The 2016 NHL Awards Show is this Wednesday and we have previewed those who will be taking home some hardware.
With the Stanley Cup Final over, there are only a few days left until the 2016 NHL Awards Show.It’s time to preview the candidates and probable winners for the major awards.
It is important to note that all of the award winners are based on regular season play.
The Non-Voted Awards
The Art Ross Trophy: Awarded to the player that leads the league in points at the end of the regular season.
Winner: Patrick Kane (106 points)
The William M. Jennings Trophy: Awarded to the players who played at least 25 games with the lowest goal totals.
Winners: Fredrick Anderson and John Gibson
The Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy: Awarded to the player who scores the most goals in the regular season”
Winner: Alexander Ovechkin (50 goals)
Secondary Awards
The Jack Adams Award: Awarded to the coach judged to have contributed most to his team’s success.
The Candidates- Lindy Ruff, Dallas Stars. Barry Trotz, Washington Capitals. Gerard Gallant, Florida Panthers.
Winner: Gerard Gallant
General Manager of the Year: Awarded to the GM judged to have contributed most to his team’s success.
The Candidates- Jim Rutherford, Pittsburgh Penguins. Brian MacLellan, Washington Capitals. Jim Nill, Dallas Stars.
Winner: Brian MacLellan
The Frank J. Selke Trophy
Awarded to the best defensive forward in the league. This year’s candidates are:
Bergeron has won the award the last two seasons (and three of the last four). He’s looking to become the first player to three-peat since Pavel Datsyuk and is one behind Bob Gainey for the most all-time.
Bergeron had a career high in takeaways with 67 (55, and 48 in his other winning campaigns) and he also improved his plus-minus by 10 this year.
All these stats are even more impressive to see that about 3% less of his shifts started in the defensive zone.
Kopitar has been a finalist for the award the last two seasons. The big Slovenian is an elite forward both offensively (74 points in 15-16) and defensively.
Kopitar improved big time in the shot blocking department this season. He blocked 20 more shots than the previous season, blocking a career high 65 shots.
He also had more takeaways, forcing 43 takeaways to 27 the year before. But the stat that stands out the most is his plus-minus.
Kopitar improved his plus-minus by an astounding 36 points, tying a career high of 34.
Ryan Kesler has proven on more than one occasion that he is a top defensive forward in the NHL as he is constantly being lined up against the top center men in the league and facing the likes of Crosby, Tavares, Seguin, Toews, Backstrom, etc.
Kesler won the award in 2011-12 but has yet to finish as high as fifth since 2012-13. That however, is about to change.
Kesler blocked a career high 92 shots (12 more than his winning campaign). He also consistently bruises the opposition’s top players- he had 168 hits this season.
Although he only forced eight less takeaways than the year before, Kesler improved his plus-minus by 10 this season.
The Verdict: Patrice Bergeron
All of the candidates make great cases and are deserving of their nominations. But Bergeron is in his prime playing his best hockey and will win this year’s award.
James Norris Memorial Trophy
Awarded to the best defenseman in the league. This year’s candidates are:
Karlsson is arguably the best offensive-defensemen in the league.
Karlsson is aiming for his third Norris in the last five years, and he is also trying to join elite company by winning three or more. He would be in good company with names like Potvin, Coffey, Chelios, Lidstrom, Bourque, Harvey, and Orr.
Not too shabby.
Let’s start with Karlsson’s offensive upside. Karlsson was coming off a career high in goals (21 in 2014-15), but dropped in that category by five goals (16 in 2015-16).
It was his 66 assist and 82 points (also a career highs) that really caught people’s eye. Karlsson is a constant threat on the rush and also on the power-play.
But that is only half of what Karlsson is about.
He is a true shutdown defender, he played nearly 29 minutes a game (although his plus-minus dropped by five). Karlsson blocked a career high 175 shots, which good for 11th in the league.
If that’s not enough, he also increased his takeaways (59 in 2014-15, 61 in 2015-16), while decreasing his giveaways (99 in 2014-15, 96 in 2015-16) with more ice-time.
What was a lost season for Montréal was not a lost season for P.K. Subban until he suffered a scary neck injury on March 10th. The injury cut his season down to only 68 games.
With or without the injury, Subban has become one of the most animated characters in the NHL, as he usually plays with a high level of emotion during games.
He also has a lethal shot from the point.
Subban won this award in 2013 and is trying to become the first Montréal Canadien to win the award twice with the franchise since Larry Robinson (1977/1980).
Subbans stats dropped in just about every category this season.
So why is Subban on this list?
The answer is that he passes the eye test. Stats can’t show you everything, such as how teams prepare to play against the Canadiens power-play or how he affects the mindset of top players in the NHL.
Not to mention, the guy has some serious style.
If Doughty doesn’t win the Norris this year, the NHL should play Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” at the Awards show.
For seven out of his eight seasons in the league, Doughty has been one of the strongest defenseman in the game. He plays a truckload of minutes, shuts down his opponets top players, and his deadly accurate shot is a major threat (14 goals).
Doughty posted a career high plus-minus (24) while playing and average 28 minutes a game in the regular season.
Doughty entered the league with high expectations, and at the age of 19 he made his NHL debut. Ever since then he has been a big piece of the Los Angeles Kings’ two Stanley Cup championships, not to mention Canada’s gold medal in the 2014 Olympics.
The Verdict: Erik Karlsson
As much as Doughty deserves it, Karlsson was just too dominant this season.
Vezina Trophy
Awarded to the best goalie as voted by the GM’s of the league. This year’s candidates are:
Braden Holtby burst onto the scene for the Washington Capitals in the 2012 regular season after being forced into the starting role after Michael Neuvirth as injured.
He went 4-2-1 in that regular season and was even better in the playoffs, going 7-7 with a .935 SV%, and a 1.35 GAA.
From that point on, Holtby would become the mainstay in net for the Caps. After an injury shortened 2013-14 campaign, Holtby bounced back by starting an NHL best 72 games and going 41-20-10 in 2014-15.
During the 2015-16 season Holtby started six less games but tied an NHL record with 48 wins backstopping the Caps to the President’s Trophy, going 48-9-7 with a .922 SV% and a 2.20 GAA.
Holtby was dominant in almost every game he played this year as he left players shaking their heads with his remarkable saves. Holtby is poised to become the third Capital to ever win the award.
When the Tampa Bay Lightning acquired Bishop at the trade deadline in 2013, it was a “big” move in more ways than one.
The 6”7 Bishop was brilliant during the 2013-14 season, going 37-14-7 with a .924 SV% and a 2.23 GAA, but suffered an injury just before the 2014 postseason which forced him to watch his team get swept by Montreal.
Bishop backstopped the Lightning all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, but missed the end of Game 2 and all of Game 4 of the Finals. He didn’t look like himself for most of the series. It was later revealed Bishop had suffered a groin injury.
During the 2015-16 season Bishop cemented himself as an elite goaltender, posting a 35-21-4 record with a league leading 2.06 GAA and the second best SV% at .925. He used his size to his advantage by challenging players at the top of his crease.
With his big body there are almost no angles to beat him on.
With the exception of this past season, no current NHL goalie has risen to the occasion in the spring like 2012 Conn Smyth winner Jonathan Quick.
Quick has been the Los Angeles Kings starting net minder since the start of the 2010-11 season. He’s become well known for making clutch save after clutch save when it matters most, as evidenced by his two shutouts in 11 career Stanley Cup Final games.
Quick posted a 40-23-5 record (a career high in wins) with a .918 SV% and a 2.22 GAA. He also added 5 of his 51 career shutouts this past year.
Quick is vying for the chance to be the first King ever to win the award.
The Verdict: Braden Holtby
Holtby was head and shoulders the best goalie in the NHL this season, no question.
Calder Memorial Trophy
Awarded to the best rookie this season. This year’s candidates are:
Arguably one of the most hyped draft picks in recent memory, fans had incredibly high expectations for Connor McDavid this season.
As you can imagine, there was major panic when he didn’t score his first NHL goal in his first three games.
Fans worst fears eventually came to fruition only 19 games into his career, as the young Oiler broke his collarbone and ended up missing 27 games.
He returned in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and silencened his critics with an absolutely filthy goal that left the hockey world speechless.
He may had only played 45 games in his rookie season but he still recorded 48 points (16 goals 32 assists), fourth among all rookies.
Sean Gostisbehere
The “Ghost” played a large role in helping the Flyers to make the playoffs this season despite only having played in 64 games.
He really emerged mid-season but the Flyers were not playing well and were far out of a playoff spot. But then something happened that seems to happen almost every year. A team gets hot at the right time and wills themselves into the playoffs.
Gostisbehere was deadly on the power-play with 22 of his 46 points coming on the power-play (8 PPG), as well from the point (17 goals, 29 assists). The Ghost will be wrecking defenses for years to come.
Panarin is the only rookie nominated to have played in at least 80 games.
Panarin found instant chemistry with Art Ross winner Patrick Kane, and you can certainly make the argument that Kane wouldn’t have been as successful without Panarin.
Panarin’s contributions to the Chicago Blackhawks this past season were very much nnecessary. He was the first rookie to score 20 goals (faster than McDavid and Jack Eichel), and he led all rookies in goals (30), assists (47), and points (77).
In a draft surrounded by the generational talent of Eichel and McDavid, it seems Panarin had the biggest impact of them all.
The Verdict: Artemi Panarin
Although McDavid was sensational, he just didn’t play enough to take home the award.
Hart Memorial Trophy
Awarded to the player judged most valuable to his team. This year’s candidates are:
It seems that every season the “Kid” is in the discussion for the Hart.
After having a very rough start to the 2015-2016 season and not making the All-Star Game, Crosby ended up doing pretty well for himself.
Earning the M.O. as one of the most feared players in the league and then not scoring is sure to drive Crosby nuts. But when that very same player makes up for lost time, it is sure to drive his opponents equally as crazy.
And that’s just what Crosby did throughout the second half of the season.
After averaging about four tenths of a point per game at the start of the 2015-16 season, he managed to finish with 85 points (36 goals, 49 assists) in 80 games.
He had the second best takeaway to giveaway ratio of his career, and he also had a career high in blocked shots (90).
Sid is not as physically intimidating as Alex Ovechkin, yet he still finds ways to distract his opponents. An opponent’s lack of focus for a fraction of a second is all that Crosby needs to score a goal.
He has easily been the best player in the league (arguably the world) over the past decade as he looks to capture his third career Hart Trophy.
Patrick Kane
Kane is the front runner for the award after leading the league in points (106) this season.
Kane eventually caught fire with a 26 game point streak this season, which ended up being the longest point streak by an American player and second longest point streak of all time.
Kane simply terrorized defenses all season long.
Kane’s production would eventually lead to his team’s demise, as his struggles in the playoffs proved that Chiacgo was relying too much on the power forward. The Blackhawks eventually lost the St. Louis in underwhelming fashion.
The bright side for Kane fans is that these awards are based on regular season play.
Kane will be going home with at least one piece of hardware (the Art Ross), but probably will leave with at least two (Ted Lindsay: awarded to the player voted most outstanding by the players).
When the 2015-16 season began, the team with the best record resided in Dallas. The team’s captain and reigning Art Ross trophy winner was positioning himself for a second Art Ross trophy.
Benn led the Stars to the playoffs for the second time in the last three years, and made last year’s dud something to remember by stealing the Art Ross from Islanders’ captain John Tavares in the waning moments of the 2014-15 season.
Benn helped Dallas to advance to the second round and almost led them to the Conference Finals if not for a 6-1 slashing by St. Louis on their home ice.
Benn was second in the league in points with 89 (41 goals and 48 assists), he uses his big frame to punish opposing players and to block shots.
He had a career high shooting percentage (16.6%) and he also reached a milestone this past season by playing his 500th game.
The Verdict: Patrick Kane
Even Crosby’s late season surge and Benn’s career year can’t stop Kane from winning the Hart.