The Puck Stops Here

Today, they announced the nominees for the NHL awards. Here are my picks for who I would have voted for. Today, I will give my reactions to the nominations and who I think will win.

Selke Trophy Rod Brind'Amour Carolina Hurricanes, Sami Pahlsson Anaheim Ducks, Jay Pandolfo New Jersey Devils. I picked all the nominees on my ballot, which surprises me. I expected somebody who had a good offensive year but is defensively responsible (like Chris Drury or Henrik Zetterberg) to get a nomination, but they did better and picked the actual defensive forwards. I think Brind'Amour should win.

Lady Byng Trophy Pavel Datsyuk Detroit Red Wings, Joe Sakic Colorado Avalanche, Martin St Louis Tampa Bay Lightning. I picked Tomas Kaberle of Toronto as a nominee instead of Sakic. Sakic's 46 PIMs should be too much for serious Byng consideration when Tomas Kaberle put up only 20 while tying for eighth in scoring among defencemen. I guess nobody notices the defencemen when they are not among the overall scoring leaders. St Louis should win.

Adams Trophy Lindy Ruff Buffalo Sabres, Michel Therrien Pittsburgh Penguins, Alain Vigneault Vancouver Canucks. What an awful job of picking nominees. None should be there. I wrote something about why Therrien is a poor pick. Vigneault is only nominated because of the year Roberto Luongo had in goal. I guess Lindy Ruff should win because he is the most qualified of a bad bunch. If they stop picking the coach of the most improved team instead of the best coach, they should be looking at Jacques Lemaire of Minnesota and Ted Nolan of the New York Islanders. It's a crime neither are even nominated.

Calder Trophy Evgeni Malkin Pittsburgh Penguins, Jordan Staal Pittsburgh Penguins, Paul Stastny Colorado Avalanche. Staal is a very interesting rookie but Anze Kopitar is a better nominee. He was forgotten on the West Coast in Los Angeles after the Kings fell out of contention. Malkin should win.

Norris Trophy Nicklas Lidstrom Detroit Red Wings, Scott Niedermayer Anaheim Ducks, Chris Pronger Anaheim Ducks. These three defencemen were far out in front of the rest of the field. Lidstrom should win.

Vezina Trophy Martin Brodeur New Jersey Devils, Miikka Kiprusoff Calgary Flames, Henrik Lundqvist New York Rangers, Roberto Luongo Vancouver Canucks. Four nominees because there was a tie for third in the voting (likely between Kiprusoff and Lundqvist). I only picked three nominees and did not have Lundqvist. I feel Kiprusoff had a better year in that he was much more heavily worked than Lundqvist (facing 263 more shots) in a similar games played with the same saves percentage. I think Brodeur wins.

Hart Trophy Martin Brodeur New Jersey Devils, Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh Penguins, Roberto Luongo Vancouver Canucks. I think the goalie vote splits and Crosby wins by a large margin. I am disappointed that nobody saw fit to nominate Nicklas Lidstrom or Joe Thornton who had better years than the goalies.

Pearson Trophy Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh, Vincent LeCavalier Tampa Bay Lightning, Roberto Luongo Vancouver Canucks. I would pick this along the same lines as the Hart with Crosby winning. Surprised Luongo gets nominated over Brodeur in this case. I think LeCavalier was chosen over more deserving Thornton and Lidstrom due to leading the league in goals.

Here is the TSN story on the award nominees.