Here is my rant, my one and only set of comments on individual awards as we are all about “TEAM”:
Here is my rant, my one and only set of comments on individual awards as we are all about "TEAM": MVP: Alex Ovechkin should win out on all major awards. We went from last to first in our division. We qualified for the playoffs. He had a historic season: most goals in the league; most points in league; great plus/minus turnaround year over year; and most goals for a player in his position in NHL history. The team garners 94 points up from 70 the year before. End of story. Must be unanimous. Coach of the Year: Bruce Boudreau took this team from last to first in the division, from 9th seed to 3rd seed and 20 games over .500 record. We made NHL history. Who had a better run? Rookie of the Year: Nicklas Backstrom broke the team record for assists and was second in the league in scoring for first year players. He had the best plus/minus at plus 13 of the major rookie candidates; helped Alex Ovechkin have a historic season; and emerged as a # 1 center. The team made the playoffs while other players did not make playoffs. Same rationale regarding MVP discussions, right? That is my take. Now back to talking about the TEAM.
sadly i believe that quenville will win the jack adams and that kane will get the calder, the voters sad rationale will be that backstrom played with ovechkin and kane didn’t and kane STILL outscored backstrom, like its a BIG FREAKING DEAL. we all know backis played better than kane just from watching the games, but voters love to blindly look at scoring for the trophy.
Hart – OV
Adams – Trotz
Calder – Kane
Come on Ted, you can’t have it both ways. If Ovie should have been considered for MVP if we missed the post season than Kane should be considered even though he missed it.
That being said, I still think it should go to Nicky.
Well lets see what happens in the playoffs. The fair weathered fans have all come out and everyone has something to say about the Caps as if we are suddenly the “Darling Team” of the world. So all the non believers and biased people have to either eat thier harsh words of the past or continue to argue that the world is flat and The Capitals are not a world class team that is feared by everyteam in the League because when they are on thier game they consistently beat the best. They may never admit it but there were many coaches and players praying they dont have to see the Caps in the playoffs (ask Ottawa.) There are plenty of people out there that want use to fall apart in the playoffs so they can save face and claim that it was a fluke and we dont have any staying power. Well I said when I watched them on home ice in pre season “Welcome to the new Dynasty that is the CAPITALS”
I would like to think they will all win their respective individual awards. I’m sure they would gladly trade them for the ultimate team award. Its name is Lord Stanley.
What is sometimes overlooked abouot Ovechkin is is year-to-year improvement in plus-minus. He went from -19 last season to +28. Not sure how rare a turnaround that is but an increase of 47 seems pretty impressive to me.
Backstrom and Kane are neck and neck on points but take a look at their plus minus ratings. Does that matter?
I sadly don’t think Boudreau will win, simply by virtue of Canadian bias in favor of Carbonneau. (Not that it matters, of course, because we all know he’s the best coach in the league.)
No, the same logic doesn’t apply. The Hart is an MVP award, while the Calder is a best player award. Those are fundamentally different concepts, so no, the Calder doesn’t hinge on making the playoffs. As you note, Ovechkin won it while on a last place team.
I fully expect Boudreau and Backstrom to be finalists, but not to win. It would be great if they won; I just don’t think they will.
Our good friend Barry Melrose graciously makes an exception on the “must make the playoffs” guideline, as great rookies are usually playing on bad teams.
Here’s another thing to consider: I imagine 99 out of 100 hockey people would agree that Kane, Toews, and Backstrom have been the leading candidates most of the year. Kane and Toews are on the same team, and are not playoff bound. Hhhhmmmmmm.
Alex is going to win the MVP. Everyone was debating not if he wasn’t worthy, but could they vote for him if there were no playoffs. That issue is moot, the Caps are division champions and playoff bound. Alex will win the Hart Trophy and the Pearson award from his peers in the NHLPA.
Bruce did an amazing job in Washington, turning the season around on a dime. I think he may get some competition from Barry Trotz in Nashville who turned that debacle-in-the-making into a playoff berth. And Mike Babcock did a great job with Detroit.
Rookie of the year is hard, because of the playoff/non-playoff thing. Patrick Kane is Nick’s primary competition for Rookie of the year, and in an ordinary year, he’d be head and shoulders above everyone. Jonathan Toews also of Chicago is damn good too. This is a tough call….
And while he won’t win, I am sure Cristobal Huet will get some Vezina consideration…
I agree. Why is it that whenever people mentioned the MVP they said Alex couldnt get it unless the Caps made the playoffs. Well, the same should apply to Rookie of the Year by that logic shouldnt it? The Blackhawks are out, the Caps are in, Backstrom us rookie of the year. However, Ovie did win rookie of the year when the Caps missed the playoffs