 | Midseason NHL Awards |
 Spektor writes "The mathematical halfway point of the NHL schedule has passed making this a good time to hand out some midseason awards.
HART TROPHY (most valuable player): Martin Brodeur, New Jersey. The Devils don't score much, but they don't have to with Brodeur in the crease. He leads the NHL in several goaltending categories and has played in all but two of New Jersey's 39 games.
The Devils play stifling defense in front of Brodeur, but their offense is only 19th best in the league.
Honorable mention: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit; Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta; Markus Naslund, Vancouver; Ziggy Palffy, Los Angeles; Joe Sakic, Colorado; Mats Sundin, Toronto.
NORRIS TROPHY (defenseman): Rob Blake, Colorado. At age 34, Blake is enjoying his best season since 1997-98, when he won this award while playing for the Kings. He has been a force at both ends of the ice.
Honorable mention: Adrian Aucoin, New York Islanders; Adam Foote, Colorado; Sergei Gonchar, Washington; Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit; Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey; Chris Pronger, St. Louis; Mathieu Schneider, Detroit.
VEZINA TROPHY (goalie): Brodeur. See above.
Honorable mention: David Aebischer, Colorado; Ed Belfour, Toronto; Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary; Patrick Lalime, Ottawa; Chris Osgood, St. Louis; Jose Theodore, Montreal.
CALDER TROPHY (rookie): Trent Hunter, New York Islanders. Drafted 150th overall by Anaheim in 1998, the 6-foot-3 right wing didn't play for the Mighty Ducks. Hunter was traded to the Islanders for a fourth-round pick, and he's on pace for a 30-goal season.
Honorable mention: Patrice Ber- geron, Boston; John-Michael Liles, Colorado; Matthew Lombardi, Calgary; Joni Pitkanen, Philadelphia; Andrew Raycroft, Boston; Michael Ryder, Montreal.
SELKE TROPHY (defensive forward): Kris Draper, Detroit. The Red Wings center already has registered a career-high 18 goals, three of them short-handed. He has won 57 percent of his faceoffs and has recorded the best plus/minus rating (plus-21) among the league's forwards.
Honorable mention: John Madden, New Jersey; Andrei Nikolishin, Colorado; Keith Primeau, Philadelphia; Todd White, Ottawa.
ADAMS TROPHY (coach): Bob Hartley, Atlanta. The Thrashers have defied all odds under the former Avalanche coach, who has kept the Thrashers together after the car accident that killed Dan Snyder and seriously injured star Dany Heatley. A defense-minded coach in Colorado, Hartley has opened up the offense in Atlanta; the Thrashers are one of the highest-scoring teams in the league.
Honorable mention: Tony Granato, Colorado; Dave Lewis, Detroit; Andy Murray, Los Angeles; Pat Quinn, Toronto; Darryl Sutter, Calgary; Barry Trotz, Nashville; Ron Wilson, San Jose.
LADY BYNG TROPHY (sportsmanship): Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa. Even though the talented right wing predicted the Senators will win the Stanley Cup, Alfredsson ranks among the league's scoring leaders and has taken only four minor penalties.
Honorable mention: Brett Hull, Detroit; Steve Rucchin, Anaheim; Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay; Sergei Samsonov, Boston; Alex Tanguay, Colorado.
ROCKET RICHARD TROPHY (goals leader)
Rick Nash, Colubumus. Has just surpassed the 30 goal plateau and is on pace for a 50 goal season. This 19 year old is only in his second season and although the Blue Jackets are out of contention for a playoff spot, Nash is on pace to walk away with some metal. Any yeam playing the Blue jackets now realize the only way to beat them is to contain Rick Nash.
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| "Midseason NHL Awards" | Login/Create an Account | 37 comments |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by mikster on Saturday, January 31
(User Info | Send a Message) | Ouch, you killed me when i did not see Luongo's name on there.
Ouch.......ouch..........ouch. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by nocuphere on Saturday, January 31
(User Info | Send a Message) | Thata boy Mats. Big points tonight!!!!!
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by LondonK on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | | So much for Nash. I love the guy, ever since Junior, man were those fun times, but Naslund has pretty much caught him and Nash has nobody to give him goals like Naslund does. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by wheresthesoda (Go Rangers@potvinsux.com) on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | i have a couple of disagreements.
first off, martin broduer. yes, thats right, i would like to see jose theodore get it. broduer has had a greta year, are you sure??
rookie scott clemenson, in his 1st game had a shutout. he said that playing with the devils is even easier than the AHL. he said the shots he faced for the devils, were easier to save than the shots in the AHL. all of the devils wins, and shutouts are all to the defense and the coaching.
and that is my 2nd disagreement. pat burns is doing everything right with the devils. just like everyone else has done with the devils. its not broduer its the coaching and defense.
my 3rd disagreement would be on the calder trophy. i think trent hunter has been given way to much credit. what do you expect, he has been playing on the 2nd line all year, 1st PP unit, what else can a rookie ask for??
i think it should be all Michael Ryder. this kid has had a great year with the habs, and the habs have had a great year, jose theodore for vezina, ryder for calder. habs for a cup run.
i think they have one of the most fundamental teams in the league. they have played great all except like 2 total weeks this season. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by gms711 (harry@hippy.net) on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | | do you even watch hockey, where is souray for the norris? These are horrible picks, the only one that may be true is the lady byng....doesn't seem that you put any thought into this at all |
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Alfreddson (Score: 1)
by movingfire on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | | I am not an Senators fans, but all I hear from everywhere is how Alfreddson predicted the Sens would win the Cup this year. If you would have read or seen the interview, you would see that he ALSO MENTIONED RIGHT AFTER THAT STATEMENT, "I hope we do it this year". He did not predict the Senators would win this year, but that they owuld win some year. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by TRaPT1307 on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | | I pretty much agree but I would think that Luongo would at least be mentioned for Vezina. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by Kashin on Saturday, January 31
(User Info | Send a Message) | Hart- Sundin His team is better then Brodeur's and he is a big part of it.
Norris- Pronger great year with no one with him. Schneider deserves a serious look also.
Calder- great mix of older rookies and younger rookies. It will come down to Hunter Bergeron and Raycroft.
Selke- Draper is a good choice but the other honorable mentions? I have to disagree with each of them.
Adams- I like Wilson, Suter, Trotz and Hartley. The first 3 should be there if their teams make the playoffs while Hartley might have to waith for the playoffs until next year.
Byng- Chris Simon of the rangers.
Come back player of the year- Dany Heatley. Cant argue with that one in all seriousness. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by hockeyhead6868 on Saturday, January 31
(User Info | Send a Message) | | No mention of Luongo |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by kidhenry1 on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | I agree with most of your picks. I would say that Adrian Aucoin is the Norris winner. His plus minus and point tallies reflect that. People will ***** and moan about Sheldon Souray being snubbed, but his defense doesn't match up to that of Aucoin or Blake.
Also, Rocket Richard will be Naslund and The Adams will be Wilson. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by NYRules on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | hart trophy- either Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, or Ilya Kovalchuk.
Right now i would have to go with Kovalchuk. What he has done with this team is amazing. As the season progresses from here on out i think it will be one of the other two though, since Kovalchuk wont feel so pressured to do good with Heatley back.
Calder- As much as i hate to say it, Trent Hunter. Ryder is a close second though. But watching Trent Hunter, he is a very complete player.
Vezina- Kiprusoff or Luongo. Just watch them play. Niether team has that great of defense either. I'm not saying brodeur isnt good, but with his D he never has to play good.
Rocket Richard award- Naslund |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by MantaRay on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) |
Some objections:
Norris: Pronger or Niedermayer over Blake any day.
Hart: Daniel Alfredsson (its time he gets the recognition he deserves)
Adams: Ron Wilson. Hartley has the tools to win in Atlanta, Wilson has built a winner with NOTHING.
Everything else is pretty good.
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by habs_punk on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | a lot of snubbing going on for the habs in your picks there
i can live with no consideration for the hart trophy, even though some argue that souray or theo deserve a look, but come on, no souray at all for norris? gonchar's plus/minus is the worst on a team where the only two players on the plus side are dwayne zinger, and ivan ciernik. sure hes got the points, but you gotta play defense to win the best defenseman award.
souray has more points than aucoin, foote, lidstrom, and niedermayer, more goals than all of the players you mentioned, a much better plus/minus than gonchar, and comparable plus/minus to half the others you named. impressive pim numbers as well :)
theodore has had a few bad games in a row here, but they have been by far the exception on what has been another amazing year from jose. hes numbers have been comparable, and at times better than his hart and vesina trophy winning season of two years ago.
and hartley for the adams?? lets see if they can make the playoffs before saying something like that. darryl sutter has done the best job by far! and how julien didnt merit an honorable mention along with guys like granato who has 6 allstar calibre forwards to work with, dave lewis who has merely had to decide whether to play cujo or hasek..... many teams would love to have to make that decision, ron wilson's sharks are playing well, but not at the level they can play at, pat quinn...... well hes just pat quinn, he'll never win coach of the year but anyways, julien has taken a team that was not supposed to be in the playoffs and turned them into a very solid, competitive hockey club, that could end up fighting for home ice in the playoffs.
comeback player? i have been saying souray all along, but looking at what heatley's gone through, i think it might have to go to dany |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by mattdude on Sunday, February 01
(User Info | Send a Message) | great article except one thing: Lady Byng Trophy.
whiny alfredsson is not sportsmanlike. He makes fun of sundin by pretending to throw his stick, he tries to knee sundin (saturday) and then one of his famous excuses, he tries to blame the game a domi. what a wussy. he shouldn't even be a honourable mention. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by mojo19 on Monday, February 02
(User Info | Send a Message) | | Sutter for Jack Adams: Calgary reminds me of Minnesota from last year in ways, such an underdog but they keep winning. Sutter is the man. |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by commonwealth (Cheesecakeforpuffy@dabandsuck.net) on Monday, February 02
(User Info | Send a Message) | Hart- Forsberg- He is the heart and soul of the Avs, they almost never lose when he starts, and he is the best player overall currently in the NHL
Kovalchuk- Young and extremely talented. He is the next big star in the NHL, and it would be good to see him take the MVP
Luongo/Brodeur- Both goalies have insured wins for their teams. I'd give it to Luongo simply because the Devils are a better team with a more experience defense.
Norris- Blake- He has stepped his play up to a level fans didn't know he had. He can score, pass, steal, and crush, he deserves it
Pronger- Despite injuries and a lack luster perfomance Pronger has kept the Blues alive. If he stays healthy, it may be his.
Vezina- Broduer- Simply because I feel he is the best overall goalie, playing on a good team.
Aebischer- Let's face it, no one thought this kid would take over for Roy so quickly. He has silenced critics, and plays solid while still having to hear the nay sayers.
Osgood- How can you not like his play? maybe alittle to inconsistent....
Selke- Draper- this is obvious
Nikolishin
Calder- Raycroft- He looks like a next level goalie, and you can just tell he will be one of the best.
Liles/Staal- Two good young defensemen with tons of talent
Coach: Bob Hartley- What a job he has done with Atlanta.
Quinn
Granato
Lady Byng- Martin St. Louis
Rocket Richard- Illya Kovalchuk
Nash
Hejduk |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by PeterPuck on Monday, February 02
(User Info | Send a Message) | I see that your are not even a habs fan or do you keep up on them..
Souray for Norris (he is leading all D man in pts)
Julien for Adams- who else has done a better job, everybody picked them to be like 10th 0r 11th.... |
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Re: Midseason NHL Awards (Score: 1)
by matrix2003 on Monday, February 02
(User Info | Send a Message) | | bang on! I have the same picks as you. Broduer is having an even greater season than last years where he placed 3rd in Hart voting and 2nd in first place votes. He had 311 points to 342 by Naslund, who had a much better season last year. Also, Broduer had 14 first place votes to 5 for Naslund. So if you think about that logically, you'll have figured out that Marty is better than Naslund this year, and seeing how Naslund is the top skater (Forward or Defenseman), you can clearly see Marty's tops amongst all players. It seems that no matter how bad their scoring gets, it doesn't seem to matter because he just steps up his game. Again very logically thought out picks. |
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