The NHL wrapped up two weeks of naming awards finalists, one by one, revealing its three nominees for the Hart Trophy Thursday afternoon in Henrik Sedin, Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. Since all of the finalists are out there, I thought it might be a good time to post who I voted for at the end of the regular season.
There are roughly 150 members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, and we all vote for five of the major awards: the Hart, the Norris, the Calder, the Lady Byng and the Selke. (The league's general managers vote on the Vezina and the broadcasters give out the Jack Adams.)
Writers also select the NHL all-star and all-rookie teams, so I've tacked mine on at the bottom.
Here's a quick runthrough of my ballot, as it was submitted, with some brief reasoning on my choices:
(1) NHL Trophies
HART TROPHY ("to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team") -- Five selections.
1. Henrik Sedin, Vancouver
2. Ryan Miller, Buffalo
3. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh
4. Alex Ovechkin, Washington
5. Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix
The finalists, as noted above, are Sedin, Crosby and Ovechkin, which I can certainly live with. The MVP choice this year was one of the closest calls we've seen in the NHL in a long time, and I imagine the voting will reflect that.
The fact that Sedin put up 112 points in what was a much stronger conference this season was why I put him first overall. Miller was a close second in my mind, but missed out on being a finalist due to the fact some voters feel goaltenders shouldn't win the Hart. (He's already a slam dunk for the Vezina.)
I had both Miller and Bryzgalov in the top five so that wasn't an issue on my end.
NORRIS TROPHY ("to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position") -- Five selections.
1. Duncan Keith, Chicago
2. Nick Lidstrom, Detroit
3. Drew Doughty, Los Angeles
4. Mike Green, Washington
5. Zdeno Chara, Boston
An even more difficult choice than the Hart.
What made the Norris so hard to vote on this year was the fact you have a player like Mike Green who leads in many of the traditional stat categories (most goals, assists, points and second in plus-minus among defencemen) but is a flawed player in several ways. Some voters left him off their ballots altogether, others had him at No. 1.
My criteria for the Norris isn't so much about point production as it is about playing big minutes, facing the opponents' top lines and excelling in key situations on the power play and penalty kill. Keith would have been an easy choice by the Olympic break, but he had a really tough March and came back to the pack a little. Even so, I thought his terrific first five months was enough.
Lidstrom, meanwhile, wasn't a nominee, but should have been in my mind. He may be 40 years old, but he's still the guy carrying the load for the Red Wings, and he had another terrific season. Doughty's a player who'll win his fair share of these things down the line.
Green, well, he does some things exceptionally well and had another terrific regular season. You don't play 26 minutes a night on the best team in the league and finish plus-39 without being a good player, but his performance in the postseason may mean he never gets serious consideration for this award ever again.
I don't know who will win it this year, but I expect it to be another close vote.
CALDER TROPHY ("to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition") -- Five selections.
1. Tyler Myers, Buffalo
2. Jim Howard, Detroit
3. Tuukka Rask, Boston
4. Matt Duchene, Colorado
5. John Tavares, NY Islanders
Myers will likely win here, and with good reason: The 6-foot-8 blueliner had one of the best rookie seasons we've seen from a defenceman in a long, long time, playing a huge role when little was expected in his first season. He had 48 points, only seven shy of Duchene for the rookie scoring lead, was a plus player in big minutes for the Sabres and was a big reason his team had such a great season. He'll have quite a career.
