2011 Hart Trophy Finalists

This is the last award I usually look at, which would have some merit with points in the year, since in the hockey pool, the most points wins and you want the best players to do that. Remarkably, the top three scorers in the league are the Hart Trophy finalists, so maybe there is some merit here.  Now, I wonder how many of the voting members took into consideration that the Hart Trophy is voted as the most valuable player to his team... hmmm!

Leading the NHL in scoring is a wonderful achievement, highlighted by the Art Ross Trophy, but Daniel Sedin also finds himself in the running for the Hart Trophy after a season with 104 points in all 82 games with the Canucks.  Daniel had a very consistent regular season, which helped accumulate all the points he did and help the Canucks to the best record as well.  The best player helping the best team is a mighty fine argument.

Speaking to the consistency argument, there was plenty of it in Martin St. Louis' game in 2011, which got him to the runner-up position in the Art Ross race.  St. Louis was helping a teammate in the Rocket Richard race all season long, but when said teammate fell off in the race, St. Louis was still putting up points to help his Lightning team make a dent in the Eastern Conference standings.  I think in a lot of cases, St. Louis has a good shot at the Hart on Wednesday night.

We can't have the Art Ross winner without the Rocket Richard winner, can we?  As the only 50-goal scorer in the NHL in 2011, Corey Perry did his part to help the Ducks rocket into the Western Conference playoff picture with one hell of a second half.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure an excellent second half of the season will get him a lot of 1st place votes, but it certainly earned him enough good votes to make it in as a finalist.

The argument running in my head is a dead heat between Sedin and St. Louis and if I was to vote based on the premise of most valuable to his team, I would give the award to St. Louis.  I think he was way more valuable to the Lightning's wins than Sedin was to the Canucks' victories, but prognosticating who would win based on the voters, I would say Sedin likely has the edge of 1st place votes, which should put him over the top.

2011 Vezina Trophy Finalists

Looking at pool points to measure the goaltending is a far easier task in these posts, because I think there is some merit to the wins, shutouts and assists that are taken into the calculations, although it doesn't exactly give the overall value that these goalies have for their teams, nor is it an exact science.  The top two goaltenders in pool points do not appear on this list, which is arguably kind of skewed away from my thinking, but what can you do?

Much like his teammate up for the Norris Trophy, Tim Thomas had a season that was absolutely incredible and should be looked upon as a dazzling performance, especially with setting the record for best save percentage in a single NHL season.  Thomas finished the year with 35 wins, 9 shutouts and 3 assists for 91 points in the pool, ranking him 3rd overall among keepers.  For every 60 minutes that Thomas played in 2011, he earned 1.62 pool points, which was tops among the finalists.

Tied for the NHL-lead in wins in 2011, Roberto Luongo had a pretty good season backstopping the Canucks to a President's Trophy for best record overall.  Luongo finished the year with 38 wins, 4 shutouts and 3 assists, giving him 87 pool points, 4th among goalies, and a respectable nod for the trophy.  The real argument against Luongo is about the quality of the team in front of him, but that obviously didn't hold back many votes to get him as a finalist.

Finally, in Nashville, it was a banner season for Pekka Rinne, who deservedly gets a nod for the Vezina, a lot more for his ability than his overall record on a tight-checking, not-always-winning team.  Rinne had some dazzling statistics in the year, but his team may have let him down a number of occasions, possibly restricting his numbers.  Rinne finished the year with 33 wins and 6 shutouts for 78 points, good enough for 14th among goalies in pool points.

This one should be a tap-in for birdie for Thomas.  The save percentage record should almost be a shoe-in, especially for the erratic style of his game that he plays.  He had an excellent record, a fair bit of help and a division title, I can't see Thomas not walking away with this trophy as well this year.

2011 Norris Trophy Finalists

I'm a big fan of the idea for an award for the most offensive blueliner, which would probably make for a more justified mention for some great defensemen in the NHL, especially for us poolies that like our points. I'm going to measure the Norris Trophy finalists by their points, but that shouldn't really be taken into account for voting purposes. Defensemen have to take care of their own end, as much or if not more, than helping out the offense.

Leading the way in points for the three finalists, Nicklas Lidstrom of the Red Wings.  Lidstrom may not have had the defensive numbers that you may look for in a defenseman, but he was a rock on the blueline, yet again, for Detroit, which makes him an easy finalist for the trophy.  Lidstrom finished 2nd in points among blueliners with 62 in all 82 games and Detroit is thanking their lucky stars that he will return for the 2012 season.

It may have taken a while, but it looks like Shea Weber is finally getting the recognition he deserves as one of the elite defensemen in the NHL. Weber is a punishing defenseman, both offensively and defensively, providing ample support to the Predators goaltending, which was also very good, likely walking hand-in-hand. Weber was 10th among defensemen in scoring, picking up 48 points in all 82 games and should continue to be a valuable member of the Nashville organization for years to come.

If the voting was to have taken place after the playoffs, it would be hard not to say that Zdeno Chara would be in prime contention for his second Norris Trophy, but even if you were to take out the playoffs, Chara had an excellent year with the Bruins.  Chara had the best plus/minus of the three finalists and finished 19th in scoring among blueliners with 44 points in 81 games.  The Bruins were a solid unit through the 2011 season and Chara helped lead the way, mostly by example.

With three solid candidates to choose from, it's kind of surprising to me how easy it is to pick Chara over the other two.  The all-around presence of the big man is undeniable and very easy to put into perspective, when looking at a lot of the other top defensemen in the league.  He punishes the opposition at almost every point on the ice and he gives his team a great chance to win every night.

2011 Calder Trophy Finalists

It's that time again.  The NHL is beginning to hammer out the finalists for their annual awards and I do like to pick up on the ones that involve the players and have a look at them.  The first one up is the Calder Trophy for the Rookie of the Year and it's a great batch of kids this season, all of which are pretty deserving of the nod.

First up is Jeff Skinner of the Hurricanes... he's the only teenager of the final three.  A draft pick last Summer, going 7th overall in the 1st round, he meshed so well with the Hurricanes and took to the professional game like it was really meant to be.  Skinner finished 54th in pool scoring this year, scoring 31 goals and 32 assists in all 82 games for the Hurricanes, leading them almost into the playoffs.  For a number of stretches during the year, he was one of the only players really making a push for the team, which kept their heads above water for so long.

The second finalist hails from the only playoff team of the three, Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks.  Couture has been floating around the Sharks organization for a few years now, but has always kept his rookie status by not playing in enough games in call ups.  The 9th overall pick in 2007, now 22 years old, scored 32 goals and 24 assists in 79 games in San Jose, ranking him 88th in pool scoring this year.  The kid also had good stretches with the Sharks, which eventually did lead them into the playoffs.  He'll be a decent pool pick for years to come.

Finally from Long Island, Michael Grabner dazzled the East Coast with his blinding speed and some exceptional scoring skills.  Grabner scored 34 goals and 18 assists in 76 games with the Islanders, this coming after being a waiver claim from Florida, just after training camp.  Grabner finished the year 105th in pool scoring and has likely found a new long-term home with the Islanders.  Another highlight of his year was winning the Fastest Skater competition at the All-Star Game festivities and without a doubt, he should be considered one of the fastest guys in the league.

If I had a vote for this trophy, I would likely would have given my 1st place vote to Grabner, since he did some amazing things on a team that likely would have been in last place overall, if it wasn't for his offensive exploits.  Since I don't have a vote, I will wager that Skinner takes the award, as he was consistently impressive throughout the year.

2010 Hart Trophy Candidates

Well, the last major trophy to announce nominations for is the league MVP, the Hart Trophy, where players are picked because of their relative value to their team.  Usually, the debate centres around who the best player actually was, by citing scoring titles or certain records, but being most valuable to one's team  can sometimes be a little bit more than that, although the nominations may suggest a little differently.  Here are the three names chosen by the voters for the title as MVP.


It should come as no shock that Henrik Sedin got a nod for the Hart Trophy this year, as he did lead the league in scoring this year.  It's not only that he led the league in points, it is the effect on the Canucks that he had as well, especially with his brother Daniel, who they are known to play so well together and have more of an effect as a tandem, being injured and Henrik having to shoulder the load.  Not only did he shoulder the load, but played exceptionally well in his absence.  For those reasons, it is a solid nod.

The second nod goes to Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who ended up in a tie for the league lead in goal scoring this year with Steven Stamkos of the Lightning.  Crosby really took it upon himself to shoot the puck more, which lead to his 51 goals this season and he had to take on a bit more of the scoring role to lead the team, as he wasn't complimented as much by last year's scoring champion, Evgeni Malkin.  Crosby is the undisputed leader of the Penguins and this is his recognition for it.


The last nomination for the Hart Trophy went to Alexander Ovechkin, who went about his work, scoring 50 goals and leading the Capitals to the President's Trophy for the best record in the NHL.  Ovehckin was one of the more dominant scorers in the league, having the best points-per-game average among all skaters this year with 1.51 points per.  Ovechkin's 50 goals was third in the league in that category and was tied for second in points with 109.  He definitley was a key component to the Capitals success in the regular season.

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2010 Norris Trophy Candidates

There is a great deal of excellence when it comes to young NHL blueliners these days and the Norris Trophy candidates are an adequate gauge of that talent.  All three nominees are under the age of 26 and are now leading their teams by example from the goal line of their own zone, generally to the hash makrs of the offensive zone.  You can see a lot in common with these players; great vision, smooth skating and very responsible are the three things that come up when talking about these guys.  You should be able to make a reasonable case for each one of these and none should come as a surprise if their name is called at the ceremony.

Starting with the league's defenseman scoring leader, Mike Green had another good season and he was rewarded with a second consecutive Norris Trophy nomination.  Green finished the season with 19 goals and 57 assists in 75 games in Washington, all scoring numbers led the league among defensemen.  Green was also second among defensemen in the plus/minus category with a +39 rating, scoring 10 PPG and logging 25 minutes of ice-time per game.  With those sorts of numbers, he should have a few people taking another (even a third) look at him when casting their vote.

The Blackhawks have themselves a real franchise defenseman in Duncan Keith and he deservedly gets a Norris Trophy nod, based not only on his scoring, but his defensive presence on the ice (not to mention the look of him in any line-up on paper).  Keith finished second among all defensemen in scoring with 69 points (14 goals & 55 assists) in all 82 games for the Blackhawks, ranked second among defensemen in average ice-time per game with 26:35, had a +21 rating and was tops among nominees in takeaways with 44.

There is no denying that Los Angeles Kings sophomore Drew Doughty has talent.  The kid has oodles of talent and has no problem showing it off in front of his California fans.  Doughty finished 3rd among defensemen in scoring this season with 59 points (16 goals and 43 assists) in 82 games and was 11th among defensemen in plus/minus with a +20 rating.  The bigges pluses for Doughty this season is that he did all of this on an up-and-coming team like the Kings and this is his second season in the NHL, where a lot of players tend to struggle.  This nomination is really a projection of how good he is yet to become in the league.

The Norris Trophy should be going to the best all-around defenseman in the league, which to me, would give my vote to Duncan Keith.  Green is very offensive on a very offensive team, which kind of skews the numbers a bit, in my opinion, while Doughty is still very young and hasn't developed into the most dominating defenseman of the bunch, but that isn't to say he isn't close.  Keith does it all for the Blackhawks and I think his time has come, stealing another trophy away from Green and his monster numbers.

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2010 Calder Trophy Candidates

This is easily my favourite trophy of the year and I think I say that every... single... year. Yes, the Calder Trophy nominations are out for the 2010 season and it was a very good crop of young players, which surprisingly, I really didn't get a chance to get in the Draft with a rookie, which I usually try to do. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good crop this year and the nominees are definitely worthy of the nod, so let's see who picked their socks up in their first season in the NHL, shall we?

Well, since we're listing players by pool points this year, like every year, we have to start with Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings, who picked himself up the starting role for the veteran club, which is a pretty nice way to join the league. Howard ended up winning 37 games, 3 by shutout and added 2 assists for 82 points in the pool this year... ranking him 24th in pool scoring. I would have to believe that playing goal for the Red Wings is quite the privilege and getting a team like that to earn your trust is quite an achievement. Howard really took off in the back half of the season, when the Red Wings had to come back from outside of the playoff picture and finish 5th in the conference. Very well done.

The 2nd overall pick in the 2009 Entry Draft was thought to be NHL-ready and Matt Duchene did well to prove everyone right. Not only did Duchene prove that he was NHL-ready, he helped lead a rebuilding team to a very good season, even leading the Northwest Division for a long period of time, and into the playoffs in 8th spot in the West. Duchene finished the season with 24 goals and 31 assists in 81 games for the Avalanche, ranking him 94th in pool scoring, which is only looking upwards from here. Duchene is very worthy of this nomination and will likely get a good share of the votes after the fact.

Finally, it was a huge season for the Buffalo Sabres huge defenseman, Tyler Myers. Myers stepped onto the team from playing Juniors in Kelowna and made an immediate impact with the team. Myers led all rookies in total ice-time, playing in over 1,900 minutes all season and in all situations for the Sabres, averaging over 23 minutes per game in all 82 games. Myers also finished with 11 goals and 37 assists in those same 82 games, ranking him 141st in pool scoring, 11th among all defensemen. All this being said, he became the number one defenseman for a division-winning club, which has earned him plenty of supporters in this race.

Well, I've been saying this for ages and my pick is Tyler Myers for this award. All of his merits are quite remarkable and he's one of those rookies that has such potential going forward, that it has a lot of hockey fans in awe. Myers wins hands down.

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2010 Selke Trophy Candidates

There isn't a lot of merit in the my hockey pools for the Selke Trophy nominations, but I thought I would just throw them on here anyways. The top defensive forwards do a lot of good for a team and I generally find that if you were going into one of those deeper statistical pools, you might want to know who the top plus/minus players are or the ones with the most shorthanded goals, but not for me... it's straight scoring. So, for the purposes of this post, I will just sort them by their pool points and give a prediction of the winner afterwards... how about that? I did post a prediction on Twitter an hour before the noms, I'm curious to see how I did there as well.

It's back-to-back nominations for Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks, falling short of the trophy last year in his first career nomination. He led the three nominated players in points this season, picking up 25 goals and 50 assists in all 82 games for the Canucks in 2010. In the faceo-off circle, he finished 10th in faceoffs taken in the league, winning 55.1% of those draws. Kesler was also a +1 in the season and scored one shorthanded goal as well. His praise comes from the defensive situations he plays in, moreso from his overall numbers this season.

A Selke staple, Pavel Datsyuk is looking for his 3rd-stratight trophy this season, thanks to a more defensive season from the Russian superstar. Datsyuk led the league in takeaways with 132 in 80 games this season, which was far and away the best in the league. Datsyuk finished tied for 21st in plus/minus with a +17 rating, while picking up 27 goals and 43 assists. It was a pretty solid season, but he really did shine as the Red Wings came back from the dregs of the West to finish 5th in the standings and make the post-season yet again.

Quietly, Jordan Staal went about his business playing behind both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin all season... and boy, did he ever shine defensively. Staal finished with a +19 rating, mostly from the 3rd line, took over 1,300 faceoffs (top 30), scored a pair of shorthanded goals and played upwards of 24 minutes some nights. As for scoring, Staal may not have had the flashiest seasons overall, scoring 21 goals and 28 assists in all 82 games, but he does have a lot of value when it comes to a 3rd line centre playing behind some of the more offensive players in the league.

Surprisingly, Staal was the only player I had right in my Twitter prediction. I thought Alex Burrows would be the Canucks player that would be representing for the Selke, as he led the league in shorthanded goals and had a decent plus/minus rating, while Jonathan Toews had a much more rounded defensive game, according to the numbers, than Datsyuk. I suppose the writers were playing some favourites, moreso than actually measuring, but what can you do?

If I was to render a guess as to who wins, I think the majority of the vote will end up in Datsyuk's lap again.

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2010 Vezina Trophy Candidates

Well, this week is award nomination week in the NHL, but the awards ceremony isn't for sometime yet. We're only a week out of the end of the regular season, but they are getting all of these out of the way, so we have something else to talk about besides the inconsistent officiating in the playoffs. This year, we have three different nominees from the 2009 list, but they are not all new names to the Vezina Trophy game.

Sorting from the pool points list, our first candidate was the top goalie in the hockey pools this year, Martin Brodeur, who finished up with 111 points, thanks to a 45-25-6 record, with 9 shutouts and 3 assists. Brodeur also finished the season with a very respectable 2.24 GAA and .916 save percentage in the year, but I think we have to merit his nomination strictly on his wins and shutouts, because there were a few goalies with better statistics otherwise.

Finishing 10 points behind Brodeur in the hockey pool scoring, Ilya Bryzgalov is our second nominated goaltender. He finished off with a 42-20-6 record with 8 shutouts and 1 assist for 101 points this season. That also put him 6th in pool scoring, leading the Coyotes to their first playoff berth in quite some time. He polished off his stats with a 2.20 GAA and a .920 save percentage, which is a touch better than our earlier nominated goalie, but played on a more offensively open team, which makes the stats a little more impressive.

Finally, it is Ryan Miller of the Sabres who rounded out our Vezina Trophy candidates and he finished the year with 92 points in the hockey pool this year, ranking him 5th among all goalies and 11th in pool scoring. He compiled a 41-18-8 record, with 5 shutouts and no assists, which isn't anything to shake a stick at. A 2.22 GAA and .929 save percentage are very respectable numbers, especially his save percentage. Having the least amount of losses and a high save percentage looks awfully good and possibly hard to beat.

I think if you polled most people and pundits, you would find that Miller should be the favourite for the award, which would make for back-to-back years that the lowest pool ranking goalie wins the award. If we were going by pool merits, obviously, it would be Brodeur that would earn the nod this year, but his more-individual numbers do pale in comparison to the other two.

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2009 Hart Trophy Candidates

The Hart Trophy has got to be one of the more controversial trophies that is awarded, as there is a rift between having it as the league's most valuable player, rather it's literal explanation of the player being most valuable to his team. The nominees always seem to be the league MVP, which always causes a stir, but you never find out why the writers vote the way that they do. You would have to think that a lot of them vote one way rather than the other. Boggles my mind.

For the list of nominees, it'll go by the favourite sorting method of pool points. This doesn't mean this is the way I prioritize the nominees at all.

The pool MVP this season, Evgeni Malkin, finished the year with 113 points, leading all scorers and pool players. He got another nod for the Hart Trophy this year for his efforts, but the real mark of the Hart Trophy would be how valuable he was to the Penguins. So, to figure out how much more valuable points-wise he was to his next teammate, we'll do some simple math with pool points. Second on the Penguins in pool points was Sidney Crosby, who finished with 103 points... which leaves a difference of 10 points. Let's see how this compares with the other two nominees.

Second on the list of pool points on the nominee list is Alex Ovechkin, who finished with 110 points. Ovechkin is the current Hart Trophy holder, where he beat Malkin in votes last year as well. His next-in-line teammate in Washington in 2009 was Nicklas Backstrom, who finished with 88 points. That leaves a difference of 22 points, which is 12 points greater than the Pittsburgh duo, thus possibly making Ovechkin more valuable? There is still one more to look at.

The third nominee comes from Detroit, Pavel Datsyuk. He finished fifth in pool scoring with 97 points and he also earned a Selke Trophy nod for being the best defensive forward in the league as well. A very impressive resume, but let's also see what his difference was this season. Second in Detroit in pool points was Henrik Zetterberg, who finished with 73 points. A difference of 24 points in 2009, which is the biggest of the three nominees and he has defensive honours as well. This almost looks too academic.

2009 Vezina Trophy Candidates

Well, I did skip a trophy, mostly because it doesn't have any real relative meaning to the fantasy numbers (the Lady Byng), so I won't really apologize for that. It's an okay trophy, but it just doesn't have the same factor of comparison that the other trophies have. Nevertheless, another one of my favourite trophies had their nominees announced today, the Vezina Trophy, for best goaltender. Again, I will order the goalies by the amount of points they earned in the pool last year.

Leading the list of goalies on the Vezina Trophy list is Niklas Backstrom of the Wild. Amazingly, Backstrom finished fourth in goaltender points in the pool, with 37 wins and 8 shutouts for 90 points, which makes him a great fantasy goalie going forward. His overall ranking was 11th in the pool, which makes him a very high first round pick in a Draft next season. It's fair to say that I would be looking at him that way myself.

The fifth-ranked goalie in the pool and top rookie, Steve Mason, finished the seeason with 33 wins and 10 shutouts for 86 points, granted he was taken in the first Waiver Draft, so not all of those points were collected this season. Leading the league in shutouts, as a rookie, seems to be the basis for his nomination, which no one can really dispute right now. Mason finished 16th in overall pool standings, which also has him in the first round of the Draft.

Finally, ranked eighth among goalies for pool points is Tim Thomas, the Bruins number one goalie. Thomas had a breakout year for the Bruins and helped lead the team to the top of the Eastern Conference and now has a second round birth in the playoffs. Thomas finished the regular season with 83 points (36 wins, 5 shutouts and 1 assist), which also ranked him 20th among all pool players in 2009. His abilities should give him more than enough votes to win this time around.

2009 Norris Trophy Candidates

Day 2 of the Award Nominees... the Norris Trophy for Best Defenseman. I am actually quite fond of the idea that there should be two defenseman awards, one for the best defensive and one for the best offensive. I will side with the arguments that the determination of the best defender is very vague. Since we all try to determine who the best overall defenseman is, the value on either side of the puck is different from person to person. For this year's nominee's, I'm gonna list them by points... it's just easier that way.

Leading the way for defenders in scoring this season was Mike Green of the Capitals. Green finished the season with 31 goals and 42 assists in 68 games for the Capitals, finishing over a point-per-game. That's quite the remarkable stat for a defenseman. Green may have some flaws when it comes to his defensive game, but he did finish with a very respectable +24 rating and a shorthanded goal.

What a surprise! Nicklas Lidstrom returns to the Norris Trophy voting again this year. Lidstrom finished third among defensemen scorers, picking up 16 goals and 43 assists in 78 games this season. Lidstrom also finished with the third highest +/- among defenders with a +31 rating in the league. That could be considered to be very good in the all-around sense.

Finally, it's the usual bridesmaid looking for some redemption this year. Zdeno Chara finished 11th among defensive scorers with 50 points in 80 games and finished tied for seventh in +/- with a +23 rating. Of the three nominees, Chara does spend more time on the ice for his team, averaging just over 26 minutes on the ice. He is also far and away the most active hitter of the three, registering 169 hits in 2009.

2009 Calder Trophy Candidates

Well, it's that time again... NHL award candidates are being announced. Wednesday starts the daily parade of award announcements with the Calder Trophy for the best rookie. This is still probably my favourite of the awards, it's a good celebration of the up-and-coming youth movement in the league. For fantasy players, it's also a good award to watch for keeper drafts, especially if you picked them early.

The best fantasy rookie this year, which makes him my leading candidate, not to mention everyone else's in the league, is Steve Mason of the Blue Jackets. With 33 wins and an NHL-best 10 shutouts, Mason finished with 86 pool points, ranking him 16th among all players. That's more than enough to make him a first round draft pick next season, even if I have 17 people again.

The Ducks had their own super-rookie this season, Bobby Ryan, who likely was having fears of not playing this year at all, thanks to the Ducks' poor cap management in the off-season. Ryan finished the year with 57 points in 64 games for the Ducks, whichis a pretty good click to be scoring at. He finished 97th in pool rankings and he could have been quite a bit higher, if he played the whole year.

Kris Versteeg jumped out to a huge start in the year for Chicago, which got him picked in the first round of the first Waiver Draft of the year. Versteeg started the year with 20 points in 22 games, which was good and finished the season with 53 points in 78 games. That's a pretty reasonable season, when it's all said and done. That ranked him pretty well for next year, 117th in pool rankings. Someone to definitely keep an eye out for.