The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

[AC]

Erik Karlsson won the Norris trophy.

Isn't it only starting now? I mean, it's obvious that he will, but was it on earlier?

Does anyone really care where I sent this from?

[thedudedominick]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

Isn't it only starting now? I mean, it's obvious that he will, but was it on earlier?

Does anyone really care where I sent this from?

Here in the US it started an hour earlier on NBCSports than it did in Canada.

[AC]

Here in the US it started an hour earlier on NBCSports than it did in Canada.

Don't spoil it!

Does anyone really care where I sent this from?

[RealmK]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

Erik Karlsson won the Norris trophy.

So ridiculous

[thedudedominick]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

So ridiculous

Clearly the voters decided Offense was more important than Defense in an award for the best DEFENSEman.

[AC]

Clearly the voters decided Offense was more important than Defense in an award for the best DEFENSEman.

You guys should talk to my cousin, a Sens fan. He's just so bad at defence! He doesn't deserve it one bit. I'm tempted to tell my Sens fan friends this, but they'd assault me.

Does anyone really care where I sent this from?

[RealmK]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

Clearly the voters decided Offense was more important than Defense in an award for the best DEFENSEman.

Which is why I called it ridiculous

[SidVish]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

Here are all of the winners tonight.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=6...id=DL|NHL|home

Spoiler

HART TROPHY

Winner: Evgeni Malkin

Malkin, the star Pittsburgh Penguins forward, beat out a loaded field to take the MVP award. Malkin reached 50 goals and topped 100 points (109) this season to carry the Penguins for long stretches -- especially through the injury-related absence of Sidney Crosby.

It was a performance deemed good enough by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association to put him ahead of goalie Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and Tampa bay's Steven Stamkos. Lundqvist won the Vezina for his dominance in goal and Stamkos scored a League-best 60 goals to take home the Maurice Richard Trophy.

VEZINA TROPHY

Winner: Henrik Lundqvist

Lundqvist, the Rangers goalie, finally took home the Vezina after an extended run as a runner-up for this award. This time, Lundqvist's 39-18 record with five shutouts and a 1.97 goals-against average and .930 save percentage was enough to earn him the nod as the League's top goalie.

Lundqvist beat out Nashville's Pekka Rinne and Jonathan Quick of the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings for the award, which is voted on by the League's 30 general managers.

LADY BYNG TROPHY

Winner: Brian Campbell

Campbell, the Florida Panthers defenseman, beat out Edmonton's Jordan Eberle and Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders for the Lady Byng, which is awarded to player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.

Campbell had four goals and 49 assists this season while playing in all 82 games during his first season with the Panthers. Despite logging the minutes of a No. 1 defender, Campbell only had six penalty minutes -- the second season in a row he was under 10 penalty minutes for the season.


MARK MESSIER LEADERSHIP AWARD

Winner: Shane Doan

Doan, the captain of the Phoenix Coyotes, earned the Messier Award for 2012 for his contributions in leading the Phoenix Coyotes past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in team history despite a number of distractions surrounding the team, including injuries to star players and questions about the immediate and long-term future of the franchise in Phoenix. Doan beat out Ryan Callahan of the New York Rangers and Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings.

The Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award presented by Bridgestone has been awarded since 2006-07 and is awarded "to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice during the regular season."

NHL FOUNDATION AWARD

Winner: Mike Fisher

Fisher, the Nashville Predator forward, beat out Toronto's John-Michael Liles and Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders for the NHL Foundation Award, which is awarded to the player "who applies the core values of hockey — commitment, perseverance and teamwork — to enrich the lives of people in his community."

KING CLANCY TROPHY

Winner: Daniel Alfredsson

Alfredsson, the veteran Ottawa forward, was awarded the Clancy Trophy for his leadership and contributions to the community. The award is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writesr' Association and the NHL Broadcasters' Association.

Alfredsson, the captain of the Senators since 1999, is a fixture in the Ottawa community and he has overseen the Senators latest rebuild on the ice, which culminated this season with a surprising qualification for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and a compelling seven-game showdown against the top-seeded New York Rangers.


MASTERTON TROPHY

Winner: Max Pacioretty

Pacioretty, the Montreal forward, issued one of the great comeback stories in hockey history during the 2011-12 season, scoring 33 goals and adding 32 assists less than a year after seeing his career put in jeopardy after a big hit from Boston's Zdeno Chara on March 8, 2011. Pacioretty suffered a fracture to the 4th cervical vertebra and a severe concussion.

Pacioretty beat out Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson and Toronto's Joffrey Lupul for the award, which is given by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.


SELKE TROPHY

Winner: Patrice Bergeron

The Bruins center beat out Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk and St. Louis' David Backes to win the Selke Trophy for the first time. It's the first time a Boston player has won the trophy since Steve Kasper in 1982. Bergeron had 64 points and was a plus-36 with just 20 penalty minutes, 67 blocked shots and 55 takeaways. He was on the ice for 66 goals for and just 34 goals against at even strength.

Also factoring into Bergeron's win was his success in the faceoff circle. He took 34.6 percent of Boston's faceoffs and won 59.3 percent of them, including a remarkable 53.5 percent in shorthanded situations. He led the Bruins forwards in shorthanded ice time with 1:48 per game.


EA SPORTS NHL 13 COVER ATHLETE

Winner: Claude Giroux

The Flyers center edged Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne in the fan vote to become the newest cover athlete for EA Sports popular NHL brand. Giroux, who was third in the NHL in scoring with 93 points, became one of the most popular athletes in Philadelphia this season due to his gritty, grinding, physical and skillful style.

This could also be a good sign for Giroux because the last three players to land on the cover (Patrick Kane in 2010, Jonathan Toews in 2011, and Steven Stamkos in 2012) all had huge seasons in the year they were on the cover. Kane and the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010.

The other Flyers to grace the cover were Rod Brind'Amour in 1992 and Eric Lindros in 1999.

GENERAL MANAGER OF THE YEAR


Winner: Doug Armstrong

The Blues' boss beat out Nashville's David Poile and Florida's Dale Tallon to become the third GM to win this award since it was introduced in 2010. Phoenix's Don Maloney and Vancouver's Mike Gillis have also received this award.

Armstrong made the bold move of firing Davis Payne in early November after a 6-7-0 start and hiring Ken Hitchcock, whom he worked with during his time in Dallas. The move paid huge dividends as the Blues became one of the best teams in the League and set all kinds of team records en route to a 49-win season and a second-place finish in the Western Conference.

Sensing his team needed some veteran leadership, Armstrong signed former Stanley Cup winners Jamie Langenbrunner and Jason Arnott this past summer. They each had successful seasons in St. Louis and were part of the veteran leadership group. Armstrong also signed goalie Brian Elliott to a one-year, two-way contract, but made sure to wrap him up for another two years once he surprisingly started to dominate.




CALDER TROPHY

Winner: Gabriel Landeskog

The Avalanche's 19-year-old rookie edged fellow finalists Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Adam Henrique to become the first Colorado player to win the Calder Trophy since Chris Drury in 1999. Landeskog, the No. 2 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft behind Nugent-Hopkins, finished tied with the Oilers rookie with 52 points, the most among all first-year players in the NHL this past season.

Landeskog was a key performer in all areas for the Avalanche this season. He played in all 82 games and averaged nearly 19 minutes per game. He was just one of four rookies to average more than 1:20 per game on both the power play and penalty kill. Landeskog also played a lot against the opposition's top forwards and still had 22 goals and 30 assists.


ART ROSS TROPHY

Winner: Evgeni Malkin

The Penguins superstar center blew away the competition, finishing with a League-best 109 points, 12 more than Stamkos and 16 more than Claude Giroux. Malkin, who is the first scoring champion to win by a double-digit margin since Jaromir Jagr finished 20 points ahead of Teemu Selanne in 1998-99, also won the Art Ross Trophy in 2009.

Malkin had 50 goals and 59 assists. He scored points in 60 of the 75 games he played in and was the first player since 1995-96 to record at least four five-point games.


MAURICE "ROCKET" RICHARD TROPHY


Winner: Steven Stamkos


Stamkos, now a two-time winner of the Richard Trophy, became the 20th player in League history to reach the 60-goal plateau. He led the League with exactly 60, a mark he hit on the final day of the regular season. Stamkos went on a run late in the season, scoring 10 goals in his last nine games, to become the first 60-goal scorer since Alex Ovechkin scored 65 in 2007-08.


Stamkos scored 48 of his goals at even-strength, the most of any player since 1992-93. He tied for the League lead with 12 game-winning goals with Phoenix forward Radim Vrbata. His 156 goals since the start of the 2009-10 season are the most among all players in the NHL. The next closest is Ovechkin, who has 120 goals in that span.

WILLIAM JENNINGS TROPHY


Winner: Jaroslav Halak and Brian Elliott


The Blues' tandem of Halak and Elliott combined to allow the fewest goals in the NHL (165) to bring the Jennings Trophy back to St. Louis for the first time since Roman Turek won it in 1999.


Halak and Elliott combined for a League-high 15 shutouts, which tied a modern-day NHL record originally set by the Blackhawks in 1969-70. It also set a Blues record for most shutouts in a season, breaking the mark of 13 set by Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante in 1968-69.


NORRIS TROPHY

Winner: Erik Karlsson

Ottawa's 22-year-old blueliner finished ahead of Nashville's Shea Weber and Boston's Zdeno Chara to win his first Norris Trophy in the first year he was a finalist. Karlsson, who signed a seven-year contract extension with the Senators on Tuesday, led all defensemen with 78 points, 25 more than the next closest (Dustin Byfuglien and Brian Campbell). He had 19 goals and 59 assists.

Karlsson was a plus-16 player this season after being a minus-30 last season. His 78 points were the most by a defenseman since Nicklas Lidstrom had 80 in 2005-06.


TED LINDSAY AWARD

Winner: Evgeni Malkin

Malkin earned the prestigious honor of being named the MVP of the 2011-12 season by his peers. The Ted Lindsay Award, formerly known as the Lester B. Pearson Award, is voted on by members of the National Hockey League Players' Association.

Malkin, a first-time winner of the Lindsay Award, led the NHL with 109 points on 50 goals and 59 assists despite missing seven games due to injury. He had his dominant season after overcoming reconstructive knee surgery, which he was forced to have in February 2011. Malkin helped the Penguins to a 108-point season despite the fact that they played three-quarters of the games without captain Sidney Crosby.


JACK ADAMS AWARD

Winner: Ken Hitchcock

Hitchcock started the season still employed by the Columbus Blue Jackets as an advisor, but Blues general manager Doug Armstrong pulled him out of his no-task job there in early November and hired him to take over a team that was off to a very average start at 6-7-0 under former coach Davis Payne.

Under Hitchcock, who arrived on Nov. 6, the Blues went 43-15-11 to finish the season with 109 points, second most in the Western Conference. They set franchise records for wins (49) and points in addition to numerous records for defense and goaltending. St. Louis reached the Western Conference Semifinals, where it was bounced by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in four games.

Hitchcock is a first-time winner of the Jack Adams Award. As the coach in Dallas he was the runner-up in 1997 and third in 1998 and 1999.

First-team All-NHL: Lundqvist, Karlsson, Weber, Malkin, Neal, Kovalchuk
Second team all-NHL: Quick, Chara, Pietrangelo, Stamkos, Gaborik, Whitney
NHL All-Rookie team: Enroth, Faulk, Gardiner, Henrique, Landeskog, Nugent-Hopkins

[DrJones]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

Surprised that Karlsson won, but I have no problem with it. Producing offence is part of a defenceman's value.

Cool to see Ray Whitney make an All-Star Team for the first time at 40 years old.

[rdnk]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

Congrats to Karlsson. He deserved the award. He basically QBs the Sens offense and is solid in his own zone. When he is on the ice, the other team scores less due to his puck possession skills. I don't know why offensive defensemen get so much hate here.

Although I think Tallon deserved the GM of the Year, the voters did a great job.

[AC]

Congrats to Karlsson. He deserved the award.

That's debatable. He's got amazing offensive talent, but he can't play defense at all, and, well, that's kinda his position and all...



Does anyone really care where I sent this from?

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

I thought Tallon might have won as well. Speaking of GM of the year,



take that Lou Lamoriello and Ray Shero! I'm wondering who voted for Sherman, most people outside Colorado think he's a joke for some reason. I hated his moves at first, then he proved me wrong in every trade he made. Only GM to get a vote and not had his team made the playoffs.

[rdnk]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

That's debatable. He's got amazing offensive talent, but he can't play defense at all, and, well, that's kinda his position and all...

I disagree (goes to whip out the advanced metrics)...

He has a Quality Comp Corsi of .657. When compared to the rest of the Senators defense he ranks second (behind Filip Kuba) in the quality of opponents that he faces. So it's not as if MacLean is sending him out against inferior players. He also averaged 25 minutes a game (8th in the league, more than Weber and Chara) and had an offensive zone start percentage of 57%, so it's not as though MacLean is only putting him out in offensive zone starts, compared to someone like MA Bergeron who had an offensive zone start percentage of 71%.

Karlsson had 67 takeaways, 16 more than the next best defenseman, Shea Weber.

Finally, we get to my favorite metric, Goals Versus Threshold. Karlsson was worth 21.5, Weber was worth 15.4 and Chara 18. So overall, Karlsson's defensive mediocrity is overshadowed by a dominant year offensively. He was just worth that much more than the next best defenseman (Chara).

Karlsson is a new age puck possession defenseman. He's not a big guy, thus he's not going to block a lot of shots or be laying out the hits, although he did have 65 and 60 respectively. However, when he's on the ice, you are going to score more goals than you give up, have a higher shot differential, control the puck more and out chance the opposition.

Is he as good defensively as Chara or Weber? Nope. He is just good enough and was so dominant offensively that he deserves the award.

[thedudedominick]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

I thought Tallon might have won as well. Speaking of GM of the year,



take that Lou Lamoriello and Ray Shero! I'm wondering who voted for Sherman, most people outside Colorado think he's a joke for some reason. I hated his moves at first, then he proved me wrong in every trade he made. Only GM to get a vote and not had his team made the playoffs.

Funny to see Lombardi not even getting a vote in this.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: The Official NHL 2012 Off-Season Thread

Am I the only one that thinks G got robbed of an All-NHL selection?