CaliSports News – NHL Awards Predictions

By Jeff Duarte
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Updated: June 24, 2015

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HART TROPHY (MOST VALUABLE PLAYER)

Nominees

Alex Ovechkin – Washington Capitals

Carey Price – Montreal Canadiens

John Tavares – New York Islanders

Predictions

Emily – Alexander Ovechkin

And I’m not saying this because he’s won it three times in the past six years. (If he wins it again this year does that mean he gets a hat-trick?) I’m saying it because given the choice between Tavares and Price, I’d take Ovechkin and (I can’t believe I’m actually going to type this) I think offense wins games more than defense does. I’ve seen too many games where the goalie is expected to have a shutout because the offense can’t score more than one goal. It’s amazing to have a world-class goalie, but that still doesn’t mean anything if the rest of the team can’t score. In a 3-2 league or a league where so many games are decided by one goal, I’ll take the guy who can score 53 of them in a season.

Lori – Carey Price

It is extremely hard to argue against Alexander Ovechkin winning this award. Not only did he continue his league-leading scoring, he stepped up defensively this year and was a huge factor in the Capitals’ playoff run. That said, “Ovi” has been nominated for this award five times and has won three times. John Tavares was definitely his team’s stand-out player and a big reason the Islanders made their second playoff appearance in eight years.

But no one made more of an impact on their team this year than Carey Price and as a goaltender – the first nominated since 2011-2012 when Henrik Lundquist was nominated – it’s arguably more difficult to be the guy who keeps the team in it. It’s his first nomination for the Hart and though he is also nominated for the Vezina, I think a better argument can be made for him winning the Hart trophy. Price really kept the Canadiens in it when it looked like they might not have a shot and I really thought he’d be the “X” factor for them in the playoffs. His regular season stats were outstanding: He led the NHL in wins (44), goals-against average (1.96) and save percentage (.933).

Mike – Alexander Ovechkin

I have to go with Ovechkin. He had his sixth 5o goal season. He has always been a leader on the Caps. Even though they came up short to the Rangers, they were one game away from the Eastern Conference Final as an underdog.

Jeff – Carey Price

Price was the man this year, ’nuff said AGAIN!

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Catch the NHL Awards today live at 4:00 pm pacific/ 7:00 pm eastern time on NBCSN (in the USA) or on Sportsnet (in Canada) to see who or if any of the CSN staff got their predictions right … oh and to see which NHL players will get the awards! May the best NHL player win!

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time!

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