In just about a month the 2022-23 NHL Awards ceremony will take place. This season had no shortage of tremendous individual showings around the league. However, only a select few will have their names etched into the history books in this year’s award class. For the purpose of this discussion the predictions will be for the winners of the Calder, Vezina, Norris and Hart Trophies.
At just 20-years-old Matty Beniers was at the center of a highly productive Kraken offense. In his first full season in the league he produced 24 goals (tied for rookie league) and 33 assists (2nd amongst rookies). His 57 total points was eight points higher than the next closest rookie player in Matias MacCelli this season. For such a young player Beniers already looked extremely comfortable at the pro level. There’s little to no doubt that he was the most impactful rookie to come out of this year’s class.
It was a career year for Ullmark playing with this season’s 65-win Bruins team. He led the league in GAA (1.89) and save percentage (.938) and picked up 40 wins in 49 starts. Ullmark is the first goaltender to lead the league in both GAA and save percentage with at least 40 starts since Tim Thomas did so in the 2011 season. And that was the season Thomas won the Vezina Trophy with the Bruins.
With that in mind, Ullmark seems to be the clear favorite to bring the Vezina to Boston yet again. There’s going to be plenty of discourse about the team playing in front of Ullmark and their role in his success. But seasons like this from a goaltender are few and far between and it would be a disservice to not award him for it.
This year’s Norris trophy is a tough one to pick a winner for. On one hand you have Erik Karlsson, who had a tremendous offensive season from the blueline. But in terms of defensive play, Adam Fox has him beat by a large margin. Even with a very convincing argument for Fox to win it’s hard to believe Karlsson won’t win this award.
Karlsson is the first defenseman to cross the 100 threshold for a defenseman since Brian Leetch did so in his Norris winning 1992 campaign. Additionally his 76 assists were tied for third in the NHL this season while playing on an underperforming Sharks team. Being such an impactful offensive creator with not a lot around him should steer the voting in Karlsson’s direction despite some defensive deficiencies.
McDavid is the obvious choice for this award and should win it unanimously for the second time in his career. The center put up 64 goals and 89 assists for 154 total points. All three of those numbers led the NHL and were career bests for McDavid. This season also ranks up there with some of the best we’ve ever seen.
McDavid is the first player to eclipse 150 points since Mario Lemieux did so 1996. He also joins Jari Kurri and Wayne Gretzky as the only Oilers players to score 60+ goals. This is a legendary talent cementing himself with some of the league’s all-time greats with his play. McDavid is the best player in the league right now and it’s not a particularly close race.
Featured image courtesy of NHL PR
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