I have formally sent out my letter to the PHWA to become a member and upon their obvious acceptance I will officially be able to vote on the NHL Awards. Below is the exact letter that I sent out detailing why I felt I am deserving of this honour.
While I am awaiting my official confirmation, I thought I would still post my voting for each award that the PHWA votes on for your enjoyment. Let's get to it.
NORRIS TROPHY 1.) John Carlson - Washington Capitals 2.) Roman Josi - Nashville Predators 3.) Victor Hedman - Tampa Bay Lightning 4.) Dougie Hamilton - Carolina Hurricanes 5.) Alex Pietrangelo - St. Louis Blues
Carlson had a phenomenal season and if the season had run it's course he could have been the highest scoring defenseman in over a decade. Josi was a close second but the fact that Carlson had 10 more points and an overall higher P/60 at even strength were my deciding factors.
Had Dougie Hamilton not been injured he likely would have been higher on my list but is efforts during his season of play absolutely need to be mentioned as well.
CALDER TROPHY 1.) Cale Makar - Colorado Avalanche 2.) Quinn Hughes - Vancouver Canucks 3.) Dominik Kubalik - Chicago Blackhawks 4.) Adam Fox - New York Rangers 5.) Ethan Bear - Edmonton Oilers
This really was the year of defensemen for Calder voting. Hughes and Maker are going to be neck and neck for the win here and are both worthy selections. Makar finished with 3 fewer points but played in 11 fewer games due to injury. Despite that Makar still produced more goals and points at even strength and his underlying possession numbers are stronger.
Kubalik had a brilliant season for the Hawks and I'm assuming will be most of my fellow writers third pick. Adam Fox did great on his own merit and if he played on a better team would likely have had numbers closer to those of Hughes and Makar. Lastly I did want to give Bear a mention with my 5th place pick due to the strong season he had in Edmonton and the fact that he logged more 5 on 5 minutes than any other rookie this season.
LADY BYNG
1.) Auston Matthews - Toronto Maple Leafs 2.) Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche 3.) Zack Werenski - Columbus Blue Jackets 4.) Teuvo Terevainen - Carolina Hurricanes 5.) Cale Makar - Colorado Avalanche
I'm not even going to make a joke about Matthews not taking many penalties because he is too scared to touch anyone. 80 points in 70 games, averaging over 20 minutes a night and only taking a total of 8 penalty minutes is certainly worthy of the top honour here.
An extra shout out to defensemen who never seem to win this award even though they log more minutes a night. Werenski for example averaged close to 24 minutes a night and only had 10 PIMs on the season while still having a 41 point season.
SELKE TROPHY
1.) Sean Couturier - Philadelphia Flyers 2.) Patrice Bergeron - Boston Bruins 3.) Valeri Nichuskin - Colorado Avalanche 4.) Artemi Panarin - New York Rangers 5.) Ryan Strome - New York Rangers
With the total minutes he logged, his usage, and relative CF% and GF% at 5 on 5 earns Sean Couturier my Selke Trophy first place ballot with Bergeron being a worthy runner up. While he might not be on my Hart Trophy ballot, Nichuskin certainly had a Selke worthy season and established himself as a strong two way player this season.
HART TROPHY
1.) Leon Draisaitl - Edmonton Oilers 2.) Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche 3.) Artemi Panarin - New York Rangers 4.) David Pastrnak - Boston Bruins 5.) Patrick Kane - Chicago Blackhawks
As I have written numerous times this season, Leon Draisaitl is the clear cut winner of the Hart Trophy this season. He led the league in scoring, outscoring the second highest player by 13 points. Led the league in game winning goals (tied with Pastrnak), played brilliantly when Connor McDavid was injured, played on the wing, at centre and logged the most minutes of any forward this season. Draisaitl had a monster season and deserves the Hart Trophy.
MacKinnon is my runner up as he also put up elite numbers and kept his team alive during the multiple times this season that the Avalanche were plagued with injuries. Panarin and Kane deserve mention due to their offensive totals, especially in comparison to their teammates and Pastrnak and his 48 goal season is of course worthy as well.
BONUS VEZINA
Technically it's the GM's who decide the Vezina but I decided to include them in my ballot as well. Hopefully that doesn't disqualify me.
1.) Connor Hellebuyck 2.) Tukka Rask 3.) Andrei Vasilevskiy 4.) Jacob Markstrom 5.) David Ayres
Tukka Rask had a phenomenal SV% at 5 on 5 with a 0.941% but due to Hellebuyck playing in 17 more games while still maintaining a 0.927% I give him my first place vote. No goaltender faced more shorts, nor turned away more high danger chances than Connor Hellebuyck. Credit needs to be given to the terrible defense in front of him that made him look so good.
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There are my selections. What are yours?