Awards Night
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Posted by Kerrzy

With the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe trophy in the hands of their new owners, there is now one thing left to do before closing out the 2006 chapter of NHL hockey: give out the rest of the hardware. The NHL awards take place this Thursday in Vancouver, two days prior to the entry draft and will be hosted by Hockey Night in Canada’s Ron Maclean live on CBC for those of you in Canada. Incase you were wondering, here is how the voting works: The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association votes on the league MVP, top defenseman, best defensive forward, rookie of the year and the most sportsmanlike trophies, while the NHL Broadcasters’ Association picks the top coach and the NHL General Managers choose the outstanding goaltender. The Lester B. Pearson trophy is decided by the players. Without further ado, here are the finalists for each trophy from NHL.com, along with my picks...Read More...

HART MEMORIAL TROPHY (most valuable player to his team): Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers; Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks.

KERRZY’s Call: This is the big one – Thornton and Jagr both had insane offensive seasons, but when things got tough for New York in the first round of the playoffs, Jagr and the Rangers completely deflated and I think that is worth noting. I give the nod to Thornton, especially to add insult to stupidity for the Boston Bruins staff.

CALDER MEMORIAL TROPHY (outstanding rookie): Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames.

KERRZY’s Call: You’d have to think Ovechkin is taking this one, given that he is also up for the Pearson. I’m picking Alexander Ovechkin, but I wouldn’t be too shocked to see Crosby take it in the upset.

VEZINA TROPHY (outstanding goaltender): Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils; Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames; Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers.

KERRZY’s Call: Brodeur is always good, Lundqvist came out of nowhere, but this one is hands-down to Miikka Kiprusoff in my mind. Take Kipper out of a Calgary uniform and the team falls apart.

JAMES NORRIS MEMORIAL TROPHY (outstanding defenseman): Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings; Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Mighty Ducks; Sergei Zubov, Dallas Stars.

KERRZY’s Call: Nicklas Lidstrom. Niedermayer and Zubov could both easily wind up taking this one home, but Lidstrom is a head and shoulders above them in my books. He is a force out there.

LESTER B. PEARSON AWARD (most outstanding player as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA): Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers; Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks.

KERRZY’s Call: It’s interesting to see Ovechkin nominated in this category, and he is there for good reason, but Joe Thornton came into San Jose after that mess in Boston and completely dominated the league. Jagr had an amazing season in his own right, but Thornton had a remarkable year. I give him the nod for this one.

FRANK J. SELKE TROPHY (outstanding defensive forward): Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina Hurricanes; Mike Fisher, Ottawa Senators; Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars.

KERRZY’s Call: We saw Brind’amour put up big numbers in the regular season and big numbers in the playoffs, but I think Jere Lehtinen will get the nod for this year. He was a front-runner for the Selke all throughout the regular season.

JACK ADAMS AWARD (outstanding coach): Peter Laviolette, Carolina Hurricanes; Tom Renney, New York Rangers; Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres.

KERRZY’s Call: Carolina was a pretty good team coming into this year, as were the Buffalo Sabres whereas the New York Rangers have been a joke for a few years now…Not anymore though. Tom Renney deserves this one.

LADY BYNG MEMORIAL TROPHY (sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct): Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings; Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks; Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning.

KERRZY’s Call: This one is a toss-up as far as I am concerned. For me, this one is a total guess, so I’ll go with…Datsyuk, who has the least penalty minutes by four. Richards is the last one to win it though, so who knows. At least nobody is threatening to not show up if their name is called a la Alexander Mogilny.

Of the three awards that are already determined, Joe Thornton will be presented with the Art Ross trophy for leading the league in scoring during the regular season while his teammate, Jonathan Cheechoo, will take home the Maurice Richard trophy for scoring the most goals. Miika Kiprusoff will take home at least one piece of hardware as well, winning the William M. Jennings trophy for allowing the least goals during the regular season.

Moral of the Story: Unfortunately the "Fans of Rexall" vocal group failed to take home the best new artist award at this years Muchmusic awards.

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Jim Kerr