DFO Roundtable: Which new NHL award would you create?
As the 2021-22 NHL regular season nears its completion, awards buzz continues to heat up, with votes for most of the league’s honors to be cast before the puck drops on the playoffs.
But there’s room for improvement over the NHL’s current awards slate. If you had the power to create any new award, what would it be?
MATT LARKIN: For me, it’s the Wayne Gretzky Trophy for the annual league leader in assists. Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard has a Trophy named after him for the leading goal-scorer. Mark Messier has the leadership award, so it’s not like a player has to pass away before getting something named after him. How does the greatest player – and playmaker – the sport has ever known not have an accolade in his honor? It’s preposterous. Every few years, I check in with the league to see if there’s any momentum for the idea, and I’m always surprised to learn the powers that be are satisfied with the current award slate. It would be great to see the top playmaker honored every season.
FRANK SERAVALLI: Jonathan Huberdeau and Johnny Gaudreau love your suggestion, Matt. For me, it’s an award designed to recognize the best defensive defenseman. Does that sound like a redundancy? Shouldn’t all great defensemen be able to properly defend? Unfortunately, we know that’s not the case. And sadly, too many really strong defensemen are overlooked among the best in the league because we tend to gravitate toward the flashy production and point totals. That way, we will no longer feel guilty about awarding the Norris to a blueliner who puts up massive numbers but may struggle at times in his own end. By the way, We should call it the Rod Langway Award – named after the only true shutdown guy enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
MIKE MCKENNA: I think there should be a formalized Play of the Year and Save of the Year award voted on by the players. We hear those phrases all the time, and occasionally a media outlet will run a poll to decide a champion. But we all know that process is bungled from the start because the larger and more fervent fan bases will stuff the online ballot box. Give the players five choices and let them decide the most impressive singular performance. I think we have enough year-long awards. I think we need to start highlighting individual efforts. I know that runs completely counter to hockey culture. And that’s why I like it.
SCOTT BURNSIDE: How about an owner of the year award? Could call it the Ilitch Trophy. And it would go to the owners who didn’t direct slurs to any of their employees or fire them needlessly during a pandemic or tried to cut off health care when the economy turned bad. Instead, the NHL’s Owner of the Year would provide all the assets needed to put a winning team on the ice and create a welcoming and open atmosphere for all fans regardless of their background. The Ilitch Trophy winners would be vital and present in their communities and would provide transparency when it came to things that happened in or around their teams. The award would be voted on by a select but anonymous group of fans, GMs, coaches, players and the media. And the winner each year would get to host a major NHL event like the draft or All-Star or an outdoor game.
CHRIS GEAR: I think we should have a Special Teams Player of the Year Award. We always talk about the penalty kill and the power play being crucial elements of a team’s success – why not reward those who excel in these specialized areas of the game? It would have the best name in hockey: the Guy Carbonneau-Jaromir Jagr Trophy! The award could go to a defenseman or a forward, which would create some fascinating comparisons. It could theoretically be awarded to a player that excels in only one or the other specialty if they are truly dominant, but it would usually be awarded to a player who performs on both the PP and PK and could even include consideration of overtime and shootout performance. There would always be some overlap in finalists with the other awards like the Art Ross, Norris, Selke and even Hart Trophy, but the need to consider both aspects of the special teams game simultaneously might shine a light on some top performers who fall just short of winning other major awards.
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