2018-19 Canucks Team Awards

[theo5789]

I would've voted Marky for MVP, but he really only picked it up in the 2nd half of the year. I voted Bo because he's been a horse pretty much all year taking over extra duties and has been healthy all year surprisingly.

 

Most exciting player is a no brainer.

 

Unsung hero was a toss up for me between Motte and Stecher. I went with Stecher due to his bigger role, but he went from a bottom pairing guy to a regular top 4 and basically top pairing minutes now. Motte doesn't get a lot of praise for what he does and he seems to bring it almost every game. He takes a ton of crap that should be penalized, but for whatever reason doesn't get called.

 

Best dman was a toss up between Stecher and Edler. I went with Edler because he's clearly still our top guy when he's in and he has bounced back to have some high career numbers.

[-AJ-]

16 hours ago, shayster007 said:

Huh. Pettersson winning most exciting is the first thing I have ever seen CDC been in full agreement of. Wonder how long that will last.

@peener had to go and ruin it. 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

Cyclone Taylor Award (MVP): Jacob Markstrom

Fred J. Hume Award (Unsung Hero): Antoine Roussel

Walter "Babe" Pratt Award (Top Defenceman): Alexander Edler

Pavel Bure Award (Most Exciting Player): Elias Pettersson

[steve french]

I went with

Horvat: MVP,

Pettersson: Most Exciting Player,

Roussel: Unsung Hero, and

Edler: Best Defenceman.

 

It was hard to pick between Horvat, Markstrom, and Pettersson for the MVP but you know, I've really liked Horvat's game and contributions this year. Playing some pretty hard minutes, taking all the faceoffs and winning a good percentage, careers highs in most categories, hasn't missed a game. Certainly passes the eye test. To me he is the one who sets the tone for the team, going hard each and every night.

[JamesB]

On 3/26/2019 at 7:55 PM, N7Nucks said:

Bo is the MVP. He takes at least half the team’s total faceoffs, almost played with every player on the team, and is the team’s leader. 

Interesting to see how much opinions vary even though everyone on CDC follows the Canucks pretty closely.

The vote leaders so far are EP, Roussel, Edler, and EP. I cannot say I am surprised even though I disagree with two of the choices. Here are my votes and a brief statement about the reasoning.

 

1. MVP. I voted Horvat. EP has 64 pts and Horvat is 6 pts behind at 58. But Horvat has played much, much tougher minutes, including taking nearly every key defensive faceoff (ok, a slight exaggeration). When Sutter and Beagle were both out he took a very heavy shutdown role and was still putting up points, and plays a lot of shutdown even with Beagle in the lineup. . And he has played with many different linemates, most of whom are not legitimate top 6 wingers. Also, in terms of goals he is tied with EP despite his tougher minutes and weaker linemates. And he is a leader off the ice, including taking most of the post-game interviews. I cannot understand why he has not been named captain of the team. Marky is a close second to EP right now in the voting, and he did play very well in the second half of the season. But his current save % of .912 ranks 24th out of 55 qualified NHL goalies -- not bad considering the D playing in front of him, but far from exceptional. 

 

2. Unsung Hero. For me it is Stecher hands down. He leads the team in plus/minus by a big margin at +12 and the next is Roussel at +5.  And that is despite playing quite tough minutes, including carrying a very heavy load when Edler was out. And he has the best PK numbers among D-men on the team. Also, he has 22 pts, which is a solid number for a D-man. And he is unsung -- he does not get a lot of credit even when the category is "unsung hero." Roussel is the vote leader but in my opinion is he is not really unsung. I think he gets a lot of attention and a lot of credit. And I would mention is his penalties. He has 118 minutes vs. 30 for Stecher. That is a lot of extra PPs and given the importance of special teams, is worth considering. 

 

3. Despite the good things I said about Stecher, Edler is the easy winner for best D. He plays the toughest minutes and by far the most minutes. He is also scoring at an impressive pace (30 pts in 51 games) and the PP is much better with him than with anyone else in that spot. He also does the heaviest lifting on the PK. And he contributes to the physical game. He is the vote leader, deservedly.

 

4. Obviously the most exciting player award goes to EP. Not much argument there.

[-AJ-]

8 minutes ago, JamesB said:

Interesting to see how much opinions vary even though everyone on CDC follows the Canucks pretty closely.

The vote leaders so far are EP, Roussel, Edler, and EP. I cannot say I am surprised even though I disagree with two of the choices. Here are my votes and a brief statement about the reasoning.

 

1. MVP. I voted Horvat. EP has 64 pts and Horvat is 6 pts behind at 58. But Horvat has played much, much tougher minutes, including taking nearly every key defensive faceoff (ok, a slight exaggeration). When Sutter and Beagle were both out he took a very heavy shutdown role and was still putting up points, and plays a lot of shutdown even with Beagle in the lineup. . And he has played with many different linemates, most of whom are not legitimate top 6 wingers. Also, in terms of goals he is tied with EP despite his tougher minutes and weaker linemates. And he is a leader off the ice, including taking most of the post-game interviews. I cannot understand why he has not been named captain of the team. Marky is a close second to EP right now in the voting, and he did play very well in the second half of the season. But his current save % of .912 ranks 24th out of 55 qualified NHL goalies -- not bad considering the D playing in front of him, but far from exceptional. 

 

2. Unsung Hero. For me it is Stecher hands down. He leads the team in plus/minus by a big margin at +12 and the next is Roussel at +5.  And that is despite playing quite tough minutes, including carrying a very heavy load when Edler was out. And he has the best PK numbers among D-men on the team. Also, he has 22 pts, which is a solid number for a D-man. And he is unsung -- he does not get a lot of credit even when the category is "unsung hero." Roussel is the vote leader but in my opinion is he is not really unsung. I think he gets a lot of attention and a lot of credit. And I would mention is his penalties. He has 118 minutes vs. 30 for Stecher. That is a lot of extra PPs and given the importance of special teams, is worth considering. 

 

3. Despite the good things I said about Stecher, Edler is the easy winner for best D. He plays the toughest minutes and by far the most minutes. He is also scoring at an impressive pace (30 pts in 51 games) and the PP is much better with him than with anyone else in that spot. He also does the heaviest lifting on the PK. And he contributes to the physical game. He is the vote leader, deservedly.

 

4. Obviously the most exciting player award goes to EP. Not much argument there.

I respect your opinions since you're clearly well-researched. Who do you have as runners-up for the Hume and the Cyclone Taylor?

[JamesB]

41 minutes ago, -AJ- said:

I respect your opinions since you're clearly well-researched. Who do you have as runners-up for the Hume and the Cyclone Taylor?

For the the Hume (unsung hero) I picked Stecher as #1. For the runner-up I basically agree with the voting. I think the two candidates are Roussel and Biega. I argued that Roussel is not really all that unsung in that I think he got a lot of credit for what he did. Still, he is a reasonable choice. But I would lean toward Biega. We have all treated Biega like the representative 7th man -- a guy would sit in the press box without complaint and come in and be okay for a few games when needed. But he has been a lot better than okay. His 14 pts in 38 games is remarkable, and his defence has been pretty good. He also plays with a lot of energy and makes a lot of hits. I could see him starting in the top 6 next year and I would not mind having Schenn around as 7th man, but things could change in the off-season.

 

For the MVP, after Horvat I would go with EP for all the obvious reasons, although I agree that Marky deserves consideration. For a rookie in his draft+2 season who was 19 at the start of the season EP has obviously had an outstanding year. There is a reason he beat Bure's rookie scoring record. And it is worth noting that scoring in general was a lot higher when Bure was a rookie in 1991-92. EP's last quarter of the season has tailed off a bit, whereas Marky has been strong in the latter part of the season. As I mentioned in my original post, Marky's numbers have been good but not great overall. I admit that Marky has had quite a few "steals". But EP has 7 game-winning goals. So, for me, EP is runner up but Marky is close.

 

The nice thing about the awards is that they give us a chance to focus on things that went well. EP has been great, Horvat has been great, Marky has taken a big step forward, and Roussel has does everything expected of him and more. On the D, Edler has been very good and both Stecher and Biega have exceeded expectations. Boeser coming back from injury to have a strong season is another good news story although he is unlikely to figure into the awards.

 

There have of course been disappointments as well, but this is not the thread to talk about those cases.

 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

List of Winners:

 

 

 

 

 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

Went 4-for-4.