NHL Awards

Well, another edition of the NHL Awards is in the books. It was broadcast from Vegas this year and I'm not even going to comment on the lack of excitement at the venue, the famed Palms casino and resort. Oh sure, there were a few big names there, but come on, Chaka Kahn as the entertainment??! OMG. And the NHL Awards without Ron McLean hosting was definitely lacking. I missed him. I remember that year that the Hip performed. That was a good show.

On to the Awards.
No surprises for me. My big three were: the Hart (League MVP), the Norris (Dman of the year), Calder (Rookie of the Year). Oh, and the Pearson is right up there too (MVP as voted by NHL players).
My guy Ovi won both that he was up for, the Pearson and the Hart. He also earned the Rocket Richard trophy for most goals on the year. I was very proud of him. I missed him, actually. As expected, his charisma shone through. When he was presented with the miniature Hart trophy, he pretended it was too hot...lol...he's just too funny sometimes...
As far as the Norris goes, my hockey brain said Zdeno Chara would win it, but my heart wanted Mike Green to win. With him being a Capital, I'm biased. He rocked the fauxhawk with a tux. I think he was the only guy wearing a tux, actually. Ovi wore a nice greyish suit, not like last year's tux with Russian red accessories.
The Calder was presented by Luc Robitaille and Patrick Kane. Jackets goalie Steve Mason earned it, and he actually had a speech prepared and written down. I cannot stand that! It's like saying, 'I knew I was going to win.' and that bugs me.
I should say that both Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeny Malkin had stuff written down, but they're both ESL, so that's not cocky, that's thinking ahead, given the obvious language barrier. I know after all, that it is difficult speaking in another language when you're put on the spot. You're afraid to make mistakes. (Malkin's was for the Art Ross, though. It wasn't a trophy that he won; he earned the most points this season)
Other than that, Claude Julien won the Adams (over Sask boy Todd McClelland), Tim Thomas won the Vezina (for goaltender of the year), the Selke went to Datsyuk, as did the Lady Byng. It just dawned on me that he could have won 4 trophies in total, like Ovi did last year. A completely different set (Ovi was not nominated for either the Lady Byng or Selke), but nonetheless, that's impressive.
My Sergei presented the Hart with Michael Buble (who should have sang instead of whatshername). It was good to see him. I missed him too. (Aside: there was talk of him signing with the KHL for next season, but I don't believe it. He's too important to the Caps younger Russian players, and Backis ocksa. I've noticed a significant change in Backis' game since Sergei came along at the trade deadline last season)
Oh, and Iginla won the Mark Messier Award (for Leadership).

All in all, it was a great night for me as a fan. But the production of the show was lame. Completely lame. It was definitely the wrong venue, and for that matter the wrong city. I'll take it one step further and say the wrong country!
Here's hoping it's back in Canada where it belongs. They should rotate it between Canadian NHL cities, like the Juno Awards. But I fully understand trying to make the players/game more visible in the US.
One last note - the NHL Entry Draft will take place next weekend from Montreal. It will finally be decided who goes first overall - Swede Victor Hedman or Canadian John Tavares. We'll also see what happens with the Brian Burke show. He's gone on record as saying that he will do pretty much anything to get John Tavares to Toronto. That means working some magic, like he did back in 1999 to get both Sedins, 2nd and 3rd overall. I have no doubt in his influence and ability. He's one of the few guys I actually pay attention to when he talks. He's outspoken and intelligent.

For now, AJ's out.
I miss Ovi already...