It's official.
The NHL Awards are one of the worst and most embarrassing things about the sport of hockey.
Held in Las Vegas, a place where exactly none of the NHL's fans are likely able to attend, the awards show features anonymous musical acts and D list celebrities. In short, it couldn't be worse if they tried to make it bad on purpose. Actually, if they did that, at least there would be some comedic elements.
The best thing to do would be to hold the awards show in Toronto, where people care about hockey, and where some fans would be able to attend it. Secondly, there are a lot of musical acts that wouldn't cost much, that people might appreciate, that would make the show at least watchable. Washed up losers from American Idol, anyone?
Finally, instead of getting pathetic d-list celebrities - Def Leppard, Shaka Kahn, Colin Hanks, Cuba Gooding Jr - they could actually just populate the awards show with people NHL fans might be interested in seeing- Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, virtually any retired star player for that matter...Scotty Bowman, Don Cherry.....whoever. The point is, only idiots care about celebrities and who in their right mind needs a movie star when they're tuning in to see who won the Hart Trophy?
I won't even comment on the 'Red Carpet' crap they have before the actual show, because I guarantee you that if you enjoy that, that you and I would have very little to talk about.
If I was rating the show, which I guess I am, I would rate it F- for "abject failure".
The writing was garbage, the presentation was terrible and if I have to be nice and say one thing positive, I will say that PK Suban was pretty cool, and the host of the show, George Stroumboulopoulos, did what he could to overcome the worst writing possible. At least he knows hockey. I didn't know it was that easy to get a job writing jokes and banter for awards shows - I am clearly qualified and could use the money, so if you're putting on an awards show anytime soon, give me a shout.
Seriously, this was brutal.
If the show was co-hosted by Pierre McGuire and Kathy Griffith, and the musical guests were Right Said Fred and Jimmy-Ray, the show could scarcely be worse than it was.
Besides the show, the Awards themselves are suspect. The Professional Hockey Writers Association votes on most of them, and just who does that include? It includes some smart hockey people and also a whole slew of unqualified hacks. Just what is a "professional" hockey writer these days anyways?
Steve Simmons is. Damien Cox is. But what about Ryan Lambert? Greg Wyshynski? I don't think anyone even knows the whole list, but a lot of terrible writers have votes and a lot of the best writers today aren't even "professional."
If Steve Simmons has a vote, I don't see why I don't.
The PHWA last year voted for Alexander Ovechkin as both the First Team All-star on Right and Left Wing and they routinely give out NHL awards to the wrong players.
Last night was no different than usual.
While Sidney Crosby does deserve the Hart, 51 goal scorer Alexander Ovechkin received only 1 fifth place vote from the 135 people who voted for the Hart.
As I wrote the other day, Ovechkin deserved, at the very least, consideration. The fact that he received a single fifth place vote is a joke. It shows that the people voting aren't qualified to vote. Phil Kessel didn't receive a single vote either.
What about the Norris?
Despite most knowledgeable people I talk to saying that Zedeno Chara should have won the award, it went, by a ridiculous margin, to Duncan Keith. Oliver Ekman-Larsson received two votes, as did PK Suban. OK then.
The one award that the writers got right, the Calder, is even suspect - all seven people who didn't have Nathan MacKinnon as the winner should instantly have their credentials revoked.
The final award (that I care about, at least) is the Selke Trophy, and again, the voting is bizarre. Sure, you could argue that Bergeron deserved it over Kopitar, I guess, but by a margin of 112 to 20 first place votes? That's indefensible.
In conclusion, the NHL awards show is worse than going second in a game of Rochambeau, and the actual awards given out are, at best, dubious. The NHL should just form a committee on knowledgeable people who's only job is to pick awards, because the writers are obviously not capable.
Thanks for reading.