CaliSports News – NHL Awards Predictions

I can only imagine where the Wild would have ended up had Dubnyk been their starting goalie the whole season? I remember at the start of the season thinking the Wild were an easy target but then after his acquisition I was hoping the Kings wouldn’t have to play them too often. He was a standout star to me.

Ok, I might be hedging my bets here because I know Price is going to win one of the awards for which he is nominated! Dubnyk is an underdog story and we all love those stories, but in terms of stats, he doesn’t quite stack up to Price and Rinne. I do love that he came from Arizona, didn’t look to be a star, then helped lead the team – 8 points out of a playoff spot when he came on board – to the post-season. Rinne is very impressive and had an incredible run during this season with the Predators after returning from hip surgery and then got a strange bacterial infection. He looked as if he hadn’t missed a beat. But I think Price was the standout in goaltending this year.

Price led the league in wins at 44. His GAA was 1.96 and SV% .933 were both the best of all starting goalies. He also outperformed Dubynk and Rinne in the playoffs. However, I do think Dubnyk makes a strong case because the Wild team doesn’t have as much talent on their team as the Canadiens do.

Price’s regular season stats are just too enormous to ignore.  It was enough to break many long time Montreal Canadien’ goaltending records, a team that has been around for 106 years!  As talented as the Canadiens are, they were regularly outshot by a large and uncomfortable amount by opponents and Price was the one who kept them in the game, playoff race and the Atlantic Division title.  Price was the man this year, ’nuff said!