The NHL Awards and All-Star and All-Rookie Teams have been announced, and the Carolina Hurricanes are the Stanley Cup champions thanks to Jordan Staal’s Conn Smythe play. We’ve got no control over who wins the Cup, but we do have a say in the NHL Awards and I wanted to share what my ballot was for everything.
It’s an extreme privilege to be able to vote on the awards I am thankful for being included as one of the Professional Hockey Writers Association members to do so. Anyway, less blather, more of my ballot and my thoughts on why I voted the way I did.
HART TROPHY
Winner: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
My Ballot:
1. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Nathan Mackinnon, Colorado Avalanche
3. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
4. David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
5. Cole Caufield, Montreal Canadiens
Here is how the voting went:
It turned out my top three was just about everyone else’s top three although apparently, I was a rare case for having McDavid third.
All season I felt this race was between Kucherov and MacKinnon because both were absolute monsters for their teams. McDavid is in that kind of Barry Bonds place in his career where he can legitimately win it every year without argument because he’s so consistently great and generally better than everyone else in the league. Sometimes elite players step up and drown him out and I felt like it was that way this season. It’s understandable that the argument for McDavid would be “imagine where the Oilers would’ve been without him,” and, yeah, heard, but in the end, what Kucherov accomplished this season was incredible and while it’s easy enough to pooh-pooh where the Lightning finished in the Atlantic Division (second behind Buffalo and equal in points with Montréal), they had the fifth best record in the league.
My ballot after the top three was very in flux. If the San Jose Sharks made the playoffs, Macklin Celebrini was going to be on it. Maybe he still should’ve been on it, but the field was absolutely packed with great choices and perhaps my “Eastern Bias” came out to play by picking David Pastrňák and Cole Caufield to round out my top five. On Pastrňák, he had 100 points and was 32 points better than his next best teammate Morgan Geekie. Although that’s not as wide a spread as Celebrini (115) had with Will Smith (59) in San Jose, that Pastrňák had a similar situation on a much better team spoke volumes.
Caufield got my fifth-place vote based on his overall offensive performance (51 goals, 88 points) as well as leading the league in game-winning goals. That statistic is admittedly a bit specious given how GWGs are credited, but it was impossible to ignore the impact he had on the Canadiens in leading them to a 106-point season. In hindsight, and after getting a much closer view of his game in the postseason, I should’ve gone with Nick Suzuki here instead of Caufield, but the offense and “clutch” goals won me over in the moment of filling out my ballot. Going with Celebrini here also would’ve been perfectly fine, but I felt like top players on top teams should get more benefit of the doubt and yet. Still, seeing how close the voting turned out between Kucherov and McDavid was staggering to see and realizing after the fact how my top three played a part in that in some way is a bit unnerving.
NORRIS TROPHY
Winner: Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets
My ballot:
1. Quinn Hughes, Minnesota Wild
2. Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
3. Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres
4. Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings
Here’s how the voting went:
This was the award I was least looking forward to casting a ballot for because my god look at the field of worthy candidates. Parsing out who was the best among all of these elite blue liners was incredibly difficult and sorting through points, defensive metrics, eyewitness viewings of everyone both in person and on video made it much more frustrating to decide who was best.
As one of the five voters who selected Quinn Hughes as their No. 1 pick there’s also some pressure to explain that given how much of a runaway winner Zach Werenski was. Honestly, a lot of my thought on selecting Hughes goes to how he impacted the Wild and also how much heavy lifting he was doing in Vancouver before the trade. The way he transformed how Minnesota attacked the game and the massive injection of pace he gave them stuck out in my mind. He was so difficult for teams to contain, and he played such a massive chunk of minutes for them that it was difficult to ignore. Certainly, how he played when he was in Buffalo left an impact on my opinion as he was brilliant with a goal and an assist in a 5-4 overtime win in January. The goal was the game-tying goal late in the third period, to boot. While that was one game, he was doing that for Minnesota all season long. Sensational season and an incredible player.
Makar has become the “automatic” vote in some respects so long as he’s played more than half of the season. He’s so good, so fast and so game-changing with how he plays, it’s impossible not to consider him for the ballot, if not voting him first. That he had 20 goals and 79 points on the league’s best team and he’s won the Norris before carries a lot of weight, too. Makar also has that “takeover effect” the way Hughes does, the way Dahlin does, the way Erik Karlsson used to. That kind of impact speaks volumes, especially for this award.
Dahlin’s time to win the Norris is coming and every year the case is made stronger. He probably should’ve gotten more Hart Trophy consideration from yours truly, but that field was jammed as well. For an all-around impact player, Dahlin has all the tools. He didn’t have all the points needed to really snatch headlines for the awards, but his impact on play was beyond apparent last season and even more so this season in leading Buffalo to the playoffs.
I had Werenski fourth and it wasn’t even a case where I didn’t think highly of his season, I absolutely did. Perhaps his placement on my ballot changes if Columbus made the playoffs? Not that it mattered, he won the Norris handily as others clearly had him ranked higher than I did. Norris is an award I am surprised to see so many voters had it in lockstep the way it turned out. Maybe I need to talk to more writers throughout the year about who they’re looking at or maybe my ballot being a bit “stranger” because of it is fine. It’s not as if there is right or wrong on these matters unless there’s a very clear absolute No. 1 player that you go rogue voting against.
I opted for Seider fifth because I felt like the steps he made this season launched him into the elite category. Doing so meant leaving Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard off my ballot as the trade off and I’m comfortable with that. Seider’s all-around game is outstanding and while Bouchard is an offensive dynamo and power play superstar, I wasn’t captivated by his actual defensive play in comparison to Seider. Bouchard did make it to my All-Star ballot as my No. 6, however, so I’m not just throwing flowers despite not having on my Norris ballot. Seider likely reaps a lot more benefits if Detroit made the playoffs but them falling apart at the end of the season (again) no doubt hurt his case.
CALDER TROPHY
Winner: Matthew Schaefer, New York Islanders
My ballot:
1. Matthew Schaefer, New York Islanders
2. Beckett Sennecke, Anaheim Ducks
3. Ivan Demidov, Montreal Canadiens
4. Jesper Wallstedt, Minnesota Wild
5. Jakub Dobes, Montreal Canadiens
How the voting went:
Imagine not voting Matthew Schaefer No. 1? He was brilliant for the Islanders this season and despite being 18 played elite hockey on the blue line. Truly a wonder and it’s wonderful to see someone so down to earth and outright likable become a star immediately. That he was the unanimous choice for the Calder speaks to all of that. Lots of times when filling out a ballot you have a name written in pencil and work from there. Schaefer was in ink at No. 1 from the get-go.
The rest of my ballot was pretty much set as well but it was a matter of deciding who went where in which place. It was so easy to be deeply impressed with all of Demidov, Sennecke, Wallstedt and Dobeš. What’s more is that if playoff performance was included in our consideration for votes (which it is not, ballots are due before playoffs begin) then things would’ve certainly shifted, but all four players still played great in the postseason.
Hashing out why I put certain guys in their spots here comes down almost like nitpicking and that’s what’s really hard about casting ballots. What Sennecke and Demidov accomplished this season at essentially the same age is deeply impressive. Sennecke’s role in leading the Ducks to the playoffs stood out just a bit more to me as compared to where Demidov stood in the Habs pecking order for importance.
That kind of thought process wasn’t consistent for me as I flipped between Wallstedt and Dobeš. What Wallstedt did in fewer games (compared to Dobeš) was highly impressive and posting four shutouts with a .916 save percentage (second best in the NHL) gave him the edge on my ballot. Dobeš seized control of the Canadiens net and got better as the season went on. Certainly, his playoff performance stands out above all, but again, all of that happens after our votes are cast. This difference was much more of a pain when voting on the All-Rookie Team where we can pick only one goalie and Wallstedt got the nod from me again.
LADY BYNG TROPHY
Winner: Cole Caufield, Montréal Canadiens
My ballot:
1. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
2. Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights
3. Jake Sanderson, Ottawa Senators
4. Teuvo Teräväinen, Chicago Blackhawks
5. Tyler Toffoli, San Jose Sharks
How the voting went (some of it, anyway):
It’s easy to get snarky about the Lady Byng Trophy, I know, but it’s a worthy award in a league that’s often rough and tumble. What’s a bit awkward is how we try to disseminate how to vote for it. I can’t speak to others’ methods or thought process, but I do look at penalty minutes in comparison to minutes played as being part of it. There’s also a part of it in how a player carries themselves on the ice (barking at refs, chirping, scrum hounding) and off it (how they are with us in the media and in the room in general) as well I try to keep in mind.
Kopitar has always been exemplary in all of these aspects and it’s why he’s generally almost always on my ballot. I’d like to say the same applies to everyone else on my ballot and given that 94 players received votes for the Lady Byng, opinions do vary. For what it’s worth, Teräväinen finished 22nd in voting and Toffoli was 34th.
SELKE TROPHY
Winner: Nick Suzuki, Montréal Canadiens
1. Nick Suzuki, Montréal Canadiens
2. Roope Hintz, Dallas Stars
3. Joel Eriksson Ek, Minnesota Wild
4. Noah Cates, Philadelphia Flyers
5. Jack Drury, Colorado Avalanche
How the voting went (some of it, anyway):
Voting for Suzuki as the top choice here was the easiest vote on what’s a very difficult ballot to fill out. He was brilliant at both ends of the ice and the way he matches up against opponents and is able to win draws and fend off opposing forwards is truly outstanding. Getting to see him more up close really hammered that home and then seeing him perform in the playoffs only helped to reassure the decision to make him No. 1. Ultimately, an easy decision on an award which a lot of research goes into it.
Sometimes when digging into the numbers, both box car and advanced, you can neglect to look at other more obvious ones that can help fill out your ballot better. Here’s where ADHD brain can work against you though. In this case, I was one of three voters who had Roope Hintz on their ballot and I was the only one to have him second. Had he played more than 53 games this year, perhaps I am not a complete outlier in doing so but such was the case. His numbers were excellent in the games he played but I’m not going to paint this one up. I should’ve done a better job of refining my search parameters. There’s a mild sense of relief that it didn’t affect the vote in a catastrophic way given Suzuki was the runaway winner.
Eriksson Ek missed just 12 games this season, but he was a vital matchup center for the Wild and his all-around game is so good. The numbers back him up and the way he’s used makes him integral to Minnesota’s success. When he’s out of the lineup, it’s beyond noticeable.
As for Cates and Drury, both players had strong defensive assignments and even though this award tends to lean harder on players who can produce offense and shut down opposing teams, I’ve got a soft spot for guys that get more strictly defensive assignments. That’s certainly the case for Drury in Colorado and even though Cates isn’t quite in that spot in Philadelphia, he’s shown a strong ability to match up well and get results to go in his team’s favor. Cates finished 11th in voting which was nice to see. Drury was 38th and Hintz was 28th.
The Masterton Trophy is also voted on by the PHWA and, gosh, it’s incredibly difficult to decide on voting for this award because you’re essentially deciding whose hardships are more worthy of recognition and it’s a bit uncomfortable.
Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog won the award this season. My ballot (we choose three) had Chicago’s Spencer Knight first, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Nashville second and Rasmus Dahlin third. I do not enjoy engaging in any debates about this one award. Everything else is open season, but it’s unseemly to hash this one out. I understand that by voting on it puts my own decision making out there to be discussed, but the why’s and why-not’s of how I voted is not something I want to engage in.
It’s incredible to see all of the players nominated for the award able to move ahead despite going through sometimes very deeply personal and painful situations either on or off the ice and I have the deepest respect for all of them for finding it within them to be able to continue competing at an elite level despite those circumstances.