I thought we could see if there are any players at the halfway point from the Western Conference who are in the running for some of the major league awards at the end of the year.

We will look at the Calder, Norris, Art Ross, Rocket Richard, Vezina and the Hart Memorial trophies and make some predictions based off of the first half of 2024-25.

Calder Trophy – 2023 winner – Connor Bedard – Chicago (68-22-39-61)

Macklin Celebrini – San Jose (33-13-16-29)

Dustin Wolf – Calgary (14-6-2, 91.6)

I think this has come down to a four-horse race in the NHL at the mid-season point, between Celebrini and Wolf in the West and Lane Hutson and Matvei Michkov in the East.

Hutson has 31 points in 42 games and 19 in his past 20 in Montreal while Michkov has 13 goals and 17 assists in 41 games in Philadelphia.

If Celebrini hadn't missed 12 games, I don't think this would be a close race to this point but a similar output to Bedard from 2023-24 might not be enough against the other rookies in 2024-25.

Celebrini will need to remain healthy and be close to a point per game to win it.

Wolf could be the surprise of the class, as he has been excellent in his 22 games. He'll need to start at least 60 percent of the second half games and maintain his level of play. If he can propel the Flames into the playoff race, he will be a legitimate finalist for this award.

Norris Trophy – 2023 winner – Quinn Hughes – Vancouver (82-17-75-92)

Cale Makar – Colorado (44-13-36-49)

Quinn Hughes – Vancouver (38-9-38-47)

Josh Morrissey – Winnipeg (44-5-34-39)

Zach Werenski in Columbus, Adam Fox in New York, Victor Hedman in Tampa Bay and Rasmus Dahlin in Buffalo are the likeliest Eastern conference defenders who will be in the mix at the end.

Makar is the favorite at mid-season but in my mind Werenski and Hughes have matched him quite evenly whereas Morrissey is slightly below those three, who I believe will be the finalists.

I don't think that there is any question that Hughes is the most valuable player to his team as a defender, but this award is for the best defenseman and that is a wholly different award.

Makar and Werenski kill penalties while Hughes doesn't, so that might sway some voters if their production totals are very similar.

Art Ross Trophy – 2023 winner – Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay – 144 points

Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado (44-15-53-68)

Leon Draisaitl – Edmonton (42-31-32-63)

Mikko Rantanen – Colorado (44-25-35-60)

Connor McDavid – Edmonton (39-16-42-58)

Defending trophy winner Kucherov has 62 points in 39 games and will be battling in the end I'm sure, while Mitch Marner in Toronto had 59 points in his first 42 games and could surprise as well, if Auston Matthews can heat up.

I would not count McDavid out of the mix as he had 75 points in his last 39 games in 2023-24 and ended up with 132 points in 76 games after a slow start.

Draisaitl has had an excellent first half and is on pace to break his career-high of 55 goals and is in reach of his career-high of 128 points.

MacKinnon has had 69, 71 and now 68-point halves in the past three and should be the favorite to take this home if healthy. Rantanen should benefit from playing with MacKinnon, but I don't see him outpointing MacKinnon unless he gets hurt.

Rocket Richard – 2023 winner – Auston Matthews – Toronto – 69 goals in 81 games

Leon Draisaitl – Edmonton 31 goals in 42 games

Mikko Rantanen – Colorado 25 goals in 44 games

Mark Scheifele – Winnipeg 25 goals in 44 games

Kyle Connor – Winnipeg 23 goals in 44 games

Kirill Kaprizov – Minnesota 23 goals in 33 games

Draisaitl has opened up a pretty good lead over anyone else in the league after 42 games. In the Eastern conference, there is Sam Reinhart and Brayden Point with 25 goals and William Nylander with 24.

David Pastrnak has just 19 goals in 45 games while Auston Matthews has 14 goals in 29 games, so both are probably out of the picture in 2024-25.

Kaprizov would be closer to the goal lead if he hadn't come up with an injury after 33 games and he will need to return to 100% sooner than later if he wants to challenge for this.

Connor and Scheifele have career-highs of 47 and 42 goals between them, while Rantanen had 55 goals in 2022-23.

Vezina – 2023 winner – Connor Hellebuyck – Winnipeg (37-19-4, 92.1 save percentage)

Connor Hellebuyck – Winnipeg – 26-6-2, 92.8

Jake Oettinger – Dallas – 21-9-1, 91.0

Filip Gustavsson – Minnesota – 18-8-3, 91.3

Mackenzie Blackwood – Colorado – 14-11-4, 92.0

This is crazy, but if Hellebuyck goes 11-13-2 in his next 25 games he will have matched his win/loss total from 2023-24. He won 44 games in 2017-18 and could threaten that.

Oettinger, Gustavsson and Blackwood will need to maintain their play and hope Winnipeg struggles in the second half.

Eastern candidates are Jacob Markstrom in New Jersey, Logan Thompson in Washington and perhaps Andrei Vasilevskiy in Tampa Bay.

This award is Hellebuyck's to lose in 2024-25. It would be his third Vezina trophy.

MVP Award – 2023 winner – Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado (82-51-89-140)

Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado (44-15-53-68)

Leon Draisaitl – Edmonton (42-31-32-63)

Connor McDavid – Edmonton (39-16-42-58)

Jack Eichel – Vegas (42-11-43-54)

Connor Hellebuyck – Winnipeg (26-6-2, 92.8)

Quinn Hughes – Vancouver (38-9-38-47)

Eastern Conference candidates could be Nikita Kucherov in Tampa Bay and Zach Werenski in Columbus.

MacKinnon was in my mind an obvious choice in 2023-24 and I think he is the front runner once again in 2024-25.

Draisaitl and McDavid should never be counted out as one or both could average two points per game in the second half and take over.

Hellebuyck and Hughes are perhaps the most valuable players to their teams on this list in the truest sense of the meaning of most valuable.

The Canucks metrics are off the charts with Hughes on vs. off the ice. His value to the Canucks in comparison to Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller is not even on the same page any longer. I can't recall a team relying on a single player to win a game to the extent that I have seen in 2024-25 with Vancouver and Hughes.

Hellebuyck is the best goalie in the NHL and between 2023-24 and the first half of 2024-25, I don't think there is much counter argument to that.

Thank you very much for reading and if you have any comments, please leave them below or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15