Lady Byng and Selke

Awards!

  It's time for the first pair of awards to be handed out.  We're starting with the Lady Byng and Selke.  This week we pay tribute to our most defensive and timid players respectively.  Here are the nominees.

The Selke - Awarded to the player who best excels in the defensive aspect of the game.

Criteria to qualify:

OVER 50% FACEOFF WIN% WITH OVER 1500 FACEOFFS TAKEN

POSITIVE +/-

OVER 3:30 SHORT HANDED TIME OF ICE/GAME

OVER 18:00 TIME OF ICE/GAME

DOUBLE DIGIT SHOTS BLOCKED

DOUBLE DIGIT HITS

Nominees:

Nico Hichier – Hurricanes. He went 56% in the faceoff circle and finished a +27.  He averaged just shy of four minutes of shorthanded time per game and accumulated 19 blocked shots and 25 hits while doing it.

Sean Couturier – Oilers.  Couturier was an impressive 59% in the faceoff circle.  He finished a +25 while eating up over 21 minutes a game including just under four minutes on the penalty kill.  He blocked 15 shots and threw his body around recording 91 hits.

Ryan O’Reilly – Blues.  Likely the favorite for this award, O’Reilly finished the season with a 61% win percentage in the faceoff circle.  He played more minutes than any other nominee at over 23 minutes per game.  He blocked 23 shots and threw 139 hits.  His +/- sits at just plus three.  That stat could cost him the award.

Lady Byng Trophy – Presented to the player who best exemplifies sportsmanship while maintaining a high level of play.

Criteria to qualify:

Be nice.

Nominees:

Nate Schmidt – Montreal Canadiens.  Schmidt was a welcome surprise for the Habs.  He was never expected to carry the load on the top pairing alongside Shea Weber.  But he did, posting 63 points in 80 games while only taking three minor penalties the entire season.  He has three points with zero penalty minutes after the first round of the playoffs.

Connor Brown – Vancouver Canucks.  Despite a less than stellar playoff performance, there is no denying the value a player like Brown can bring to a team.  He scored 29 goals and had a shooting percentage over 15%.  Two minutes.  That’s how much time he spent in a penalty box this season.  Two whole minutes.  He also produced a 58 point season averaging only 11:44 time of ice per game.

Tyler Bozak – St-Louis Blues.  Bozak didn’t play as much this season and still put up a respectable 28 points.  If anyone should win the Lady Bing it’s a player who played like a lady all season long.  Bozak is so nice he didn’t even take one penalty this season.  Not even one accidental trip or a dive.  No head butts, no finger biting.  At one point this year Bozak was observed apologizing to his stick for gripping it too tightly.

  So go ahead and vote but remember that you can't vote for yourself.  Have fun this summer and get ready for a thrilling season of fantasy hockey coming up in only a few short months.