Hart Trophy
Vincent Lecavalier has been the most productive player, but Sidney Crosby is the league's most valuable. Crosby's Penguins sit 4th in the Eastern 
Conference and without him, they would be nowhere near the playoff picture even in a weak conference. Lecavalier might be playing better right now, but it's tough to call a player playing on the second worst team in the NHL it's most valuable at the same time. Lecavalier has more of a scoring touch than does Crosby, but Crosby (more than anyone else in the NHL) makes his teammates so much better. He finds the open man, he sacrifices his body, he bails his teammates out and plays every shift as if it was his last. It's not to say that Lecavalier or Jarome Iginla or Nicklas Lidstrom or Alex Ovechkin do not, but Crosby elevates his game to the next level consistently more than anyone else. At the midway point, the Hart race (as the Art Ross race) is extremely close. Over the course of a full season of course, we'll have a better idea of the true front runners. Winner: Crosby
Runners Up: Iginla, Nicklas LidstromVezina Trophy
Judging by the numbers alone, it's not a bad time to be a goaltender. Scoring is down again, nearly at the level before the lockout. Three goalies GAA is under two. One of those three is the Vezina Award winner at the midway point: Roberto Luongo (Chris Osgood & Pascal Leclaire are
the other two goalies). After a slow start, Luongo has the Canucks sitting atop the very competitive Northwest division and third in the Western Conference. Since the Canucks' 4-2 loss to the Sharks on October 15th, Luongo has given up more than 3 goals in a game only once. The Canucks without Luongo, are at best a mediocre, border line playoff team. With Luongo in goal, they are one of the top teams in the Western Conference. This race is also very close right now. After a slow start, Martin Brodeur has turned things in New Jersey. The Devils appear to be one of only a few teams that might be able to give Ottawa a ride for their money in the East and Brodeur (as always) is a huge reason for that. Henrik Lundqvist (unlike Luongo and Brodeur) got off to a great start, but has struggled a bit of late. Chris Osgood generally gets overlooked because he plays behind such a good Detroit team, but couldn't have performed any better so far this season. He's generally not a game changing goaltender in the mold of a Luongo or a Brodeur, but he's been one of the most under appreciated goalies in hockey over the past decade. Finally, where the heck did Pascal Leclaire come from? After bouncing between the minors and the Blue Jackets for the past three years, Leclaire stormed out of the gate recording four shutouts in his first six games. Playing behind a much better defensive system spearheaded by head coach Ken Hitchcock, Leclaire has flourished during the first half of the season and has become the goaltender the Jackets expected when they drafted him in the first round in the 2001 draft.
the other two goalies). After a slow start, Luongo has the Canucks sitting atop the very competitive Northwest division and third in the Western Conference. Since the Canucks' 4-2 loss to the Sharks on October 15th, Luongo has given up more than 3 goals in a game only once. The Canucks without Luongo, are at best a mediocre, border line playoff team. With Luongo in goal, they are one of the top teams in the Western Conference. This race is also very close right now. After a slow start, Martin Brodeur has turned things in New Jersey. The Devils appear to be one of only a few teams that might be able to give Ottawa a ride for their money in the East and Brodeur (as always) is a huge reason for that. Henrik Lundqvist (unlike Luongo and Brodeur) got off to a great start, but has struggled a bit of late. Chris Osgood generally gets overlooked because he plays behind such a good Detroit team, but couldn't have performed any better so far this season. He's generally not a game changing goaltender in the mold of a Luongo or a Brodeur, but he's been one of the most under appreciated goalies in hockey over the past decade. Finally, where the heck did Pascal Leclaire come from? After bouncing between the minors and the Blue Jackets for the past three years, Leclaire stormed out of the gate recording four shutouts in his first six games. Playing behind a much better defensive system spearheaded by head coach Ken Hitchcock, Leclaire has flourished during the first half of the season and has become the goaltender the Jackets expected when they drafted him in the first round in the 2001 draft. Winner: Luongo
Runners Up: Brodeur, LeclaireNorris Trophy
No surprise here, but the best blueliner in the NHL is Nicklas Lidstrom. At the age of 37, Lidstrom leads all defenseman in scoring and all players in plus/minus. 
Chris Chelios is still playing at 45 years of age, which makes you wonder how long Lidstrom can go seeing how productive he is in his late thirties. He's the kind of player who likely will only play in the NHL if he's at the top of his game. He may also want to play a year or two in the Swedish Elite League before he hangs up his skates, as many of his other countrymen have hinted at. Chris Pronger has been stellar as usual and Andrei Markov has turned into an elite NHL blueliner this season after the departure of Sheldon Souray during the off season, but right now there's no doubt what so ever that Lidstrom is the best defenseman in the NHL.
Chris Chelios is still playing at 45 years of age, which makes you wonder how long Lidstrom can go seeing how productive he is in his late thirties. He's the kind of player who likely will only play in the NHL if he's at the top of his game. He may also want to play a year or two in the Swedish Elite League before he hangs up his skates, as many of his other countrymen have hinted at. Chris Pronger has been stellar as usual and Andrei Markov has turned into an elite NHL blueliner this season after the departure of Sheldon Souray during the off season, but right now there's no doubt what so ever that Lidstrom is the best defenseman in the NHL.Winner: Lidstrom
Runners Up: Pronger, MarkovJack Adams Trophy
The coach of the year award in any sport seems to be given to the coach that leads the team to the best turnaround from the season before. This has always puzzled me. Great career coaches rarely seem to win coach of the year awards. The greatest coach in NHL history, Scott Bowman
, only won the award twice. While Mike Babcock has not turned around the Red Wings by any stretch, he has coached them to far and away the best record in hockey. Babcock has his entire team buying into his strong defensive system and deserves some recognition for the fantastic job that during done over the past 2 and a half season in Motown. Andy Murray has done a great job in St. Louis, taking over midway through last season. With a couple of very nice moves by GM Larry Pleau (most notably trading for former Leaf prospect Brad Boyes and picking up Paul Kariya) in addition to a couple of very good looking rookies (Erik Johnson and David Perron) things are certainly looking up in St. Louis. In the summer I never thought I'd be saying this but Wayne Gretzky has done a great job in Phoenix this year. While myself and many others predicted the Coyotes to be basement dwellers, they are only two points out of a playoff spot and are three games above .500 (as far as I'm concerned, a shootout or OT loss is a loss, despite the fact that the NHL likes putting it in separate column.) As I've mentioned before, Wayne's always entertaining behind the bench and with some very solid rookies like Peter Mueller and Martin Hanzal, promising youngsters such as Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Ballard the Coyotes might not have such a dismal future after all. Ilya Bryzgalov has been a saviour in net and has solidified that position for the future.
, only won the award twice. While Mike Babcock has not turned around the Red Wings by any stretch, he has coached them to far and away the best record in hockey. Babcock has his entire team buying into his strong defensive system and deserves some recognition for the fantastic job that during done over the past 2 and a half season in Motown. Andy Murray has done a great job in St. Louis, taking over midway through last season. With a couple of very nice moves by GM Larry Pleau (most notably trading for former Leaf prospect Brad Boyes and picking up Paul Kariya) in addition to a couple of very good looking rookies (Erik Johnson and David Perron) things are certainly looking up in St. Louis. In the summer I never thought I'd be saying this but Wayne Gretzky has done a great job in Phoenix this year. While myself and many others predicted the Coyotes to be basement dwellers, they are only two points out of a playoff spot and are three games above .500 (as far as I'm concerned, a shootout or OT loss is a loss, despite the fact that the NHL likes putting it in separate column.) As I've mentioned before, Wayne's always entertaining behind the bench and with some very solid rookies like Peter Mueller and Martin Hanzal, promising youngsters such as Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Ballard the Coyotes might not have such a dismal future after all. Ilya Bryzgalov has been a saviour in net and has solidified that position for the future.Winner: Babcock
Runners Up: Murray, GretzkyThat's it. I can't give out any of the other NHL awards at this point...or at any point really. Lady Byng? Come on.
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