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Kopitar, Quick Win, Doughty No Shows NHL Awards

Kopitar

You win some, you lose some, as the Los Angeles Kings’ nominated players Drew Doughty & Captain Anze Kopitar experienced at last night’s NHL Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nominated for both the Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL’s most valuable player and the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the best defensive forward, Kopitar, well dressed along with his lovely wife Ines, was awarded his second Selke Trophy of his career but fell short to New Jersey’s Taylor Hall for the Hart Trophy.

 

He also fell short in the voting to Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who took second place but was ahead of Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux, Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, (hence getting nominated).

 

But we all know who the true MVP of the league is. After suffering the worst season of his career in 2016-17 with only 12 goals and 52 points in 76 games, Kopitar bounced back with only … the GREATEST regular season he ever played, with an improved 35 goals, 57 assists, and 92 points, (all career highs!), in 82 games. Classy as always, after accepting the Selke Trophy, the Kings’ Captain thanked the Kings’ organization, his teammates, his father, brother Gasper, wife Ines and his kids (which obviously includes his dog, the popular social media celebrity Gustl), but the finest touch in his speech was the props he shouted out to all of us, the LA Kings’ fan base by mentioning this;

 

Kopitar first won the Selke in 2016, (the first in Kings’ history to do so), and with this victory, he prevented Boston’s Patrice Bergeron from making history by winning what could have been a record-breaking 5th Selke Trophy victory. With all due respect to Bergeron, he didn’t even come close to “Kopi” in the voting. (VIVA THE KINGS REVOLUTION!)

 

Kings’ Jedi Master, (is that still a thing after the events of Star Wars : The Last Jedi???) Jonathan Quick also won his second William Jennings Trophy, which was no surprise as the Jennings Trophy is one based on stats, (like the Rocket Richard for the most goals & the Art Ross Trophy for the most points), for the goalie with the fewest goals against by the end of the season, but it was just finally made official during the awards show. Quick bounced back after missing three-quarters of the 2016-17 season due to a serious groin tear injury to achieve a GAA of 2.40, along with 33 wins, 5 shutouts and a .921 save percentage.

 

Though Quick wasn’t brought on stage to accept the award, (just as Connor McDavid and Alexander Ovechkin didn’t either for their Art Ross and Richard award wins), he was there hanging out with his teammate and back-up (and possible mini-me?) Jack Campbell.

 

Whether Doughty was disappointed in not winning the second Norris Trophy for the NHL’s best overall defenseman of his Hall of Fame-worthy career, you couldn’t tell as Doughty no-showed the event, possibly already figuring that he was going to lose the award to Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman. (Either that or Doughty did make it to Vegas, but was partying it up in a casino somewhere and forgot about the show? Or he could be up here where I am in Toronto cheering on the Blue Jays? Never know!) The race for the Norris Trophy was a tight one though as the consensus was that either Hedman or Doughty were the only two who were going to win the award. Nashville’s and a former Norris Trophy winner himself, P.K. Subban wasn’t anywhere close even though he finished in 3rd place.

 

Doughty of course first won the award in 2016 and did get a consolation prize of being placed in the NHL’s First All-Star Team.

 

Winner of a second Norris Trophy or not, we all know who the BEST all-round defenseman in the NHL is!

(photo credit to kings.nhl.com)

Another winner was former King, (and almost became my brother in law back in the day, true story!) Brian Boyle deservedly won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy which recognizes the player who best displays perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey, after making an inspiring comeback after being diagnosed and battled with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Now with New Jersey, Boyle was drafted 26th overall in the first round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, (aka one of the greatest drafts ever), by the Kings’ general manager and Kings’ Legend Dave Taylor. (Dustin Brown was also drafted by the Kings in this draft as well). Boyle went on to play 36 games with the Kings over two seasons before being traded to the New York Rangers. Boyle reached the Stanley Cup Final with both the Rangers in 2014 (losing to the Kings) and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2015.

Say what you will about the NHL, or the NHL Awards in general but in a touching display, they also presented some touching tributes that affected the NHL deeply to the tragedies of the Parkland, Florida and Vegas shootings, as well as the tragic Humbolt Broncos junior team bus crash by inviting up some survivors, first responders and loved one of the victims to the stage, along with showing some very well done video tributes that had me struggling to not tear up.

 

 

 

Bravo NHL. Bravo.

Despite Kopitar’s “Hart”-breaking loss, (thanks to Theo Marine for that one), and Doughty’s Norris loss, the Kings were still successful and well represented at these NHL Awards, and that makes me damn proud of them. So on behalf of CaliSports News, congratulations to the Captain for winning his second Selke Trophy, and to “Quickie” for winning his second Jennings Trophy. And of course, congrats to Rob Blake for re-signing Doughty to an 8-year extension and for trading and bringing back home Wayne Simmonds from Philadelphia!

Oh, wait. The last two hasn’t happened… yet! (Get on that Blake-O!)

GO KINGS GO!!!

(photo credit to @nhl)

Side-note – Yesterday before the show, it was announced that former Kings’ head coach Darryl Sutter was officially retiring from coaching. I just wanted to thank coach Sutter for leading the Kings’ to two amazing Stanley Cup victories. The relationship between Sutter and the Kings (and the Kings’ fan base) may have soured at the end, but Sutter is still the greatest coach in LA Kings’ history and without him, his knowledge and experience, the Kings would still be in search of their first-ever Cup win to this day. He taught the Kings how to compete and win, and we will forever be grateful to him for that. Best of luck coach on your next adventures, be it at your family farm in Viking, Alberta or anywhere else. We will see you again soon someday … in Toronto for your induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Also, is there any way possible that we could keep your son Chris in LA???

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