Recap of the 2011-12 NHL Awards

The NHL awards were announced on June 20th and here I will give my thoughts. 

Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP in regular season): This award was won by Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning were the other finalists. This is the first time Malkin won this award. Malkin led the NHL in points with 109. He was second in the NHL in goals with 50 and tied for 3rd in assists with 59. Malkin helped his team have the 4th best record in the NHL with 108 points. Lundqvist was tied for 4th in the NHL in GAA at 1.97. He was 3rd in the NHL in wins with 39 and tied for 3rd in save percentage at 93.0%. Lundqvist helped his team tie for the 2nd best record in the NHL with 109 points. Stamkos was 2nd in the NHL in points with 97. He was led in the NHL in goals with 60 and tied for 49th in assists with 37. Stamkos helped his team tied for the 21st best record in the NHL with 84 points. I agree with Malkin winning this award. He also won the Ted Lindsay Award for being the most outstanding player.

Vezina Trophy (best goaltender): This award was won by Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers. Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings and Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators were the other finalists. This is the first time Lundqvist won this award. Lundqvist was tied for 4th in the NHL in GAA at 1.97. He was 3rd in the NHL in wins with 39 and tied for 3rd in save percentage at 93.0%. Quick was 2nd in the NHL in GAA at 1.95. He was tied of 5th in the NHL in wins with 35 and was 5th in save percentage at 92.9%. Rinne was 14th in the NHL in GAA at 2.39. He was tied of led the NHL in wins with 43 and was 7th in save percentage at 92.3%. I agree with Lindqvist winning this award.

James Norris Memorial Trophy (best defensive player): This award was won by Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators. Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators were the other finalists. This is the first time Karlsson won this award. Karlsson was tied for 369th in hits with 60 and was tied for 187th in blocked shots with 65. He was tied for 48th in plus/minus his was +16. Chara was  58th in hits with 166 and was 123th in blocked shots with 87. He was tied for 3rd in plus/minus his was +33. Weber was tied for 43th in hits with 177 and was tied for 35th in blocked shots with 140. He was tied for 19th in plus/minus his was +21. I thought Chara deserved this award more than Karlsson. Chara also has won this award before winning in 2008-09 season.

Frank J. Selke Trophy (best defensive forward): This award was won by Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins. David Backes of the St. Louis Blues and Davel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings were the other finalists. Bergeron was tied 185th among forwards in hits with 73 and tied for 17th among forwards in blocked shots with 67. He also lead all players in plus/minus at +36. Backes was tied 12th among forwards in hits in 226 and tied for tied 12th among forwards in blocked shots with 72. He was tied for 35th in plus/minus among forward at +15. Datsyuk was tied 178th among forwards in hits in 76 and tied for tied 161st among forwards in blocked shots with 31 . He was tied for 13th in plus/minus among forward at +21. I thought David Backes should have won this award. 

Calder Memorial Trophy (best rookie): This award was won by Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche. He is 19 and was the 2nd overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft. Adam Henrique of the New Jersey Devils and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers. Landeskog scored 52 points which was tied among all rookies. He also scored 22 goals which was 2nd among rookies and 30 assists which was 3rd among rookies. Henrique is 22 and was the 82nd overall pick in the 2008 NHL draft. He scored 51 points was 3rd among rookies. He also scored 16 goals which was 6th among rookies and 35 assists which was 1st among rookies. Nugent-Hopkins is 19 and was the 1st overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft. He scored 52 points was tied for 1st among rookies. He also scored 18 goals which was 4th among rookies and 34 assists which was 2nd among rookies. I agree with Landeskog winning this award. All three guys look to have bright futures in the NHL.