NHL Awards Winners Beginning To Take Shape

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With the NHL reaching it’s final two months of the regular season, the NHL Awards races are coming into full view. And it feels like a normal NHL Awards race for the first time in three years as all 32 NHL teams are tracking for normal 82-game regular seasons that should create a level playing field and fairly normal criteria for each of the major NHL Awards.

Hart Trophy – There are the usual suspects, of course, with Connor McDavid (29 goals and 79 points) and Leon Draisaitl (38 goals and 78 points) in the top two spots on the scoring leaderboard even as their Edmonton Oilers team is scraping for a wild card playoff spot. And there will be some that will tout the candidacy of 36-year-old Alex Ovechkin with 33 goals in 54 games in the twilight of his NHL career, but there’s no doubt his candidacy has taken a major hit within the cloud of his longtime vocal support for Vladimir Putin and his warring home country of Russia. Johnny Gaudreau, Auston Matthews, Kirill Kaprizov and Mikko Rantanen are all names worthy of consideration and Colorado’s Nazem Kadri will be a surprise dark horse candidate. But the favorite here at this point is Florida Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau, who is pacing for 27 goals and 114 points this season while playing for a Panthers team that’s been near the top of the Atlantic Division standings all season. This feels like Florida’s time to really step forward as a contending group and they have their MVP candidate in the well-rounded Huberdeau, who finished 13th in Hart Trophy voting last season. It all makes this article without him in the top-10 kind of an embarrassment.

Favorite: Jonathan Huberdeau.

Norris Trophy – Adam Fox emerged as a surprise winner last season after putting together a strong year with the New York Rangers, but it feels like it’s going to be a much more familiar Norris winner this time around. Colorado Avalanche D-man Cale Makar is top-15 in the NHL in scoring overall, the highest for any NHL blueliner, and is on a team that looks like it could end up as the President’s Trophy winner this season. Makar is playing over 25 minutes of ice time per game as well, is playing excellent hockey at both ends and is one of the most exciting players in the game right now with his highlight reel plays.

Certainly, Victor Hedman is always in contention and still holds the title as best defenseman in the world and Roman Josi, Adam Fox and Aaron Ekblad are in the conversation as well. But the 23-year-old Makar is on pace for 27 goals and 88 points this season and is the far-and-away favorite to win it this season amidst the beginnings of a special NHL career. Favorite: Cale Maker.

Vezina Trophy – While the New York Rangers may not have a Norris Trophy winner this season, it looks like they may have the Vezina Trophy winner in Igor Shesterkin. The 26-year-old Russian netminder is 27-6-3 with a 1.93 goals against average and a .940 save percentage and has been among the NHL leaders in the major statistical categories all season. His Rangers team is also very firmly entrenched in a playoff spot at this point in the Metro Division as well. Interestingly enough, Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman is quickly emerging as a surprise dark horse candidate currently ranking among the league leaders with a 1.95 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. The other three major contenders? Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, Calgary’s Jakob Markstrom and the always-in-consideration Andrei Vasilevskiy. But Shesterkin has put himself in a great position at this point in the year. Speaking of being in a great position.

Favorite: Igor Shesterkin.

Calder Trophy – This is one of the more hotly contested awards. Moritz Seider is enjoying an excellent season with 41 points in 55 games from the Red Wings back end to go along with a plus rating and 23:01 of ice time. He's also bringing some pride and swagger back to Hockey Town.

Trevor Zegras will obviously get strong consideration with his 15 goals and 42 points in 51 games for the Ducks and Detroit’s Lucas Raymond and Toronto’s Michael Bunting are the two other leading scorers among NHL rookies. The other major candidate? Once again, it’s 23-year-old Jeremy Swayman, who is emerging as the most viable rookie Calder candidate while hovering around the NHL league leaders with a 1.95 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. Kaapo Kahkonen is playing well between the pipes for the Minnesota Wild as well, but a strong finish to Swayman’s season in Boston should make him a Calder Trophy finalist at the very least. Favorite: Moritz Seider.

Selke Trophy – PHWA voters have several times left Patrice Bergeron just short in his quest for an NHL-record fifth Selke Trophy and this should be the season when that all changes for a Boston Bruins captain that could be playing the final season of his NHL career. Bergeron is winning a ridiculous 62.9 percent of his faceoffs, is a plus-14 and as always is killing penalties and playing against the other team’s best players while also on pace for 22 goals and 61 points in 76 games this season. His fancy stats numbers and his shot suppression ability continue to be elite and should win him votes from all factions of the awards voting body. It will be a familiar group with Los Angeles Kings center and former Selke winner Anze Kopitar enjoying a strong two-way season, Ryan O’Reilly in the mix and last season’s winner Aleksander Barkov also figuring in the discussion as well. But this should be Bergeron’s year to finally break the record after there were about a dozen awards voters that somehow left him off the ballot last season. This backcheck alone should have won him the award last season as well.

Favorite: Patrice Bergeron.

Lady Byng Trophy – New Jersey Devils phenom Jack Hughes has zero penalty minutes thus far this season for the Devils. He's the most prominent player in that category at this point.

Kyle Conner has 33 goals and 62 points for the Winnipeg Jets and has just one minor penalty to his name all season. Sonny Milano is enjoying a breakout season with the Ducks and similarly has just one minor penalty on his ledger. Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Toffoli and Alex Iafallo are similarly posting excellent years with low penalty totals, and O’Reilly is doing it while being one of the best two-way players in the league. That’s not easy. But if Hughes can go the entire season without incurring a single penalty it may be enough to sway voters his way while he’s a point-per-game player for the Devils with an unlimited high ceiling of potential. Favorite: Jack Hughes.

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