NHLOL Offseason

[the 4th hanson bro]

The NHL handed out awards for the 2011-12 season last night n Las Vegas. The winners were:

Hart Memorial Trophy, MVP - Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh
Vezina Trophy, goaltender - Henrik Lundqvist, N.Y. Rangers
James Norris Memorial Trophy, defenseman - Erik Karlsson, Ottawa
Calder Memorial Trophy, rookie - Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado
Frank J. Selke Trophy, defensive forward - Patrice Bergeron, Boston
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, most gentlemanly - Brian Campbell, Florida
King Clancy Trophy, humanitarian contribution to hockey - Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa
Jack Adams Award, coach - Ken Hitchcock, St. Louis
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, perserverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey - Max Pacioretty, Montreal
Art Ross Trophy, points scoring leader - Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh
Maurice Richard Trophy, goal-scoring leader - Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay
William M. Jennings Trophy, goalies with fewest goals against, minimum 25 games - Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak, St. Louis
Conn Smythe Trophy, MVP in Stanley Cup Playoffs - Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles
Ted Lindsay Award, outstanding player - Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh
(Formerly called the Lester B. Pearson Award)

I'm glad to see Landeskog win the Calder, hope he continues to follow in his countryman's footsteps.

Did Quick get hosed out of the Vezina?

[TheSeeker]

Are playoffs taken into account when awarding the Vezina? I can't remember. I'm glad to see two of my Sens picked up an award.

So, any bets on how long the off season will be this year?

[tomalak301]

There was only one award I was surprised by and that was GM of the Year. How the hell did they not give this award to Dale Tallon. He reshaped the entire team and Florida made the playoffs for the first time in like 10 years. Granted, Armstrong made the move to get Hitchcock, and it was ok that he won Coach of the year (Even though Deneen became underrated for not even being nominated) but Tallon did a whole lot more.

The Seeker

I think the season won't be starting on time even though it would be nice. I don't see a repeat of 2004-2005, but I am a little worried since we haven't heard anything in terms of the NHL and players union talking. That could be a good thing though but I wish we got some sort of hint that things are moving forward.

[BigFoot]

TheSeeker wrote:

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Are playoffs taken into account when awarding the Vezina? I can't remember. I'm glad to see two of my Sens picked up an award.

So, any bets on how long the off season will be this year?

All trophies (except for the Conn Smythe of course) are based solely on the regular season (and are voted on before the playoffs start).

[Garak]

I think Lundqvist had the superior regular season. I saw some NYR games this year and the guy is unreal when he's on his game.

I betcha Quick prefers the Conn Smythe though!

Draft day tomorrow, there's actually some big names in play - Rick Nash, Bobby Ryan, JVR and maybe even Roberto Luongo (although I think Gillis is going to hold on to him for a mid summer trade).

Jordan Staal is going to be interesting to watch too.

How the hell did they not give this award to Dale Tallon. He reshaped the entire team and Florida made the playoffs for the first time in like 10 years.

IIRC Florida entered the summer having to spend big as they were below the cap floor, so they just started tossing out ridiculous contract offers to players that weren't deserving of them. Kind of like the "throwing shit at a wall to see if it sticks" strategy. Wouldn't be surprised if that factored into the decision making.

[Danny99]

I feel bad for Morgan Rielly. I'm sure he's a great prospect, but there is a lot of upheaval in Toronto. We had a glaring need at forward and there was three decent prospects in Forsberg, Grigorenko, and Faksa that could have fit that need.

A confusing pick indeed.

[Timby]

TheSeeker wrote:

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Are playoffs taken into account when awarding the Vezina? I can't remember. I'm glad to see two of my Sens picked up an award.

All awards are voted on between the close of the regular season and the first game of the postseason. There's a reason they're regular-season awards.

So, any bets on how long the off season will be this year?

A couple of news sources have said that the first unofficial offer from ownership (they don't start formal negotiations 'til next week) was with a cap at $70.3 million and players taking 48 percent of revenues (they're currently at 57 percent; prior to the existing CBA, it was 76 percent). Also, note that the NHL's CBA expires on September 15, which is different from the NBA and NFL whose expired at the end of their respective fiscal years.

The problem is that it's a vicious cycle, especially in the NHL -- owners extract financial concessions, but then they spend beyond their means, so teams raise ticket / merch prices, the cap goes up due to increased revenue, and this works to a point ... but when it gets too expensive and the contracts too bloated, owners complain and demand rollbacks in the next CBA.

A couple of the other big issues are supposed to be teams burying contracts in the AHL (Redden, Leighton, and others), the Pronger / Kovalchuk-type deals, and what the Flyers did to Richards and Carter.

In the meanwhile, I guess it really comes down to what the players found out when going over team financials. I don't think we're at a "welp, there goes the season" stage, and we won't be for another month at least, but there's definitely some reason for apprehension, since owners have shown themselves to not always be the smartest people at the bargaining table, and Don Fehr has shown that he has no problem telling his players to strike.

[Josan]

I'll be surprised if the season starts on time. Don Fehr does indeed like to play hardball.

Danny99 wrote:

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I feel bad for Morgan Rielly. I'm sure he's a great prospect, but there is a lot of upheaval in Toronto. We had a glaring need at forward and there was three decent prospects in Forsberg, Grigorenko, and Faksa that could have fit that need.

A confusing pick indeed.

The pick made a little more sense after they traded Schenn to Philly for JVR.

I still don't have much faith in Burke's abilities as a GM. He's vastly over-rated in my view.

[Danny99]

I really hope the career of Luke Schenn wasn't ruined by Ron Wilson. I know you have to trade talent to get talent, but I would've loved to see Schenn flourish under a new system in Toronto.

[Josan]

I blame Wilson for a great deal. Schenn and Gustavsson come immediately to mind. I hope Schenn shines in Philly (though I hate the Flyers) and I hope Gustavsson does the same in Winnipeg. Assuming they actually sign him.

[Timby]

Josan wrote:

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I still don't have much faith in Burke's abilities as a GM. He's vastly over-rated in my view.

Word was that this most recent season was the first that ownership had been pressuring him to show results, but I believe there will be new majority ownership in MLSE by the time the season rolls around. For better or worse, the people running the show won't be the same people who hired Burke, so he may actually get more time to prove his worth.

[Josan]

The new ownership is interesting in that it's Bell and Rogers together. Yuck.

As for how much they'll care... The Leafs remain the richest team in the NHL year after year, playoffs or not.

[Garak]

Joe Sakic, one of the most stand up, greatest players of all time will be rightfully inducted into the Hall of Fame. Man that guy was a treat to watch, one of my favorites to ever play the game.

Joining him are perfect passer Adam Oates (who just became head coach of the Caps today I think), Mats Sundin who's selection I'm kinda meh on and the totally and completely undeserving Pavel Bure.

Brendan Shannahan failed to make it and will start handing out suspensions with detailed videos of his career.

[Josan]

Brodeur has hired an agent. Interesting. He always handles his own negotiations but apparently NJ isn't offering anything so he's willing to test the free agent market. He'd be a good pickup as a mentor to a younger goalie but I don't know about him still playing the role of a starter at 40.

[TheSeeker]

Brodeur has signed on for two more years with the Devils for $9 million.