Here we are just past the halfway point of the season and some players are among the favorites in the race for individual honors.
A central piece of the Montreal Canadiens’ resurgence since December, Lane Hutson is an obvious candidate for the Calder Trophy.
The young defender impresses every night to the point that his teammates have admitted to having difficulty realizing that he is only a rookie. He excels at carrying the puck, attracting opposing players to open the game before serving perfect passes like a metronome. We saw him again on Tuesday, when he provided three assists in CH’s victory over Utah.
“I don’t think he plays like a rookie,” said head coach Martin St-Louis after the victory. He is adapting to a difficult league, not just on the ice, but with the schedule too. He gives us very good hockey, not just offensively. He is very committed. He plays hockey on both ends of the ice. He learns to manage the game. »
Since November 27, Huston (3-31 in 43 games) is the 19th best scorer in the league with 24 points in 22 games and a differential of +9. From one week to the next, his name is attached to several exploits, notably, he became the third defenseman to place at the top of the rookie scoring rankings after Nicklas Lidstrom (1991-1992) and Bobby Orr (1966- 1967).
Hutson shares the top-3 with Macklin Celebrini (Sharks) and Matvei Mitchkov (Flyers) on a consistent basis.
The first overall pick in the last draft, Celebrini, has 13 goals and 18 assists in 9 fewer games than his opponents, after missing a dozen games due to a hip injury in October. He’s the second-leading scorer on the Sharks, who are once again languishing in last place in the West, and he’s playing like a veteran. He is the second most used rookie (19:48 per game) behind Hutson (22:42).
This is identical production to Flyers forward Matvei Michkov, in 43 games.
Let’s not forget to highlight the work of Dustin Wolf (15-6-2) in front of the Flames net, which he keeps in the playoff race.
Hart Trophy
Nathan MacKinnon could be the first to win the Hart Trophy two years in a row since Alexander Ovechkin did it in 2008 and 2009. With 6 points ahead of the competition, he could also earn his first Art-Ross with 15 goals and 55 assists in 45 games.
“He’s the best player in the world. He makes plays every night, he plays with combativeness and he is determined to improve every day,” teammate Mikko Rantanen recently praised.
MacKinnon leads the NHL in points, assists and points at even strength. He also leads the forwards with 23:07 of playing time, which could make him the first forward to average more than 23 minutes during a full season since Ilya Kovalchuk, in 2011-2012.
He should still have Nikita Kucherov (20-43) of the Lightning as competition by the end of the campaign, as well as Kirill Kaprizov (23-27), who carries the Wild on his shoulders. But also, Leon Draisaitl (31-33) of the Oilers, who leads the field in goals with 31 and game-winning goals with 9. Draisaitl has participated in 17 of his team’s 25 game-winning goals and his 31 goals make him the favorite for the Maurice-Richard trophy at this rate, since he has led this statistical category for a month already.
Vezina Trophy
Connor Hellebuyck (27-6-2) could very well be named among the finalists in the previous category and there is another who could defend his title, and why not unanimously this time.
Our expert Marc Denis will analyze the portrait of the goalkeeper race in more detail on Thursday with his top-10 at mid-season, but to give you an idea:
The Winnipeg Jets goaltender leads the league with 27 wins and could become the first American goaltender in history to win the honor three times. He also leads in shutouts (6), goals against average (1.99) and save percentage (.929), all despite being the goaltender who has received the most shots in the whole circuit.
“Players like him are rare,” said his coach, Scott Arniel, earlier this month, referring to the Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur of this world who dominated their era. He’s one of the big ones. »
Logan Thompson (Capitals), Jacob Markstrom (Devils) and Jake Oettinger (Stars) are other proud competitors, but it’s difficult to come close to Hellebuyck at the moment. He is the type of player who allows a team to imagine that anything is possible, and that is certainly the case with the Jets, the best team in the West.
Norris Trophy
Cale Makar’s name is constantly found in the Norris Trophy race, for which he has been a finalist four seasons in a row and won in 2021-22. That’s not likely to change this year, with his tally of 13 goals and 37 assists in 45 games.
Makar led several categories, before seeing Zach Werenski explode at the end of December. The Blue Jackets defenseman has amassed 18 points in his last 10 games, so much so that he leads all his competitors in goals (15), points (50) and even-strength points (30) in 44 games. He is even the 14th best scorer on the circuit, all positions combined, and he is the most used player (26:40).
Makar (13-37 in 45 games) follows closely, in addition to leading in assists. He is the third most used player in the NHL (25:43).
Another defender is performing at a sustained pace that could allow him to reach the 90-point mark, Canucks pillar Quinn Hughes (9-38 in 39 games), who won this honor last year.
It has only happened once in history (1990-1991) that three defensemen have crossed this plateau: they were Ray Bourque, Al MacInnis and Paul Coffey.
Selke Trophy
As for the best striker who also excels defensively, Aleksander Barkov has a good chance of winning for a second year in a row. He is one of the candidates on a recurring basis, as was the case with Patrice Bergeron, now retired. Although he works to slow down the best opposing trios, he still has 11 goals and 27 assists in 31 games. He also has an efficiency of 61.7% on faceoffs, a personal high. We could place his teammate Sam Reinhart in the same category, he who is the leader in points shorthanded (6).
Anze Kopitar (Kings), who is likely to be mentioned for the Lady-Byng as well, is another serious candidate along with Nico Hischier (Devils), with honorable mentions to Sean Monahan (Blue Jackets), Anthony Cirelli (Lightning) and Mitch Marner (Maple Leafs).
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