Back on May 2 I posted up the list of nominees for the NHL individual awards and my predictions of who would win. 

The awards I covered included the Calder, Selke, Hart, Adams, Norris, Lady Byng, Pearson and the Vezina.

And except for the Adams, Lady Byng and Pearson, I was spot-on with my other predictions.

Evgeni Malkin won the Calder, Rod Brind'amour the Selke, Sidney Crosby the Hart (and the Pearson), Nicklas Lidstrom the Norris and Martin Brodeur the Vezina.

The Adams went to Vancouver's Alain Vigneault (I'd picked Buffalo's Lindy Ruff), the Pearson to Crosby (I'd picked Vincent Lecavalier) and the Lady Byng went to Pavel Datsyuk (I'd picked Colorado's Joe Sakic).

OK, so I went five for eight. Still not bad, eh? 

Other awards that I didn't post predictions on were the Masterton Trophy, which went to Boston's Phil Kessel for returning back to action after surgery for testicular cancer, and the King Clancy went to Montreal's Saku Koivu for his charity work.

The biggest surprise for me was Crosby winning the Pearson, as there was a perception that he might not yet have the full respect of his peers at such a young age to garner enough votes to win. The fact that he has should now cast no doubt as to his greatness.

It's one thing for fans to be critical of his getting awarded the Hart as that's voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, but when the players vote him the Pearson, signifying their choice as the league's MVP, that ends the debate. They play the game and know true greatness when they see it.  

Congratulations to all.  

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.

Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke recently told a reporter that he doesn’t want a Lady Byng player on his roster.

"It's something I don't particularly want to see on my team," he told Randy Youngman of the Orange County Register.

Youngman reported “the Lady Byng is the only NHL postseason award (Burke) "won't give a bonus for" when negotiating incentive clauses in contracts.

According to NHL.com, the Lady Byng trophy “is an annual award given to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the end of the regular season.”

The trophy dates back to 1925 and over the years many illustrious players have won it. The NY Rangers Frank Boucher won it a record 7 times. Hall of Famers like Toe Blake, Syl Apps, Red Kelly, Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, Gilbert Perreault, Marcel Dionne, Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy have all earned it.

Yet it seems that in recent years the Byng has become an award to be shunned, or to be barely recognized as a legitimate award. Players who win it accept it almost sheepishly, as if they’re embarrassed.

That’s probably because the spirit of “gentlemanly play” as typified back in the day when it meant something to win the Lady Byng no longer exists.  

General managers and coaches nowadays prefer players who “get their noses dirty”, who aren’t afraid of the rough stuff, particularly when it comes to chuckin' knuckles.

Toughness has always been valued in the NHL, but in the past players could play a gentlemanly style and still be respected by their peers.

 Those days appear long gone now. Toughness is considered more of a factor than ever. Burke’s views are widely shared around the NHL, although I'm not certain how many of his fellow GMs feel the same way regarding incentives for winning the Byng.

Even though GMs and coaches would love to have players as talented as recent winners like Brad Richards, Joe Sakic and Paul Kariya, they still prefer their players to be rough, tough, guys with talent; Jarome Iginla clones with fists to match their other great skills.

The Byng has also in recent years garnered the stigma of almost being a "lifetime achievement" award, a means of honoring once-great but fading stars, such as when Wayne Gretzky received it in 1999, Alexander Mogilny in 2003 and Ron Francis in 2002.

In those instances, it was as though those who awarded it were thinking that they wanted to honor those players but there were no other major awards available other than the Byng.

As the Byng fades in importance as an individual honor one is left to wonder how much longer the league will keep handing out this award, especially if more GMs emulate Burke’s attitude. 

With the season almost done, it seems as good a time as any to list my picks for the NHL's individual awards.

ART ROSS: Jaromir Jagr, NY Rangers. Barring injury in his final games, he's going to win this one running away. It'll be his sixth Ross Trophy, tying him with Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe. Only Wayne Gretzky (10 Ross trophies) has won more.

RICHARD: Jaromir Jagr, NY Rangers. Barring a late run by Alexander Ovechkin, Jagr should easily win this one, too.

CALDER: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals. This has more to do with Ovechkin leading Sidney Crosby in the rookie scoring race. Ovechkin is also perhaps the most dazzling individual goalscorer since Pavel Bure, but he's also not shy to get physical. He's already among the game's elite.

ADAMS: Peter Laviolette, Carolina Hurricanes. Laviolette gets the nod because of the work he did in turning a club that was considered at the start of this season to be a bottom-feeder into one of the elite in the NHL. The 'Cane challenging for the Conference title gives him the edge over the Rangers Tom Renney.

VEZINA: Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames. Kipper has thus far played the second-most games and faced the sixth most shots. Yet he's second in wins, fifth in goals-against average and save percentage, and leads the league in shutouts. Taking all this into account, that makes him the Vezina winner in my book.

NORRIS: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings. He's leading all blueliners in points, but that's not why he gets the nod. He's been the long-time anchor of the Wings blueline and remains one of the reasons they're still among the league's elite. His all-around game makes him simply the best d-man in the NHL this season.

HART: Jaromir Jagr, NY Rangers. No question, Jagr is deserving of the chants of "MVP" from the Blueshirts faithful. He's led the formerly sad-sack Rangers back into the playoffs, and has thrived under the new NHL rules. He's genuinely enjoying hockey again, and showing everyone why he's the best player in the game today.

Feel free to offer up your own choices, folks.