The Awards Go To

from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail, This year, there are half-a-dozen legitimate defensible candidates for the Vezina, the Norris and the Jack Adams, a year in which there is little to separate the top goaltenders, defencemen and coaches. Voters are asked to select five and the NHL unveils the top three finalists during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

So without further preamble, a look at how the 2012 award season may unfold:

Hart Trophy (“to the player adjudged to be most valuable to his team”)

Winner: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins. Runners-up: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning.

Lundqvist is the most valuable player on the most surprising team in the NHL, the Rangers, who’ve crept up from a mediocre 93-point season a year ago to contending for the President’s Trophy as the No. 1 team in the league. Stamkos has a chance to be the first 60-goal scorer since Alex Ovechkin in 2007-08 and only the second since Jaromir Jagr did in 1995-96. The fact that no one in Tampa could stop the puck when it mattered could hardly be blamed on Stamkos. But Malkin soared during another year when the Penguins’ core players – from Sidney Crosby to Jordan Staal to Kris Letang and – all spent significant time on the sidelines. Malkin never seems to be the same force when Crosby’s in the lineup, but it says something about his ability to raise his game and be most valuable to his team when it matters most.

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Source: http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/the_awards_go_to/

Colin Curtis Kevin Russo Curtis Granderson Nick Johnson Javier Lopez Alex Hinshaw