Kin
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Welcome to Glamorous Downtown TMLFans.ca in the historic General NHL News and Views Forum for the very 1st annual Nik's NHL awards where we recognize the players who should be recognized for their regular season success without forced and stilted banter between c-list celebrities or musical performances from a band no NHL fan in their right mind would want to listen to.
The Mats Sundin Award(Most Valuable Player where value is a constant and the quality of teammates has no bearing)
Winner: Claude Giroux
Reason: I tend to prefer all-around players when I decide on the MVP. I'll take the guy who was 3rd in league scoring, good on the draw and a significant contributor to his team's PK over guys who are more one-dimensional and slightly better scorers.
Runners-up: Stamkos, Malkin
The Nik Lidstrom Award for best defenseman where we don't pay any lipservice to the nonsense that a good stay-at-home defenseman is more valuable than a two-way guy or that big bodychecks equal good defense, Mr. Phaneuf
The Winner: Zdeno Chara
Reason: Boring pick I know and maybe coloured by how he played against the Leafs but still the most intimidating defensive presence in the league. Best +/- in the league among defensemen, 4th in scoring(while ranking 50th in PP TOI) and the captain of a team that had some significant obstacles this year
Runners-up: Weber, Pietrangelo
The Dominik Hasek Award for Best Goalie where anyone who mentions wins as a consideration gets a swift punch in the kidneys
The Winner: Jonathan Quick
Reason: This is a numbers pick for me. I think games played is an underrated stat when it comes to goalies playing at a high level which is why he edges out Lundqvist for me by just a bit. For all the talk of LA playing defensive hockey they ranked 11th in shots a game and LA had the fifth most times short handed in the league. Not a terribly impressive collection of defensemen either. That said, if someone more familiar with the western conference leaned Rinne over Quick I wouldn't argue much
Runners-up: Rinne, Lundqvist
The John Madden Award for best defensive forward who doesn't need to score 50 points to be recognized for his defense
The Winner: Boyd Gordon
The Reason: Phoenix was 5th in the league in goals against despite having Mike Smith in net and a collection of role players and nobodies around him. Phoenix had the 8th best PK in the league and Gordon got more SH time than anyone else on the team, including defensemen. He won 56.8% of his faceoffs and was a +9 despite only scoring 23 points.
Runners-up: Zach Parise, Tomas Plekanec
The Scotty Bowman Coach of the Year Award where the idea of "Coaching" isn't shorthand for the piling on of evidence that people making pre-season predictions have no idea what they're talking about
The Winner: Ken Hitchcock
The Reason: I've never thought coach of the year awards should be about coaches who outpaced pre-season predictions. I think coaching a team to significant regular season success is something that should be more often recognized. To take over a struggling team and take them within a couple points of the President's trophy strikes me as the most impressive coaching achievement of the year.
Runners-up: Dave Tippett, Kevin Dineen
The Sergei Makarov Young Player of the Year award where we don't care much about issues of first year eligibility or rules in general and we don't feel the need to honor mediocre rookies out of routine
The Winner: Tyler Seguin
The Reason: I don't think anyone played a more significant or important role while still having to get his teammates to buy his beer than Seguin being the leading scorer for the division winning Bruins.
Runners-up: RNH, Gabriel Landeskog
The Theodore Roosevelt Trophy for contributing to an NHL team while not racking up a lot of penalties
The Winner: Claude Giroux
The Reason: Same as above. MVP and only 29 penalty minutes. Much like the Lady Byng, this award doesn't get a ton of thought.
Runners-up: Marian Hossa, Patrice Bergeron
The Alex Mogilny Award for least boring NHL'er where no points are awarded for being loud and obnoxious, I'm looking in your direction Paul Bissonnette
The Winner: Ilya Bryzgalov
The Reason: He is fascinated by the universe, afraid of forest-dwelling bears. What more could be said?
Runners-up: Joffrey Lupul, Alex Mogilny(in perpetuity)
The Mats Sundin Award(Most Valuable Player where value is a constant and the quality of teammates has no bearing)
Winner: Claude Giroux
Reason: I tend to prefer all-around players when I decide on the MVP. I'll take the guy who was 3rd in league scoring, good on the draw and a significant contributor to his team's PK over guys who are more one-dimensional and slightly better scorers.
Runners-up: Stamkos, Malkin
The Nik Lidstrom Award for best defenseman where we don't pay any lipservice to the nonsense that a good stay-at-home defenseman is more valuable than a two-way guy or that big bodychecks equal good defense, Mr. Phaneuf
The Winner: Zdeno Chara
Reason: Boring pick I know and maybe coloured by how he played against the Leafs but still the most intimidating defensive presence in the league. Best +/- in the league among defensemen, 4th in scoring(while ranking 50th in PP TOI) and the captain of a team that had some significant obstacles this year
Runners-up: Weber, Pietrangelo
The Dominik Hasek Award for Best Goalie where anyone who mentions wins as a consideration gets a swift punch in the kidneys
The Winner: Jonathan Quick
Reason: This is a numbers pick for me. I think games played is an underrated stat when it comes to goalies playing at a high level which is why he edges out Lundqvist for me by just a bit. For all the talk of LA playing defensive hockey they ranked 11th in shots a game and LA had the fifth most times short handed in the league. Not a terribly impressive collection of defensemen either. That said, if someone more familiar with the western conference leaned Rinne over Quick I wouldn't argue much
Runners-up: Rinne, Lundqvist
The John Madden Award for best defensive forward who doesn't need to score 50 points to be recognized for his defense
The Winner: Boyd Gordon
The Reason: Phoenix was 5th in the league in goals against despite having Mike Smith in net and a collection of role players and nobodies around him. Phoenix had the 8th best PK in the league and Gordon got more SH time than anyone else on the team, including defensemen. He won 56.8% of his faceoffs and was a +9 despite only scoring 23 points.
Runners-up: Zach Parise, Tomas Plekanec
The Scotty Bowman Coach of the Year Award where the idea of "Coaching" isn't shorthand for the piling on of evidence that people making pre-season predictions have no idea what they're talking about
The Winner: Ken Hitchcock
The Reason: I've never thought coach of the year awards should be about coaches who outpaced pre-season predictions. I think coaching a team to significant regular season success is something that should be more often recognized. To take over a struggling team and take them within a couple points of the President's trophy strikes me as the most impressive coaching achievement of the year.
Runners-up: Dave Tippett, Kevin Dineen
The Sergei Makarov Young Player of the Year award where we don't care much about issues of first year eligibility or rules in general and we don't feel the need to honor mediocre rookies out of routine
The Winner: Tyler Seguin
The Reason: I don't think anyone played a more significant or important role while still having to get his teammates to buy his beer than Seguin being the leading scorer for the division winning Bruins.
Runners-up: RNH, Gabriel Landeskog
The Theodore Roosevelt Trophy for contributing to an NHL team while not racking up a lot of penalties
The Winner: Claude Giroux
The Reason: Same as above. MVP and only 29 penalty minutes. Much like the Lady Byng, this award doesn't get a ton of thought.
Runners-up: Marian Hossa, Patrice Bergeron
The Alex Mogilny Award for least boring NHL'er where no points are awarded for being loud and obnoxious, I'm looking in your direction Paul Bissonnette
The Winner: Ilya Bryzgalov
The Reason: He is fascinated by the universe, afraid of forest-dwelling bears. What more could be said?
Runners-up: Joffrey Lupul, Alex Mogilny(in perpetuity)
