| NHL Awards 2026 [message #852357] |
Sun, 24 May 2026 23:30  |
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 Adam
Messages: 7767
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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Once again the NHL doing the surprise-the-winner thing for the Awards, so it's really hard to know when they're actually going to be awarded. We at least have all the nominees I think though:
Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP): Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning), Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
Ted Lindsay Award (Most Outstanding Player): Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks), Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning), Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
James Norris Memorial Trophy (Top Defenseman): Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres), Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche), Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Vezina Trophy (Top Goaltender): Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders), Jeremy Swayman (Boston Bruins), Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year): Ivan Demidov (Montreal Canadiens), Matthew Schaefer (Buffalo Sabres), Beckett Sennecke (Anaheim Ducks)
Frank J. Selke Trophy (Defensive Forward): Anthony Cirelli (Tampa Bay Lightning), Ryan O'Reilly (Nashville Predators)
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (Sportsmanship): Cole Caufield (Montreal Canadiens), Anže Kopitar (Los Angeles Kings), Jake Sanderson (Ottawa Senators)
Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year): Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay Lightning), Dan Muse (Pittsburgh Penguins), Lindy Ruff (Buffalo Sabres)
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (Perseverance): Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres), Gabriel Landeskog (Colorado Avalanche), Jonathan Toews
Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year: Bill Guerin (Minnesota Wild), Chris MacFarland (Colorado Avalanche), Pat Verbeek (Anaheim Ducks)
Already awarded:
Art Ross Trophy (Leading Scorer): Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers) - 138 Points
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy (Leading Goal Scorer): Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche) - 48 Goals
William M. Jennings Trophy (Goalies with the fewest goals against): Scott Wedgewood & Mackenzie Blackwood (Colorado Avalanche)
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks
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Adam
Messages: 7767
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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Some quick thoughts:
- Bouchard was robbed.
- Feels like another year where the Hart and Ted Lindsay awards go to different players.
- It's bizarre there's no announcement schedule at all...just sometime in June they'll give out a bunch of these. And why did they give out the Calder in mid-May? Just because he was on the tv show then?
- It is also interesting that these haven't all leaked already. Clearly, folks at the NHL offices CAN keep a secret when they want to. I think the only one I heard about leaking last year was Hellebuyck and I believe that was because third parties saw him get it.
- Can't see how Kopitar doesn't win Lady Byng as a parting gift. Up against two relatively young players, there's no way they're voting for them over Kopitar.
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks
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Kr55
Messages: 12920
Registered: May 2002
Location: Edmonton
6 Cups
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Werenski takes the Norris. Makar 2nd, Dahlin 3rd. Think ~30% of voters didn't have Bouch in their top 5. Bouch finished 4th in voting.
Top Tier Hockey @TopTierPucks
Werenski is the first defenseman in NHL history to win the Norris in a non-shortened season after missing the playoffs and not leading dmen scoring
Bouchard is the 2nd defenseman to not win the Norris after scoring 95+ points and leading scoring
Double Standards for Bouchard
Look forward to seeing the individual voter info. Bet every single Avs connected media guy voted Makar #1. And that most Oilers media guys had Bouch around 3rd. Maybe 2nd for some of them.
[Updated on: Wed, 03 June 2026 14:53]
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- Lowe, 2013
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- MacT, 2015
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Adam
Messages: 7767
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB
6 Cups
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| Kr55 wrote on Tue, 02 June 2026 15:45 |
Werenski takes the Norris. Makar 2nd, Dahlin 3rd. Think ~30% of voters didn't have Bouch in their top 5. Bouch finished 4th in voting.
Top Tier Hockey @TopTierPucks
Werenski is the first defenseman in NHL history to win the Norris in a non-shortened season after missing the playoffs and not leading dmen scoring
Bouchard is the 2nd defenseman to not win the Norris after scoring 95+ points and leading scoring
Double Standards for Bouchard
Look forward to seeing the individual voter info. Bet every single Avs connected media guy voted Makar #1. And that most Oilers media guys had Bouch around 3rd. Maybe 2nd for some of them.
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I believe the first (and second) situation like that was Paul Coffey vs Rod Langway - which still stands as just a ridiculous decision by the voters. In 1982-83, Coffey had 96 points to lead the league. Langway had had 32 points and was tied for 43rd in defenceman scoring. Langway was even on the year on a decent Capitals team - third among Caps defencemen. The Oilers were very good - they went to the Finals that year - and Coffey was +52, good for third on the team (F & D) behind only Gretzky's +60 and Huddy's Emery Edge winning +60. Worth noting - Coffey was second in +/- behind Huddy in the entire league.
The next year, Langway won again - and given his improvement year over year, you can see how it would be hard to deny him. He went from 32 points up to 33 and in +/- he jumped from 0 all the way up to +14. True that +14 put him fourth amongst Capital blueliners, but still - big jump.
Meanwhile Coffey had 126 points, at the time the third highest total of any season for any blueliner ever (Orr had seasons of 139 and 135 prior to that, Coffey would later hit 138 in 1985-86). He again was +52 on the year, ahead of everyone on the Oilers not named Gretzky (he led the league at +76). Coffey was all the way down at 5th overall, and 2nd among defenders, with Denis Potvin finishing above him (while also scoring 85 points and putting up another much better option than Langway).
In comparison, the pick of Werenski isn't close to as bad as Coffey/Langway - but it's still not great. There's just no evidence that Werenski is a better defender than Bouchard and he didn't have as much points either. The only real argument is if you credit Bouchard's success all to playing with McDavid and Draisaitl and believe that Werenski scores more if he and Bouchard were traded one-for-one.
I think it just confirms us that the PWHA is full of lazy voters who don't spend a lot of time watching non-market games. They're relying entirely on tweets from Spector and Rishaug to form an opinion on Bouchard - with the deal being that then Spec and the other Edmonton media swarm don't have to watch any Blue Jackets or Sabres game too in figuring out their ballots.
"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
#FireBobbyNicks
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