. His next goal or assist will join him with Hall of Famers Joe Sakic and Peter Stastny as the only skaters in franchise history to reach 1,000 points.

The reigning NHL MVP also became the first player in the league this season to reach 100 points.

“He continues to impress me,” said Colorado coach Jared Bednar, whose team is 5-0 on a six-game homestand that concludes Monday against Chicago. “He’s grown a lot as a player, as a leader, his consistency, the way he’s dangerous every time he touches the ice.

“It’s a tough league, and he still finds a way every night to get on the board and make an impact on the offensive side, all while being a good defender and growing his defensive game, too.”

MacKinnon's not one to focus on individual milestones. But he will about team success. He likes the makeup of this new-look Avalanche squad, which in recent days has acquired Charlie Coyle, Brock Nelson, Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey and former teammate Erik Johnson.

“It's great to get some veterans in, honestly,” MacKinnon said Saturday night after a 7-4 win over Toronto in which he had two goals. “They come in, they're chatting, they're getting to know everybody, they're not shy at all, they've been around and they're great players. ... It's a big change. It's pretty cool how well we played."

MacKinnon's proven a quick study, too. When the Avalanche sent Mikko Rantanen to Carolina (Rantanen was later traded to Dallas ) as part of a deal for Martin Necas on Jan. 24, MacKinnon brushed up on the tendencies of his newest linemate.

It's led to quick chemistry with Necas, who has five goals and 11 assists over 15 games since joining the Avalanche.

“He’s an elite player,” Necas said of MacKinnon. “So fun to watch him.”

Unless, of course, you’re the opposition.

“If you don’t respect (his speed), he’s going to burn right by you,” said San Jose rookie Macklin Celebrini, the top overall pick in 2024.

Celebrini studies MacKinnon’s game to pick up tips.

“Nate’s speed, it’s not really something you can kind of replicate, just how powerful he is and how strong he is,” Celebrini said. “But his habits and his routes and his tendencies you can look at and see if you can try to emulate a little bit or fit some of that into your game.”

MacKinnon has 27 goals and 73 assists this season to reach 100 points for a third straight season. The only other Avalanche/Nordiques player to accomplish a streak like that was Stastny, who had six straight 100-point seasons from 1980-81 to 1985-86.

The top pick in 2013, the 29-year-old MacKinnon also is on the precipice of becoming the first player in his draft class to reach 1,000 points (362 goals, 637 assists). The next closest is Florida center Aleksander Barkov — the second overall pick — with 771 points.

In addition, MacKinnon has notched at least a point in 19 straight home games. It’s the second-longest home points streak of the season, trailing only Zach Werenski’s 22-game string from Nov. 1 to Feb. 22 for Columbus.

“We kind of see it every night, so we’re used to it almost,” teammate Jonathan Drouin said. “Someone that watches him once or every two weeks is probably like, ‘Oh, wow.’ For us, we’re used to how he plays, and you kind of expect that from him.

“We’re going to look back when we’re all done playing, look back at those years he had, and that’s when you will know how special of player he is.”

Sidney Crosby sees the intensity of MacKinnon each offseason when they train together. The Pittsburgh Penguins standout joked about how difficult it was to keep up with MacKinnon's speed when the tandem helped Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

“Anytime you see guys up close and how hard they work and how much they put into it, you want to see them get rewarded,” Crosby said of MacKinnon's quest for 1,000 points. “He’s somebody that’s continued to want to get better every single year.”

MacKinnon's drive has certainly been contagious among teammates.

“You want to make sure you’re good, because he’s going to be good every night," Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood said. "He brings out the best in everybody, because he expects the best of himself.

“It’s a lot better to have him on your side than facing him.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The House passed a requirement to prove US citizenship to vote. This is how it could affect voting

2025-04-11 01:31 Last Updated At：01:41

ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. House on Thursday approved legislation requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for anyone registering to vote, something voting rights group have warned could disenfranchise millions of Americans.

The requirement has been a top election-related priority for President Donald Trump and House Republicans, who argue it's needed to eliminate instances of noncitizen voting, which is already rare and, as numerous state cases have shown, is typically a mistake rather than part of a coordinated attempt to subvert an election. It's already illegal under federal law for people who are not U.S. citizens to cast ballots and can lead to felony charges and deportation.

The bill, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or the SAVE Act, now heads to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain because Republicans don't have a large enough majority to avoid a filibuster.

Here’s a look at key issues in the debate over a proof of citizenship requirement for voting:

If it eventually becomes the law, the SAVE Act would take effect immediately and apply to all voter registration applications.

“This has no impact on individuals that are currently registered to vote,” said Rep. Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican who has been advocating for the bill.

Voting rights groups say there is more to the story. The law would affect voters who already are registered if they move, change their name or otherwise need to update their registration. That was acknowledged to some extent by the bill’s author, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, during a recent hearing on the legislation.

“The idea here is that for individuals to be able to continue to vote if they are registered,” Roy said. “If they have an intervening event or if the states want to clean the rolls, people would come forward to register to demonstrate their citizenship so we could convert our system over some reasonable time to a citizenship-based registration system.”

The SAVE Act compels states to reject any voter registration application in which the applicant has not presented “documentary proof of United States citizenship."

Among the acceptable documents for demonstrating proof of citizenship are:

— A REAL ID-compliant driver’s license that “indicates the applicant is a citizen.”

— A valid U.S. passport.

— A military ID card with a military record of service that lists the applicant’s birthplace as in the U.S.

— A valid government-issued photo ID that shows the applicant’s birthplace was in the U.S.

— A valid government-issued photo ID presented with a document such as a certified birth certificate that shows the birthplace was in the U.S.

In general, driver’s licenses do not list a birthplace or indicate that the card holder is a citizen – even many that are REAL ID-compliant.

REAL ID was passed by Congress in 2005 to set minimum standards for IDs such as driver’s licenses and requires applicants to provide a Social Security number and demonstrate lawful status either as a citizen or legal resident.

After years of delays, any driver’s license used for identification to pass through airport security will have to be REAL ID-compliant beginning May 7. U.S. passports will still be acceptable.

Although states designate REAL ID compliance on driver’s licenses with a marking such as a gold or black star, that alone would not indicate U.S. citizenship. People who are legal residents but not citizens also can obtain a REAL ID.

States are currently not required to label IDs with a “citizen” mark, although a handful of states (Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington) offer a citizen-only REAL ID alternative that might meet SAVE Act requirements. Republicans say they hope more states will move in the direction of IDs that indicate citizenship.

“The structure is put in place now to -- I think there’s at least five states that do have the citizenship status as part of the REAL ID -- encourage more states to do so,” Roy said. “That would be part of the goal here.”

Adoption of REAL ID has been slow. As of January 2024, about 56% of driver’s licenses and IDs in the U.S. were REAL ID-compliant, according to data collected by the Department of Homeland Security.

Voting rights group say the list of documents doesn’t consider the realities facing millions of Americans who do not have easy access to their birth certificates and the roughly half who do not have a U.S. passport.

They also worry about additional hurdles for women whose birth certificates don’t match their current IDs because they changed their name after getting married. There were examples of this during local elections last month in New Hampshire, which recently implemented a proof of citizenship requirement for voting.

Republicans say there is a provision in the SAVE Act that directs states to develop a process for accepting supplemental documents such as a marriage certificate, which could establish the connection between a birth certificate and a government-issued ID.

They argue the process is similar to obtaining a U.S. passport or REAL ID-compliant driver’s license.

“We have mechanisms giving the state fairly significant deference to make determinations as to how to structure the situation where an individual does have a name change,” Roy said. “The process is specifically contemplated in this legislation.”

Democrats counter that the bill should have specified how this was to be done, rather than creating the potential to have 50 different rules.

The legislation says applicants who submit the federal voter registration form by mail must present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in person to their local election office under a deadline set by their state.

Voting rights groups have noted this would be a huge barrier for people who live in more rural parts of the country, where the nearest election office might be hours away by car.

The SAVE Act directs states, in consultation with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, to ensure that “reasonable accommodations” are made to allow individuals with disabilities who submit the form to provide proof of citizenship to their election official.

The legislation also considers that some states permit same-day voter registration and says, in those cases, voters must present proof of citizenship at their polling location “not later than the date of the election.”

That would mean that people who do not have such proof with them would have to return with their documents before polls close to be registered and have their ballot counted.

It’s less clear what this means for those states that have online voter registration systems or automatic voter registration set up through their state’s motor vehicle agency. Democratic state election officials have raised concerns that the legislation means these processes would no longer be operational under the proposal.

The legislation says anyone registering through a state motor vehicle agency also is required to provide proof of citizenship. It directs the Election Assistance Commission to issue guidance to state election officials about implementing the law’s requirements.

Republicans say any instance of voting by noncitizens, no matter how rare, is unacceptable and undermines confidence in U.S. elections.

Democrats respond by saying that voting by noncitizens is already illegal in federal elections —those for president and Congress — and penalties can result in fines and deportation. They say Congress should be more focused on helping states improve their ability to identify and remove any noncitizens who might end up on voter lists instead of forcing everyone to prove citizenship beforehand.

A recent review in Michigan identified 15 people who appear to be noncitizens who voted in the 2024 general election, out of more than 5.7 million ballots cast in the state. Of those, 13 were referred to the attorney general for potential criminal charges. One involved a voter who has since died, and the final case remains under investigation.

“Our careful review confirms what we already knew – that this illegal activity is very rare,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement. “While we take all violations of election law very seriously, this tiny fraction of potential cases in Michigan and at the national level do not justify recent efforts to pass laws we know would block tens of thousands of Michigan citizens from voting in future elections."