NHL Foundation Player Award (Awarded to the player who applies the core values of hockey to enrich the lives of people in his community) Winner: Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
King Clancy Memorial Trophy (Awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community) Winner: Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Mark Messier Leadership Award (Awarded to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season, awarded by Mark Messier, himself). Nominees: Alex Ovechkin, Shea Weber, John Tavares WINNER: SHEA WEBER
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (Awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey) Nominees: Jaromir Jagr, Mats Zuccarello, Pascal Dupuis WINNER: JAROMIR JAGR
-Have to give big props to Jagr here. He cracked 60 points on the year (finished with 66 points, good enough to lead the Panthers in scoring for the year). Oh and he's also 44 years old. He's moved up the milestone list on the NHL all time list, and he's at the age where most NHLers have already hung up the skates. How the guy keeps doing it I have no idea, but he is amazing.
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (Awarded to the player who exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability) Nominees: Anze Kopitar, Aleksander Barkov, Loui Eriksson WINNER: ANZE KOPITAR
-During most of his playing career in Los Angeles, Kopitar has put up high scoring numbers. He's never produced less than 60 points during an NHL season. This year, he scored 74 points, which lead the Kings in scoring. Oh and he was able to play at that high of a level while only spending a total of 16 minutes in the penalty box, one of the lowest totals among top scorers in the NHL. Barkov and Eriksson both had good offensive numbers and low penalty numbers, but they weren't as productive as Kopitar was.
Frank J. Selke Trophy ( Awarded to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game) Nominees: Anze Kopitar, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Kesler WINNER: ANZE KOPITAR
-Kopitar becomes the first Kings forward to win the Selke. The Los Angeles captain has been a top-five vote-getter in the category in four consecutive years. Much like winning the Byng for sportsmanship, the Selke award winners need to have quality to their play and a guy like Kopitar delivers that for Los Angeles. He's a top scorer, who plays a clean game and can shut down the oppositions best forwards. Kopitar can do that better than most players in the league, which is why he walked away with the award this year.
Ted Lindsay Award (Awarded to the NHL's outstanding player as selected by the members of the NHL Players Association, once called the Lester B. Pearson Award from 1971 to 2009) Nominees: Patrick Kane, Jamie Benn, Braden Holtby WINNER: PATRICK KANE
-Kane is the first Blackhawks player and first American-born player to receive this award. getting this award means your are the best player in the league as decided by other players. The fact that the players select Patrick Kane of the Hawks speaks volumes as to how good of a hockey player Kane was this past season.
NHL General Manager of the Year Award(Awarded to the top National Hockey League General Manager) Nominees: Jim Rutherford, Brian MacLellan, Jim Nill WINNER: JIM RUTHERFORD
-OK lets be fair here. MacLellan built a good team in Washington, they did win the Presidents Trophy after all. Jim Nill was able to assemble a group in Dallas that had the best record in the West and was the highest scoring team in the NHL. Both did a fantastic job with their teams. Jim Rutherford was just better. Rutherford's key additions of Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Eric Fehr, Carl Hagelin, Trevor Daley and head coach Mike Sullivan helped the Penguins to a Stanley Cup championship. He made better moves and made them at the right time compared to what the other two did. See Washington and Dallas had been sitting in playoff spots all year long. Pittsburgh was out of the playoffs by Christmas, but Rutherford made the moves needed to help turn the team around and they did in a big way.
Jack Adams Award (Awarded to the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success) Nominees: Lindy Ruff, Barry Trotz, Gerard Gallant WINNER: BARRY TROTZ
-Gallant I think deserved a little more consideration for this award then he got (I know he finished in 2nd place but it should have been closer). He did help turn the Panthers around and into division winners. Same argument can be made, to a degree, for Lindy Ruff. He did turn the Stars into a top flight team in a top loaded Western Conference. But Trotz deserves this award, leading the Capitals to the Presidents Trophy for the best record in the league. This is Trotz's first Jack Adams award. He led the Capitals to a Presidents' Trophy and became the 10th coach in NHL history to hit the 1,300-game milestone.
Calder Memorial Trophy (Awarded to the league's most outstanding rookie player) Nominees: Shayne Gostisbehere, Artemi Panarin, Connor McDavid WINNER: ARTEMI PANARIN
-No surprise that it went to Panarin. He managed to lead all NHL rookies in scoring this season. His play was just that much better than everybody else. I know Gostisbehere had the scoring streak for rookie defensemen. But he missed time at the start of the year (due to being in the minors) so I think had he played a full year, his numbers and chances might have been better And yes Conor McDavid really made a name for himself in the league this year, but missing all that time with the shoulder injury limited his playing time. Panarin was the leading scorer among rookies in the league this year, totaling 77 points, which was the 9th best point total in the league. Panarin becomes the first member of the Blackhawks to win the Calder since his Chicago teammate Patrick Kane won it in 2008.
James Norris Memorial Trophy (Awarded to the defenseman who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position) Nominees: Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns WINNER: DREW DOUGHTY
-Erik Karlsson put up awesome offensive numbers this year, leading the league in assists with 66 and had 82 points. He was by far the best offensive defenseman in the year and was the winner of this award last year. But Ottawa was one of the weaker defensive teams in the league this year. Brent Burns was a good all around defender this year, but wasn't as good as Doughty. Drew Doughty, despite having the lowest defensive numbers he's personally had in his career, still had a better year on defense than the other two guys. Los Angeles had one of the best defensive teams in the entire league, and Doughty was a major reason for that. Doughty the second player in Kings franchise history to win the Norris Trophy. Rob Blake is the other. He did it in 1998.
Vezina Trophy (Awarded to the league's top goaltender) Nominees: Braden Holtby, Ben Bishop, Jonathan Quick WINNER: BRADEN HOLTBY
-Yes I know that Quick had the best goals against and save percentage in the league and was a big reason why the Kings finished as high as they did in the Western Conference. Ben Bishop too had a fantastic year with the Lightning, keeping them afloat in the Eastern Conference when the Bolts struggled during the year. Holtby, though, had the best year of the three. Why? Because he tied the single season record (along with Martin Brodeur) by winning 48 games during the year. On some nights, Braden pulled the rabbit out of the hats for the Capitals. Washington doesn't win the Presidents Trophy if this guy wasn't in net. He was in the zone most of the year, a very deserving winner of the award this year. This was a runaway win for the Capitals' netminder. Holtby got 26 first-place votes from the 30 total votes cast by NHL GMs.
Hart Memorial Trophy (Awarded to the league's most valuable player) Nominees: Patrick Kane, Jamie Benn, Sidney Crosby WINNER: PATRICK KANE
-How Crosby was a finalist for this award leaves me scratching my head. He had a good year don't get me wrong, but not good enough of a year to finish second in voting for the Hart this year. He was good, I'm not denying that fact, but he wasn't at that high a level as he had been in years past. Jamie Benn also had a very good year, making an impact on the Stars and helping them become a power in the Western Conference. But to me, it was almost a no brainer that it should have gone to Kane. He lead the NHL in scoring with 106 points. Nobody else in the NHL topped 90 points on the year (finishing 2nd and 3rd in the league in scoring were Benn, who had 89 points, and Crosby who had 85 points). Kane recorded a 26-game point streak between October and December, during which he tallied 16 goals and 24 assists. This was the longest streak by any US-born skater, and the longest point-streak in Blackhawks history. Kane reaching 100 points became the first Blackhawks player to do that in a season since Jeremy Roenick in 1993–94, and the first American NHL player to reach 100 points since Doug Weight in 1995–96. There was nobody who was better in the NHL this year, to his team or to the league, than Patrick Kane. Kane becomes the first American to lead the NHL in scoring and the first Hart Trophy winner on the Blackhawks since Stan Mikita did it back in 1968.
So there you have it, the NHL Award winners for the 2016-17 season!
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