Well even though it's not quite the end of the season, let's dish out some awards for the Red Wings and the season thus far. Also, we encourage you to make up some titles for awards and the winner of the award in the comment section.
Calder Trophy--Top Rookie: No question here. Jimmy Howard takes the cake. Howard's also in the running for the real trophy along with Matt Duchene and Tyler Myers. Howard's performance as a rookie netminder in Detroit is pretty incredible. Also, Jonathan Ericsson's not really gonna take it with his +/- and Ville Leino's no longer even in Detroit.
Vezina Trophy--Top Goaltender: Once again, Jimmy wins this one with ease. His GAA is a full .72 lower than Chris Osgood and his save percentage is about 4% higher. He's also got a whopping 27 more wins than Osgood.
Hart Trophy--Most Valuable Player: Why not complete the hat trick? Howard has carried the Red Wings in a way that was unexpected and unwanted. Not many expected him to step in and play in 60 games in his rookie campaign but he kept the Wings afloat and eventually put them in the playoffs.
Norris Trophy--Top defenseman: Nicklas Lidstrom of course wins this one. Lidstrom has played all 79 games up to this point and has a +22 rating and been the stalwart on the blueline that every expects out of him. He's probably the only player that has played consistently well from Stockholm to now.
Check after the jump for the rest.
Selke Trophy--Top defensive forward: Pavel Datsyuk easily. Datsyuk is the front runner for the league wide one so why not go ahead and deal it to him on the team level. Datsyuk leads the league with 125 takeaways (45 more than Ryan Kesler, the #2 guy) and is a tenacious back/forechecker.
Masterson Trophy--Perseverance to hockey: Andreas Lilja at one point didn't even know if he was going to play another game of hockey in his career after post-concussion difficulties but has returned to Detroit and been a solid penalty killer and
Lady Byng Trophy--Sportsmanship: Normally I'd pick Pavel Datsyuk but I'm going to go a different route here. Darren Helm. Helm has been an exceptionally controlled player in terms of penalties taken and sportsmanship after the play.
Legs of Steel Award--most average ice time: Nicklas Lidstrom averaged 25:26 up to this point in the season and has consistently been the number one guy in ice time per night.
Sadtrombone.com award--most epic fail: Patrick Eaves and his shootout attempt against Nashville. A least he laughed about it because I know we all were too (after we won that is).
We got him on waivers award?! Drew Miller is really the only one that's considerable for this award but his great play this year deserves recognition. Miller has surpassed his career total for goals in this season with Detroit by tallying 10 goals. He's been a bigger asset than the stats would indicate and the way he takes every shift like it might be his last has impressed Wings fans and started calls for a permanent contract.
Steamroll of the year--biggest hit: Brad Stuart knocking Artem Anisimov into another world. Welcome to the NHL kid, keep your head up.Stuart also lead the team with 193 hits. Enjoy: