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As the NHL regular season is over, it's time to think about who deserves to win the prestigious awards handed out by the league to its outstanding players.

 

We'll start with the automatic award winners.

 

President's Trophy - The President's Trophy is awarded to the team with the best overall regualr season record. This year winner is the Nashville Predators. On the strength of great goaltending from Pekka Rinne and a deep forward and blueline lineup, the Predators finished 53-18-11 with 117 points.

 

Art Ross Trophy - The Art Ross is awarded to the league's leading point scorer at the end of the season. This would be Connor McDavid for the second consecutive season. McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers captain, recorded 41 goals, 67 assists, and 108 points in the 2017-18 season.

 

Maurice Richard Trophy - The "Rocket" Richard Trophy is awarded to the leading goal scorer each NHL season. This year, Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin scored 49 goals to win his  eighth scoring title.

 

William M. Jenning Trophy - The Jennings Trophy is awarded each season to the goaltender(s) who played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals allowed. The Los Angeles Kings allow just 202 goals this season, lowest in the NHL. That would mean All-Star goalie Jonathan Quick won the Jennings Trophy.

 

Then, there are seven NHL trophies I want to go through to discuss and pick the winners for the 2017-18 season.

 

Calder Memorial Trophy - Awarded annually to the NHL's best rookie, the Calder Trophy is often predicts each year's top NHL player for the years to come. While the trophy is awarded for just the rookie season, winners of the Calder Trohpy historically go on to long, successful hockey careers.

 

There are a few candidates for the award this year. Mathew Barzal (New York Islanders), Brock Boeser (Vancouver Canucks), Clayton Keller (Arizona Coyotes), and Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets) represent this year's top rookie forwards in the NHL, While Mikhail Segachev (Tampa Bay Lightning), Will Butcher (New Jersey Devils), and Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins) had strong first season on the blueline.

 

The top three rookies this season for me were Barzal, Connor, and McAvoy. The other rookies mentioned showed significant promise in the NHL, but were simply outdone by their fellow first year players.

 

Mathew Barzal lead rookies with 63 assists and 85 goals. He was electrifying at times for the Islanders, who missed the playoffs due to poor play in their own end. Barzal is currently the second line center for the Islanders, but that could change based on what John Tavares decides to do this summer.

 

Kyle Connor record 31 goals this season, tops among rookies. He is part of a deep and talented Jets corp that is looking to make a long postseason run this season after finishing second in the NHL in points this season. Connor's 57 points were fourth in the NHL among rookies this season, and the forward spent time on all four lines this season.

 

Charlie McAvoy play in just 63 games this season due to injury, but do log 22:08 per game when he was healthy. This is tops among all rookies who played more than 30 games, and second only to partner Zdeno Chara on a strong Boston Bruins team who looks like they can do some damage in this year's playoffs.

 

For me, the choice is obvious. While McAvoy will be the best defender out of this group for the next decade, and Kyle Connor will score a lot of goals with the Jets, Mathew Barzal is my winner for the 2018 Calder Trophy. Not only did he have a strong offensive season, he was the reason I tuned into Islander games over other games at times. He is a very fast skater, and incredible talented. Barzal is very deserving of this award.

 

Vezina Trophy - The Vezina is awarded to the top goalie in the NHL each season. This years race comes down to a couple of strong candidates.

 

Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellybuyck led the NHL with 44 wins, which is the new record for US-born goalies. He was fifth among starting goalies with a 2.36 GAA, and was a huge reason for the turnaround of the Winnipeg Jets into the second-best team in the NHL this season. Hellybuyck had six shutouts, and a save percentage of .924.

 

Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators is another good choice for the award. He was second in the NHL with 42 wins. He was third among starters with a 2.31 GAA, and his eight shutouts led the league. Rinne's .927 save percentage fifth in the league among starters as well.

 

The list of contenders stops here for me. There were other guys like the Tampa Bay Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had 42 wins as well, but some of his other numbers didn't match the numbers of Hellybuyck and Rinne.

 

For me, I have to go with Pekka Rinne. He led Connor Hellybuyck in almost every statistical category, and would have likely lead the NHL in wins if he started more than 59 games. Hellybuyck started 67, so the winning percentage tips in favor of Rinne. I also think Pekka Rinne has deserved much more consideration in the past, and that will add to his votes for the award.

 

James Norris Memorial Trophy - The Norris Trophy is awarded annually to the top defenseman in the NHL. While some years have had a strong front-runner, this year's Norris race is actually pretty difficult to decide.

 

Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson led NHL defensemen with 68 points this season.

 

John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars was first among defensemen with 59 assists.

 

The Tampa Bay Lightning have the leading goal scoring among defensmen. Victor Hedman tied for the lead with 17 goals. Hedman also had a +/- of +32, which was second in the NHL.

 

Defenseman like Nashville's Roman Josi don't boast the top-end offensive numbers like a Klingberg, but play a strong game in both ends of the rink. His 53.61 Fenwick percentage (unblocked shot attempts percentage) ranked first of those player mentioned so far in this list.

 

Then, there is the "eye test." Due to his strong play down the stretch, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones led the Jackets to the playoffs, even though he didn't lead the NHL in any major statistical category. He has entered into the Norris conversation with that strong play this season.

 

My winner is Victor Hedman. Not only was he a strong offensive player, he was a very good player in this own end. Hedman had a 51.66 Corsi Percentage (total shot percentage). He also played 25.51 minutes per game, fifth most in the NHL. His 63 points were fifth in the league, and only 26 of those points came on the powerplay. Victor Hedman was the best defensemen this season among a host of other strong candidates.

 

Hart Memorial Trophy - This trophy's winner is another difficult award to hand out this season. Like the Norris, there are several strong candidates for the Hart, which is given to the player most valuable to his team each season.

 

Connor McDavid led the NHL in points, but his Edmonton Oilers didn't make the playoffs. That almost certainly disqualifies him from the award.

 

Evgeni Malkin had 98 points this season, fourth in the NHL, but the Pittsburgh Penguins team is deep with talent, and arguable could have made the playoffs without him. Sidney Crosby, who recorded 89 point this season is met with the same argument, as well as Phil Kessel, who had 92 points for the Penguins.

 

Taylor Hall has my vote for the Hart Trophy this season. Not only did he finish sixth in the NHL with 93 points, he led the New Jersey Devils by 41 points. Hall's 39 goals were tied for ninth in the NHL.

The New Jersey Devils were 28th in the NHL with 70 points last season. Taylor Hall helped the Devils just up 27 points and into a playoff spot. 

 

You can argue that other players deserve consideration as MVP of this NHL season, but Taylor Hall has to be the MVP of the New Jersey Devils. Without Hall, the Devils score just 204 goals. That would be better than only the Buffalo Sabres this season. The Sabres were 25 points out of a playoff spot this season.

 

Taylor Hall had seven game winning goals this season. Without those seven wins, the Devils would be without 14 points, and 83 points would not have been enough to make the playoffs.

Strong cases can be made for other NHL players for the Hart Trohpy, but Taylor Hall deserves the award this season.

 

Frank J. Selke Trohpy - The Selke Trophy is awarded to the beset defensive forward each seasons. Patrice Bergeron will win the award again this season. Bergeron is apart of one of the top offensive trios in the NHL playing with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak on the Boston Bruins.

 

Bergeron is also one of the elite defensive forwards in the NHL. He won 57.3% of his faceoffs. He was also second in the NHL with a 57.56% Fenwick rating. This means that he was on the ice when his team controlled 57.66% of shots. This is a strong indicator that Bergeron was a strong force in preventing scoring chances from opposing teams.

 

Jack Adams Award - The Jack Adams is award to the NHL's best coach each season. While I would make a strong case for the Colorado Avalanche's Jared Bednar, who pulled the Avalanche from 48 points last season to 96 and a playoff spot this season, the coach of the year is Vegas' Gerard Gallant. Gallant took a bunch of castoffs to one of the most memorable season's in NHL history. Gallant is the coach of the year for the 2017-18 season because of his ability to transform a group of NHL players from different teams last season into the top team in the Pacific Division.

 

Ted Lindsay Award - The Ted Lindsay Award is awarded to the NHL's most outstanding player. The fellow members of the NHLPA vote on this award, so this is an award that allows the NHL players to pick who they see as the best NHL player each season.

 

My money for this award is on Connor McDavid. While he didn't get his team to the playoffs, McDavid led the NHL in points, and was a dominant player on a team that couldn't keep with the rest of the NHL competition. Connor McDavid is one of the three or four top NHL players, and will be awarded with this trophy for the 2017-18 season.