Tuesday night was the annual NHL Awards, where players and NHL dignitaries gathered one last time to celebrate the season that just finished. Below is a recap of some of the notable voted-upon awards players, coaches, and front office staff won.
Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year)
The NHL Broadcasters’ Association awarded the Jack Adams Award Colorado’s Patrick Roy. He easily ran away with the award with 399 points based on a weighted 1st-2nd-3rd place vote system. In his first year behind an NHL bench he took a squad from the 29th best record to the 3rd best record in the span of a season. They matched a franchise record for wins in addition to having the NHL’s best road mark (26-11-4). They ranked fourth in the League in goals (250) and did not suffer a regulation loss when leading after two periods (35-0-3). Second place went to Detroit’s Mike Babcock and third went to Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper.
General Manager of the Year
It’s tough to top a club that has won the Stanley Cup in recent years. But Anaheim’s Bob Murray beat our Montreal’s Marc Bergevin and Dean Lombardi of Los Angeles for the top GM honor. He set the table for the finest season in Ducks history when he created the roster that won its second straight Pacific Division title along with the top record in the Western Conference for the first time in club history. They went on to set franchise records in wins (54), points (116), points percentage (.707), home wins (29) and road wins (25). With the roster he was able to keep Teemu Selanne for one last season, and re-signed players such as Saku Koivu and Ben Lovejoy.
Hart Trophy (NHL MVP)
As voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby ran away with the balloting with 128 of 137 first-place votes. His second-straight Hart Trophy, he silenced critics who doubted if he could be the player he was before the concussions as he scored points in 60 of the 80 games he played in. His 68 assists and 104 points led the league. Second place was Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf and third went to Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux. Crosby also won the Ted Lindsay Award, which is the Most Outstanding player as voted by the NHLPA.
Frank Selke Trophy (Best Defensive-Forward)
The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association named Boston’s Patrice Bergeron took 112 of the 137 first-place votes for “the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.” It was the second win in three seasons for Bergeron, who led the NHL in face-off wins with 1,015 — the most by any player in the past seven seasons. In NHL in plus-minus category, he set a career-high +38 rating to have the second-best rating in the league and led all Bruins forwards in average ice time playing shorthanded (1:57). Bergeron was also named the cover athlete for the EA Sports NHL 15 game.
Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year)
Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon became the ninth first overall draft pick to win the Calder Memorial Trophy. MacKinnon, 18, also became the youngest ever award winner, beating 2011 winner Jeff Skinner by three months. Taking 130 of 137 first place votes, he joined teammate Gabriel Landeskog and Chris Drury as Avalanche players to win the award. Last season he topped all first-year players in points (63), assists (39), and power-play goals (8). He also recorded at least one point in 13 consecutive games from Jan. 25 to March 6 when he had five goals and 13 assists during that stretch.
Vezina Trophy (Best Goalkeeper)
The closest vote of the night went in favor of Boston’s Tuukka Rask, who beat Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov by 13 points for the best goalkeeper as voted by NHL General Managers. Rask became the third Bruins goalie to take the Vezina Trophy, joining 2009 and 2011 winner Tim Thomas. He posted a 36-15-6 record and helped the Bruins captured their first Presidents’ Trophy since 1990. He surrendered two goals or fewer in 37 of 58 starts, set single-season highs in wins and appearances. He was first in shutouts (seven), second in save percentage (.930), fourth in goals-against average (2.04) and fifth in wins.
Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman)
Chicago’s Duncan Keith became a multiple-time winner, taking 68 first-place votes over Zdeno Chara of Boston and Shea Weber of Nashville. He tied his career high in assists with 55, and helped the Blackhawks to another long playoff run. He credited his blue line partner Brent Seabrook when he said “For me with [Seabrook] everyone always bugs us that we are like an old married couple. We hang out everywhere. On top of just being good friends off the ice; on the ice, he is a great player. He’s arguably could be a Norris candidate himself. I don’t think you win these awards without having a good defense partner. You look at past winners and who their defense partner has been and it’s always been a good player.”
You might want to change who Varly plays for. He’s in Colorado now.