So with the awards given out, I felt it was a good time to do a little comparison on what happened and with my suggestions, prediction, or whatever you want to call it. If you haven’t read what my predictions were check it out here: https://notyouraveragehockeyblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/award-predictionssuggestions/
Here are the results:
Calder: Jonathan Huberdeau
My prediction was: Jonathan Huberdeau! Wasn’t much of a surprise. He lead rookie scoring this season, with 28 points. Good season overall for him, has a bright future.
Hart: Alex Ovechkin
My prediction was: Jonathan Toews. When the finalist were announced, I was actually rather surprised to see Ovechkin there. I personally feel he had a pretty crappy season. I mean if you aren’t having a bad season Mike Milbury wouldn’t be calling you out. I don’t know how you can give this award to someone who had a good start, HORRIBLE mid season, and a good end to the season. Do the voters just look at the end? I thought John Tavares should have been the Hart winner once the finalist were announced. I know a lot of people think Sidney Crosby should have been the Hart winner, but remember, the Hart trophy is for “the player judged most valuable to their team”. The Pittsburgh Penguins have Malkin, Letang, Fleury, along with Crosby. And lets be honest, the Penguins would be perfectly fine without Crosby, but he’s a nice bonus wouldn’t you say? The Capitals have Backstrom and Ribero. Sure Alex Ovechkin plays a large part of their offense, but I think they’d probably be able to sneak in to a 8th spot without Ovechkin. The Islanders on the other hand? Their second highest scorer; Matt Moulson has five less points than Mike Ribero who has 49 points. Without Tavares, I think the Islanders are near the basement in the conference if their not already in them. If you’re a reporter who voted Ovechkin, please go to our “Talk To Us!” page and let me know why you voted for Ovechkin, or just simple comment below.
Norris: P.K. Subban
My prediction: I seemed to have missed it… Oops. But oh well! Probably the worst kept secret, but we found out a few days ago P.K. Subban wins the Norris for the best defenseman. If there’s a lesson to be learned from this, it’s that you really don’t need to the full season to win an award, see Hart Trophy as another example. P.K. Subban, should have won the award, but he did holdout in the beginning of the season… BUT, like I said before, he deserved it. But one question, WHO VOTED FOR ANDREI MARKOV WITH THE FIRST PLACE VOTES?
Vezina: Sergei Bobrovsky
My prediction: Bobrovsky. Didn’t expect anyone else. With out the stellar play of Bobrovsky, they’d probably be in the basement as well, and Marian Gaborik wouldn’t be a Blue Jacket either… Let’s just hope he doesn’t turn out like Steve Mason after winning an award… Mason went from being 33-20-7 and winning the Calder to being 20-26-9. If he does go the Mason route, lets name it the Curse of the BJ (ok, maybe that’s a bit immature, how about the the Curse of the Jackets)?
Selke: Jonathan Toews
My prediction: Pascal Dupuis. I thought I’d be super cool and go of the chart and pick a guy like Pascal Dupuis, but the favourite to win was my Hart prediction, and behold! It’s the favourite!
Jack Adams: Paul McLean
My Prediction: Bruce Boudreau. Not overly surprising since most people wrote off the Senators after Jason Spezza went down. I still think that Bruce should have won. The Ducks quietly had an amazing season while the Blackhawks stole the thunder.
GM of the Year: Ray Shero
If you voted for someone else, I don’t know what to say. There was no other choice. He picked up Douglas Murray, Jarome Iginla, and Brendon Morrow without moving a roster player. I don’t know what else to say besides, has anyone checked if he’s on performance enhancing drugs yet?
So what do you think about the NHL Awards? Comment below! Share this, “like” this, tweet this, do your thing! Follow me on Twitter @HkyBlogger and “like” us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/notyouraveragehockeyblog
Correct me if I’m wrong but weren’t the Capitals pretty much in the basement the first half of the season? They had a remarkable second half thanks to Ovechkin who led the league in goals. Crosby was out for 12 games and would’ve won had he remained healthy but the Caps have nobody on their team other than Oveckin and maybe, maybe Backstrom. Don’t agree with you saying Crosby, the best player in the world, is a nice little “bonus” too. Kunitz and Depuis don’t have seasons like they had without him. Would’ve liked to see Tavares win but still, you can’t bash Ovechkin for what he did with the Caps.
Thank you for your opinion Bobby! Well the Hart is for the player most valuable to the team, and I can’t see the Islanders being even relatively close to the playoffs without Tavares. I can see the Penguins winning their division without Crosby, and the Capitals without Ovechkin maybe won’t make the playoffs but no where as bad as Islanders without Tavares. So we disagree here, but I appreciate the comment nevertheless!