This one from June of 2007 explored whether the Awards needed a makeover. What will have this year? They have got one since. Vegas is an improvement but something tells me the awards themselves (as far as voting) still need work. Here we go……
Enough is enough Mr. Bettman!!! Because of work, I had to DVR the NHL Awards. So when I came home for my dinner break…low and behold….no NHL Awards. Why, you may ask? Some rocket scientist at VS. caused a computer glitch…so the show was tape delayed and didn’t air on the West Coast till 8PM. At that point, what meaning would it serve to watch it on memorex when the results are already known.
ESPN News already had the results blaring like a slap in the face to my psyche. The breakdown of the votes would soon be available later and that is when my face turned red….maybe more red than Brodeur’s jersey. I expected the Vezina to be close…but for Brodeur to be third in the Hart Trophy voting so far off from Crosby…I’m sorry…there’s no excuse for that. Yes, the writers (at least some of them) have it in for Brodeur…I point to The Hockey News as proof. He isn’t the only hockey player that gets a cold shake…..even Roberto Luongo definitely doesn’t get the respect he deserves. Ask any Vancouver fan how little respect Luongo gets, and they will tell you in many different ways, maybe even colors. Jay Pandolfo, another player who probably deserved more or Sami Pahlsson (the single reason why that Ottawa top line never got going) also seemed to get the shaft in favor of old man, Rod Brindamour, who last I checked had an April 10th tee time.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I won’t bash the Awards as an entirety. It was nice to see Vigneault win the Jack Adams trophy. He deserved it for turning that team around even if Randy Carlyle wasn’t nominated…but what can you do. The Masterton went to Kessel and that was a nice, feel good story…something the NHL needs a little more. Saku Koivu won the King Clancy…which was very touching.
Even Marty Brodeur’s Vezina was a bit controversial to some.
Other than that, there was a ton of debate with these awards. Pahlsson and Pandolfo were more deserving of the Selke than Brindamour. A 59.4% faceoff percentage was the only thing that distinguished Rod over the other two candidates. Brindamour doesn’t really shut down lines extremely well….it just makes it look like they gave this award to the best offensive forward who plays a little defense.
The other debate was the Hart…the voting should have been a lot closer. A case could be made for all three candidates. Not only was Brodeur disrespected but so was Luongo. I will ask Crosby fans this….if Crosby was so good….why didn’t he guide his team to a division title in a fairly weak division. I will say the Penguins were the best team in that division…period…and should be favorites next year. Now some will even say that the Vezina is the MVP for goalies…and there is some definite validity to that. However, this was a history making season for both goalies….they should have garnered some more recognition. Brodeur and Luongo faced almost the same amount of shots per game this year for the record.
All in all, the glitch and the seemingly curious voting for some awards…the split vote in the Norris that played out to a tee just irks me in some ways…some more than others obviously. Hopefully next year, the NHL looks into different procedures for voting but somehow I highly doubt it. Are there any ways to fix it? That is where I leave it up to the reader.
