Introduction
Obviously, the main focus in the NHL and on hockey in general right now is the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, in the background, the NHL has announced the nominees for all of their awards. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at the nominations for five of the most important trophies and giving our opinion on who should win.
Calder Memorial (Rookie of the Year)
Nominees: Kirill Kaprizov (MIN), Jason Robertson (DAL), Alex Nedelkovic (CAR)
Previous Three Winners: Mat Barzal (NYI), Elias Pettersson (VAN), Cale Makar (COL)
Who Should Win:
The voters actually did good with this one. All three of these players were great this season, but I’m going to have to give the slight edge to Kaprizov. Right off the bat, Nedelkovic didn’t really play enough games to be on the same level as the other two. Though, If he got 10-plus more starts and put up the same numbers he did then he would almost definitely be my pick.
Kaprizov and Robertson were very close, with Jason even matching Kirill’s even-strength point totals in less games. However, Kirill’s elite talent combined with pretty good advanced analytics were enough to give him the win.
Frank J. Selke (Best Defensive Forward)
Nominees: Mark Stone (VGK), Patrice Bergeron (BOS), Aleksander Barkov (FLA)
Previous Three Winners: Anze Kopitar (LAK), Ryan O’Reilly (STL), Sean Couturier (PHI)
Who Should Win:
The Selke trophy is an odd one where people define it as two different things. The actual definition is the best defensive forward in the NHL, and the unofficial definition is who is best two-way forward. Now, these things may sound similar, but are in fact very different. The best defensive forward refers to the forward (center or winger) who puts up the best defensive numbers in the league and whose offensive abilities really do not matter. Best two-way forward refers to the forward who has the most well-rounded game. Maybe he isn’t the best defensively, but is still very, very good and also above-average offensively.
If you’re using the first and official definition, then Patrice Bergeron should be the one taking home his fifth selke of his career. If you’re using the second definition then Mark Stone should be the one winning his first ever award.
Vezina (Best Goalie)
Nominees: Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK), Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL), Phillip Grubauer (COL)
Previous Three Winners: Pekka Rinne (NSH), Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL), Connor Hellebuyck (WPG)
Who Should Win:
Right off the bat, we can eliminate Phillip Grubauer. While he did have a pretty good season, a .921 five-on-five save percentage (5v5 SV%) and 5.2 goals saved above expected (GSAE) is nothing to write off, it pales in comparison to Fleury and Vasilevskiy’s numbers. Vasilevskiy was third in 5v5 SV% and second in GSAE with an outstanding 18.2 goals saved and Fleury wasn’t far behind in either as well. He collected a .929 5v5 SV% and 17.9 GSAE which was good enough for second and third in the respective categories.
After going through the appropriate statistics, it’s extremely close between Fleury and Vasilevskiy, but I think Andrei should win his second Vezina trophy of his career.
James Norris Memorial (Best Defenseman)
Nominees: Adam Fox (NYR), Cale Makar (COL), Victor Hedman (TBL)
Previous Three Winners: Victor Hedman (TBL), Mark Giordano (CGY), Roman Josi (NSH)
Who Should Win:
The Norris Trophy is probably the most controversial award in the league just based on a combination of the importance of the award, the position the award is for, and the method of which the voters choose the winner. For many years the winner of the award had gone to the defenseman who had impressed the most offensively. That has changed somewhat recently with Mark Giordano winning in 2019 and Roman Josi winning in 2020. These two players won due to a combination of offense and defensive play, which I always thought should be the basis of how the winner should be chosen.
For this year, I don’t know how Hedman was nominated as he was not good in his own end and only got points from those sweet, sweet power play minutes. As for the winner, Adam Fox and Cale Makar were both other worldly this year, with Makar edging out Fox when it comes to offense and Fox having the defensive advantage. If I’m going with my own definition though, I’m going to say that Fox takes the cake, although it’s extremely close.
Hart Memorial (League MVP)
Nominees: Connor McDavid (EDM), Auston Matthews (TOR), Nathan Mackinnon (COL)
Previous Three Winners: Taylor Hall (NJD), Nikita Kucherov (TBL), Leon Draisaitl (EDM)
Who Should Win:
Last but not least, we have the Hart trophy awarded yearly to the player most valuable to his team. This year there are three fantastic candidates. Nathan Mackinnon who was the best player on a loaded Avalanche team. Auston Matthews who scored 41 goals in just 52 games. And Connor McDavid who scored at the highest points per game rate since the ‘05 lockout.
After considering all of this the winner is Matt Tennyson! Just kidding, that would be pretty funny though. In all seriousness though, McDavid just had a historical season that even he might not ever be able to replicate. If anyone but him wins it will be not only a travesty to hockey, but all of professional sports. Even though this award features the three best skaters of any of these awards, it was the easiest to pick. In the end though, I just hope that ANY of these guys can find some form of postseason success soon.
All statistics are via. naturalstattrick.com and moneypuck.com