The NHL recently released the list of finalists for their individual awards for this season. What follows is the listing and my prediction as to which players will win.
CALDER MEMORIAL TROPHY (outstanding rookie): Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins; Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche.
Staal is the best all-around player of the three, and Stastny, son of Hall of Famer Peter Stastny, proved the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree with a strong rookie campaign, but Malkin will likely get the nod.
FRANK J. SELKE TROPHY (outstanding defensive forward): Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina Hurricanes; Samuel Pahlsson, Anaheim Ducks; Jay Pandolfo, New Jersey Devils.
Pandolfo and Pahlsson have both be very good defensive forwards and as valuable to their team's success as their more talented, better-known star teammates, but Brind'amour not only has always played a strong two-way game, he's also the only one of the three with a plus-minus rating on the happy side of plus, and in the end that tips it in his favour.
HART MEMORIAL TROPHY (most valuable player to his team): Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils; Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks.
Brodeur and Luongo are THE stars of their respective teams and invaluable to their club's respective successes, but let’s face it, they played for teams that going into this season had the talent to make the playoffs. No one other than die-hard Penguins fans expected Pittsburgh to clinch a berth, let alone finish the season with over 100 points. The player directly responsible for that is 19-year-old Sidney Crosby, who also won the Art Ross as the league’s leading point-getter.
JACK ADAMS AWARD (outstanding coach): Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres; Michel Therrien, Pittsburgh Penguins; Alain Vigneault, Vancouver Canucks.
Therrien and Vigneault both did very good jobs with their respective clubs, but their teams still suffered from deficiencies (defensive for the Penguins, offensive for the Canucks). Ruff turned the Sabres into the best team in the NHL, with no real weaknesses. He gets the nod.
JAMES NORRIS MEMORIAL TROPHY (outstanding defenseman): Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings; Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks; Chris Pronger, Anaheim Ducks.
Niedermayer led all defensemen in assists and points and Pronger logs more ice time, but Lidstrom finished the season with a plus-minus of +40, better than Niedermayer and Pronger, had fewer penalty minutes and finished the season with 62 points. I think that makes him the better all-around blueliner.
LADY BYNG MEMORIAL TROPHY (sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct): Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings; Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche; Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning.
Datsyuk and St. Louis both play well without putting their teams in penalty trouble, but no one has the respect of NHL players or plays with more class than Burnaby Joe. Sakic will likely win this one.
LESTER B. PEARSON AWARD (most outstanding player as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA): Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning; Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks.
I think Crosby should win this, but I get the sense that because of his age that his peers may not believe he’s fully matured enough to deserve this award. It’s a tough call between Luongo and Lecavalier, but I think Lecavalier will win this.
VEZINA TROPHY (outstanding goaltender): Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils; Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames; Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks.
No offense to Lundqvist and Kiprusoff, but this one comes down to Brodeur and Luongo, and if one compares their stats for this season, it’s no contest. Brodeur led Luongo in wins, shutouts, goals-against average, save percentage, saves made and shots-against. Luongo will one day win this award, but not today.
Although I would say that there is more of a case to be made for Brodeur for the Hart. Look at game three without Marty that wouldn't even have been close.
Also people quickly point out Brodeur and Luongo's supporting cast but lets not forget about Sid's help. Two Calder finalists and a goaltender whos not to shabby himself.
This one won't be the run away victory for Sid that everyone thinks.
Once again the Norris will be decided on name recognition alone.
Dont get me wrong, all three are great defensemen, but Im tired of seeing their names up for the same award, year after year. And not to mention that Pronger and Niederayer are on the same team now: how can you have 2 norris finalists from the same team? Most people cant even pick which is more important to the team. Pick one, and give the third spot to another defenseman thats worthy, there are definitely a few out there like Chris Kelly, Dan Boyle, or Phillipe Bpucher who always gets left out, but plays a good game.
Lecavalier deserves the Pearsopn, it would have been nice to see him as a finalist for the Hart, but I guess two goalies that play defensive schemes and the leagues new face-piece deserve to be there more.
boltsfan: The reason those three keep getting named is because they're head and shoulders above everyone else at that position, including those you named. Boyle is a very good offensive defence but was a -2. Boucher had the same number of points as Lidstrom but was only a +2. Chris Kelly isn't a defenceman, by the way. He's a center.
Don't worry, though, there are young blueliners who will soon be garnering their share of nominations, like Phaneuf, Whitney, and Bouwmeester.
Im sorry...I meant Chris Phillips, who I heard somone on the Versus call perhaps the best D-man in the East. My mistake. He doesnt get a lot of points, but his defensive game is solid.
I agree with Spector, there's no consensus number 4 dman after the top 3 of Nediemeyer, Pronger, and Niklaus, although Phaneuf is getting there. All three are game changers that's why they are always up there as well. After 2 seasons I think you'll see the young guns being up there for a very long time namely Bouwmeester and Phaneuf.
How bout some players and coaches that got screwed.
Anze Kopitar- Kings- True missing 15 games down the stretch hurt his chances but we all do not have the luxuary or playing with Sidney Crosby like Malkin and Stall do. Was one of the top players on a bad team everynight and did it all not comming from a strong hockey background and at age 19.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Played 22 mins a game as a 20 year old. Sure does not put up the points but played solid all season but most voters are in bead when Kopitar's and Vlasic's games start and not having but 10 games aginst the East hurts them even more.
Coaches-
Dave Tippett- Was in the Division race until the end of the season and thats with his best 2 offensve players in the press box injured most the season..
Ted Nolan-Did more with less.
Randy Carlyle-I guess having the 2 best blueliners in the world hurt his chances. Wait Vigneault has the best goalkeeper in the world. Its not hard to coach when you have Roberto in your crease for 77 games.
Lidstrom is the hands down winner of the Norris, the guy is just awesome and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Luongo will win a Vezina sometime soon but Brodeur was just too good this season.
I think Crosby will win the Hart (his first of many by the looks of things) but I do agree that Vinny will take the Pearson. The Hockey News didnt even pick him for their all star team which is kind of a shock.
Lindy Ruff should win the Adams and he deserves it. I dont think Vigneault should be nominated, much of their success was due to Luongo. I would've rather seen Ted Nolan get the nomination instead.
LGB - so our Reds held on to win again, whoo hoo, off to Athens to play AC (as long as they dont collapse. 65 mins played and Milan is beating Man U 2-0)
messier94, there are 4 for the Vezina because Lundqvist and Kipper tied in voting.
And those predictions are almost the same as what I thought when I saw the nominees. The only difference was the Pearson, where I just didn't take Crosby's age into account. But now that I think about Lecavalier probably is the likely winner.
Luongo wins the V hands down for 3 simple reasons.
1. He plays a much tougher Schedule aginst the Western Confrence. Better teams top to bottom. And usually goes aginst a top keeper at the other end.
2. The Travel Schedule is BRUTAL for the Nucks.
3. Has a weaker team in front of him the Marty.
Lets not take away anything from Marty he had a great year to.
Lindy Ruff Should not win the Jack Adams for one simple reason. At the start of the season Buffalo was going to be one of the best teams anyway. Rememebr they were on period from the Finals last season.
My pick is still Dave Tippitt but If I had to pick one of the 3 I would Pick Michel Thrriean.
The Norris will go to Lidstrom because the NHL Hates for anything to go west of Chicago. Other then Roberto and the Ducks players how many players are up for awards west of the Rockies. Plus Scott and Chris will split the vote
Sakic deserves an adward for something. As does Temuu Selanne
Yeah, I don't see how any D-men could hope to beat out any of the three nominees. Pronger, especially, is a "take over the game" kind of player and you don't find that often on the blueline.
One question for Spector or anyone that cares to weigh-in: Did Thomas Vanek garner any notice for the Selke trophy? I realize he's a very young player and is not thought of as a skilled defensive player, but he did lead the entire NHL in +/- and that's very hard to accomplish if you are sloppy in your own zone. I think he's not only a rising star in goal-scoring, but in two-way play as well.
Messier- I can see the Drury thing but Miller for Vezina? I think hes the most underrated goalie in today's game because of the talent that is around him BUT Luongo and Broduer have had much better seasons.
Rosa- We love you Liverpool we do! We love you Liverpool we do! We love you Liverpool we do! Ohhhh, LIVERPOOL WE LOVE YOU!
sabreguy29: Vanek was part of the most productive offense in the league, on a team whos goals-against was about average. I don't think it speaks so much to a defensive game as it does an offensive game. When I think of the Buffalo Sabres, defensively anyway, only one player really comes to mind: Ryan Miller.
Also, what's all this Anti Eastern Conference sentiment all about? I don't recall seeing any Eastern Conference defensemen listed for the Norris. Western Favoritism ....
"The only thing these three have done is proven to voters just how desperate they are to get elected. They’ve soiled themselves and cheapened their reputations with this nonsense."
Chaas:
Those are good points but if Chris Drury is going to be considered a good benchmark for effective two-way play (and he should be), then Vanek's numbers have to at least raise some eyebrows.
Vanek averaged nearly as much ice time as Drury (Vanek 16:46 / Drury 18:46) yet produced more goals (43-37) and had a considerably better +/- (+47 to +1). Granted, Drury takes on more responsibilities on penalty killing and match-ups with opposing stars...but it seems to me that with Vanek there's a lot more going on there than just offense. Those are the numbers o####uy that takes care of the puck.
The Canucks would never be in the playoffs without Luongo. He deserves to win the Hart, but Brodeur deserves the Vezina. Crosby will win the Hart though, but for more of a P.R. tactic. I hate how the NHL works now.
If you just focus on the games themselves the view is usually not bad, and occasionally great. But don't peek behind the curtain because the inner workings are an ugly sight.
Vanek and Drury are great players. But one of the reasons why they are not being considered is simple. There top players on a team of great players. If either of those 2 miss time with injurys would the Sabres be where they are right now. Odds are yes. What hurts them is they put up numbers on the deepest team in the NHL. If Crosby Brouder or Luongo miss a big chunk of the season would have there teams made the playoffs. the answer is a big fat no. The only of the 3 that might of would have been New Jersey but it would have been an 8 seed at best. Pittsburgh and Vancouver would be picking in the top 7 in the Draft.
Buffalo does indeed have a deep stable of forwards with even more on the way. But I'm not certain that the total absence of Drury would allow the Sabres to stay at the top. Playoffs, yes. But he has a leadership presence about him that reminds me of---brace yourselves---Steve Yzerman. Not in physical skill, mind you. Yzerman was a multi-season 60-goal man...something I can't ever see Drury becoming. But he does have that "edge" to him and the ability to lift all boats around him with his play. I think even the current Sabres would miss him dearly.
Just looking at the nominees for all the awards and wondering:
Beyond Sidney Crosby, what other skaters WOULD be irreplaceable to their teams? Who could you strip away and the result is the team going right down the ####? Pronger? Lidstrom? Lacavalier? Brind'Amour?
I left the goalies out because I think many will agree that Calgary, NJ, and Vancouver would be just lousy without them.
The Devils do generally keep the scoring chances for opponents to a minimum. Broduer faced about 28 shots per game this year, which ended up middle-of-the-pack among all teams. But I still can't imagine that team without him. Now that Scott Stevens is retired, Broduer is really the soul of the team.
Good roundup. About the Calder race, can't argue with Malkin winning on his sheer production but I'd have to say Stastny is the best all around player of the three, not Staal. Both Stastny and Staal can score, both are solid on the PK, both see special team play at both ends, but Stastny is a much better playmaker than Staal. Just nitpicking though, I don't think any team would exactly turn down either player.
What skaters are irreplacable to their teams? Well, I guess an argument could be made for Ryan Smyth on the Edmonton Oilers after watching the late-season swan dive... [*grin*]
You pose a really good question, but let's expand the dynamic. Different teams are built different ways, but there's a common element: you need to dominate in at least two of the three positions areas (forward, defense and goaltending) to be successful.
For example, the Red Wings won their two Cups in the 1990s with essentially second-tier goalies. The forwards and bluelines were good enough to carry Mike Vernon and Chris Osgood. (We can argue over Vernon. I liked him, but would never consider him one of the elite. But even if I give him up, we can all agree Osgood was carried.)
Look at New Jersey today. Since they last won the Cup, they've lost Stevens, Neidermayer and Daneyko from their blue line. Admittedly Stevens and Daneyko were getting long in the tooth, but you've got to think with a more solid D they'd be steamrolling the Senators. The Devils will not win the Cup with their current line-up because they don't have replacements for those rearguards.
Vancouver missed the playoffs last year because their goaltending fell apart. This year with essentially the same team and a more solid keeper they won the Division and made Luongo look like the second coming of Georges Vezina in the process. But now in the playoffs they have injuries to their blueline (which also negatively impacts the power play) and they are in danger of going out to the Ducks.
** continued below **
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on May 3rd at 4:03 PM.
Take both Pronger and Spacek off the Edmonton blueline and suddenly the Oilers don't have a breakout play. They don't effectively rush the opposition, spend more time in their own zone, and the result is a losing season.
I think the margins between many of the teams today are razor thin that one or two players can make a tremendous difference between not only winning and losing, but winning and losing the Cup.
Look at the Rangers: the addition of Sean Avery and subtraction of Aaron Ward is a perfect example of fine-tuning that team chemistry. The Rangers don't make the playoffs without those two moves.
I'm always uncomfortable with the idea that any one player is "irreplacable" -- after all, my team traded away the irreplacable Wayne Gretzky and we got along okay -- because new talent comes along every year and there are guys you've never heard of taken in last year's draft who will be hockey household names in a decade. But for a winning team there's an overall skill level required within each positional group, and a minimum team talent threshhold necessary to be successful.
In 1994, the Rangers traded Hall-of-Famer Mike Gartner for "Should be a Hall-of-Famer" Glenn Anderson. Statistically Gartner was the more talented player, but Anderson had character and to my mind was a difference maker in the playoffs. Would the Rangers have won with Gartner? Perhaps. But they did win with Anderson.
In that same way, adding Sean Avery just may be the tipping point between missing the playoffs vs. getting to the second round (maybe beyond).
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on May 3rd at 4:33 PM.
"Different teams are built different ways, but there's a common element: you need to dominate in at least two of the three positions areas (forward, defense and goaltending) to be successful."
McCallum, I like the way you think. But here's a follow-up:
What if a team was inferior in forwards and defense, yet highly superior in goaltending? My own beloved Sabres of the late 1990s fit this description to a tee and were 1 shot and 60 minutes from hoisting the Cup. What I want to know is if there ever was a team like that which DID win it all? Anybody?
Montreal over Los Angeles, 1993. (The exception that proves the rule!)
And you under-rate your 1999 Sabres. Top line and first defensive pair versus the Stars, yeah, you guys probably come out on the short end. But overall I think the Sabres were deeper than the Stars.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on May 3rd at 4:39 PM.
Wow! I did express my opinion in a recent thread (Hasek v. Broduer) that the '93 Habs were a team with a lot of luck on their side...Spector himself even agreed, and those are his boys. However that luck had to do with the teams they were able to avoid meeting, namely the Pens and Bruins.
I never got the impression that the team was Patrick Roy and some stiffs, though. I definitely think they were stronger in most areas than the Sabres and Islanders, their 2nd and 3rd round victims. The Nords had a 2-0 lead in the opening series and based on forwards alone (Sakic, Ricci, probably should have finished Montreal then and there. And Gretzky's Kings had the skill edge for sure. But Bellows, Muller, Damphousse, LeClair and Savage are a not-too-shabby set of forwards. Throw in Mathieu Schneider and Eric Desjardins on the blueline and you may be the equal or better than most opponents.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: I respectfully disagree.
I was just waiting for that other shoe to drop on that Drury thing.
I just meant that his modest demeanor and leadership ability, a tough thing to quantify, REMIND me of Yzerman. He is not Stevie Y's equal and I hope that's not what I said.
Matt-He doesn't sell short the Sabres, they did lack the talent with the exception of Hasek. Their best forward was Mike Peca....
As for 93 Canadiens, they had a heck of a lot more talent along the blue-line and at the forward position than most give them credit for.
TK####o you know how to read? He said that Drury's leadership is comparable to Stevie Y's, nothing else.
But I don't even know why you get in these arguments when you self-admittedly have said that you don't watch the Sabres. So how could you know what Drury's been doing the past few years for us? So really its not us who has tunnel vision, its just us that we see the whole story.
To say that he wouldn't wear Yzerman's jockstrap in the leadership role is laughable.
Sabreguy-I like you man. You make Sabre fans across the world proud!
The reason anyone could technically refer to that '98-'99 Sabres as "deep" was because there wasn't a lot of difference between any of the four forward lines...average, average, average, average. Same could be said about most of the D pairings.
They did pick up Stu Barnes and Rhett Warrener in late-season trades which helped immensely. And they did have a 40-goal man in Miro Satan. But after that it was no great shakes.
It seems like I'm slamming these poor guys from the Hasek era a lot lately, but really I loved most of those players. They never got the title we wanted but they were fun.
The 1994-95 Devils were close to being a one-trick pony, and I actually had them in mind while I asked the question earlier. But Stevens and Niedermayer probably nullify the argument. Along with Broduer, there were few (if any) teams that year they didn't match-up favorably with from the blue line and back. Regular season, though, that was probably the weakest group of Devils forwards from the championship years. The teams they eliminated that year mostly had a huge edge in talent among the forwards...especially Detroit.
What about Brad Stuart? I don't hear his name and the word "Norris" being mentioned in the same sentence. By all accounts this guy is a stud. What's the deal? Young and washed-up? Injured? No more mojo?
On respectful disagreements -- Gosh, if there were no disagreements, this would be a pretty dull place! Please, don't hold back on my account.
I didn't call the 1993 Canadiens a bunch of stiffs (nor, frankly, would I consider the 1999 Sabres stiffs either). Your criteria was a Cup winning team that was dominant in goal, and inferior at forward and defense.
Montreal had some great talent up-front, like Savard, Muller, LeClair, Leeman, Bellows and Damphousse. But on paper Los Angeles sure looked to be better with guys like Gretzky, Kurri, Robitaille, Sandstrom, Granato, and Taylor.
On the blueline, the Habs were solid with the likes of Brisbois, Desjardins, Odelein, and Schneider. But again, on paper Los Angeles appeared to be stronger with guys like Blake, Huddy, McSorley, Sydor and Zhitnik.
The five game series was remarkably even, with three games settled in overtime. LA scored 12 goals, Montreal scored 15.
The key difference was Montreal winning those overtime games, which was achieved in large part by the stellar netminding of Patrick Roy.
If -- always a dangerous word to begin a sentence with -- Marty McSorley doesn't take the illegal stick penalty in Game 2 and Los Angeles goes up 2-0 in the series, do you see Montreal coming back to win four of the next five games?
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on May 3rd at 8:30 PM.
Regarding the depth (or lack thereof) on the Sabres in 1999, a quick aside: In working up my comments on the 1993 Montreal/Los Angeles series, and then reviewing the 1999 Dallas/Buffalo line-ups, I was struck by the players who appeared in both Finals.
Buffalo had Alexei Zhitnik (LA), while Dallas sported Guy Carbonneau (MTL), Mike Keane (MTL) and Darryl Sydor (LA).
So THAT'S why Dallas won. They had more guys from the 1993 Finals! [*grin*]
I liked that plucky Buffalo squad from 1999, and as an Edmonton fan whose team kept losing to the Dallas Stars in the playoffs, Lord knows I was pulling for your club.
Another reason we were cheering for Buffalo that year was because my wife grew up in the same rural Alberta community as Lindy Ruff and was close to the family. (They actually pronounce their last name "Roof", but if I was an NHLer, I'd rather go by "Rough" too.)
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on May 3rd at 8:54 PM.
Excellent points. I didn't realize that Rob Blake was on that Kings squad. He might be the one that tilts the blueline in L.A.'s favor. And I totally agree on the forwards, although the Habs players had some defensive discipline to go along with their offensive skill. Since I didn't see a lot of Kings games I generally don't know how Kurri, Sandstrom and Robitaille did in their own end, but I can guess.
And "stiffs" is too strong a word. Those '93 Canadiens were far from it. And you're right about the '99 Sabres. Not bad players...just not really that good either.
But you've made an awfully good case that I can't really refute. It probably IS impossible for a team to be truly inferior in most areas and even make the playoffs. But those '93 Habs and '95 Devils may be the best we can do. Unless someone else out there has something?
I agree the 1993 Habs had more grit, and I'd venture they had better coaching too. They never seemed to get flustered or ever lose composure.
I cannot speak about Robitaille or Sandstrom with any great authority because I only watched them from afar, but having watched Jari Kurri every night for more than decade, there was a guy who could play both ends of the ice.
He should have won the Selke at some point in his career, and likely would have if he didn't score 60 to 70 goals a year. (If memory serves, he was among the three finalists for the Selke once or twice, circa mid-1980s). Jari was a very smart player and excellent defensively.
He didn't have a great Final in 1993 -- 1 goal and no assists -- because he was playing hurt. He'd had 16 points in the previous 19 games en route to Montreal, so you've got to think in such an even series that a healthy Kurri could have made a difference.
And you might want to give the 1995 Devils a bit more credit: They outscored Detroit 14-7 in their four game sweep, and out-shot the Red Wings in every game. We were all surprised at the time about this team that came out of nowhere and knocked off the heavily favoured Wings, but when you look back a decade later after three NJ Cups, in retrospect they iced a pretty good squad.
Last edited by Matt_McCallum on May 3rd at 9:38 PM.
Yeah, those Devils were good. Had to be to win the Cup. But they also had to be considered weaker than almost all their playoff rivals that year at the forward positions. Richer, MacLean, Broten, Guerin circa 1995 were not Jagr, Lindros, Francis, Yzerman, or Leclair.
And Claude Lemieux played off his rocker that spring! 6 goals scored in the short (48 game) regular season and then...13 in the playoffs! That was the year that his reputation as a big-game performer was cemented.
That team, more so than either of the later New Jersey championship editions, relied on timely goals and a steadfast adherence to Coach Lemaire's version of the "trap". The Devils of 2000 and 2003 also did this...but they also didn't have to. They could out-gun another powerful offense when needed. Not those '95 boys, though. At least that's my memory of how it all went down.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
