NHL Award Watch: Connor McDavid is unstoppable
The NHL has had an unbelievable first two months of the 2016-17 regular season. Here are the front-runners for every major award in December’s NHL Award Watch.
Hockey is off to a running start. So far, the 2016-17 NHL season has seen a number of unforgettable performances. With the hockey season just over 25 percent over, here’s a look at the projected winners for each major award.
The awards given out will be the Hart Trophy for the player deemed most valuable to his team, the Vezina Trophy for best goalie, the Norris Trophy for best defenseman, the Calder Trophy for best rookie, the Masterton, and the Lady Byng.
Masterton Trophy: Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators
Usually the Masterton is one of the most meaningless awards given out. It’s awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. Think of it as the NHL’s version of comeback player of the year.
The list of candidates is narrowed down to one player per team. It’s hard to guess who some teams will choose, but it’s pretty obvious who the Ottawa Senators will choose. Their goaltender Craig Anderson (sorry Kyle Turris) has been outstanding in goal while playing with a very heavy heart. His wife is receiving treatment for a rare form of throat cancer.
Anderson has been performing admirably despite excruciating circumstances. He’s showing an impressive resolve. Not only that, he’s showing he has his priorities straight by putting his ailing wife before his job. Very few, if any, goalies could pull off what Anderson so far.
There are some other strong contenders. Devin Setoguchi of the Los Angeles Kings has overcome alcoholism to return to the league. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him win it. Also, Bryan Bickell could win with his recent diagnosis. But Anderson has a ton of support right now. If he gets nominated, good luck not weeping while reading his story.
Mandatory Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Lady Byng Trophy – Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
The Lady Byng Trophy goes to the player who is deemed the most sportsmanlike. In short, the player who follows the rules, and yes, is kind of boring. You know that player who dishes out typical cliches and cookie cutter answers in the locker room? Yup, those are the guys who tend to win.
It’s very hard to project who will win this because penalty minutes isn’t always the best way to judge someone’s character. But it’s usually at least a decent predictor. While the winner doesn’t always have the fewest penalty minutes, more often than not, they’re among the leagues least penalized players.
Twelve players as of Dec. 2 have zero penalty minutes and play at least 14 minutes a game. Of those players, Aleksander Barkov seems to be the best candidate. Not only did he finish second in last year’s Lady Byng voting, he’s also a pretty darn boring guy. Which is fine because, well, most NHL players are boring. Then again, Ryan O’Reilly got Lady Byng votes after crashing into a Tim Horton’s, so who knows.
Loui Eriksson, John Carlson, and Nathan MacKinnon could all make a strong run at the award as well. One player who definitely won’t be winning it: Andrew Shaw.
Mandatory Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Calder Trophy – Patrik Laine, Winnipeg Jets
As great as the 2015-16 NHL rookie class was, this year’s is even better. The 2016-17 rookie class might go down as one of the most impressive of all-time. There are five strong candidates this year who have separated themselves from everyone else. They are Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitchell Marner, Zach Werenski, and Patrik Laine.
If we’re strictly talking the best rookie, it’s most likely Matthews. However, two of his teammates are on the Calder Trophy short list as well. It’s hard to tell how this will affect the trio’s chances of winning, but in other sports, similar situations have led to teammates splitting votes. So unless Matthews can separate himself from Marner and Nylander, the best rookie might not win.
So it’s down to two candidates — Patrik Laine or Zach Werenski. Both players have a very strong case. Laine has been a dynamic goal scoring threat and arguably the league’s most exciting rookie wing since Alex Ovechkin. Meanwhile, Werenski has been a spark plug for the Columbus Blue Jackets, igniting their power play. Laine gets the nod because he’ll end up with the better stats. Also, it’s very hard for a rookie defenseman to win when there’s a dominant forward (unless you’re a 30 year old man posing as a teenager like Aaron Ekblad).
Any order involving these five players is probably right. The big question will be if Matthews can separate himself a bit from his teammates. Right now, Laine has a very slight lead over him.
Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Norris Trophy – Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
The Norris Trophy goes to the defenseman “who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position”. Everyone interprets this differently, so here’s my interpretation. The Norris Trophy should go to the NHL’s best overall defenseman, factoring in defense, offense, and all facets of the game.
Last year, it went to Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings after a campaign about how it was his time to win one. This year, Shea Weber of the Montreal Canadiens is benefitting from a similar narrative. He probably should have at least one Norris Trophy, but for a variety of reasons, he hasn’t.
That isn’t to say he isn’t deserving because he has a very strong case. Weber has been amazing for the Canadiens with 18 points in his first 22 games. He has given them a deadly power play and is a pretty big reason for their success. Weber will also have Montreal’s improvement from last season to this season as a selling point. While Carey Price is more responsible for the improvement, the former Nashville Predators defenseman shouldn’t be overlooked. Fans will point out his league leading +18 plus-minus, but his goalie is a huge reason for it.
However, the best defenseman in the NHL this season has been Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks. He’s outpacing him in points and has been a one man offense at times for the reigning Western Conference champions. His transition game is phenomenal. Is he without flaws? No. Burns isn’t the best defensively, but one could say the same thing about Weber’s transition game.
Weighing all facets of the game, Burns gets the nod over Weber. The Canadiens defenseman’s transition flaws are more significant than the Sharks defenseman’s defensive flaws.
Mandatory Credit: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
Vezina Trophy – Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
The Vezina Trophy goes to the NHL’s top goaltender. Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price won the first of his career during the 2014-15 season. He also won the Hart Trophy, which puts him in very rare company. Thanks to an injury, Price wasn’t able to repeat as the Vezina Trophy winner. Entering this season, just about everyone expected him to remind the league why he’s the best goalie in the world. So far, he’s done that.
Price leads the league in save percentage and wins (which is sadly something voters still care about). He ranks third in goals against average with a 1.68 GAA. Among goalies with at least three games played, only Devan Dubnyk (1.64 GAA) and Tuukka Rask (1.66 GAA) have allowed fewer goals per game.
Right now, this is a three horse race between Price, Dubnyk, and Rask. They are separated by microscopic differences in save percentage and GAA. You could make a very good case for any member of the trio. However, Price gets the ever so slight nod because of his resume and his importance to his team. It’s his throne and someone has to unseat him. No one has yet.
Dubnyk has some factors working in his favor. The biggest one is the Minnesota Wild’s lack of scoring. He’s under constant pressure to be outstanding every game to give his team a chance to win. Rask has a Vezina Trophy on his resume, so he has the credentials to pull off a win as well. Don’t rule out Craig Anderson either. If he winds up winning, Disney couldn’t have written a better script than that. This should be a very fun race.
Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Hart Trophy – Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
The Hart Trophy is the NHL’s equivalent to the Most Valuable Player award. Specifically, it goes to the player deemed to be most valuable to his team. It’s worth noting “best player” and “player most valuable to his team” are not necessarily the same thing. This season, three contenders have separated themselves from the pack.
Let’s take a look at the dark horses first. If the Tampa Bay Lightning can get a top three spot in the Atlantic Division without Steven Stamkos, it likely means Nikita Kucherov played a huge role in it. So maybe he can sneak into one of the three finalist spots. Mark Scheifele has been extremely valuable to the Winnipeg Jets, but unless his team is at least close to a playoff spot, he will be penalized. Brent Burns will get some love if he continues to be a one man wrecking crew.
Devan Dubnyk should got serious consideration for the same reasons Carey Price won the 2014-15 Hart Trophy. This year, there happens to be two elite centers who could push 100 points each. Goalies tend to win when there aren’t any other strong candidates. But that’s not the case this year.
The Hart Trophy should come down to Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. Both players have a very strong case going into December. It all depends on which metric you like. Like points per game? Crosby’s got the slight lead over McDavid (1.39 to 1.36). Overall points isn’t effective because the Penguins captain missed a few games this season, but the Oilers captain has 34 points to Sid The Kid’s 25.
Who’s better? That’s a really good question. But that’s not what matters. Who’s more valuable? So far, McDavid. Whether it’s fair or not, Crosby has a much better team around him, making him slightly less valuable to his team. However, McDavid has been carrying the Oilers. He has 34 points as of Dec. 2, which is an NHL high. On the Oilers, Leon Draisaitl is second with 20 points, which means McDavid has roughly 41 percent more points than his next teammate. Only three of his teammates (Draisaitl, Milan Lucic, and Jordan Eberle) have even one third of his 34 points.
McDavid is the Hart Trophy leader, though maybe that’s not a good omen from the Oilers.
More from FanSided
This article originally appeared on 
