Professor What
Registered User
Here's the premise of this thread: you're allowed to pick one season for each voted award and change the winner. Personally, I'm not going to do anything with the Selke, because it's so subjective and can be viewed in so many different ways, but others can feel free to include it if they like. I will, however, make a choice for the Hart, Norris, Vezina, and Calder, and I'm interested to see which years others will come up with.
Hart: 1988-89, Mario Lemieux
I've never been able to wrap my head around why this one went to Gretzky, other than chalking it up to excitement over his being in a market like Los Angeles. Lemieux was only a single point away from joining Gretzky in the 200-point club, and is one of only three players to ever score 80 in a season, thanks to his 85 goals that year. Given that Gretzky and Lemieux tied in assists, and I think it can be agreed that piling up goals is is a bigger deal than racking up assists, I really can't figure out how 54>85.
Norris: 2015-16, Erik Karlsson
I'll admit that Coffey in 1983-84 was an attractive option here, but for Karlsson to be the first defensemen since Orr, and the only one other than Orr to lead the league in assists since the league's infancy, as well as picking up a rare top five finish in scoring for a blueliner, despite being on a team that would have been a complete dumpster fire without him has to top it. Doughty was great that year, but Karlsson literally had a season for the ages.
Vezina: 1995-96, Dominik Hasek
Okay, so the record doesn't look very good that year. But, just as much as I have a problem with wins being too heavily credited to goalies, I have a problem with losses being blamed too heavily on them. Hasek played on an atrocious team that year. The only significant offense game from LaFontaine, and there wasn't much at all to that defensive corps. Yet, Hasek still managed to lead the league in save percentage and walked away with the goals saved above average stat. The Sabres easily could have been much worse, and without Hasek, they would have.
Calder: 1989-90, Mike Modano
Sergei Makarov was a rookie in name only. He's one of the greatest right wingers to ever play the game, but his Calder win absolutely was not in the spirit of the award. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how on earth the voters felt that it was more appropriate to give the award to a 31-year-old veteran over a 19-year-old kid who made such a splash in what was actually his rookie year. In fact, it's so obvious to me that it wasn't, that this was the easiest pick of all for me to make.
Hart: 1988-89, Mario Lemieux
I've never been able to wrap my head around why this one went to Gretzky, other than chalking it up to excitement over his being in a market like Los Angeles. Lemieux was only a single point away from joining Gretzky in the 200-point club, and is one of only three players to ever score 80 in a season, thanks to his 85 goals that year. Given that Gretzky and Lemieux tied in assists, and I think it can be agreed that piling up goals is is a bigger deal than racking up assists, I really can't figure out how 54>85.
Norris: 2015-16, Erik Karlsson
I'll admit that Coffey in 1983-84 was an attractive option here, but for Karlsson to be the first defensemen since Orr, and the only one other than Orr to lead the league in assists since the league's infancy, as well as picking up a rare top five finish in scoring for a blueliner, despite being on a team that would have been a complete dumpster fire without him has to top it. Doughty was great that year, but Karlsson literally had a season for the ages.
Vezina: 1995-96, Dominik Hasek
Okay, so the record doesn't look very good that year. But, just as much as I have a problem with wins being too heavily credited to goalies, I have a problem with losses being blamed too heavily on them. Hasek played on an atrocious team that year. The only significant offense game from LaFontaine, and there wasn't much at all to that defensive corps. Yet, Hasek still managed to lead the league in save percentage and walked away with the goals saved above average stat. The Sabres easily could have been much worse, and without Hasek, they would have.
Calder: 1989-90, Mike Modano
Sergei Makarov was a rookie in name only. He's one of the greatest right wingers to ever play the game, but his Calder win absolutely was not in the spirit of the award. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how on earth the voters felt that it was more appropriate to give the award to a 31-year-old veteran over a 19-year-old kid who made such a splash in what was actually his rookie year. In fact, it's so obvious to me that it wasn't, that this was the easiest pick of all for me to make.