(Photo via Tampabay.com)
By Michael Wax
It's awards season! Well, not quite. But the Lightning are currently in their second long break this month, and we thought it would be fun to examine who all of you thought was worthy of these awards. We have five awards to go over: The Hart, the Norris, the Vezina, the Selke, and the Calder. Lets get started.
Hart Memorial Trophy: Steven Stamkos, F
This was both a surprise, and not a surprise at all. The surprise comes in that Vasilevskiy didn't win the fan poll, but the guy that beat him makes all the sense in the world.
Steven Stamkos is having one the best seasons of his career, which includes the season where he scored 60 goals. Not only is he scoring at a ridiculous pace, but his two-way game is the best it has ever been. For the first time since his rookie year, he has more takeaways than giveaways (in a healthy season). Stamkos is throwing his body around at a crazy rate. His faceoff win percentage is over 50% for the sixth straight year. His Corsi, Fenwick, and PDO are all insanely good this year as well. What a season from the captain, hopefully he keeps it up.
James Norris Memorial Trophy: Victor Hedman, D
In a season where the right side of the defense has been absolutely wrecked, the left side has remained largely intact. Victor Hedman, once again a legitimate Norris Trophy candidate, wins the fan voting for our Norris Trophy. After a rough 2020-21 season due to a torn meniscus, Hedman came into this year at full health and has gone back to his dominant self. Hedman currently leads NHL defensemen in points (50), all while averaging the most amount of time since 2017-18 (25:25). The king is back, at full health, and it's great to see him be dominant again.
Vezina Trophy: Andrei Vasilevskiy, G
I mean, yeah.
Shoutout to those that voted for Elliott. He's been solid this year.
Selke Trophy: Anthony Cirelli, F
For a team that has a ton of good two-way players, this was a two horse race for most of the voting. While Pierre-Édouard Bellemare has been a fantastic center and penalty killer, and an important addition to the team, Anthony Cirelli takes home our "Selke" trophy. Just like Hedman, Cirelli is also in the running for the actual Selke trophy, and he's putting up his best season since his rookie year. Cirelli has entered Gourde's role of "shut-down" center, and he's done a great job.
Calder Memorial Trophy: Taylor Raddysh, F
The Lightning have had five debuts in the 2021-22 season so far (Katchouk, T. Raddysh, D. Raddysh, Fortier, Day). Of them all, only Katchouk and T. Raddysh have made a big impact. While Katchouk has been an amazing power forward, Taylor Raddysh looks like a future star. He's been able to play anywhere from lines 1-4, and has shown a great scoring touch. It'll be great to see him continue his rise.
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