2016-17 NHL Award Winner Predictions

NHL Award Winner Predictions

As the NHL season nears its conclusion, speculation begins among enthusiasts as to who may win what major awards. Some years most awards have near-guarantees, but this year sees the race for the Art Ross, Rocket Richard, Vezina and Calder trophies have multiple deserving candidates.

Art Ross Trophy

[the_ad id=”693″]The Art Ross Trophy is awarded annually to the NHL’s overall points leader at season’s end. If things wrapped up today, Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane would be taking home the hardware. While Kane and Edmonton Oilers phenom Connor McDavid share the league lead in points with 76, Kane holds the edge with 31 goals to McDavid’s 24. Sidney Crosby and Brad Marchand are close behind with 74 points apiece, while Evgeni Malkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Brent Burns are within striking distance with 72, 71 and 70 points respectively. While all the players listed here are elite and reasonable arguments could be made for each player to win, I have to go with the young Oiler to win the scoring title.

• Winner: Connor McDavid
• Runner-ups: Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane

Hart Trophy

The Hart trophy is always a highly debated award because of the way it is described. While people tend to choose the most valuable player in the league, the NHL states that the trophy is given to “the player judged to be the most valuable to his team.” With that in mind, we need to consider which player has helped his team get to where they are this season. Pittsburgh is tied for the league-lead in points, but if Sidney Crosby were out of the picture, the Penguins still have Malkin, Phil Kessel and Matt Murray who have all had elite seasons. The same could be said about the Blackhawks with Towes, Panarin, Keith and Crawford all playing stellar behind Patrick Kane. A case could be made for Brent Burns, but San Jose has perennially been a strong team before Burns was the powerhouse he is today. You could also argue that goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky, Braden Holtby and Devan Dubnyk have all had excellent seasons, but they all play for teams who are very deep and have had substantial contributions all throughout their respective lineups. Once again, Connor McDavid takes the win. Despite strong play from Cam Talbot and Leon Draisaitl, without McDavid, the Oilers are, once again, a bottom feeding team.

• Winner: Connor McDavid
• Runner-ups: Sidney Crosby, Devan Dubnyk

 

Vezina Trophy

The last two seasons, the Vezina Trophy winners were relatively obvious selections. Last season, Braden Holtby’s 48 wins tied Martin Brodeur for most wins in a single-season and the year prior Carey Price posted legendary numbers across the board. This season, however, the award could easily be given to one of three men: Sergei Bobrovsky, Devan Dubnyk, and Holtby. Of the 3, Bobrovsky leads the way with an NHL-high 37 wins in 54 appearances, while Dubnyk has the highest save percentage at .930 and Holtby’s 2.03 GAA are tops among all netminders with more than 20 games played. Despite the superb goaltending displayed by the players above, I don’t see Columbus in the position they are in without elite puck-stopping.

• Winner: Sergei Bobrovsky
• Runner-ups: Braden Holtby, Devan Dubnyk

 

Calder Trophy

[the_ad id=”384″]Matthews. Laine. Marner. Werenski. Nylander. Tkachuk. This year’s rookie of the year could be any number of talented young men, as each of the players noted above have been critical components of their respective teams. Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, and William Nylander have the Toronto Maple Leafs nipping at the heels of a playoff spot a year after being the worst team in the NHL. Zach Werenski surpassed Rick Nash as the team’s all-time leading rookie scorer this year as a defenseman. Matthew Tkachuk has brought some much-needed sandpaper to the Calgary Flames while till putting up some respectable offensive numbers. Patrik Laine, however, leads all NHL rookies with 33 goals and 60 points and has done so in 6 fewer games than Auston Matthews who is only 5 points behind. While Matthews leads his team in points and Laine does not, Laine’s 0.97 points per game and 19% shooting percentage lead all other Calder candidates and his 18:04 average ice-time are second behind only Zach Weresnki (also only among Calder candidates). With the way Laine has produced, he stands out (albeit marginally) above the rest and should take home the prize.

• Winner: Patrick Laine
• Runner-ups: Auston Matthews, Zach Werenski

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-I6_3C1QUU

Norris Trophy

While other trophies may have multiple different options for a winner, the Norris seems to be a two-horse race between Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks and Ottawa Senators franchise defenseman Erik Karlsson. Burns leads all defenders with 27 goals and his 70 points are 7th among all NHL skaters. Karlsson, meanwhile, sits just behind Burns with 62 points. However, Karlsson leads the entire NHL in blocked shots and sits 5th in the NHL in average ice-time with an average of 26:39 per night. Although Burns’ offensive numbers are highly impressive, the award goes to the best overall defenseman, and Karlsson has kept pace with Burns offensively while being one of the best players in his own end all season long.

• Winner: Erik Karlsson
• Runner-ups: Brent Burns, Victor Hedman

 

Rocket Richard Trophy

If the NHL season ended today, the Rocket Richard trophy would be split between two players for the first time since 2009-10 when Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos shared the honor with 51 goals apiece. As it stands, Crosby and Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand each have 35 goals. Patrik Laine, Evgeni Malkin, and Max Pacioretty, though, are all nipping at their heels with 33 goals each. Cam Atkinson and Vladimir Tarasenko (32 goals) are right there as well, while Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews, Jeff Carter and Patrick Kane (31 goals) aren’t out of it either. As a Canadiens fan, I would love to pick Pacioretty as the winner here, but it’s hard to argue with excellence, and when the season ends, the Kid will take home the Rocket.

• Winner: Sidney Crosby
• Runner-ups: Brad Marchand, Patrick Laine

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDepEjZ_95U

Jack Adams Trophy

[the_ad id=”384″]The 2016-17 NHL season has seen some of the usual suspects come to the forefront of the President’s Trophy race. The Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks sit at, or near the top of the NHL standings on the backs of coaching of Barry Trotz, who won the award last season, Mike Sullivan, Joel Quenneville and Pete DeBoer. Some of these gentlemen employ some of the NHL’s best players like Ovechkin, Backstrom, Crosby, Malkin, Kane, Toews, Burns and Thornton, which probably makes their job a little easier. One team at the top of the NHL standings, however, does not have a star-studded lineup and their coach has been getting the most out of everyone. That team is the Columbus Blue Jackets. After a dismal 2015-16 where the Jackets finished 27th overall in the NHL standings, John Tortorella has the Blue Jackets sitting 3rd in the absurdly strong Metropolitan Division, 4 points ahead of the New York Rangers and poised to make the playoffs for only the third time in their young history. While Bruce Boudreau has the Minnesota Wild sitting in a top 5 spot in the NHL, they had a far better season last year under Mike Yeo, and for that reason, Torts takes the trophy.

• Winner: John Tortorella
• Runner-ups: Mike Sullivan, Bruce Boudreau

 

If there is anything you would change, I would love to see what you think, so leave me your own choices in the comments section! Thanks for reading!