Dobber’s PHWA Ballot – 2015 NHL Awards

MD

2015-06-25

carey price

I had a vote on some of the NHL Awards – here is my ballot (and my reasoning).

Thank you to the PHWA for making me the first fantasy hockey writer to become a member. It shows excellent foresight and vision in allowing professional hockey bloggers into the membership, and then to expand it to fantasy hockey is really a big step. I’m truly proud and very thankful.

The PHWA asked that all the writers keep their ballots to themselves until after the awards have been handed out. Now that they have been, I can open up. Here is my ballot, along with my explanation and reasoning – and also the actual winners.

2. Logan Couture (San Jose Sharks)

3. Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings)

4. Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)

5. Daniel Sedin (Vancouver Canucks)

Reasoning:

I almost had a real impact here, as first-place votes are nine points and he won by 52. Then again, I gave Datsyuk five points and Datsyuk finished second. But this is just, for most voters, an analysis of offense versus low penalty minutes. And making sure that their reputation around the league is sound, no fighting majors – just a clean track record.

SELKE TROPHY –

Actual Finalists: Patrice Bergeron, Jonathan Toews, Anze Kopitar

Actual Winner: Bergeron

My Ballot:

1. Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles Kings)

2. Andrew Ladd (Winnipeg Jets)

3. Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)

4. Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks)

5. Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Reasoning:

As expected, Bergeron (1083) and Toews (1051) were the only ones getting votes here, so the rest was just window dressing. Kopitar, my choice, was a distant third with 364 – and just five first-place votes (my vote was one of them). In fact, he barely beat David Backes (363). The fancy stats lean very heavily towards Bergeron here and I figured he was walking away with it, with Jonathan Toews (another possession monster) taking second. But I felt that Kopitar deserved recognition (so did Ladd and Johnson, for that matter). So I bumped Toews. Then he had to go and win a Cup and make me look bad. But this was more or less a ‘statement’ vote, since the top two were so very clear. I would never do this in a tighter race. This is the only award vote I made that truly had an impact – Kopitar was a finalist in part because of the nine points he got from me. Color me proud!

NHL All-Star Team

Actual Winners:

1st Team

Alex Ovechkin – John Tavares – Jakub Voracek

Erik Karlsson – PK Subban

Carey Price

2nd Team

Jamie Benn – Sidney Crosby – Vladimir Tarasenko

Drew Doughty – Shea Weber

Devan Dubnyk

My Ballot:

CENTER — 1. John Tavares (NY Islanders) 2. Tyler Seguin (Dallas Stars) 3. Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay Lightning)

RIGHT WING — 1. Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia Flyers 2. Jiri Hudler (Calgary Flames) 3. Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues)

LEFT WING — 1. Jamie Benn (Dallas Stars) 2. Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals) 3. Max Pacioretty (Montreal Canadiens)

DEFENSE — 1. Erik Karlsson (Ottawa Senators) 2. P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens) 3. Roman Josi (Nashville Predators) 4. John Carlson (Washington Capitals) 5. Mark Giordano (Calgary Flames) 6. Brent Burns (San Jose Sharks)

GOALTENDER — 1. Carey Price (Montreal Canadiens) 2. Devan Dubnyk (Minnesota Wild) 3. Braden Holtby (Washington Capitals)

NHL All-Rookie Team

Actual Winners:

Filip Forsberg, Johnny Gaudreau, Mark Stone, John Klingberg, Aaron Ekblad, Jake Allen

My Ballot:

FORWARD — 1. Mark Stone (Ottawa Senators) 2. Filip Forsberg (Nashville Predators) 3. Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)

DEFENSE — 1. Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers) 2. John Klingberg (Dallas Stars)

GOAL — 1. Michael Hutchinson (Winnipeg Jets)

I didn’t vote on any of the other awards.