by mikey287 on Tue May 07, 2013 9:29 am
For those that don't know...these "nominees" are not nominated in the sense that they are picked by the NHL and then voted on. These are the top-3 finalists as a result of voting. Just so we're clear on that. The voting was done at the end of the regular season.
Calder (rookie of the year): Brendan Gallagher (Mtl), Jonathan Huberdeau (Fla), Brandon Saad (Chi).
In my opinion, it should have been:
1. Jonas Brodin
2. Brendan Gallagher
3. Jonathan Huberdeau
Stat chasers removed the best or second best rookie from contention...hopefully that's the biggest travesty of the year, but we'll see...major miss by the voters there. Brenden Dillon, Justin Schultz, Nail Yakupov would have been decent choices too...
Norris (NHL's best defensemen): P.K. Subban (Mtl), Kristopher Letang (Pit), Ryan Suter (Min).
I actually pretty well like these choices, might have subbed out Letang for Beauchemin, but that's ok...
1. Ryan Suter
2. P.K. Subban
3. Kristopher Letang
Also would have considered Francois Beauchemin, Shea Weber, Duncan Keith...
Vezina (NHL's best goaltender): Sergei Bobrovsky (CBJ), Henrik Lundqvist (NYR), Antti Niemi (SJ)
I'm pretty good with these votes from the league's general managers, as I generally am. I am not a Niemi fan, but it was tough to ignore his body of work this year on a team that I wouldn't categorize as as defensive as New York or Columbus. Really did a great job with rebound control I felt this year and it's a team without a strong backup (Thomas Greiss), so Niemi had to get that team into the playoffs. It's a shame that Tuukka Rask doesn't get any goal support or else he would have had more than 19 wins. A flat 2 GAA, .929 save pct. and the league leading 5 blankings will likely land him in the top 5 in voting. As once again, a Boston goalie is at or near the top of the heap statistically (so that's 2 seasons for Thomas, 2 seasons for Rask, that's so so so so odd...).
Perhaps Jimmy Howard to round out the top 5? Had his work cut-out for him with Nicklas Lidstrom gone. Wouldn't mind if he received some scant recognition as well.
Might be...
1. Sergei Bobrovsky
2. Henrik Lundqvist
3. Antti NIemi
4. Tuukka Rask
5. Jimmy Howard
Ted Lindsay Award (Outstanding player according to the players): Sidney Crosby (Pit), Alexander Ovechkin (Wsh), Martin St. Louis (TB)
Don't really care much about this award...should be Crosby as he was by far the best player in the league this year. But the award is inconsistent and generally not telling of anything in particular...
Hart Trophy (League's most valuable player): Sidney Crosby (Pit), Alexander Ovechkin (Wsh), John Tavares (NYI)
I'm pretty good with these choices. Ovechkin finished strong and that can be commended. Tavares was the engine that drove a team to the playoffs. Would have also considered Jonathan Toews as well.
Hoping for: 1. Crosby, 2. Tavares, 3. Ovechkin, 4. Toews
Might end up: 1. Ovechkin, 2. Crosby, 3. Tavares, 4. Toews
Last edited by
mikey287 on Fri May 10, 2013 9:27 am, edited 4 times in total.