We saw the NHL announce their awards last night, and you can find the full breakdown in lots of places quickly if you google it. There's not a lot of fantasy value to be gained from awards and all, but they are a fun way to wrap-up the season, and look ahead to potential winners next year. Let's do just that with my way-too-early picks for next year's awards:

Hart Trophy

2021-22 Winner: Auston Matthews

2022-23 Predicted winner: Kirill Kaprizov

With Minnesota in the prime of their contention window, but lacking the cap space to acquire many more difference makers, Kaprizov is going to have to shoulder a heavy load next year while this team keeps pace with Colorado in the Central. It's also boring to pick a repeat winner.

Norris Trophy

21/22: Cale Makar

22/23: Miro Heiskanen

Heiskanen got a bit of love this year, and probably could have been higher on a lot of ballots. He plays every part of the game well, and plays a lot. With John Klingberg likely leaving in the offseason, the D-core in Dallas is Miro's to run. Having to carry around Ryan Suter while playing his off-side, Heiskanen really hasn't had the shackles off for a full season… yet.

Vezina Trophy

21/22: Igor Shesterkin

22/23: Ilya Sorokin

When Sorokin carries a left-for-dead Islanders team to the playoffs next year, and plays 60 games on route, it's going to be tough to vote for anyone else here. Shesterkin's season was historic, and he will certainly be a challenger, but there's maybe a workload question to be asked at some point too.

Calder Trophy

21/22: Moritz Seider

22/23: Marco Rossi

Who else do we think is going to come in on a cheap contract to centre my HartTrophy winner Kaprizov? Rossi has had the time to get healthy, train, get his skates back underneath him, and he's not ready to show why so many were shocked that he fell out of the top-10 in his draft year.

Lady Byng Trophy

21/22: Kyle Connor

22/23: Mitch Marner

Marner is ust as deserving as some of the other winners, and a better player overall. All it's going to take is one season with a couple less tripping and puck-over-glass penalties and her will have it in the bag.

Selke Trophy

21/22: Patrice Bergeron

22/23: Anthony Cirelli

Cirelli arguably could have won the award either of the last two years. With Bergeron uncertain to return, and Ryan O'Reilly & Aleksander Barkov cannibalizing each-others voters, Cirelli almost feels like a shoe-in this early.

*

After running through Nashville's roster last week, and the Bruins/Bolts/Sharks the week before, I'm continuing to work through some team outlooks for next season. With the Habs having finished the last two years at either end of the spectrum, we might expect that next year is a little more boring as the finish somewhere in the middle. Again, the goaltending will dictate how far this team goes.

There are a few extra wingers at this point, and it feels like another one or two will be moved out. Mike Hoffman might benefit from a change of scenery, while I don't think Josh Anderson could do much better than his current spot, unless he ends up in the top-six in New Jersey.

On defence, there is a spot or two to fill, especially if, as rumoured, Jeff Petry is moved. On the right side, Justin Barron and Chris Wideman could be filler options for deeper fantasy leagues next year (especially if you need a low cap hit), while on the left, Alex Romanov is one of the next big multi-category studs.

It's tough to speculate exactly what will happen with Carey Price, but it's safe to say Jake Allen will likely be starting a lot of games for an improved team (when he's healthy).

*

The Flyers lineup looks mostly set for next year. They may end up moving out James van Reimsdyk's contract, but with 20 players already signed and $5 million in cap space, it's not strictly necessary right away to be able to fit the rest of the roster under the cap. The team has RFAs Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett to sign, and they should be affordable on bridge deals. With that, the roster looks about full. The health of Ryan Ellis and Sean Couturier will really impactful on the direction of the season

Perhaps the biggest change though is behind the bench. With Torts taking over, there's some hope for the Philly goaltenders, and coach favourite Cam Atkinson. Overall though, good luck sorting out which players are going to see a bump from the new coach.

Assuming everyone is healthy, and JVR is moved out, we may end up with something along these lines:

Konecny – Couturier – Atkinson

Farabee – Hayes – Tippett

Cates – Laughton – Frost

Lindblom – Brown – Brink

Provorov – Ristolainen

Sanheim – Ellis

York – Seeler

This isn't the lineup of a playoff team, unless the goaltending really takes a step forward. Between Carter Hart and Ivan Fedotov there's the upside to do so, especially for Torts, but the track record in the NHL between the two netminders leaves a lot to be desired.

*

Still looking at future lines, who is the #1 centre in Columbus next year? Whoever it is should be flanked by two of Patrik Laine, Jakub Voracek, and Oliver Bjorkstrand, on top of likely playing with all three (and Zach Werenski) on the top power play unit. Between Cole Sillinger, Kent Johnson, Alex Texier, and Jack Roslovic, it's really anyone's guess at this point.

*

We saw two head coaches given contracts yesterday. Jay Woodcroft was extended for three more years by the Edmonton Oilers. He took Bouchard off the top power play, and handed the reins back to Tyson Barrie, who may end up a little under-drafted in the fall. By the end of the year, Woodcroft had Puljujarvi down in the bottom-six, playing 15 minutes a night, and seeing hardly any time on either power play unit.

Pete DeBoer was hired by the Dallas Stars, and his track record of quick success is exactly what got him the job. Expect Dallas to be leading the charge in the wild-card race next year, and possibly even in one of the top-three slots in the division if Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger have anything to say about it.

Fantasy owners will be hoping that DeBoer gives Heiskanen the time that he deserves on the top power play unit, and doesn't break up the Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski, and Roope Hintz line.

The biggest thing DoBoer may have to manage though is milking everything he can get from Tyler Seguin and Jaime Benn. Both struggled last year, though Seguin's can mainly be attributed to his lengthy injury recovery, and he did actually start to show better in the second half with 15 points in each of his last two quarters, after scoring no more than 10 in each of his first two. If both of them can get back on track a bit, then expect Denis Gurianov to jump right along with them. With a new coach, Gurianov should easily be able to earn more than the 14 minutes he was seeing a night last season. Expect closer to the 45-point-pace from 2020-21 than the 35-point-pace from 2021-22.

*

For everyone whose entry draft is right around the corner, we have you covered:

The 2022 Dobber Hockey Fantasy prospects report was released last week! Head on over to the Dobber Shop to get the information you need on the next generation of stars. Hundreds of players reviewed, their estimated NHL arrival, fantasy upside, and a whole lot more.

On top of that, the DobberProspects crew just released their final 2022 draft board, that you can find here.

*

One of my favourite non-Dobber follows on Twitter, Byron Bader put out his top-32 for the 2022 NHL draft.

NEW POST:

The Hockey Prospecting 2022 Top 32!

Shane Wright, Simon Nemec and Logan Cooley headline a good caliber top end 2022 draft pool. pic.twitter.com/FgZLntkusN

— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) June 21, 2022

For those who don't know him, he has a great approach to things, with his own algorithm evaluating NHL equivalency stats, and using similar historical comparables. From there the players are sorted with percentages of making the NHL (playing in a certain number of games), and becoming a star (exceeding higher thresholds of scoring).

His list often looks much different from the consensus, but I have found over the last number of years that he does make a lot of calls that end up looking good both soon after the draft, and with some longevity. I’ve been following him for years now, and the numbers bear out with a better success rate than a lot of the other scouts that I trust and follow. It's worth your time if

*

Find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.