2019 NHL Alternative Awards: Cy Young, Green Jacket and more

With the 2018-19 NHL season in the books, it’s almost time to get extremely Mad Online over who should win each major award and which media member deserves to have their credentials revoked for being bad at voting.

But before the ballots for the big boy awards are cast and eventually roasted, we decided to hand out some hardware to players who either excelled or failed in a specific facet of the game.

The Green Jacket

Awarded to the player with the worst plus-minus rating.

Winner: Rasmus Ristolainen: (-) 41

Runner-up: Drew Doughty (-) 34

The Buffalo Sabres have had a rough year to put it lightly, but on the bright side one of their most-played defenseman earned himself The Green Jacket this season after posting an impressively terrible minus-41 rating — seven strokes worse than runner up Drew Doughty. Risto had this one locked up from the start and only got stronger on the back-nine.

Cy Young

Awarded to the player who had the most impressive disparity in goals and assists.

Winner: Brian Boyle (18 goals, 6 assists)

Runner-up: Viktor Arvidsson (33 goals, 14 assists)

Posting three times the amount of goals this season as he did assists, Brian Boyle is this year’s winner of the prestigious Cy Young award. His 18-and-6 is the highest disparity percentage-wise, but Predators teammate Viktor Arvidsson should be praised for being the only 30-plus goal guy in the running. Impressive race this year.

Dave Keon Award

Awarded to the player who excelled most at staying out of the box (minimum 70 games played).

Winner: Jason Pominville (4)

Runner-up: Jack Roslovic (4)

It was a tight race here but we’re giving it to Pominville because he had more total ice time this season than Roslovic despite playing fewer games. Both spent only four minutes or less in the sin bin all season while playing prominent roles on their respective clubs, which is almost impossible.

Knuckles Nilan Award

Awarded to the player who punched the most faces.

Winner: Mark Borowiecki

This prestigious award saw a bunch of knuckle mashers (Borowiecki, Matt Calvert, Kyle Clifford, Micheal Ferland, Barclay Goodrow, Ben Harpur, Brendan Lemieux, Pat Maroon, Cody McLeod and Tom Wilson) all finishing the campaign with six scraps apiece. We had to give this one to Boro on the grounds of him having to also fight Eugene Melnyk’s PR battles all year.

Jussi Jokinen Trophy

Awarded to the player who excelled most in the shootout.

Winner: Victor Hedman (4-for-5)

Runner-up: Kovalchuk (4-for-5)

Both Hedman and Kovalchuk scored on 80 percent of their attempts, but only one of them is a defenceman. Hedman becomes the first blueliner to be given the prestigious trophy in the long and storied three-year history of the Alternative Awards.

Show Stopper Award

Awarded to the goalie who excelled most in the shootout.

Winner: Thomas Greiss (21 of 23)

Runner-up: Linus Ullmark (9 of 10)

Both of these guys had a big year percentage-wise but Greiss takes this year’s title because he doesn’t play for the Sabres. An unfortunate tie-breaking scenario for Ullmark.

Matt Martin Trophy

Awarded to the player who led the league in hits.

Winner: Ryan Reaves (305)

Runner-up: Lawson Crouse (288)

Surprise, surprise, no one crushed more human beings on the ice than Ryan Reaves this season. The man after whom this award is named finished fifth in hits this season, but Martin (4.1) finished ahead of Reaves (3.8) in body-knocks per game.

Kris Russell Award

Awarded to the player who led the league in blocked shots.

Winner: Andy Greene (205)

Runner-up: Nick Hjalmarsson (187) and Kris Russell (185)

Thirty-six-year-old Andy Greene was this year’s top rubber-eater, dethroning Russell after his two straight championship campaigns. Greene’s anatomy absorbed 205 frozen pucks in 2018-19, 20 more than the defending champ. This is the highlight of the Devils’ season.

Pavel Datsyuk Pickpocket Award

Awarded to the player who led the league in takeaways.

Winner: Mark Stone 122

Runner-up: Aleksander Barkov (100) and Connor McDavid (99)

After leading the league in this area three seasons in a row, Mark Stone once again grabbed the Datsyuk Pickpocket Award after giving way to Connor McDavid’s first nod last year. Stone’s strength and ability to read his opponents’ body and stick positioning makes him the premiere takeaway artist in a category saturated by many of the NHL’s most skilled guys.

The Christmas Spirit Trophy

Awarded to the unselfish player who led the league in giveaways.

Winner: Mike Matheson (135)

Runner-up: Jeff Petry (129)

After delivering 135 pizzas to opponents this season, Florida’s Mike Matheson takes home this distinguished award. Canadiens defenceman Jeff Petry finished a close second, while Flames stud Johnny Gaudreau made a surprise appearance in the top three.

Yannic Perreault Trophy

Awarded to the player who led the league in face-off percentage (minimum 500 faceoffs).

Winner: Jason Spezza (58.2%)

Runner-up: Travis Zajac (58.2%)

Zajac and Spezza finished with the NHL’s best faceoff percentage, but we’re giving the nod to Spezza here based on seniority and legend status. It’s called respect. After a dominant win last season, Blues forward Ryan O’Reilly dropped down a bit to 56.9 from his 60-plus percent mark last season.

The Luckiest Man Alive

Awarded to the player with the highest shooting percentage (minimum 100 shots).

Winner: Leon Draisaitl (21.6)

Runner-up: Brayden Point (21.5)

No surprise here that two of the NHL’s leading scorers and two guys having monumental breakout seasons also shot at an absurd rate. Draisaitl, who scored 50 and finished behind only Alex Ovechkin in goals, and Brayden Point, who netted 41 with the Lightning, went neck and neck here, with Draisaitl pulling away on the very last day of the season during the Oilers’ garbage time.

The Unluckiest Man Alive

Awarded to the player with the lowest shooting percentage (minimum 60 shots).

Winner: Rieder (0 goals on 92 shots)

Runner-up: Valeri Nichushkin and Victor Mete (0 goals on 65 shots)

This one isn’t even close. Rieder, who scored in the double digits each of his four campaigns prior to 2017-18, couldn’t find the twine a single time this season despite being a forward and putting up 92 shots. Just like every other player on the Oilers roster, Rieder spent some time with McDavid on Edmonton’s top line, making this mark of futility all the more impressive.

Phil Kessel Trophy

Awarded to the player with the most awkward Pierre McGuire interaction.

She’s not in the NHL, but Kendall Coyne Schofield easily takes the inaugural Phil Kessel Trophy after having to endure her first NBC broadcast alongside Pierre. She follows in the footsteps of Jonathan Toews and Phil Kessel who would have earned this award, had it existed, for some of their past work.

The Burning Spreadsheet Award

Awarded to the player with the worst Corsi (minimum 50 games played).

Winner: Jay Beagle (40.4%)

Runner-up: Gabrielle Bourque (41.1%)

The worst possession player in the league this year was Jay Beagle, who posted a whopping shot attempt differential of minus-214 with the Canucks. The nerds think he’s the absolute worst, and now he has the prestigious Burning Spreadsheet Award in his possession to prove them right. Congrats!

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