NHL Awards Watch: Predators hunting hardware; who’s the early MVP?
(Each month, Puck Daddy will track the favorites for each of the major NHL Awards, with apologies to the Selke, the Lady Byng and the Mark Messier Leadership Award.)
Oh, stuff your “it’s too early for an Awards Watch tracker!” in a sack ...
Saturday marks a full month of the NHL season, and that’s long enough to examine the numbers and trends in the NHL. Or, at the very least, get a whiff of the narratives that the media has started crafting for the various candidates.
As a refresher, here are the winners we selected before the season.
Here’s the Puck Daddy NHL Awards Watch for the first month of the season. Please revisit this in 30 days to have a hearty chuckle.
HART TROPHY
(Note: We’re going with Hart Trophy Voting Guidelines here, which means that the players have to be on teams that are currently in playoff spots. Which explains our lack of Voracek, Kessel and Seguin.)
Winner If They Gave It Out Now: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins are leading their division and Crosby is leading in points. And we really aren’t going to rest until Crosby gets a Gretzky-load of Harts, are we, hockey writers?
The Finalists: Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks, with his 11 goals and plus-11 this season; Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators, who is a spiffy 8-2-1 with a 1.89 GAA and a .932 save percentage.
The Contenders: Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues; John Tavares, New York Islanders; Rick Nash, New York Rangers; Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning; Ryan Miller, Vancouver Canucks.
The Darkhorse: Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings, who’s done pretty much everything for this team so far this season.
VEZINA TROPHY
Winner If They Gave It Out Now: Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators. Hits that sweet spot in being his team’s MVP and having the numbers that warrant a Vezina (.953 EV save percentage, for example).
The Finalists: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings, who has a .954 EV save percentage thus far; Jonas Hiller, Calgary Flames, whose been the backbone of their surprising start and sports an impressive .941 EV save percentage while facing over 25 shots per game.
The Contenders: Fredrik Andersen, Anaheim Ducks; Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators; Ryan Miller, Vancouver Canucks; Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers; Marc-Andre-Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins; Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning; Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota Wild.
The Darkhorse: Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues, who is starting to slowly snag that starting job from Brian Elliott.
NORRIS TROPHY
Winner If They Gave It Out Now: Shea Weber, Nashville Predators. His six points in 13 games is enough offense, and he’s skating 27:33 per game.
The Finalists: Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames, who’d be the favorite right now if a single Eastern time zone voter knew who he was; Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks, who has made a triumphant return to the blue line.
The Contenders: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings; Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators; Ryan Suter, Minnesota Wild; P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens; Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning, who was the best defenseman of the season before his injury.
The Darkhorse: Johnny Boychuk, New York Islanders, who has had a transformative effect on that blue line, although he doesn’t have the ice time of his peers.
CALDER TROPHY
Winner If They Gave It Out Now: Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators, who leads the NHL in rookie points (13) and whose Calder push continues to be the waking nightmare of every Washington Capitals fan.
The Finalists: Tanner Pearson, Los Angeles Kings, leading the freshmen with seven goals; Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues, trying to become the first goalie to win since Steve Mason in 2009.
The Contenders: Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames; Damon Severson, New Jersey Devils; Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers; Andre Burakowsky, Washington Capitals; Jonathan Drouin, Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Darkhorse: Josh Jooris, Calgary Flames, with five points in eight games.
JACK ADAMS AWARD
Winner If They Gave It Out Now: Peter Laviolette, Nashville Predators. Here’s turned a group that was expected to be moribund into an exciting offensive team with sound defense in Weber and Rinne. And, more importantly, a contender.
The Finalists: Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning, who has them leading the division; Willie Desjardins, Vancouver Canucks, who has them third in the league in 3.21 goals per game.
The Contenders: Mike Babcock, Detroit Red Wings; Bruce Boudreau, Anaheim Ducks; Bob Hartley, Calgary Flames.
The Darkhorse: Paul Maurice, Winnipeg Jets, at least until the inevitable Ondrej Pavelec regression.
