Pucks of a Feather’s NHL Awards Ballot: The Finale’
Jack Adams Award
The Jack Adams Award is presented to the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.
One thing is for certain, this year’s winner will be a fresh face on the list of the accomplished coaches that have won this award previously.
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3rd Place – Paul Maurice. The Winnipeg Jets are one of the biggest surprises of the 2017-18 season. In his 20th season behind an NHL bench, Maurice had his first 100 point year (114). He steered the Jets to within three points of the best record in the league. His ability to combine explosive young talent with quality veterans was key to Winnipeg’s regular season success.
2nd Place – Bruce Cassidy. The Boston Bruins are undergoing somewhat of a transition. They are no longer the ground and pound Zdeno Chara led B’s. Instead, a young core of talented players has risen through the ranks to change the way Boston plays. They are a well-rounded team with few holes. Cassidy has facilitated their change of style.
1st Place – Gerard Gallant. It would be a huge surprise if Gallant didn’t win the Jack Adams unanimously. He accomplished something absolutely astounding in the annals of sports. Gallant coached the most successful expansion team in not only in NHL history but all major sports history. The Vegas Golden Knights led the Pacific Division almost wire-to-wire and finished the season with 109 points.
Calder Memorial Trophy
The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League
None of our top three players were drafted in 2017. Two are from the 2015 class, and the other is from 2016.
3rd Place – Brock Boeser. Despite missing the final 16 games of the season, Boeser still had the second highest rookie goal total (29). Additionally, his 55 points were tied for the Canucks lead with Henrik Sedin. He is one of the big reasons Vancouver can start their transition away from the Sedin twins. For good measure, Boeser was also 2018 NHL All-Star Game MVP.
2nd Place – Clayton Keller. Still a teenager, at 19, Keller finished the season with 65 points. That was good enough to lead the Coyotes (who he also led in power play points). If there is going to be a turn around in the Dessert, 2016’s seventh overall draft pick will be at the forefront.
1st Place – Mathew Barzal. He was the leading scorer among all rookies and it wasn’t even close. His 85 points were 20 better than runner-up Keller. Barzal even outscored John Taveras on his own team. Granted the Islanders didn’t have a great season, but Barzal was one of only four players on the team to finish the season with a plus rating.
Vezina Trophy
The Vezina Trophy is an annual award given to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at this position as voted by the general managers of all NHL clubs.
3rd Place – Andrei Vasilevski. He tied for the NHL lead in wins with 44. More importantly, he was the mainstay in net for the top team in the Eastern Conference, Tampa. Vasilevsky also led the league in shutouts and had the second most saves. Oh and he’s only 24-years-old. His name will come up for this award many more times.
2nd Place – John Gibson. If you think this selection was a result of home cooking, you’re probably right. It isn’t however implausible. Gibson had a better GAA than Vasilevski, made more saves than Pekka Rinne and his SV% was .001 behind Rinne for tops among goalies with 50 or more games played. As we know, the Ducks team as a whole struggled and Gibby only had 31 wins, which low enough to keep him from winning.
1st Place – Pekka Rinne. Yesterday we wrote: “He was the number one goalie on the number one team in the league, Nashville. Among goalies who made over 50 starts this year, Rinne came close to pulling off the triple crown. He led the league in Save % (.927), Golas Against Average (2.31), and was third in wins (42).” He’s been a Vezina finalist three times before. This year the 35-year-old Finn takes home the hardware.
Hart Memorial Trophy
The Hart Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team.
3rd Place – Alex Ovechkin. He’s not known as “the better than average 8.” Ovechkin is a magician. Watch the puck on his stick, now you see, now you don’t. This year he led the NHL in goals scored (49) and became only the 20th player in league history to score 600 in his career. The Capitals struggled at times this but eventually won the Metropolitan Division. Without “The Great 8” they might not have made the postseason.
2nd Place – Taylor Hall. He’s back! He’s also the main reason why the New Jersey Devils made their first Stanley Cup Playoffs in six seasons. The 2010 overall number one draft pick put up a career-high 93 points (6th), with 37 coming on the man-advantage (5th). Talk about valuable to his team, the gap between Hall and Jersey’s second-place scorer, Nico Hischier was 41 points.
1st Place – Nathan MacKinnon. No player this season was as valuable to his team as Nathan MacKinnon was, and for more than one reason. On the ice, he was the league’s fifth-leading scorer (97 points) despite playing the second-fewest games among the top 44 players in the category. What it meant to the Avalanche was that they could afford to move out the disgruntled Matt Duchesne. There is a new offensive leader in the Rocky Mountains.
Next: Rant Week Continues. Jacob Robles: Don't blame the goalies
This ends our NHL Awards ballot. While we are in the mood to give out hardware, check back this weekend for our First Annual “Quackie” Awards.