Tonight’s the night that the stars gather to hand out some fancy hardware at the 2022 NHL Awards in Tampa. Kenan Thompson will return to host the show, which will be the first live award event since 2019, with the last two canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The event will announce the winners of the Hart Trophy, the Norris Trophy, the Vezina Trophy, the Calder Trophy, and the Ted Lindsay Award, five of the most prestigious individual awards in hockey. With just a few hours before things kick off, let’s see if the PHR community can predict the winners of each.
For the Hart, given to the player “judged most valuable to his team,” the finalists are Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers. Remember that these are all regular season awards with a vote before the playoffs begin.
The Norris, given to the defenseman “who demonstrated throughout the season the greatest all-around ability at the position,” is down to Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The latter two are doing battle for a much bigger prize but could still add some hardware to their cases tonight if they can topple the Predators captain.
The Vezina, given to the best goaltender in the NHL and voted on by the league’s general managers, will be given to one of Shesterkin, Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames, or Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators. None of the three have won the award previously, meaning we’ll have a new name engraved this year.
Three very different rookies are on the ballot for the Calder, given to the top first-year player in the league. Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings and Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks will battle with 26-year-old Michael Bunting of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who finally got a chance to play regular minutes in the NHL and responded well.
Given the prestige of the Hart, the Ted Lindsay is sometimes overlooked as a major award but it shouldn’t be. The player-voted “most outstanding” award is a huge honor given it comes from direct peers and does not always go to the same recipient as the Hart. This year even the finalists are different, with Matthews and McDavid being joined by Josi on the ballot.
Cast your vote and make sure to come back to leave a comment with how many you got correct!
McDavid, Josi, Igor, Zegras, McDavid
Mo Seider should easily win the Calder as he certainly deserves it, but since Bettman and the NHL hate the Red Wings so much, there is no way they will let this happen. I hope I’m wrong, but…..
“Bettman and the NHL hate the Red Wings so much” that they moved the Wings to the Eastern Conference to accommodate them and changed the lottery rules to prevent the Wings from falling so far down the list…after the Wings whined about it.
Gary Bettman has basically been the Wings shoeshine boy, but sure…he hates you.
PS- I agree, Seider for Calder. Despite Zegras’ brilliance.
If the NHL doesn’t hate the Wings then help me understand how they fell to 4th pick overall in the 2020 draft when they had by far the worst record in the league. The NHL even allowed teams who qualified for t playoffs into that draft. They used Covid as an excuse but it was more to deflect how they intentionally screwed the Wings. No real or sane Wings fan is ever going to think otherwise
That’s too funny. So Bettmann did the Wings a favor by making sure they didn’t fall so much ? Big favor. The Wings have been in the lottery six times, falling 4 times and staying put twice. How about a little luck ? Like NJ, who have moved up 3 times…or Toronto moving up to get Mattews ? Or maybe the Rangers, moving up twice in a row. Of course, everyone knew that Montreal would never fall out of the number one spot. No way, with the draft in Montreal, that Bettman would allow the Habs to fall out of the number one spot. No, Bettman will never do Detroit any favors, but Detroit will be fine without it, unlike the teams needing it, like NY, Montreal, or Toronto, or NJ.
“If the NHL doesn’t hate the Wings then help me understand how they fell to 4th pick overall in the 2020 draft when they had by far the worst record in the league.”
OK…
The NHL draft lottery rules (at the time) determined the top 3 spots, which allowed the team with the worst record to fall as far as but no farther than 4th overall.
THEN the Wings whined like loser *#@&$’s about it and Gary changed the rules for them so the next time they tanked they could only fall to 3rd.
You are welcome.
“How about a little luck ?”
So, you are mad that he didn’t rig the draft for you and allowed the randomness of the lottery to fulfill it’s purpose…and this is a conspiracy against you…?
K.
Where did you come up with the amusing theory that the folks at the NHL are out to get the Red Wings?
In your case Jay, sane Wings fan is an oxymoron.
Because different teams got the lottery balls. Do you comprehend the notion of “mathematical odds?”
Let me guess: you’re one of those moonbats who thinks that COVID was a Chinese government bioweapon designed to destabilize the world, that Democrats run pedophile rings out of pizza joints, and that George Soros is financing orbital mind control lasers.
Fair enough. Don’t forget your tin hat when you go outside, ‘kay?
mathews will win hart due to toronto/american media. mcdavid might even finish third. mcdavid will win players vote.
… want to explain to the rest of us how media voters in Seattle and Dallas and Miami and Raleigh etc are Maple Leafs fans?
Time (EDT) and network???
(wonders, offhand, which 50-some-odd voters thought that anyone BUT Shesterkin would win the Vezina)
Had I gone Mathews instead of McDavid for both Hart and Lindsey, I would have swept them all….