The biggest surprise for me at the NHL awards ceremony Wednesday wasn’t so much that the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon finished second to New Jersey’s Taylor Hall in balloting for the Hart Trophy as MVP, but that 15 voters didn’t even list him in the top three.

MacKinnon, who basically carried the Avalanche to a 95-point season – an almost unheard of 47-point improvement – and their first playoff berth in four years, collected 60 first-place votes and 1,194 points.

Hall, who also had a terrific season and led the Devils to their first playoff spot since 2012, had 72 first-place votes and 1,264 points. Seven voters didn’t think he did enough to place him in the top three.

Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar was a distant third with 11 first-place votes and 551 points, five more than Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux.

I didn’t have a vote, and it’s OK to say I’m biased since I’m the Colorado correspondent for NHL.com, but I can’t fathom how 15 Professional Hockey Writers Association members – out of the 160 who named MacKinnon on a ballot – saw fit to list him fourth or fifth.

Voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy by members of the PHWA: pic.twitter.com/0nnksEGw6o

— PHWA (@ThePHWA) June 21, 2018

MacKinnon, who was fifth in league scoring with 97 points (39 goals, 58 assists) in 74 games, also was a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, but NHL Players Association members chose Edmonton’s Connor McDavid.

That’s for the league’s “most outstanding player” and McDavid did lead the NHL in scoring with 108 points (41 goals, 67 assists) in 82 games. There can be a difference between best player and MVP.

Hall’s 93 points (39 goals, 54 assists) in 76 games were 41 more than his nearest teammate (Nico Hischier), the largest difference by a team’s top two scorers in 10 years.

The Avalanche only scored nine more goals than the Devils (257-248), so maybe MacKinnon was penalized by some because linemate Mikko Rantanen had a career high 84 points; he had 38 as a rookie.

I guess MacKinnon didn't have much to do with the improvement.

I was born and raised in New Jersey, and I've always believed there’s plenty of East Coast bias when it comes to voting for postseason awards in all sports.

The results are supposed to be made public, so it’ll be interesting to see just who voted for each guy from each city.

PHWA voters did make MacKinnon the NHL's Second All-Star team center (behind McDavid). He's the first Avalanche player to be selected since goalie Semyon Varlamov was a second teamer in 2013-14 when he was a Vezina Trophy finalist.

Which leads me to the Jack Adams Award. As expected, league broadcasters made Vegas’ Gerard Gallant the runaway winner as Coach of the Year with 525 points (102 first-place votes, five for second).

But the Avalanche’s Jared Bednar finished third behind Boston’s Bruce Cassidy 153-114. Really? After what Colorado did this season? Bednar had more first-place votes (4-2), but Cassidy had more second- (40-25) and third-place votes (25-19); 19 more broadcasters named Cassidy on a ballot than they did for Bednar.

Well, the Avalanche’s Joe Sakic did garner one first-place vote for general manager of the year, which went to Vegas’ George McPhee.

Gerard Gallant was the clear leader among Jack Adams Award finalists with 102 first-place votes. #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/lK8qpWdiUv

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 21, 2018

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