yave1964 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Rounding the mid season turna nd heading for home, here are my picks for the individual/team awards: CALDER TROPHY {leagues best rookie)With all due respect to Aaron Ekblad who is having a whale of a year, this award absolutely has to go to Filip forsberg of the Predators who is leading all rookies in about every single offensive category, 14 goals, 38 points, a plus 23 rating and 14 power play points. Honorable mention to Ekblad and Johnny Gaudreau of Calgary who is also having a solid year. HART MEMORIAL TROPHY (leagues most valuable player) Hoo boy. This one is so difficult, mostly because the players having the best seasons are on non contending teams. League scoring leader Jakub Voracek (15-33-48) plays for the awful Flyers club and Ty Seguin is only a point behind and leads the league with 26 goals. Perenial contenders Malkin and Crosby are down a bit this year but still in the top ten in scoring but ahve not stepped away from the pack. I am stepping out of the box and voting for Vladimir Taresenko of the Blues (22-19-41 and a plus 19 with 18 PPPs to boot. An electrifying and thrilling player to watch, speed and agility, He is currently 7th in scoring and 3rd in goals overall and the main reason the Blues are a true contender. VEZINA TROPHY (Leagues best goalie) Carey Price, Frederik Andersson and Jaroslav Halak all have had fine seasons but the no brainer pick for this award absolutely has to be Pekka Rinne. a 26-6-2 record with a 2.00 goals against and a .929 save percentage, he leads the leagues goalies in almost every category. BILL MASTERTON TROPHYDominic Moore playing solid minutes for a contending team after a timeout from hockey to take care of his dying wife. JACK ADAMS TROPHY: Jon Cooper of Tampa has done a remarkable job, losing Hedman for a large stretch of the season as well as other assorted injuries he has the bolts in line to possibly capture the Presidents Trophy with the leagues best record, just a point behind anaheim. NORRIS TROPHY: (leagues best defenseman) I always struggle with this award, it is usually given to the best offensive blueliner, not since the days of Rod Langway in Washington has a true shut down guy won.Well why start now. I am going with Kevin Shattenkirk who is tied with Giordano with 35 points to lead the blue line, he has 22 power play points and is plus 18, both lead the leagues d-men. Runnners up to me are Suter and Doughty who are throw backs, averaging just under 30 minutes of ce time per game and still scoring at a decent clip. Sp there it is, my list. Anyone care to commment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Clueless Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Good list Yave. I'd actually give the Norris trophy to Giordano so far this year. He's been awesome. I'd also give the Jack Adams to Capuano at this point, but it's very close for Cooper. Hart's going to be a hard one this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 @Commander Clueless I thought of Capuano and Laviolette but Cooper has the Bolts, no pun intended playing an electrifying style. Someone else I considered for the Hart, just so Jammer does not think I forgot his boy was Tyler Johnson who is 4th in scoring and leads the league with a ridiculous plus 26. Just having a sick season. And the Dave Schultz award goes to Steve Downie, I meant to put that in, he has 141 PIMs which is nearly double the number 2 guy and still has managed 20 points when not in the bin. Really, having a solid season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Strange stat of the year, Lars Eller has only 8 goals and leads the league with 6 game winners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagerMeister Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Rinne for Hart, Rinne for Vezina, Forsberg for Calder, Norris for Shattenkirk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Ekblad, as an 18 year old defenceman playing on the Florida Panthers...THE FLORIDA PANTHERS for crissakes...5g 17 a theres your Calder winner, or at least should be at this point. Forsberg is 20 playing on arguably the best team in the NHL.. How far along will Ekblad be at 20? Yes I'm biased. But I'm also being realistic. Ekblad is also rock solid defensively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Ekblad, as an 18 year old defenceman playing on the Florida Panthers...THE FLORIDA PANTHERS for crissakes...5g 17 a theres your Calder winner, or at least should be at this point. Forsberg is 20 playing on arguably the best team in the NHL.. How far along will Ekblad be at 20? Yes I'm biased. But I'm also being realistic. Ekblad is also rock solid defensively. I get it with your boy Ekblad. I have been preaching about Bjugstad since his college days, (I watch too much big ten college) he is huge, a true power forward and even in here I have spoken highly of him for two years, I watch a lot of Panther games because of him. Watching him, i see a ton of Ekblad, MY GOD tht kid can play. Beautiful first pass, never out of position, he looks like a ten year vet. His upside is as high as anyone i n the game. That said, I still have to go with Forsberg, a point a game player who they absolutely stole from the Capitals for the ghost of Martin Erat, the Predators were bad and boring last year, Forsberg along with the return of Rinne and a good collection of mid level free agents (see cheap) have them in contention. Forsberg is as dynamic as Ekblad and for his position is putting up slightly better numbers. I don't believe you can go wrong with either. Both are having incredible freshman years with Johnny hockey right behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Rinne for Hart, Rinne for Vezina, Forsberg for Calder, Norris for ShattenkirkYou know, you can make a case for the Predators running the table. Rinne for Hart and Vezina, Weber for Norris, Forsberg for Calder, Laviolette for the Adams. Just a glorious year in Nashville. Funny, Weber is the weak link in that bunch lol, never thought that would happen. I cannot see the league allowing that to happen, a small market team capturing all the hardware might make Bettman's head explode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samifan Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Laviolette for the Adams Would love to see that. One final FU to Homer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabs1993 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I'd have to give Giordano the Norris trophy. There is an argument to be made that Giordano has almost individually put Calgary back into the playoffs. St. Louis could survive an extended period of time without Shattenkirk, but Calgary needs Giordano which is why he also wins the Hart in my estimation. What's nice about this year is that hardly any of the awards are dead giveaways which is making for interesting discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagerMeister Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 You know, you can make a case for the Predators running the table. Rinne for Hart and Vezina, Weber for Norris, Forsberg for Calder, Laviolette for the Adams. Just a glorious year in Nashville. Funny, Weber is the weak link in that bunch lol, never thought that would happen. I cannot see the league allowing that to happen, a small market team capturing all the hardware might make Bettman's head explode.Weber is a phenomenal defensman, he should have had atleast a norris trophy by now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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