Too soon to pick NHL award winners
Ballots shouldn’t have been recorded until after play-in series are contested
The NHL season is set to resume sometime next month or in early August. And when it does, I’ll have a vested interest in who advances past the round of 24.
I’m cheering for Edmonton to beat Chicago, and for Vancouver to beat Minnesota. I want Winnipeg to advance past Calgary in their play-in series, or at the very least, for it to be a low-scoring affair. It would also help if Nashville were to defeat Arizona and for the Rangers to lose to Carolina.
This isn’t about Canadian pride. It’s about me not looking like a fool.
On Monday, I submitted my ballot for the NHL awards. This was the 15th year of voting. And it was by far the strangest — and most difficult — of any year.
It was difficult because the races were so tight. The Calder Trophy was a coin flip. The Norris Trophy came down to whether you valued offence or defence more in a defenceman.
As for the Hart Trophy, Leon Draisaitl was my top pick, but after that I could have come up with five or six other names that were just as worthy.
The biggest difficulty, however, was the timing of it all.
I don’t remember the last time hockey was played. The calendar says it was three months ago, but it feels more like a year has gone by since I saw any of these players in action. Now that the season is resuming, with a first round of playoffs that’s technically not the playoffs, but also not a regular season, I’m even more confused.
The season is officially over. But there are still games to be played before the playoffs technically begin. Those games aren’t regular-season games.
And they’re not playoff games. In terms of statistics, they won’t count. And yet, when deciding who was MVP of the league this season, they really should count.
I picked Draisaitl to win the Hart Trophy because he was instrumental to Edmonton’s success this year. Without him and his 43 goals and 110 points, the Oilers would not be where they are today. But as of today, the Oilers still aren’t a playoff team. And if they lose to the Blackhawks and end up missing the actual playoffs, I’d rather switch my vote over to Colorado’s Nathan Mackinnon or Boston’s David Pastrnak.
Heck, Artemi Panarin might even be more worthy of winning if the New York Rangers end up advancing.
The awards — and writers vote only on the Hart, Norris, Calder, Selke, Lady Byng, as well as the first- and second-team all-stars — are a reflection of how a player and his team performed during the regular season. The playoffs aren’t supposed to matter. It’s why Nikita Kucherov won the Hart Trophy last year, despite Tampa Bay getting swept in the first round.
But these play-in games matter. They’ll determine who gets into the actual playoffs, and who had a regular season worth celebrating. It’s why the NHL should have waited until after the play-in series before anyone submitted his or her ballot.
It’s not a good look when a player who is deemed “most valuable to his team” gets swept in the first round of the playoffs. It’s even worse when that player doesn’t even lead his team into the playoffs.
Connor Mcdavid essentially lost out on winning the Hart Trophy two years ago because Edmonton wasn’t a playoff team. This year, despite having the second-best record in the Pacific Division, the Oilers technically still aren’t a playoff team. At least, not yet.
So what happens if the Oilers lose to the Blackhawks and don’t make the actual playoffs?
And what happens if the Rangers advance past the Hurricanes?
Can Draisaitl or Mcdavid really be considered more “valuable” than Mackinnon or Panarin?
Would you still cast a vote for Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes over Colorado’s Cale Makar if the Canucks don’t get past the Wild? What if Connor Hellebuyck gets shelled in a play-in series against Calgary and the Jets don’t advance?
The argument against including the play-in series as a barometer is that so much time has elapsed since players were last on the ice. The MVP from three months ago might not be at an MVP level when the league resumes. That’s fair.
Then again, if there ever was a year when the NHL should have included at least the first round of the post-season or whatever you want to call it, this is it. Everyone who is in contention for a major award is among the 24 teams still competing for the Stanley Cup.