NHL Awards Watch: Who's leading for Hart, Norris, Calder?

[The Arrogant Worms]

https://www.espn.com/nhl/insider/insider/story/_/id/38826909/nhl-awards-ranking-ballots-hart-norris-calder-vezina-selke

 

The possibility exists for a Hughes brothers sweep in the 2023-24 NHL Awards.

 

"Possible" does not mean "probable." But based on our survey of awards voters, two of the Hughes boys have a significant lead for NHL Awards after the first month of the season.

 

Youngest brother Luke has some work to do.

 

Let's say that Jack Hughes wins the Hart Trophy and Quinn Hughes wins the Norris Trophy.

 

That would mark the third time a pair of brothers won NHL awards for on-ice achievement in the same season.

[PhillipBlunt]

Pettersson - Hart

Hughes - Norris

Miller - Selke

Demko - Vezina

[Jess]

Honestly, Hughes might be the current front-runner for the Norris, but he'll cool off from his 119-point pace I suspect.

Petey is not at all a bad Hart pick given his defensive game, but the assistance he also gets from Hughes and Miller might lessen the amount he "carries" this team. He's probably a better pick for the Ted Lindsay than the Hart right now, which I personally think is equally, if not more impressive an award.

 

With his shutout vs the Stars, I think Demko is probably currently in 1st for the Vezina as well.

 

Petey also has a good shot at the Lady Byng and of course, Tocchet for the Jack Adams. Could be a lot of hardware coming home this year.

[Diamonds]

I believe the Espositos were the only brothers that have won on-ice awards in the same season. I didn't realize they did it 3 times though. The Hughes' definitely have the potential to be up there with the Espositos and Richards as the best brothers of all time.

[Iron Man]

Other awards where we may get serious consideration: Petey and/or Miller for Selke, Petey for Lady Byng (0 PIM so far), Petey for Art Ross, Demko for Jennings. It would be nice to clean house on top of winning the cup, but we still got a long way to go.

[Miss Korea]

Remember to eat 3 times a day and you end up like these guys

 

  

[Coconuts]

32 minutes ago, Miss Korea said:

Remember to eat 3 times a day and you end up like these guys

 

  

 

The real winners are their parents 

[Coconuts]

2 hours ago, -AJ- said:

Honestly, Hughes might be the current front-runner for the Norris, but he'll cool off from his 119-point pace I suspect.

Petey is not at all a bad Hart pick given his defensive game, but the assistance he also gets from Hughes and Miller might lessen the amount he "carries" this team. He's probably a better pick for the Ted Lindsay than the Hart right now, which I personally think is equally, if not more impressive an award.

 

With his shutout vs the Stars, I think Demko is probably currently in 1st for the Vezina as well.

 

Petey also has a good shot at the Lady Byng and of course, Tocchet for the Jack Adams. Could be a lot of hardware coming home this year.

 

Hughes could very be in the mix, but it's very early. Other top in D like Makar, Heiskanen, and so on will have their big games as well. Very impressive start by Hughes though, no question.

 

I think the interesting one is the Art Ross, McDavid hasn't been his typical self which opens up the possibility that someone else may have a chance. Although he could roar back with a dominant stretch, season is still young. 

 

Pettersson could have a chance at the Ted Lindsay and Lady Byng, I'm not sure who I'd peg for Hart though. Lot of season left for that race to develop. Pettersson should also be in the mix for a Selke. He could be in the mix for a lot of hardware, which will only drive up his next contract.

 

Vezina is a weird one, but if Demko can keep it up he'll have a shot. Adin Hill is backstopping a currently dominant looking Vegas squad, he could also be in the mix. Otter is off to a good start in Dallas. Talbot is doing really well in LA. Georgiev in Colorado. All the tenders on the top western teams should have a shot imo. 

 

Shesterkin has won a Vezina and the Rags lead their division, both Ullmark and Swayman have sparkling stats. Can't count out Sorokin considering how much the Isles rely on him. It's a wide net of tenders but Demko is certainly one of them.

 

Not sure about Tocchet, hard to bet against Bruce Cassidy at this point in the season. No cup hangover for Vegas. Jim Montgomery too considering who the Bruins lost during the offseason. 

 

 

[Jess]

2 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

 

Hughes could very be in the mix, but it's very early. Other top in D like Makar, Heiskanen, and so on will have their big games as well. Very impressive start by Hughes though, no question.

 

I think the interesting one is the Art Ross, McDavid hasn't been his typical self which opens up the possibility that someone else may have a chance. Although he could roar back with a dominant stretch, season is still young. 

 

Pettersson could have a chance at the Ted Lindsay and Lady Byng, I'm not sure who I'd peg for Hart though. Lot of season left for that race to develop. Pettersson should also be in the mix for a Selke. He could be in the mix for a lot of hardware, which will only drive up his next contract.

 

Vezina is a weird one, but if Demko can keep it up he'll have a shot. Adin Hill is backstopping a currently dominant looking Vegas squad, he could also be in the mix. Otter is off to a good start in Dallas. Talbot is doing really well in LA. Georgiev in Colorado. All the tenders on the top western teams should have a shot imo. 

 

Shesterkin has won a Vezina and the Rags lead their division, both Ullmark and Swayman have sparkling stats. Can't count out Sorokin considering how much the Isles rely on him. It's a wide net of tenders but Demko is certainly one of them.

 

Not sure about Tocchet, hard to bet against Bruce Cassidy at this point in the season. No cup hangover for Vegas. Jim Montgomery too considering who the Bruins lost during the offseason. 

 

 

 

Yeah, I haven't looked at the stats, but Petey's main hangups defensively last year were face-offs and the PK. I don't know his specific stats on the PK, but as a team, we're at least average, so that likely means he's improved there. He's currently up to 48.4% in face-off percentage, which still isn't great, but a massive improvement. It might be enough to at least land him top 5, and knowing how much voters seem to weirdly like offense for the Selke, maybe he'd even be a finalist at this rate.

 

An interesting thought on the Jack Adams is that I think the award might go too much to the most improved team. It's a bit weird that teams that just remain dominant over the years don't seem to be recognized for Jack Adams consideration very often. Still, Tocchet's impact has been obvious to anyone who's watched the team, so he had to be in consideration at least, but maybe alongside others with strong teams.

[Coconuts]

1 minute ago, -AJ- said:

 

Yeah, I haven't looked at the stats, but Petey's main hangups defensively last year were face-offs and the PK. I don't know his specific stats on the PK, but as a team, we're at least average, so that likely means he's improved there. He's currently up to 48.4% in face-off percentage, which still isn't great, but a massive improvement. It might be enough to at least land him top 5, and knowing how much voters seem to weirdly like offense for the Selke, maybe he'd even be a finalist at this rate.

 

If Pettersson can top 100 points, and there's a good chance he does while having even respectable defensive metrics I think he'd have a shot. Selke race is really going to be interesting.

 

Barkov should be in the mix, Kopitar should be too. O'Reilly is off to a good start in Nashville. Maybe Hichier if he can turn it around. Stone out of Vegas. 

 

With Bergeron out of the picture it's finally up for grabs again. 

[Jess]

7 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

 

If Pettersson can top 100 points, and there's a good chance he does while having even respectable defensive metrics I think he'd have a shot. Selke race is really going to be interesting.

 

Barkov should be in the mix, Kopitar should be too. O'Reilly is off to a good start in Nashville. Maybe Hichier if he can turn it around. Stone out of Vegas. 

 

With Bergeron out of the picture it's finally up for grabs again. 

 

Yeah, Marner has also traditionally been very high up and I think was 3rd last year, finally getting the respect he deserves on the defensive end. Others like Hagel and Stephenson have also been high up on my list, though not as high on the lists of voters. I had Petey probably in the 10-15 range last year, but I see him probably comfortably in my top 10 this year. I've noticed that others actually rate him higher than I do for the Selke though, maybe because I value offense less than I think most voters do.

[Coconuts]

13 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

 

Yeah, Marner has also traditionally been very high up and I think was 3rd last year, finally getting the respect he deserves on the defensive end. Others like Hagel and Stephenson have also been high up on my list, though not as high on the lists of voters. I had Petey probably in the 10-15 range last year, but I see him probably comfortably in my top 10 this year. I've noticed that others actually rate him higher than I do for the Selke though, maybe because I value offense less than I think most voters do.

 

It's a good point, because I think offense sways the Selke less than it does the Norris. But yeah, dunno how I forgot to mention Marner. Hagel has been very good for Tampa. 

[Jess]

18 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

 

It's a good point, because I think offense sways the Selke less than it does the Norris. But yeah, dunno how I forgot to mention Marner. Hagel has been very good for Tampa. 

 

Yeah offense defenitely sways both, but I am seeing a bit of a small trend of more voters focusing more on defensive metrics for the Selke and less on points, which in my opinion, is good to see. The Norris is an all-encompassing award, so offense should be valued, but it probably still is valued to highly and definitely in the case of last year, when a defensively mediocre Karlsson won the award (I think I had him ranked 10th or 11th).

[Coconuts]

5 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

 

Yeah offense defenitely sways both, but I am seeing a bit of a small trend of more voters focusing more on defensive metrics for the Selke and less on points, which in my opinion, is good to see. The Norris is an all-encompassing award, so offense should be valued, but it probably still is valued to highly and definitely in the case of last year, when a defensively mediocre Karlsson won the award (I think I had him ranked 10th or 11th).

 

I still believe the NHL would be better off having 2-3 different trophies for D. Even goaltenders get two. 

[Jess]

4 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

 

I still believe the NHL would be better off having 2-3 different trophies for D. Even goaltenders get two. 

 

Agreed. You might get the same guy winning at least two of the awards, but a defensive D award at least would be nice. Maybe an offensive D one too. Would be very interesting if we had a guy who won the Norris, but neither the offensive nor defensive D award.

[Coconuts]

4 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

 

Agreed. You might get the same guy winning at least two of the awards, but a defensive D award at least would be nice. Maybe an offensive D one too. Would be very interesting if we had a guy who won the Norris, but neither the offensive nor defensive D award.

 

I'd see Norris as best overall

 

But awards for defensive and offensive metrics are worth consideration 

 

Hell, make an assist trophy exclusively for D, maybe a goals trophy too

 

I don't see why forwards should get all the fun