The NHL season is approaching the halfway mark already, which is crazy to think about because it feels like the season just started, but here we are. We’ve seen some incredible plays from dominant players. From Nathan MacKinnon leading the NHL in points to Leon Draisaitl leading in goals, the NHL has become a star-driven league.
I will be including the Hart, Rocket Richard, Art Ross, Norris, Calder and Vezina Trophies and Jack Adams Award. Anyway, let’s hop right into who I think will bring home an award come June!
All percentile analytics that I’m about to present to you are all taken from evolvinghockey.com
Hart Trophy – Nathan Mackinnon
The Hart Trophy is handed out to the player that the league thinks is the Most Valuable Player (MVP). Over the last few seasons, it has become an award that gets won if you are within the top five in point scoring on one of the best teams in the league. With that logic, I picked MacKinnon to win back-to-back years. If it was all about the “Most Valuable Player” then I’d certainly give it to Kirill Kaprizov but that’s just not the case.
MacKinnon currently leads the NHL in points with 66, which is seven more than Draisaitl who is currently in the second spot. He is in the 88th percentile in offense which is a step down from last season but by the eye test and other analytics, he is the league’s MVP. The Avalanche lack a ton of depth and have dealt with a lot of injuries as well, which means guys like MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen have had to step up and all three of them have, especially MacKinnon. So far this season, he has earned the Hart Trophy.
Rocket Richard Trophy – Leon Draisaitl
The Rocket Richard is given out to the player who scored the most goals during the regular season. There are a few players that could realistically snag this trophy from Leon Draisaitl, but he’s been on a tear in the goal-scoring department. In his last 15 games, he has scored a goal in 10 of those games and has scored a total of 12 goals during that stretch.
Draisaitl is currently on pace for 61 goals. With Auston Matthews battling the same injury almost all season and missing some time due to the injury, this is a prime opportunity to win the Rocket. Draisaitl currently sits in the 99th percentile in offense. No one has been able to stop him from putting the puck in the back of the net, and I highly doubt anyone will anytime soon.
Art Ross Trophy – Nathan MacKinnon
The Art Ross Trophy is presented to the player who ends the regular season with the most points in the league. There will be no one, not even Draisaitl or McDavid that will catch up to MacKinnon in the point race. As I mentioned earlier in the article, MacKinnon has 66 points. His current point pace is 130.
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MacKinnon has recorded at least a point in every game except eight games. That is completely absurd. He had a point streak of 13 (to start the season) and just got his nine-game point streak broken. His point total might be lower than last season when he won multiple awards, but no one has seemed to stop him and if no one has now, I doubt anyone will for the rest of the season. He can take over a game in the blink of an eye and can record multiple points within minutes of game time.
Norris Trophy – Cale Makar
The Norris Trophy is presented to the best overall defenseman in the NHL. Lately, though, it has been given to one of the top-scoring defensemen, mainly because every season, more and more offensive/puck-moving defensemen keep showing up in the league, so it kind of makes sense. At this point of the season, Cale Makar has 49 points in 42 games played and is on pace for 98 points.
Not only is he going to set a career-high in points, which he set last season, but he also is one of the best two-way defensemen in the league. He ranks in the 88th percentile in offense and 90th percentile in defense. He is the definition of the award. Makar can take over games just like his teammate in MacKinnon, except Makar doing it as a defenseman is slightly more impressive.
Calder Trophy – Macklin Celebrini
The Calder Trophy is presented to the most outstanding rookie during the regular season. There are about three other guys who have a shot at this award and it’s going to be a tight race the rest of the way, but I have been leaning toward Macklin Celebrini. He missed some time earlier in the season due to a lower-body injury, which makes his rookie point total even more impressive.
He has recorded 28 points in 31 games played as he sits just under a point per game. Ultimately, I picked him over the other rookies because of what he has done in San Jose. Putting up the stats he has and looking phenomenal doing it as well. He ranks in the 74th percentile in offense. Everyone was talking about how Connor Bedard played during his rookie season, well Celebrini has generated more offense, as Bedard only ranked in the 67th percentile in offense during his rookie year last season.
Vezina Trophy – Connor Hellebuyck
The Vezina Trophy is awarded to the best goaltender in the NHL. Connor Hellebuyck has seemingly blown every other goaltender out of the water as he leads the league with a 2.09 goals-against average (GAA) and is second in save percentage (SV%) with a .926. He also leads the league in shutouts (five) and wins (24). At this point of the season, he should be the unanimous Vezina favorite although, other netminders that have a shot are Filip Gustavsson and Linus Ullmark.
Hellebuyck is on track to win his third Vezina and win it back-to-back seasons. If he can play like this in the playoffs, the Winnipeg Jets should be one of the favorites out of the Western Conference. That is how good he is during the regular season. Hellebuyck cannot let his prime go to waste as the Jets only go as far as he takes them.
Jack Adams Award – Spencer Carbery
The Jack Adams Award is presented to the best coach in the NHL. I have Spencer Carbery winning it, but it was close between him and Minnesota Wild head coach, John Hynes. I thought maybe Carbery should have won the award last season after taking the Capitals to the playoffs. But now this season, he has the team sitting first in the Eastern Conference with 58 points.
Sure, coming into the season they were considered a “fringe playoff team”, but no one had them as the best team in the entire league, and if you did, well props to you. Over the last couple seasons, Carbery has done a phenomenal job with this Capitals team, and he finally deserves the love of being one of the best coaches in the league.
There you guys have it, my midseason award picks. Comment what award picks you agree or disagree with!
