If I were the sole arbiter of the NHL awards this year, based on their performances so far, here is how I would vote;
Art Ross: Evgeni Malkin. He has a 10 point gap on both Crosby and Ovechkin, and has held that lead for almost half a season. Despite periodic surges from both his competitors, neither have been able to reel in Geno at the top of the list. As of last night he has 30 goals, 65 assists and 95 points - and still has 14 games to pad his stats with.
Hart: Evgeni Malkin. When Crosby gets hurt Malkin actually gets better. Ovechkin would be the clear runner-up.
Rocket Richard: Alex Ovechkin. Likely to stay his for the future until he breaks something other than records.
Vezina: Niklas Backstrom. A solid case based on his numbers can be made for Tim Thomas, but Thomas was a waiver draft pickup and only played in 2/3 of the FUNHL season as a result. Backstrom however has played 56 games (11 more than Thomas) and has a GAA of 2.36, for a total (roughly) of 75 points in those 56 games. It's not unfair to say that he has been one of the main engines of the Personal Vendetta stay at the top of the leader board.
Norris: Mike Green. IMO this isn't even close. 58 points in 55 games - all offense. The only D-men close have played 10 more games, or have their PIM added in to pad their numbers. He's a future FP.
Calder: Bobby Ryan. This was tough, Steve Mason is going to lock this up rather easily in the NHL, but in the FUNHL he was only a WD2 pickup, and even then split his starts for his FUNHL team. Ryan's points have mostly come in the 2nd half of the season (he's only played 49 games) but a majority of them have actually counted towards his teams success. Alex Goligoski and Drew Doughty are also in the picture as both have made contributions to FUNHL teams for significant portions of the year.
Byng: Patrick Marleau in a squeaker over Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk has more points, but he also has 6 more PIM than Marleau. Marleau has maintained a PPG pace this year and only recorded 12 PIM. He's your winner.
Selke: Miiko Koivu. Plays for one of the stingiest teams in the league, regularily draws the opposing teams top offensive forwards, kills penalties, and manages to chip in just below ppg numbers despite weak linemates. He's officially a stud.
Adams: Darrell Mann of the Personal Vendetta. Its hard not to pick the guy in the lead as being the best coach as well as GM, but we can also look to his decision to play Duncan Keith for +/- over several weeks that resulted in a large net positive for the team, as example 'A' for why he deserves the award. He simply isn't making mistakes and is consistently making the right calls for his team.
Masterton: Patrick Elias. Written off more than loans at AIG or Lehman's Brothers, Elias has bounced back from Hepatitis to prove he can still have an elite season and avoid other injuries. He might even make the decision to release him from his FP contract a difficult one.
3 comments:
LLook good to me. Goligoski likely won't get NHl?FUNHl Calder consideration as he was sent back down when Gonchar returned.
As to successfuly dressing of +/- players being a factor in getting FUNHL Jack Adams... I'll never be considered for that ;-)
Hi Cam,
Like most of your suggestions though I think that a case can be made for Lundquist for the Vezina. While a few pts behind Backstrom (69 vs 75) he is doing exactly what he is supposed to as an FP - dominate at his position. I'd be curious to see if he is still behind Backstrom by the end of the season.
I also think that you might want to consider Brian, instead of Darrel, as your coach of the year. Check out that Omnivore number and consider for a second what is going on as a result.
The team that Brian drafted, the best roster he could hope to cobble together from the injury-plagued dreck that his GM (also Brian) assembled for him, would have gotten him 665 pts. This guy should be in 10th place hoping to hold off Rob and Collin for the Herbivore but instead he's managed to improve his team by over 100pts and is hanging tough in 4th place while actually winning the Challenge Cup regular season crown. The Adams belongs to Brian.
The Lundqvist suggestion is certainly a valid one, but the points, (not to mention draft position), indicate that Backstrom is the better value player. Even taking the draft position out of the equation (which I typically do), Backstrom currently has the lead and remains IMO the better Vezina candidate.
As for how it all plays out over the last 15 games, I'll offer a coke bet on Backstrom
being the highest scoring goaltender in the FUNHL this season.
As for Brian winning the Adams - uh no. He may well blow the Omnivore award away, but that is more a judgment of his skills in replacing members of his team with higher producing members - which is a Gms job - and that is largely the result of an early season fleecing of the Wolves where he collected several key components for futures.
I'd certainly consider him for GM of the year (though his case would be strengthened by winning the Predator Cup), something you and I and Darrell should also be in the running for, but for pure coaching decisions I maintain that Darrel has done more than Brian to deserve the award.
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