I voted on the NHL Awards. Here’s who I chose — and why

One of the most surreal parts of the job as an NHL beat reporter is having the chance to vote on the NHL Awards — the chance to influence history.

For the sake of transparency, the Professional Hockey Writers Association releases every vote on its website. But to take that transparency a step further, I like to publish my reasoning on my I voted the way I did.

Here it goes.

My process

One criticism NHL award voters frequently receive is that they don’t watch other teams enough. Most of us cover one team, so unless we branch out, we only end up seeing each other team between two and four times in a given season.

I wanted to be as fair as possible, so I watched as many games as I could during my off evenings. I kept a log of all the games I watched, and by season’s end, I’d seen a total of 200 games, including a minimum of 10 viewings of each team.

I didn’t see every moment of every team, but I did see enough to get a sense of every potential award winner.

Throughout the season, I kept a running spreadsheet of my frontrunners, along with notes on why those players had impressed me. I also spoke to other beat reporters around the league all season long to round out my opinions.

As the season wrapped up, I did a comprehensive statistical review. To get the complete picture of a given player, the eye test and stats must complement each other.

Everyone will never agree on all 52 votes, but I do feel my process was thorough enough to defend my decisions.

So, here’s who I voted for — and most importantly, why.

Hart Trophy: Most valuable player to his team

My ballot:

1. Macklin Celebrini
2. Nikita Kucherov
3. Nathan MacKinnon
4. Connor McDavid
5. Matthew Schaefer

Winner: Nikita Kucherov

Let’s begin with the obligatory note: Contrary to some people’s belief, the NHL does not have a media-voted MVP and a player-voted MVP. The Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award have different definitions.

My Hart ballot reflects the official definition: most valuable player to his team. In other words, if you were to take that player away from his team, how hopeless would it be?

The Ted Lindsay goes to the most outstanding player, meaning the best, most fun to watch, etc.

I don’t subscribe to the theory that if the player’s team misses the playoffs, he shouldn’t be considered for the Hart Trophy. If the player elevated his team significantly, that’s enough to be considered.

Under those parameters, Macklin Celebrini was the obvious choice.

He was three points shy of doubling the San Jose Sharks’ second-leading scorer. His 45 goals were the second-most in a season for any Sharks player ever. The Sharks sell tickets because people want to see Celebrini.

How Celebrini didn’t finish as a finalist is beyond me. This should have been a pretty lopsided vote.

Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid need little explanation. They’re all perennial candidates for this trophy because they carry their respective teams. Some Oilers fans on social media didn’t like that I had McDavid fourth, but one of those three had to be there.

Matthew Schaefer got the remaining vote because of how quickly he turned the New York Islanders around. They were in the playoff race until the last couple weeks, with the 18-year-old playing nearly 25 minutes a game and scoring 59 points as a defenseman.

Brayden Schenn reportedly waived his no-trade clause at the deadline because he had faith in Schaefer. He’s the type of player that changes an entire organization, which goes along great with the definition of the Hart Trophy.

Norris Trophy: Top all-around defenseman

My ballot:

1. Cale Makar
2. Miro Heiskanen
3. Rasmus Dahlin
4. Erik Karlsson
5. Moritz Seider

Winner: Zach Werenski

Many voters have described this year’s Norris Trophy voting as the most difficult ballot they’ve ever filled out. A total of 14 players got votes, including 10 different guys with top-three votes.

If your favorite defenseman was excluded from a particular voter’s ballot, just remember that the number of qualified candidates far exceeded the amount of votes available.

This year, with great hesitation, I excluded both Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski from my ballot. As much as I wanted to vote for both of them, the stats heavily contradicted the eye test.

Hockey fans always complain that the Norris Trophy ends up going to the best offensive defenseman, rather than the best all-around guy like the trophy’s definition states. For that reason, one of my top factors was one of the most important stats in determining a player’s defensive contribution: on-ice goals against at even strength.

Simply put, how many times did that player get scored on at even strength?

Goals and assists quantify a player’s offensive output. EV OIGA is the closest stat we have for defensive output.

It is, of course, influenced by matchups, deployment and teammates — but so are offensive stats, which heavily influence the voting for every trophy. And anyone in the running for the Norris Trophy is playing big minutes and getting every difficult matchup.

Here’s how the players who received my votes compare to the top players who didn’t in EV OIGA per game played:

• Cale Makar: 0.75
• Miro Heiskanen: 0.80
• Rasmus Dahlin: 0.93
• Erik Karlsson: 0.93
• Moritz Seider: 0.96
• Lane Hutson: 0.84
• Matthew Schaefer: 0.91
• Evan Bouchard: 0.99
• Zach Werenski: 1.16
• Quinn Hughes: 1.32

Nobody admires Hughes more than I do. With the puck on his stick, he’s one of the most dominant hockey players in the world.

That said, his penalty kill minutes were in the single digits and his EV OIGA were by far the worst of everyone on this list. And before you say it had everything to do with playing a third of his games with the league’s worst team, realize that his numbers were significantly worse with the might Minnesota Wild than they were with the last-place Vancouver Canucks.

Lane Hutson had great numbers, but he doesn’t play the toughest matchups, which influenced those numbers significantly. I can’t say he’s the best defenseman when he doesn’t play against the best forwards.

Evan Bouchard had a good season, and although it’s a defenseman’s award, his 95 points aren’t to be overlooked. Any other year, I probably would have had him on my ballot, but again, this was a highly competitive Norris race.

Werenski was by far the best player on the Columbus Blue Jackets this season, but his win seems to be more due to groupthink (and Olympic play) than stats. Objectively, Cale Makar should have won by a landslide.

Calder Trophy: Most proficient in his first year of competition

My ballot:

1. Matthew Schaefer
2. Ivan Demidov
3. Jesper Wallstedt
4. Beckett Sennecke
5. Alexander Nikishin

Winner: Matthew Schaefer

Schaefer was the first unanimous Calder Trophy winner since Teemu Selänne’s 76-goal rookie year in 1993. That’s a special player. No justification is necessary here.

The other picks are also pretty self-explanatory.

Ivan Demidov made a few teams regret passing on him in the draft; Beckett Sennecke showed why the Anaheim Ducks spent a third-overall pick on him; Jesper Wallstedt rarely looked like a rookie and Alexander Nikishin continues to play a big role as the Carolina Hurricanes push for the Stanley Cup.

Lady Byng Trophy: Sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with high standard of playing ability

My ballot:

1. Matthew Schaefer
2. Josh Doan
3. Macklin Celebrini
4. Seth Jarvis
5. Nate Schmidt

Winner: Cole Caufield

I’ve said it numerous times: The Lady Byng Trophy should be voted on by the players, not the media. They see the true moments of sportsmanship.

The worst way to vote on this award is by choosing the guys with the fewest penalty minutes, because most penalties aren’t acts of aggression. Many are strategic and lots are accidental.

To try to get a good perspective, I asked a number of players this season who they’d vote for if they had that responsibility. Most guys named their current or former teammates, but the only name that consistently came up outside that parameter was Seth Jarvis.

I voted for Schaefer and Celebrini because of how they seem to treat everyone with respect. They don’t give off the “more important than you” vibe, despite their superstardom.

I’ve been extremely impressed at how Josh Doan conducts himself on and off the ice, which is why I had him so high on my ballot.

Doan was, by far, the first player to learn my name (mine is a hard one to remember). It’s a minor thing, but it shows his character. Even after he was traded to Buffalo, he was more than happy to sit and chat about hockey and life during the Sabres’ visit to Utah. This is a good guy award, and Josh Doan is a good guy.

I decided to use the fifth spot for a Mammoth player, as those are the guys I’ve been able to get to know the best. A bit of a passion pick, if you will.

A few guys could have gotten that vote, but Nate Schmidt stood out.

He wears an ear-to-ear smile at all times. Even when things are going poorly, he’s positive. He treats everyone with a high level of respect, whether it’s a fellow NHL player, an arena staffer, a fan or a reporter.

At one point this season, I wrote an article about how well he fit with the Mammoth. At practice the next day, he came over to the bleachers in full equipment to thank me for writing it. That’s the level of character that this guy has.

Selke Trophy: Forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game

My ballot:

1. Anthony Cirelli
2. Brandon Hagel
3. Nick Schmaltz
4. Nick Suzuki
5. Noah Cates

Winner: Nick Suzuki

I’ll admit fault on this one: Brock Nelson wasn’t on my radar. I realized my mistake as soon as he was announced as a finalist. He absolutely should have been in my top three.

Regardless, Anthony Cirelli was the clear winner in my eyes. He played a ton of defensive minutes while also scoring 52 points.

Nick Schmaltz is a quiet guy, both personality-wise and in hockey conversations. In reality, though, he’s almost exactly as productive offensively as Nikolaj Ehlers, yet he’s also one of the most important defensive players on his team.

He kills as many penalties as anyone, he was fourth among NHL forwards in takeaways and his OIGA was a modest 61.

People don’t notice Schmaltz as much as they should, but I was impressed that he found his way onto 23 Selke ballots.

Nick Suzuki, who won the trophy, simply doesn’t kill enough penalties to take a top-three spot on my ballot. His 58 short-handed minutes pale in comparison to everyone else on the list, though his offensive and defensive numbers were impressive. The best defensive forward must play top defensive minutes, and Suzuki isn’t that guy.

Bill Masterton Trophy: Player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey

My ballot:

1. Jonathan Toews
2. Rasmus Dahlin
3. Clayton Keller

Winner: Gabriel Landeskog

Gabriel Landeskog’s bounce-back story is incredible, but because I voted for him and his story last year, I decided to give the spotlight to others this time around.

Jonathan Toews was in a similar boat to Landeskog. Health problems kept him out of the league for two full seasons. Many thought he’d never play another NHL game, but he put in the work to heal up and get better.

Rasmus Dahlin had every reason to mail it in this season.

His fiancée, Carolina, went through multiple cardiac incidents this year, even needing CPR for “a couple of hours at a time” on multiple occasions. She was able to receive a heart transplant, and per Dahlin’s most recent comments, she’s doing much better now.

Despite all that, Dahlin managed to pull off a Norris Trophy-worthy season, receiving 13 first-place votes and appearing on 142 total ballots.

Clayton Keller’s father, Bryan, passed away suddenly in November. It affected Keller as deeply as one would expect, but he didn’t let it affect his game. He played in all 82 contests, finishing with a spectacular 88 points, including a 10-game point streak to end the season.

Utah is tied with St. Louis in having the fewest PHWA in the NHL. As one of the few storytellers covering the Mammoth, I felt it was important to make sure Keller’s story was told.

NHL All-Star Teams: Best players at each position

My ballot:

Center

1. Nathan MacKinnon

2. Connor McDavid

3. Macklin Celebrini

Right Wing

1. Nikita Kucherov

2. David Pastrňák

3. Matt Boldy

Left Wing

1. Kirill Kaprizov

2. Jason Robertson

3. Cole Caufield

Defense

1. Cale Makar

2. Miro Heiskanen

3. Rasmus Dahlin

4. Erik Karlsson

5. Moritz Seider

6. Matthew Schaefer

Goaltender

1. Ilya Sorokin

2. Andrei Vasilevskiy

3. Logan Thompson

Winners:

First team

C- Connor McDavid

RW- Nikita Kucherov

LW- Jason Robertson

D- Cale Makar

D- Zach Werenski

G- Andrei Vasilevskiy

Second team

C- Nathan MacKinnon

RW- David Pastrňák

LW- Cole Caufield

D- Rasmus Dahlin

D- Evan Bouchard

G- Logan Thompson

We’ve gone over most of these forwards and defensemen already, but since PHWA members don’t get to vote on the Vezina Trophy for the top goaltender, this is our only chance to weigh in on the goalie conversation.

I went back and forth all season between a number of guys, including several that didn’t make th final cut. In the end, I chose three goalies who were near the top of the league stats-wise while playing a lot of games and winning the bulk of them.

None of three played behind particularly renowned defense groups, yet they still managed to accomplish the things they did.

NHL All-Rookie Team: Best rookies at each position

My ballot:

Forward

1. Ivan Demidov

2. Beckett Sennecke

3. Jimmy Snuggerud

Defense

1. Matthew Schaefer

2. Alexander Nikishin

Goaltender

1. Jesper Wallstedt

Winners:

Forward

1. Ivan Demidov

2. Beckett Sennecke

3. Jimmy Snuggerud

Defense

1. Matthew Schaefer

2. Alexander Nikishin

Goaltender

1. Jakub Dobeš

See the Calder Trophy explanations for descriptions on why I chose these players.

Thoughts?

NHL awards are always up for debate.

If you have a particular opinion on who should or should not have been on my ballot, join the conversation either in the comment section of this article or in the replies of my X posts for the various awards.