Norris (best defenseman)
Lage: Mackinnon. It’s time for the superstar to win the award. Five times he has finished in the top six, and he has crushed his career highs in goals, assists and points for one of the NHL’S best teams.
Wawrow: Matthews. There have been only 14 times a player has scored 70 goals in a season, and none since Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne had 76 apiece in 199293. Matthews simply approaching that number and representing 23.4% of his team’s goal total is too hard to overlook.
Whyno: Kucherov. While Mackinnon winning would add an important honor to his career, Kucherov has 53 more points than his next-closest teammate.
Lage: Quinn Hughes. Vancouver has had a stunning turnaround and the 24-year-old has had a lot to do with it. The Canucks have been able to count on the durable defenseman being in the lineup and producing, more than doubling his previous career high in goals.
Wawrow: Hughes. Sure, the Predators don’t come close to making the playoffs without Roman Josi. But, the Canucks don’t go from missing the playoffs by 12 points last year to winning the Pacific Division without Hughes.
Whyno: Roman Josi. The Predators’ late 160-2 run was a reflection of Josi’s monster play as a point-a-game player.
Lage: Connor Bedard. The No. 1 overall pick in the draft lived up to the hype, averaging roughly a point a game despite teams trying to shut him down while playing for Chicago, one of the worst teams in the league.
Wawrow: Bedard. Whatever questions faced the 5-foot-10, 185-pound, 18-year-old forward were answered in a season he led all rookies in points despite missing six weeks with a broken jaw.
Whyno: Brock Faber. While Bedard has yet to play a meaningful game because the Blackhawks are far from contention, Faber skated 25 minutes a night for Minnesota as the Wild tried to make the playoffs. That’s sixth among all players, and he has 46 points.
Lage: Aleksander Barkov. The 2021 winner has finished among the top eight in voting six times. The two-way player was among league leaders in plus-minus and averaged more than a point per game for Florida, suiting up in 73 of 82.
Wawrow: Jordan Staal. Carolina has overcome a rash of goaltender injuries, and Staal’s defensiveminded play contributed to the Hurricanes ranking among the NHL’S top five in goals against.
Whyno: Staal. The Hurricanes captain has yet to win the Selke, and no better time than now given his central role in anchoring Carolina’s shutdown line and winning 58.1% of his faceoffs.
Vezina (best goalie)
Lage: Connor Hellebuyck. The 2020 winner has been spectacular this season. Hellebuyck gave up fewer than 2.50 goals a game to lift Winnipeg to a 100-point season for the first time since 2018, when the Jets reached the conference final for the first and only time in franchise history.
Wawrow: Hellebuyck. The 30-year-old from Michigan gets the nod ahead of Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky for a few reasons, including enjoying 36 starts in which he allowed
Lage: Patrick Kane. The 35-year-old winger revived his career with Detroit, bouncing back from hip surgery. The threetime Cup champion and 2016 MVP was kind with everyone he crossed paths with, though goaltenders didn’t love that he still has quick hands and a slick shot.
Wawrow: Jaccob Slavin. The Hurricanes defenseman has single-digit penalty minutes despite logging nearly 21 minutes of ice time per game and in a rough-and-tumble division.
Whyno: Slavin previously won this award in 2021, and he deserves it again based on the defensive matchups he is tasked with, taking just four minor penalties in 81 games.