Bring Back the NHL Awards

Remember when they used to have the NHL Awards?  That televised black-tie event after the Stanley Cup Final where they presented all of the league's trophies in one two-hour show?  What happened to that?  Why did they get rid of it?  Because the way they're doing it now is terrible!

Instead of announcing the NHL Awards all at once, they've been trickling them out one at a time.  Sometimes two at a time.  And there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason behind it, let alone a schedule.  Just a bunch of disjointed press releases accompanied by those videos where somebody "surprises" the winner by telling them they won.  Since, you know, everybody just randomly has an entire camera crew in their backyard at every family party.  That isn't suspicious at all!

There is one thing they've started doing that's good.  They're announcing the three finalists for each of the awards.  But what's the point of doing that if you're not inviting them to an awards show where one will receive it?  When all they're doing is putting out a press release, they could just as easily announce only the winner and release the results of the full voting at that time (which they already do anyway).

And, again, what's with the schedule?!  We found out Matthew Schaefer won the Calder like a month ago!  Meanwhile, they still haven't announced the winner of the Hart Trophy.  Which, as MVP, should be last.  But a month after Rookie of the Year?!  Talk about anticlimactic!

The NFL Honors will never be confused with quality television.  It's even pretty bad as an awards show.  But, the one thing the NFL Honors has going for it is that every award is announced during the two-hour show.  And they, of course, cap it with the NFL's highest honor...the Walter Payton Man of the Year.  So, in that regard, the NFL Honors is great.  They do all of the awards at the same time.

Baseball is the only sport where the postseason awards aren't presented until after the playoffs.  But there's no denying that they've also got the schedule figured out.  They do the Gold Gloves and Comeback Players of the Year ahead of time, but their major awards are all announced in the same week.  There's a one-hour show on MLB Network every day from Monday-Thursday, where they do Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young and MVP in order.  Even when the winners are obvious, it builds up anticipation nonetheless.

That, to me, is the biggest problem with the NHL's current system of giving out its postseason awards.  There's absolutely no build up and no anticipation.  It's just "here's who won."  I'm sure there's some sort of formal schedule, but has anyone in the public ever seen it?  And why are the awards so spread out?  If they were doing it one per day for a week, that would be one thing.  But I don't even know what this is!

This is more like the NBA's haphazard system of announcing its postseason award winners.  The NBA has always done their awards the same way.  But even that has some sort of structure.  Oftentimes, they'll present the award to a player on the court before a home playoff game.  And that at least makes sense.  Unlike what the NHL does.

I can only assume they want to have some sort of personal touch with the award winner finding out from a friend or family member.  The idea was probably inspired by what the Pro Football Hall of Fame does with their knock on the door videos.  But some of those Pro Football Hall of Fame knock on the door videos are clearly staged (as much as they want us to believe they aren't).  And, by doing basically the same thing, the NHL is taking the suspense away from some of their award winners.  I'm sure some are genuinely surprised, but for the rest it's a dead giveaway.  Especially since they've been doing the same thing for a while now.

Are there those who prefer it this way, who like the awards having that little personalized touch?  I'm sure.  For the award winners, is it more meaningful to get the trophy from somebody they're close to in front of family members instead of on a stage in a tuxedo from some random celebrity or NHL luminary where they have to give an acceptance speech after?  Perhaps.  But I'm sure there are others who like it the other way, where they can celebrate with their NHL brotherhood.

Bringing it back to the NFL Honors, that's where they've gotten it right.  The players are honored and celebrated with each other.  It gives a sense of camaraderie.  That used to be the case in the NHL, too, when they did the NHL Awards show.  Getting your award in front of your family is one thing.  Getting it in front of your family and the guys you spend the entire season playing with and against?  That's something else entirely.

An argument could be made that giving out all of the awards together perhaps makes some seem less important than others.  By contrast, announcing each award separately puts them all in the spotlight individually.  The Norris Trophy gets its due one day, and the Selke Trophy gets its the next.  Although, if somebody wins multiple awards, he's not getting all of them at the same time, which is another point against not having a centralized NHL Awards.

Did they ever even give the reason why they stopped doing the NHL Awards?  Was it the league's choice?  The NHLPA's?  Both?  Was it a matter of not being able to find a venue or coming to an agreement with their American and/or Canadian TV partners for the broadcast?  Is it simply a matter of the timing being too tight between the end of the Stanley Cup Final and the NHL Draft to squeeze it in between them?

Whatever the reason, I hope this situation is only temporary.  Because I'd love to see the NHL Awards return someday.  At the very least, they need to figure out something better than what they're doing now.  Because, while I get the idea of having each award announced separately, it was so much better when they were presented at the same at a formal awards show.