With the NHL Awards Show set to take place on Wednesday, I figured I chime in with my predictions as well as who will actually win.
Vezina Award:
The winner should be, Ilya Bryzgalov because of the year he had with Phoenix. No one expected anything from them this year, they made it to a game 7 against the defending Western conference champions, and doing so without a top point getter. This team was turribly bad in the goal scoring department. Ilya was their backbone all year long.
The winner is going to be Ryan Miller because he had a hot start to the year putting his name even into the MVP discussion, but he really is going to win because he helped an underdog USA team to the silver medal, and was named MVP of the Olympic tournament. It is really stupid he is going to win for play that has no effect on NHL stats.
Frank J. Selke Award: (personally I think they should change this to the Sergei Federov Trophy, best two-way player of all time)
The winner should be, Pavel Datsyuk because he is the best two-way in the game today and has won this award several times before, but I feel this and the fact that point total has become a big factor in the award will cause Datsyuk not to win.
The winner is going to be Ryan Kesler because he is a new comer and had a big year for the Canucks, as Datsyuk didn't have as good of year as he normally does. This will weigh big on the voters minds.
Lady Bing Memorial Trophy:
The winner should be, Martin St. Louis. He should win because he doesn't take penalties and no one has a bad thing to say about him. With all the turmoil with the lightning the past two years, St. Louis definitely deserves it.
The winner is going to be Martin St. Louis because of what I just said and because of the fact Datsyuk has won the award the previous four years. It's hard to see the voters giving him the award five years in a row.
Calder Memorial Trophy:
The winner should be, Jimmy Howard because of what he did down the stretch for the Red Wings. The Red Wings were on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time in eighteen years, but Detroit rode this rookie to a fourth place finish in the western conference finals. For this fact as well as he played college at the University of Maine he deserves to win.
The winner is going to be Tyler Myers because defensemen is the toughest position to play as a rookie in the NHL. Myers was in the the top ten in ice time and had a great plus/minus. What he did was very impressive because I know how hard it is to be a defensemen, but I am really pulling for Jimmy to win.
James Norris Trophy: (This award should be changed to the Robert Orr Award)
The winner should be, Drew Doughty. He's not going to win because he is young, I'm older than he is. His numbers are excellent for being in only his second year. He has the most hits out of these three and is easily the best defensemen in the game. He's not going to win this year, but he will win this award for probably the next 5 or 6 six years, he's that good.
The winner is going to be Duncan Keith because of his play for the Africanhawks during the postseason, which is stupid because this is a regular season award, and this is the same reason why Mike Green wont win the award. Keith had a huge postseason and easily could have won the Con Smythe award, but he will this trophy to his Stanley Cup. This award has become more of offensive numbers rather than being a true defensive player.
Jack Adams Award:
This award is the easiest to predict. The winner should be and will be Dave Tippett. This one is so simple because nothing was expected from the Coyotes this year and with all the turmoil about being bankrupt and moving to another city surrounding the team they exceeded expectations and made the playoffs as the 5th seed in the west. Dave Tippett deserves all the credit for making this team click and taking the defending western conference champions to seven games.
Hart Memorial Trophy:
The winner should be, Alexander Ovechkin His numbers this year are on par with his past two seasons as MVP of the league, and his team had the best record in the league by a huge margain, he was the best player on the best regular season team using this logic, but he wont win because a number of other Capital players had huge years including Backstrom, Theodore, and Green.
The winner will be Henrik Sedin because he had a breakout year even though his brother was out for a good portion of the year and he ended up leading the league in assists and points. No one really is a clear cut favorite, but because these were normal years for Crosby and Ovechkin, Sedin will end up getting the honor as MVP.
