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My 2024-25 NHL Awards Ballot: Why Hellebuyck for MVP? Comparing Smith & Gauthier

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4 weeks ago

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Credit: Dean Tait/Sport Shots

Here’s how I voted for the 2024-25 NHL Awards.

The San Jose Sharks were back in the running for awards, after taking an, ahem, hiatus in 2023-24.

2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini made a spirited chase for the Calder Trophy, promising to be in the All-Star and awards conversation in the coming years.

Here are my votes and some reasoning.

Hart Trophy (Connor Hellebuyck)

1. Connor Hellebuyck
2. Nikita Kucherov
3. Nathan MacKinnon
4. Cale Makar
5. Jack Eichel

It’s unorthodox to include both a goalie and a defenseman in an MVP ballot, but considering it’s a vote for Most Valuable Player, I’m not sure why it’s become such a forward-centric honor.

The counterargument might be that both defensemen and goalies get their own best-of-position awards, but not forwards.

How about a Wayne Gretzky Trophy just for forwards?

Anyway, there should be an award to honor the most valuable player in the game, regardless of position.

That’s why I vote as I do.

Regarding this specific vote, Connor Hellebuyck was the best player on a President’s Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets on most nights. Personally, I don’t think the Jets sniff the best record in the NHL without him.

Perhaps controversially, I left Leon Draisaitl, who finished second in the final voting, off my ballot.

I will say, if I did it again, I’d probably have Draisaitl ahead of Jack Eichel at No. 5, even though I loved Eichel’s two-way game this season. Eichel was certainly worthy of a Hart vote.

But I probably docked Draisaitl too harshly for the 11 games that he missed because of injury. There is a fine line with that. Like if Draisaitl had played 65 contests at the same impact level, I would’ve been comfortable leaving him off my MVP ballot for worthy candidates who were significantly healthier. That’s more than 20 percent of the schedule, after all.

Norris Trophy (Cale Makar)

1. Cale Makar
2. Zach Werenski
3. Quinn Hughes
4. Jake Sanderson
5. Josh Morrissey

Having the Ottawa Senators’ Jake Sanderson so high in my vote for best defensemen looks like an off-the-board pick.

But you won’t find another blueliner who performed at such a high level, offensively and defensively, while handling such a high percentage of 5-on-5 defensive zone faceoffs.

Per Natural Stat Trick, his 43.2 Offensive Zone Faceoff % was the lowest, by a decent margin, among all likely Norris candidates.

On special teams, Sanderson was the only defenseman in the NHL, besides the Detroit Red Wings’ Moritz Seider and the Utah Mammoth’ Mikhail Sergachev to lead his team in both power play and penalty kill usage per game.

The 57-point blueliner was the Sens’ go-to guy, offensively and defensively, leading Ottawa back into the post-season.

Calder Trophy (Lane Hutson)

1. Lane Hutson
2. Macklin Celebrini
3. Dustin Wolf
4. Matvei Michkov
5. Will Smith

Macklin Celebrini is likely going to be the best player of this bunch. He averaged nearly a point per game as an 18-year-old on a terrible San Jose Sharks squad.

Those aren’t, in my mind, relevant reasons to vote Celebrini though.

The Calder is for the rookie who had the best season, I define that as the most impactful, up to 26 years of age. That was clearly Hutson, and not Macklin Celebrini.

Hutson was not simply a passenger on the Montreal Canadiens’ playoff drive, he was one of those truly behind the wheel. Give him credit, Sharks fans.

Lady Byng Trophy (Anze Kopitar)

1. Jake Sanderson
2. Jaccob Slavin
3. Jack Eichel
4. Colton Parayko
5. Nick Suzuki

I think it’s too easy to give this award to a player who scored a lot and had the fewest penalty minutes.

So I always vote for players who combine a high standard of play with tough defensive minutes, and yes, fewer infractions.

It’s easy to stay out of the penalty box when you’re not defending much.

Selke Trophy (Aleksander Barkov)

1. Anthony Cirelli
2. Nico Hischier
3. Aleksander Barkov
4. Jack Eichel
5. Anze Kopitar

Cirelli stood out because of how he’s used, as the hard-match against the other team’s top center. He shadowed Macklin Celebrini in December when the San Jose Sharks visited the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The other pivots on my list are terrific two-way pivots, but they aren’t usually tasked with minutes as challenging as Cirelli’s.

NHL All-Star Team

Center

1. Nathan MacKinnon
2. Leon Draisaitl
3. Jack Eichel

Right Wing

1. Nikita Kucherov
2. Mitch Marner
3. David Pastrnak

Left Wing

1. Brandon Hagel
2. Kyle Connor
3. Alex Ovechkin

Defense

1. Cale Makar
2. Zach Werenski
3. Quinn Hughes
4. Jake Sanderson
5. Josh Morrissey
6. Victor Hedman

Goaltender

1. Connor Hellebuyck
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy
3. Darcy Kuemper

NHL All-Rookie Team

Forward

1. Macklin Celebrini
2. Matvei Michkov
3. Will Smith

Defense

1. Lane Hutson
2. Denton Mateychuk

Goaltender

1. Dustin Wolf

Smith and Cutter Gauthier were close, pretty much interchangeable in my mind, so I have no issue with Gauthier edging Smith in the final vote. Gauthier had two more goals, Smith had one more point. Both wingers got off to slow starts, before taking off in the second half of the season. Smith did play eight less games.

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