12/22/24
June 10, 2004
And the award goes to...: The 2004 NHL awards have been handed out. Lightning struck quite a bit tonight.
HART MEMORIAL TROPHY JAMES NORRIS MEMORIAL TROPHY FRANK J. SELKE TROPHY WILLIAM M. JENNINGS TROPHY BUD LIGHT PLUS-MINUS AWARD wtf? When the hell did that award come up? Now the freaking awards are sponsored?!? ARGGG Anyway, I still think Iginla should have won the Hart. Where would the Flames have been without Iginla? Definitely not in the playoffs. Where would the Lightning have been without St. Louis? Not in first, but still up there and still really strong. And Niedermayer? Over Pronger or Chara?? Hmmm. Mostly agree with everything else, though.
posted by mkn at 11:09 PM on June 10, 2004
Glad to see Draper got the Selke. He's always been a pain in the ass for the opposition on defense, but his offense took off this year, as well. Good to see the league recognized it...
posted by MeatSaber at 11:31 PM on June 10, 2004
I suppose anything related to Scott Stevens makes all hockey writers start to drool like mad, so Niedermayer's stepping up in Stevens' absence was a predictable cause. But Chara's young. There's always next year for him, when the Sens take all the hardware home. Including the ToyotaŽ Sharpened Skates Award.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 08:32 AM on June 11, 2004
I think we'll remember Niedermayer's Norris Trophy win in the same way we remember Randy Carlyle and Doug Wilson's Norris Trophy wins. Somebody had to win, and none of the truly great defencemen were around to do it. In fact, I'd say that if MacInnis, Chelios, and Stevens retire (because of injury or age) and Lidstrom takes off, then we'll probably have the worst all-around defensive corp in the NHL in a LONG time. That's not to say there aren't some good defencemen, but none of them match the greatness that we expect from the Norris Trophy winner. Brad Richards WAS a wonderful sleeper pick for the informed hockey poolies. He played on a low-key team, he didn't dominate any categories, and he wasn't flashy himself. But he got solid point every season and you could almost always grab him later in the draft.
posted by grum@work at 09:25 AM on June 11, 2004
Brad Richards' name more than a couple of times before this year. Didn't he win the Calder a couple of years ago? I was kinda pissed when he did because of Erik Cole's performance in the playoffs that year, but then I remembered that these player awards are supposed to only take the regular season into consideration.
posted by NoMich at 09:26 AM on June 11, 2004
Brodeur for the Vezina...pfff. That hardware had Luongo's name written all over it. I agree with Jes Golbez: Brodeur's a good goalie on a great defensive team. I too wanted to see Chara lift the Norris way, way up in the air, but he'll have plenty of chances. Didn't the plus/minus trophy used to be called the Emery Edge?
posted by Succa at 09:26 AM on June 11, 2004
i am surprised that I didn't see my comment about the Emery Edge in here two after mkn's comment. I guess I only previewed and never posted. Yup. Can't find the link I had but that was from 1983-88 and Emery was some worldwide logisitcs blah blah blah.
posted by gspm at 09:44 AM on June 11, 2004
oh, here's my info re: the NHL Plus-Minus award - the trophy has been sponsored by a number of different companies over the years. The sponsoring companies include Emery Worldwide (Emery Edge Trophy), Alka-Seltzer (Alka-Seltzer Trophy) and Anheuser-Busch Inc (Bud Ice Trophy, Bud Light Trophy). (i guess i missed the alka seltzer years, 1994-96). "The Emery company specialises in global air/sea transportation and logistics services to 229 countries around the world."
posted by gspm at 09:49 AM on June 11, 2004
How the hell could someone feel proud for winning the "Alka-Seltzer Trophy"? I'd throw the thing in a trash bin. What a joke. Just call it the Bobby Orr trophy (he still holds the record at +124 in a single season) and give the damn thing some worth.
posted by Succa at 09:55 AM on June 11, 2004
Just call it the Bobby Orr trophy Or they could combine the names like they did with the MBNA Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award. Award names don't get much better than that
posted by Stan Fields at 11:50 AM on June 11, 2004
Aside from Chara for the Norris and Andreychuk for the Masterton, those seem okay. And you know, I was thinking: I don't believe I'd heard Brad Richards' name more than a couple of times before this year. I would never have picked him to break out as seriously as he did this year. Good on him. And congrats to all.