Top-Shelf Takes: Handing out the 2023 NHL awards as the regular season winds down
Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.
If you can believe it, the NHL regular season is almost over. In a few weeks, we’ll finally know which teams have made the playoffs and which ones will be spending a long spring and summer at home.
While we’ll have more end-of-season and playoff content coming to you over the next few weeks, now feels like a good time to take a look at who the frontrunners are for the major NHL awards. From the Hart Trophy to the Calder Trophy, here are our picks for the 2023 NHL awards with just a few weeks left in the regular season.
Hart Trophy: Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
McDavid is a no-brainer to walk away with the Hart, Rocket Richard, and Art Ross trophies after a career season in Edmonton. As of Wednesday, McDavid leads the NHL with 58 goals and 134 points, numbers we haven’t seen in the NHL since well before the 2004-05 lockout. By now, we all know that this is McDavid’s world and we’re just living in it.
Norris Trophy: Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
The Norris is definitely the most wide open of the NHL awards, by my count. The biggest factor here is whether or not voters decide to crown Karlsson based on his historic offensive season alone. Karlsson has had quite the bounce-back season, with 85 points in 70 games. He is also on pace to become the first NHL defenseman to hit 100 points since Brian Leetch did so in 1991-92.
Personally, I think the Norris will eventually go with Karlsson here, since he’s had a fantastic feel-good season. That being said, don’t be surprised if Adam Fox, Rasmus Dahlin, or Hampus Lindholm pick up some late momentum from voters weighing defensive acumen more highly than offensive production.
Vezina Trophy: Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins
Out of everything that has gone right for the Bruins this year, Ullmark having the best season of his career in net might be the most important. After all, goaltending can make or break teams in the NHL and Ullmark has gone above and beyond for the Bruins this year. Ullmark leads the NHL in wins (34), save percentage (.935), and goals against average (1.97) and no doubt had the Vezina locked up months ago with his stellar performance.
Calder Trophy: Matty Beniers, Seattle Kraken
The Kraken have surprised many this season by playing well enough for a playoff spot come spring. While it’s been a team effort all around, the contributions of rookie Beniers can’t be overlooked. Beniers has 19 goals and 49 points in his first NHL season, leading all rookies in points as April draws near. While the Calder race was a bit more wide open earlier in the year, Beniers has shored up his claim over the last few weeks.
Selke Trophy: Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
As long as Bergeron is playing in the NHL, he always has a shot at winning the Selke Trophy. While it’s hard to say what the future holds for the 37-year-old Bergeron, the forward deserves to pick up his sixth-career Selke this offseason. Bergeron plays nearly 18 minutes a night as the NHL’s best defensive forward and is a key contributor to the Bruins offense. It would be absolute robbery to award the Selke to anyone else this season.
Jack Adams Trophy: Jim Montgomery, Boston Bruins
Given that the Bruins are well on pace to absolutely coast by the NHL’s wins record this season, Montgomery is a shoo-in for the Jack Adams. And lest we all forget, this is Montgomery’s first year coaching in Boston as well and the Bruins came into the 2022-23 season with key injuries too. No team, so far, has been able to come close to the Bruins’ dominance this season and it seems like that’s only going to continue come playoff time.