The Hart Trophy, Norris Trophy, Vezina Trophy and Calder Trophy reward the highest levels of player performance. With every new season comes speculation of who could win these yearly NHL awards. Take a look at who are the strongest candidates to win these four awards before the start of the 2022-23 season.
Connor McDavid has been the epitome of excellence in the NHL. He led the league in points for a second straight season with his whopping 123 point performance. The only thing that held him from the Hart Trophy last season was Auston Matthews’ historic 60 goal season. But ahead of the 2022-23 season, it’s hard not to favor McDavid to win his third career Hart Trophy.
He, like the rest of his Oilers teammates, are going to be highly motivated following their conference finals loss last season. On top of that, he gets a full season playing alongside Evander Kane, of whom he meshed well with. The ever talented McDavid has nothing slowing him down ahead of the 2022-23 season. We should be in for an MVP-caliber performance from McDavid in this new NHL season.
In only his third NHL season, Cale Makar was voted as the league’s top defenseman. It was a well deserved honor after Makar led all defensemen in goals (28) and points (86). The 2021-22 season was an all around career year for Makar, who was a focal point for the Stanley Cup winning Avalanche team as the Conn Smythe winner. With that being said, Makar is easily the favorite to take home the Norris for a second time.
Playing in the up-tempo Avalanche offense makes it entirely possible for Makar to have another excellent offensive season. He’s skilled enough to possibly even replicate or improve upon his 86 point performance. That coupled with his reliability on the defensive end make him the strongest candidate to win the Norris again.
Igor Shesterkin was at the heart of a great Rangers season that saw them go all the way to the conference finals. He often carried the team with his high level of play and his incredible 44.9 goals saved above average. That along with his 2.09 GAA and .935 save percentage gave him last year’s Vezina along with a third place finish in Hart Trophy voting.
Heading into the 2022-23 season, there’s really no reason to believe that Shesterkin can’t dominate the crease again. He’s still in his athletic prime and will likely see a similar volume of shots against him. And with the downgrade in backup netminders, Shesterkin could also see a few more starts than he did last year. While Andrei Vasilevskiy always presents tough competition in the Vezina race, if Shesterkin performs anywhere close to how he did last season it’ll be hard to vote against him winning his second straight Vezina.
As far as the preseason betting odds go, Beniers isn’t ranked as the favorite to win the Calder. However, there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll be the one holding the trophy by season’s end. For one, just look at the torrent pace he was on during his 10 game stint last season. He scored nine points across those ten games, including two goals on the man advantage. For a 19-year-old making his debut with an iffy supporting cast, that small sample size is pretty impressive.
Beniers has shown no signs of slowing down in 2022-23, displaying his impressive shot for a goal during a Kraken preseason game. He looks like a true offensive powerhouse already and has had no problem producing at the NHL level thus far. Additionally, his supporting cast has vastly improved with players like Andre Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Shane Wright joining the team this season. Beniers seemingly has all the tools to have a standout rookie season and bring home the Calder Trophy.
Featured image courtesy of NHL
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