Hart and Norris Awards

Rocket Richard Award:  Leon Draisaitl

Lady Bing Award:  Nate Schmidt

Selke Award:  Seau Couturier

Vezina Award:  Marc-Andre Fleury

Calder Award:  Kirill Kaprizov

  Up next it's time to determine your league MVP as well as the best defense in the game.  The Hart and Norris trophies are up for grabs.  It's tough to win without a stud on the blue line or a player you can always count on night after night.  Here are the nominees for your consideration:

Hart Trophy – Awarded to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team.

Criteria to qualify:

Carry the team on your shoulders.

Nominees:

Marc-Andre Fleury – Colorado Avalanche.  It isn’t surprising that a team as stacked as Kirk’s had a good season but the play of Marc-Andre Fleury made the Avs almost unbeatable all season long.  With a save percentage of 90.99% and a 2.52 GAA Fleury managed to win 51 of the 65 games he played this season.

Leon Draisaitl – Carolina Hurricanes.  Draisiatl finished with 27 points more than his nearest teammate with fewer games played (76).  He was a beast logging in over 23 minutes per game.  Passing and scoring at an even rate, Leon racked up 63 goals and 126 points this season and continued to tear up the league in the playoffs.  He amassed 40 points in 19 playoff games and should be given most of the credit for the Hurricanes taking down a dangerous Rangers team.

Aaron Ekblad – Florida Panthers.  Ekblad led his team in scoring finishing with 115 points as a defenseman.  That’s only 11 points behind Draisaitl and an incredible accomplishment.  And he’s not all offense, 135 blocked shots, only 70 penalty minutes and 110 hits.  Averaging over 26 minutes per game with the team’s highest shooting percentage, Ekblad gave the Panthers the edge on most nights.  He put up five points in six games in their team’s first round playoff loss to Montreal.

Norris Trophy – Awarded to the defense who demonstrates the best all-around ability in the position.

Criteria:

Everything.

Nominees:

Aaron Ekblad – Florida Panthers.  As mentioned above, Ekblad was huge this season recording 39 goals.  Points, goals, ice time, shots or shooting percentage, Ekblad is the man.  The only knock on him would be his 70 penalty minutes.

Adam Fox – New York Rangers.  What a pleasant treat Fox was for the Rangers this season.  Not only did he lead his team in scoring (97 points), he did it whilst recording only 24 penalty minutes.  He was a beast in the Rangers first round loss to Carolina recording 8 points in 7 games.  Fox finished the regular season with 144 blocked shots.

Tyson Barrie – Colorado Avalanche.  Barrie finished third in team scoring behind McKinnon and McDavid.  That means his 98 points had him finishing above Ovechkin, Marchand, Pastrnak, Larsson, Bergeron and Boeser from the same Avs team.  The list goes on but it is too discouraging to continue.  Barrie averaged over 25 minutes on the ice.  He finished with a plus 52 rating, 94 hits and only 24 penalty minutes.  His production dipped a little with 13 points in 17 playoff games but he finished with five goals which is fantastic considering he ended the regular season with ten goals total.