A few of the 2021-22 NHL awards have been handed out and the winners of the remaining major trophies will be revealed on Tuesday night in Tampa Bay.
During a one-hour show, the NHL will announce the winners for the following trophies: Hart, Calder, Norris, Vezina, and Ted Lindsay Award. The finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year will also be announced with the winner revealed during the 2022 NHL Draft on July 7-8.
The Pro Hockey Talk staff made our own votes before the Stanley Cup Playofs began for a collective ballot. Each place was given a numerical value with 10 points for first, 7 points for second, and 5 points for third.
Votes were submitted by PHT writers Sean Leahy, James O’Brien, and Adam Gretz, as well as Michael Finewax, Rotoworld Senior Hockey Writer/Editor, and Jake Abrahams, NBCSports.com Managing Editor of NHL content.
[2022 NHL Award winners: Jack Adams / Lady Byng / Masterton / Selke]
HART TROPHY (Awarded to the “player judged most valuable to his team.”)
Voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association
PHT BALLOT
1. Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs (39 pts.)
2. Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers (37 pts.)
3. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (24 pts.)
4. Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames (5 pts.)
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers (5 pts.)
O’BRIEN: It’s agonizing to choose between Igor Shesterkin and Auston Matthews; I can totally understand someone excluding goalies from their ballots just to avoid the question. As great as Matthews was (blending brilliant offense with wildly underrated defense), Shesterkin put together the sort of goaltending season we only see every two decades or so. McDavid and everyone else are a distant third, which is saying something, because there were some truly special seasons beyond Matthews and Shesterkin.
ABRAHAMS: I went back and forth on Matthews and Shesterkin for my top selection. Ultimately I’m choosing Matthews for two reasons. First, the sheer rarity of what Matthews has done: 60 goals, with a goals/game average above 0.80 (he did not play a full 82 games). While others have scored 60 in this generation (Stamkos in 2011-12, Ovechkin in 2007-08), neither had a goals/game average that high because they played a full 82 games. The last time someone reached both markers (60 goals, 0.80 goals/game) was Mario Lemieux in 1995-96 (69 goals in 70 games). This is the best display of goal scoring we have seen in this era of hockey. And as far as Shesterkin goes, he is a shoe-in for Vezina, but I’m giving him a slight knock in the MVP conversation because he only made 52 starts.
NORRIS TROPHY (Awarded to the top “defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.”)
Voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association
PHT BALLOT
1. Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche (47 pts.)
2. Roman Josi, Nashville Predators (36 pts.)
3. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning (15 pts.)
4. Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins (7 pts.)
5. Adam Fox, New York Rangers (5 pts.)
GRETZ: I know Josi had more points and had an amazing year, but Makar is just on a different level. He is special. He is not only the best all-around defenseman in hockey right now, I am not sure there are more than four or five players, regardless of position, that are better than him. His career has limitless potential. The definition of an impact player. A megastar.
O’BRIEN: Josi scored the most points of any defensemen during the salary cap era, and by a comfortable margin. He enjoyed a truly bonkers season. But Cale Makar was close to Josi production-wise, and made a bigger overall impact when you look at a player’s all-around game. Hedman slightly surpasses Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy, and some other great candidates to finish as a Norris finalist.
CALDER TROPHY (Awarded “to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the NHL.”)
Voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association
PHT BALLOT
1. Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings (47 pts.)
2. Trevor Zegras, Anaheim Ducks (28 pts.)
3. Michael Bunting, Toronto Maple Leafs (15 pts.)
Lucas Raymond, Detroit Red Wings (15 pts.)
4. Tanner Jeannot, Nashville Predators (5 pts.)
ABRAHAMS: This is no knock on the brilliance of Trevor Zegras, but when a defenseman puts up the type of year Seider did in his age-20 season, it’s hard not to look in that direction. Seider was the 4th-leading scorer on the Red Wings, he led all rookies with 43 assists, and he led the team (and all rookies) in average time on ice (23:03). He was also 9th in the entire league in blocked shots with 161.
FINEWAX: Moritz Seider was outstanding this season, providing Detroit with a steal at number six in the 2019 Draft. If there was a re-draft, he would have gone second behind Jack Hughes as he shows so much talent both offensively and defensively.
VEZINA TROPHY (Awarded to the goalie “adjudged to be the best at this position.”)
Voted on by the NHL’s 32 general managers
PHT BALLOT
1. Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers (50 pts.)
2. Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators (21 pts.)
3. Jacob Markstrom, Calgary Flames (17 pts.)
4. Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders (12 pts.)
5. Frederik Andersen, Carolina Hurricanes (5 pts.)
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning (5 pts.)
FINEWAX: Shesterkin was the reason the Rangers were at or near the top of the Metropolitan standings this season as he was brilliant for most of the year, faltering at the end but still ending up with 36-13-4 record to go with a 2.07 GAA and a .935 save percentage. If it wasn’t for Shesterkin, the Rangers would have battled it out for the second wild card in the East.
ABRAHAMS: It’s hard to overstate Shesterkin’s importance to the Rangers. He led the league by a wide margin in goals saved above expected, save percentage, and goals against average. At one point in the middle of the season, the Rangers went more than 2 months without winning a game that Shesterkin did not start. Markstrom’s 9 shutouts were impressive for Calgary, and Vasilevskiy is still (in my opinion) the best goalie in the league, but purely judging based upon performance this season, this award belongs to Shesterkin.
JIM GREGORY GM of the YEAR (Presented to recognize the work of the NHL’s top general manager.)
Voted on by the NHL’s 32 general managers after the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The PHT staff ballots were submitted before the start of the postseason.
PHT BALLOT
1. Bill Zito, Florida Panthers (37 pts.)
2. Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche (24 pts.)
3. Don Waddell, Carolina Hurricanes (20 pts.)
4. Julien BriseBois, Tampa Bay Lightning (12 pts.)
5. Brad Treliving, Calgary Flames (7 pts.)
6. Kyle Dubas, Toronto Maple Leafs (5 pts.)
Doug Armstrong, St. Louis Blues (5 pts.)
LEAHY: It didn’t go as planned during the playoffs, but Zito set up his Panthers team to not only make the postseason but become Presidents’ Trophy winners and Stanley Cup contenders. Keeping players like Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe while bringing in Sam Reinhart and Claude Giroux via trades paid off.
GRETZ: I would have had Zito at the top of the list but I do not like the way he handled the trade deadline for Florida. But at the same time I can not ignore the offseason work and the job he has done constructing this team and turning it into an offensive power house that should be a top Stanley Cup contender for the foreseeable future. Sakic has built one of the league’s top teams, replaced one Vezina Finalist goalie with another outstanding goalie, and had a great trade deadline.
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2022 NHL Awards: PHT’s ballots for the remaining major trophies originally appeared on NBCSports.com
