NHL Awards!

It's the evening before the NHL Awards, one of the last highlights of the summer on the hockey-front of things. I got to see them two years ago when they had that one kid wearing a Lindstrom jersey when Lidstrom won his sixth Norris, but I missed it last year.

This year, however, I have made sure that I'm not working so I can enjoy one last look at all the hockey players before I try to shut them out of my mind for the majority of July and attempt to suffer through the four long months without hockey. Every year, I wonder how I make it through and every year, it seems to get longer. Ugh. At least the weather's nice so I'm not stuck inside.

Anyway, this is my prediction post about who I think will win the awards tonight. you can tell me I'm crazy, that's fine. I'm pretty sure I'm crazy anyway.

VEZINA TROPHY
Candidates: Ryan Miller, Martin Brodeur, Ilya Bryzgalov
Who I think will win: Ilya Bryzgalov. He's one of the main reasons why Phoenix was so good this year.
Who I want to win: Ryan Miller. He's a strong, key player for Buffalo. And he's awesome.
If Brodeur wins, that would really surprise me, but I wouldn't be super upset. I don't mind Brodeur.

FRANK J. SELKE TROPHY
Candidates: Pavel Datsyuk, Ryan Kesler, Jordan Staal.
Who I think will win: Pavel Datsyuk. Look at his competition. In my mind, they don't pose big threats. He should have this one in the bag.
Who I want to win: I'd be an idiot if I didn't say Datsyuk. Why wouldn't I?

LADY BYNG MEMORIAL TROPHY
Candidates: Pavel Datsyuk, Brad Richards, Martin St Louis
Who I think will win: Honestly? I don't know. I don't think Datsyuk's play was as Lady Byng-like as he usually is this year, so I can see him missing out.
Who I want to win: Datsyuk. Five Lady Byngs in a row would be freaking sweet. And a record. He's currently tied with Frank Boucher, who won it four times in a row from 1927 to 1931.

CALDER MEMORIAL TROPHY
Candidates: Jimmy Howard, Matt Duchene, Tyler Myers
Who I think will win: Tyler Myers. He was another big reason why Buffalo was a force to be reckoned with.
Who I want to win: Jimmy Howard. That would be amazing if he won. I would be shocked, honestly. I might even cry. The one thing keeping him from winning this? Shutouts. Look at the past goaltenders who have won this and the amount of shutouts they had their rookie season: Nabokov had six when he won in 2001, Mason had ten. Jimmy has two.
But you can argue the other way: when Brodeur won it back in 1864, he only had three shutouts. We'll see, eh?

JAMES NORRIS MEMORIAL TROPHY
Candidates: Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Duncan Keith
Who I think will win: Duncan Keith. Anyone else hope he's still missing his seven teeth so we can see him struggle to say "Norris"? Or that he'll try to be like GOB and get around it. "One condition and one term!" [/Arrested Development reference].
Who I want to win: Nicklas Lidstrom. I think it would be awesome if they just decided to give it to him since he did have a great second half of the season.

MASTERTON TROPHY
Candidates: Kurtis Foster, Jed Ortmeyer, Jose Theodore
Who I think will win: Not Theodore. Brought to my attention by a comment from Andy, I somehow missed out on the fact that Theodore lost his kid [apparently I was more focused on the Theodore vs Varlamov aspect of things and was all, "Pff, why is he nominated?" Totally my bad. Feel free to kick me.]. So I retract my statement and say that yeah, he probably will win.
Who I want to win: I don't really care.

JACK ADAMS AWARD
Candidates: Joe Sacco, Barry Trotz, Dave Tippett
Who I think will win: Dave Tippett. Look what he did with Phoenix. You can't tell me he shouldn't win it.
Who I want to win: Mike Babcock. Look what he did with a half-mutilated Detroit team. you can't tell me he shouldn't win it! ...Wait, he's not a candidate? Damn...

TED LINDSAY AWARD
Candidates: Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Henrik Sedin.
Who I think will win: Henrik Sedin.
Who I want to win: Sedin.

HART MEMORIAL TROPHY
Candidates: Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Henrik Sedin.
Who I think will win: Henrik Sedin. Hands down.
Who I want to win: Anyone but Crosby. I just don't think he deserves the award this year. That goes for Ovie, too (but at least I like him).

And there are my predictions for the awards. Let's hope they're halfway on the mark so I don't look too crazy.