Selke Trophy (Patrice Bergeron, Anze Kopitar, Johnathan Towes)
In a season where these three finalists all solidified their rankings as some of the best players in hockey, who wins the Selke Trophy this year will be decided by a very close margin. Anze Kopitar ranked 4th in the league in plus minus this season with a score of +34 while Johnathan Towes played out of his mind in Chicago, scoring 28 goals and winning 57.2% of his face offs. The only man better than him in either mentioned category was Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron had perhaps the best season of his career in 2014, winning 58.6% of his face-offs and scoreing 30 goals. Bergeron played the most games of any player nominated for this award and retained the hard skating, selfless style of play this season that made him great in years past.
Patrice Bergeron is my pick to win the Selke Trophy awarded to the best defensive forward in the NHL.
Calder Trophy (Tyler Johnson, Nathan McKinnon, Ondrej Palat)
Unfortunately for Johnson and Palat, Nathan McKinnon is the clear cut favorite to win this trophy. While Johnson and Palat both scored 20+ goals this season, McKinnon was sunning for Colorado especially at the beginning of the season. Last year's number one draft pick scored 26 goals in 2014, cracking 63 points and logging 5 game winning goals.
Nathan McKinnon is my pick to win the Calder Trophy awarded to the best rookie in the NHL.
Vezina Trophy (Tuukka Rask, Ben Bishop, Semyon Varlamov)
In the early months of the season Tuukka Rask was almost guaranteed to win the Vezina Trophy. However, as the season went on the work of Ben Bishop increased in quality and the work of Tuukka Rask decreased. While Rask played more games than pretty much any goalie in hockey this year, his stunning sub 2.5 GAA, 6 shutouts and .930 save percentage were all achieved with the help of a defense that included both Selke and Norris Trophy nominated players. Ben Bishop however, played on a team in Tampa that lacked much defensive talent whatsoever. Still however, Bishop logged a GAA of 2.23, a save percentage of .923 as well as smacking together 5 shutouts.
Regardless through, my pick for this year’s Vezina Trophy awarded to the league's best goaltender is Tuukka Rask.
Norris Trophy (Zdeno Chara, Duncan Keith, Shea Weber)
I’m sorry Boston fans, in this his 6th Norris Trophy nomination, Zdeno Chara will not win the coveted prize for defenders. Frankly the big man was flat in 2014, lacking speed as well as his normal hard hitting dominance. Who did not was Blakchawks blue liner, Duncan Keith. Keith was a +22 this season assisting on 55 goals in 79 games played.
For these reasons, Duncan Keith is my pick to win the Norris Trophy awarded to the NHL's best defender.
Adams Trophy (Patrick Roy, Mike Babcock, Jon Cooper)
In what has now become an annual occurrence Mike Babcock is once again nominated for the Adams Trophy. He will not win though. That job will be done by the fiery Patrick Roy who caught our attention with his outburst in the first game of the year and the kept it by guiding the Avalanche into the playoffs for the first time in years. Roy's dominance this season was one of the best every by a rookie coach.
For the reasons stated above, my pick to win the Adams Trophy for best NHL coach is Patrick Roy.
Hart Trophy (Sidney Crosby, Claude Giroux, Ryan Getslav)
Frankly the pure existence of a Sidney Crosby nomination is pathetic. He lacks leadership and in my opinion did not even match the on ice output of say James Neal this season in Pittsburgh. Though he is favored in media polls to win this award, he does not deserve it. Who does deserve it is the Anaheim cornerstone that is Ryan Getslav. Getzslav scored 31 goals this season, playing 77 games and logging a points total (83) that ranked second among all NHL players. He led the Ducks to one of their best regular season records in this decade and played with poise and leadership all year round.
Ryan Getzlav is my pick to win this years Hart Trophy presented to the NHL's move valuable player.
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