Martin over at Hockey Dirt is holding his own mid-season awards vote, so I figured I'd share my votes with everyone. Once Martin gets responses from all of his hockey blogging friends, he'll release the results.
Keep in mind: I live in the Eastern time zone, and probably spend the most time watching teams in the following order of importance: Caps, Isles, Rangers, Devils, Maple Leafs, Canucks and Oilers.
Calder Trophy - Rookie of the Year
Sidney Crosby
Henrick Lundqvist
Alexander Ovechkin
Dion Phaneuf
Marek Svatos
My thoughts here are pretty well known: Playing against the opposition's best players all the time with a target on his back, Ovechkin has delivered the goods and more. He scores, he hits and plays defense. He's practically unstoppable in the shootout. As for everybody else, there are plenty of other folks around to take an equal share of the heat. Not so for Ovechkin. So far he's the winner going away.
Norris Trophy - Top Defenceman
Zdeno Chara
Nicklas Lidstrom
Brian McCabe
Scott Niedermayer
Wade Redden
Lubomir Visnovsky
I thought Chara should have won it in 2003-04, and he's only gotten better since then. As for many of the others, I don't think we ought to put as much weight on scoring when it comes to this award, as the proliferation of power play goals has distorted those figures so much this season (sorry Mr. McCabe). The only serious competition for Chara here is Redden, but I'd still give the trophy to Z.
Hart Trophy - Most Valuable Player
Daniel Alfredsson
Peter Forsberg
Jaromir Jagr
Jerome Iginla
Joe Thornton
Lubomir Visnovsky
Tomas Vokoun
Ok, a lot here depends on how you define "most valuable," an argument most baseball fans will be familiar with. Is the MVP the best player on the best team, or is it for the player who has proven himself to be most indispensible to his team's success?
If it's the former, I can't see how you can deny Alfredsson. If it's the latter, things get a bit more complex. Alfredsson is part of a murderer's row in Ottawa, so I can see how that might disqualify him there. Sorry Mr. Jagr, but folks who don't backcheck can't get my vote for MVP. Thornton hasn't been with San Jose long enough, but my mind might very well change by the end of the season. Visnovsky has been great, but the Kings would be hamstrung without Pavol Demitra.
That leaves Forsberg, Iginla and Vokoun. Forsberg has been fantastic for Philly, but how can you give him a nomination, but not Simon Gagne, who kept scoring even in Forsberg's absence? Iginla is the heart and soul of the team in Calgary, but ask yourself this: If you were thinking about putting money on the Flames to win just one game, which situation would dissuade you more from putting the money down: Iginla out of the lineup, or Mikka Kiprusoff?
And while Vokoun might be MVP for Nashville, Kiprusoff and a number of others are having seasons that are equal to or better than his.
When I weigh it all, Alfredsson is the winner.
Other thoughts: I think Eric Staal deserved a nomination here.
Vezina Trophy - Best Goaltender
Dominic Hasek
Manny Fernandez
Martin Gerber
Curtis Joseph
Mikka Kiprusoff
Henrik Lundqvist
Marty Turco
Tomas Vokoun
Mikka, Mikka, Mikka. Best combo of performance, most games played and most pressure dealt with. Hasek and Fernandez might have better numbers, but they don't come as close to carrying the full load. Everyone else is having a great year, but none of their teams lean on them as much as Calgary leans on Mikka. If my candidates were limited to these choices, I'd go with Mikka.
Then again, in Florida, Robert Luongo has faced more shots than any other goalie in the league, and 290 more than second place Olie Kolzig. Of the above nominees, Kiprusoff comes closest to Luongo, but even he's faced 365 fewer shots than Roberto.
Roberto Luongo: The Grant Fuhr of the 21st Century.
Lady Byng - Sportsmanship and Gentlemanly Conduct
P.J. Axelson
Patrice Bergeron
Pavel Datsyuk
Patrick Marleau
Alex Mogilny
Ziggy Palffy
Brad Richards
Joe Thornton
Ah, the Lady Byng. Otherwise known as the award we give the nicest guy in the league who didn't play well enough to win any other awards. I'm guessing Mogilny's inclusion is a joke of sorts, considering he didn't even show up to collect the last Lady Byng after the 2003-04 season. Axelson is a player I've admired for a long time, and Bergeron seems to be raising his game now that Thornton has been shipped to San Jose.
I'm going to abstain.
Frank Selke - Outstanding Defensive Forward
Rod Brind'amour
Kris Draper
Jere Lehtinen
Alyn McCauley
Mike Peca
This may be the easiest category. Draper, McCauley and Pecca all got off to slow starts, so their numbers are far lower than the other two candidates. When you look at Lehtinen and Brind'Amour, it's easy to see that Jere, who has always been disciplined defensively, has piled up more goals, points and has a better plus/minus than Rod.
But Rod is a center, one that is averaging more than five minutes additional ice time per game than Lehtinen. He's playing against the top lines from every other team, and he's playing position that's more demanding on both sides of the puck.
Brind'Amour has really benefitted from the year off, and he's my favorite for the Selke.
Jack Adams - Coach of the Year
Mike Babcock
Ken Hitchcock
Peter Laviolette
Bryan Murray
Tom Renney
Lindy Ruff
Barry Trotz
This may be the toughest category of them all. COY candidates come in two flavors: The coach who finally puts all the pieces together on a good team and made it great; or the coach who achieves the most with the least. Here's how that breaks down:
Good to great:
Mike Babcock
Ken Hitchcock
Bryan Murray
In Pool A, Ottawa is just so much better than anybody else, that I have to give this to Murray. That also means that if I had a vote for Executive of the Year, it would go to Sens GM John Muckler. Babcock has done much the same, but he's a hair behind Murray here. Normally, I would give the nod to Hitchcock given the number of changes in Philly since the 2003-04 season, but again, Ottawa is just too good to deny Murray.
Most with the least:
Peter Laviolette
Tom Renney
Lindy Ruff
Barry Trotz
Under Renney, who is the low-profile head coach at MSG, the Rangers have done what no other coach under GM Glen Sather has been able to do: Win. He's got plenty of young kids playing great, but he also has Jagr, a nice bonus on a team of dedicated workers. Trotz has Nashville challenging Detroit, but I think the choice here is between Laviolette and Ruff.
Ruff lost his best goal scorer and best defenseman to free agency, and Buffalo got better. It doesn't hurt that they play in what might be the best division in Hockey outside of the Northwest.
So, Ruff vs. Murray. The coin toss says Ruff.
Comeback Player of the Year
Peter Bondra
Dominic Hasek
Dany Heatley
Curtis Joseph
Paul Kariya
Teemu Selanne
Pierre Turgeon
In order to get nominated in this category, I'd guess you'd have to come back from some type of adversity. While Peter Bondra's numbers in 2003-04 weren't impressive, he never took a shift off while he was in Washington that year. I don't think he belongs here.
I got the impression Hasek walked out on his teammates in Detroit, so no vote there. I'm happy for Heatley, and hope he gets his life back together in Ottawa. But for obvious reasons, giving him an award right now just doesn't seem right. Turgeon is finally playing up to his potential again, but that's in part because he's taking less of a pounding than Joe Sakic, Colorado's number one center.
That leaves Kariya, Selanne and Joseph. I had a chance to pick up Selanne in my fantasy hockey league, and didn't. I guess you can say I'm regretting it. Kariya has been great in Nashville, but he's -7 on a team known for defensive responsibility. Without Joseph, the Coyotes aren't anywhere near battling for a playoff spot, and considering the way things ended in Detroit for him, he gets my vote.
Jerk of the Year
Sean Avery
Other, Please Specify
Avery is as good a pick as anybody else.
Tough Guy of the Year
Derek Boogaard
Eric Godard
Jamal Mayers
Brian McGrattan
Steve Ott
There's a couple of ways to look at this category. With fighting way down, most enforcers have to demonstrate some skills other than fisticuffs to get ice time. On that criteria, this award would probably have to go to Mayers or Ott. Then again, I'm convinced Ottawa wouldn't be the same team without McGrattan on the roster. He gets my vote.
Flop of the Year
Radek Bonk
Sergei Fedorov
Bobby Holik
Nikolai Khabibulin
Patrick Lalime
Alexei Zhamnov
I think you need to award this sobriquet to the player who has the most potential upside, but has since squandered it. Bonk has always been more promise than performance, so I can't really jump ugly with him. Fedorov has been a disappointment since he arrived in Anaheim (I can still hear Brian Burke laughing, can you?), Holik has been underachieving since he left New Jersey, and Zhamnov has been inconsequential for some time now. Lalime simply self-destructed inside the most hopeless organization in hockey, so he doesn't bear all the blame there. Hence, the vote goes to Khabibulin, who although he might not be as good as he's been touted, has so far been unable to deliver anything near what his salary in Chicago might justify.
Feel free to dissent in the comments or via e-mail.
