A couple of weeks ago the NHL announced it’s award nominees for it’s annual NHL Awards Ceremony which will take place in Vancouver on June 22. Whether OLN will broadcast the ceremony is still up in the air. I’m hoping they do, as ESPN always did a nice job covering it.
CALDER MEMORIAL TROPHY (outstanding rookie): Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames.
You can’t go wrong with any of these three guys. At the end it’ll probably be Ovechkin coming out with the Calder. He’s a great player or goal scorer with a good amount of untapped charisma by the NHL. Crosby is still the best all around player and unfortunately for him he’ll be in Pittsburgh for a while. As for Phaneuf, anyone who watched Calgary at all this season can tell you that this kid is amazing. Dion Phaneuf could have very easily also been a Hart trophy candidate. Prediction: Ovechkin
FRANK J. SELKE TROPHY (outstanding defensive forward): Rod Brind’Amour, Carolina Hurricanes; Mike Fisher, Ottawa Senators; Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars.
This is a category that Lehtinen has pretty much owned over the last several years by consistently being one of the finalists and winning it a couple of times. Good cases can be made for Fisher and Brind’Amour but it’s looking like Brind’Amour will be coming in as the sentimental favorite as well as the most improved player after having been lost in the shuffle of previous Hurricane teams. Prediction: Brind’Amour
HART MEMORIAL TROPHY (most valuable player to his team): Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers; Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks.
Consistency is the theme for this award every year and this years finalists were that all season long. Thornton and Jagr were neck and neck for the scoring title heading towards the end of the season after Jagr pretty much lead it coming into the final stretch. Meanwhile, Mikka Kiprusoff proved that his run in 2004 was not a fluke by carrying the Flames into the playoffs and helping the Fames remain a Western Conference power but this is a two man race as well and Kipper is the odd man out. Jagr re-emerged as an elite NHL star but it was Thornton who came into San Jose and completely changed the team…for the better. As he did in Boston with Glen Murray, he did in San Jose by elevating the game of Jonathan Cheechoo. Thornton is your MVP. Prediction: Thornton
JACK ADAMS AWARD (outstanding coach): Peter Laviolette, Carolina Hurricanes; Tom Renney, New York Rangers; Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres.
Tom Renney pretty much earned everyones respect by doing what he did in New York and no one will deny that it wasn’t easy and above that, something that was totally unexpected. Lindy Ruff had a pretty good bunch of guys coming into the season and once he adapted his teams offensive attack, it was a shooting gallery for the Sabres. But, neither of those coaches did what Laviolette did with the Canes. It’s not unchartered territory for Laviolette who did the same thing with the Islanders (didn’t have much playoff success) as he took guys like Parrish and Bates and allowed them to shine. In Carolina, Laviolette helped guys like Williams and Stillman come to the forefront of their lines. And the Hurricanes still aren’t done. Prediction: Laviolette
JAMES NORRIS MEMORIAL TROPHY (outstanding defenseman): Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings; Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Mighty Ducks; Sergei Zubov, Dallas Stars.
Poor Zubov, can’t catch a break at all. Nicklas Lidstrom used to be the best defenseman who never won the Norris and then he won 3 in a row. Zubov has since taken over as the best defenseman who hasn’t won a Norris and he might hold that mantra for another year as defending Norris winner Scott Niedermayer had an amazing year and Lidstrom was as dependable as ever. Prediction: Lidstrom
LADY BYNG MEMORIAL TROPHY (sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct): Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings; Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks; Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning.
Nice to see that Brad Richards got a bone tossed his way? Prediction: Marleau
LESTER B. PEARSON AWARD (most outstanding player as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA): Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers; Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks.
I’m a member of the NHLPA and I’m voting for Ovechkin.
VEZINA TROPHY (outstanding goaltender): Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils; Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames; Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers.
Another rookie that could have won the Calder in any other year…unless it was Marc Andre Fleury. This is going to Brodeur as he continues to mount up the number of awards and is headed towards breaking Patrick Roy’s number for career wins and probably shutouts. Prediction: Brodeur
Speaking of the Vezina and goaltenders, Dominik Hasek is now apparently back on good terms with the Ottawa Senators and the talk the last week or so is that he will be brought back. Aside from the Senators annoyingly good regular seasons nothing is more annoying than their failures in the playoffs. If Hasek wants to come back, bring him back. There’s no need to worry about him being injured outside of an NHL game and even if he does, Ray Emery showed that he can take this team places. It’s not his fault that Heatley disappeared against Buffalo and it’s certainly not Emery’s fault that the Sens No. 1 line was hardly playing together during their playoff run.
The Los Angeles Kings have completed their makeover process after firing Gm Dave Taylor. The Kings were quick to hire the best GM available, Dean Lombardi withing days of announcing Taylor’s dismissal. After Lombardi did his own personal investigating of just WHY the Kings feel off the face of the map with about a month left in the season, Lombardi weighed his options and picked up recently fired Marc Crawford to take over behind the bench. The new regime has been able to talk up a good storm about how things will be changing in Los Angeles, about making this a winning team and about making them contenders every season. At the same, no one has actually said, “We want to win the Stanley Cup.” At least not anyone that has any say in the day to day decisions of the organization.
Wayne Gretzky has announced that he’ll be returning as the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes after a season debut that was marred with personal tragedies and accusations for Gretzky. To say the Coyotes underchieved is being kind. They have re-signed Curtis Joseph, who at this point in his career can no longer be picky about where he wants to play and have to certainly be looking at going after a top free agent over the summer. They’re not exactly playing in the easiest division.
Meanwhile, the Leafs brought in a basically forgotten man when they hired Paul Maurice to take over for Pat Quinn as head coach. Maurice will do a good job, but he’s coming into a situation where the Leafs were basically trying to put Band Aids to cover major boo boo’s. They’ve managed to re-sign Bryan McCabe to a 5 year, $25 million contract which is a good start. Now they have to start looking at acquiring at least 3 top six forwards and a viable goalie.
Playoff stuff:
The Sabres managed to send their series with the Carolina Hurricanes to a 7th game in the Eastern Conference and no matter who wins it’s going to be one wore out team. In the West, the Oilers did all of us a favor by eliminating the Ducks and a favor for themselves as they now get to rest and watch what transpires between Buffalo and Carolina.
No matter what transpires, the Stanley Cup Finals will begin on Monday in either Buffalo or Carolina. Games 1 and 2 will air on OLN while 3 and 4 will be NBC…which is a whole other mess.
