NHL Award Picks

Remember back to pre-COVID days when they had the NHL Awards Show sometime after the end of the Stanley Cup Final where they gave out all of the major postseason hardware?  Well, they'll still have a show this season, but that'll only be for the five major awards (Hart, Vezina, Norris, Calder, Ted Lindsay).  The rest are being announced one-by-one this week during the conference finals.  They actually already started with the Adams Award for Coach of the Year.

The Adams Award went to Calgary's Darryl Sutter, who wouldn't have been my choice.  I would've gone with Andrew Brunette, who led the Panthers to a franchise record for points and the President's Trophy.  Since I missed that one and didn't even realize they'd already started naming winners, I figured it would probably be a good idea to start unveiling my selections for the remaining awards.

I'll go in chronological order, starting with the Masterson Trophy, which is next up.  I will, however, be skipping the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award since that doesn't go to an NHL player.  Once I get to the five awards that will be presented at the end, I'll do them in order of significance (meaning Hart Trophy last).

Masterson: Carey Price, Canadiens-Montreal left Price exposed in the expansion draft, knowing Seattle wouldn't take him because he was having knee surgery and would be out to start the season.  Little did anybody know there would be setbacks and Price would end up questioning whether his career was over.  Yet, despite everything, he made it back on the ice this season, making his debut on April 15 and playing in seven games.

Selke: Elias Lindholm, Flames-Patrice Bergeron has won the Selke Trophy four times and Aleksandr Barkov was last year's winner.  It won't be either one of them this time.  Because it'll be Calgary's Elias Lindholm.  He did the offensive part of his job, finishing with 82 points and a plus-61 rating.  This is the best defensive forward, though, and he was great at that part, too.  He played on the penalty kill, took faceoffs (and won 52 percent of them), blocked shots and intercepted passes.

Lady Byng: Kyle Connor, Jets-Connor had just four penalty minutes all season!  That's it!  Two minors!  The other two finalists had five penalties each, which is still not a lot, but it's more than twice as many as Connor.  He played in 79 games and averaged nearly 22 minutes of ice time while leading Winnipeg in scoring.  Yet he only went to the penalty box twice.  The definition of the award is the "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability."  I'd say he checks both of those boxes.

King Clancy: Ryan Getzlaf, Ducks-Andrew Whitworth of the Rams won the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year the day before his current team met his former team in the Super Bowl.  He then promptly retired.  Wouldn't it be fitting if another retiring veteran from a Southern California-based team won the NHL's version in his final season?  And Getzlaf would certainly be deserving.  He's been a great humanitarian throughout his 17 years in Anaheim.

Ted Lindsay: Connor McDavid, Oilers-It's rare that the Ted Lindsay Award and Hart Trophy don't go to the same player, but it has happened before.  And I think it's possible that it will this season.  Stay tuned to see my Hart Trophy pick in a little while.  McDavid has clearly earned the respect of his fellow players.  He's won this award three times in the last five seasons.  Make it four of the last six.

Calder: Michael Bunting, Maple Leafs-Honestly, I have no idea who's going to win the Calder.  Most of the predictions I've seen have it going to Moritz Seider, who played all 82 games for the Red Wings and had 50 points as a defenseman.  I just can't get past Michael Bunting's numbers, though.  He had 63 points and was plus-27 for the season.  The Maple Leafs are good.  I get it.  But just because they have Auston Matthews doesn't mean everybody else should automatically be overlooked.

Norris: Cale Makar, Avalanche-Fellow finalists Victor Hedman and Roman Josi have both won the Norris Trophy before.  Cale Makar has not.  I think that changes this year.  Makar's 86 points were 10 fewer than Josi, but 28 of those were goals, which led all NHL defensemen.  And his goals were big ones, too.  Six game-winners, including three in overtime.  Beyond that, he's perhaps the most important player on an Avalanche team full of superstars.  Incredibly, no Colorado/Quebec player has ever won the Norris Trophy.  This season, he should become the first.

Vezina: Igor Shesterkin, Rangers-Of all the awards, this is perhaps the most obvious.  Succeeding Henrik Lundqvist wasn't an easy task, but Shesterkin was more than up for it.  He was the best goalie in the league all season, which is a big reason why the Rangers are having as good a year as they are.  Jakob Markstrom had one more win and more shutouts.  Shesterkin had the better save percentage and GAA.  More importantly, though, the Rangers won a lot of games because of their goalie.  That's why he's an MVP candidate, too.

Hart: Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs-Shesterkin being a finalist for the Hart pretty much means he's a lock for the Vezina.  I don't think he should be a finalist for the Hart, though.  Not because of any bias against goalies winning MVP, but because of someone who isn't a finalist and should be.  How Jonathan Huberdeau isn't a finalist with his 115 points and NHL-leading 85 assists for the team that won the President's Trophy is beyond me.

But I digress.  This is really a decision between last year's winner Connor McDavid and his 123 points and Auston Matthews with the league's first 60-goal season since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12.  Stamkos played all 82 games that season.  Matthews missed seven this year.  He easily could've had a few more.  Both are great and had great seasons.  McDavid has already won the Hart Trophy twice.  I think the 60 goals are what will get Matthews his first.

If it is Matthews, he'll be the first Maple Leaf to win the Hart Trophy since the 1954-55 season.  McDavid, meanwhile, would be the first repeat winner since Alex Ovechkin went back-to-back in 2007-08 and 2008-09, and Sheserkin would be only the seventh goalie (and the first since Carey Price in 2014-15).  So, no matter what, this year's MVP will be ending some sort of streak.