Awards on the fly, a few Habs mentioned (from CNN SI)

[rafikz]

...and no best coach award ?

Now the moment you have been waiting for, On the Fly's end of season awards -- with a twist.

Most complete player: Jarome Iginla, Flames. He won't win the Hart Trophy, but no one plays more parts of the game than this right winger. Iginla is a modern Gordie Howe with similar passion, toughness and humility. (By the way, those characteristics should be the components of the Gordie Howe hat trick rather than a goal, assist and fight.)

Honorable mentions: Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning; Daniel Alfredsson, Senators; Henrik Zetterberg, Red Wings; Paul Stastny, Avalanche

Most pleasant surprise: Mike Ribeiro, Stars. Throughout his career, he had been a one-way centre: pretty much his way. Well, in a contract year, Ribeiro wound up signing a five-year, $25-million deal during the season when he became an offensive force (83 points in 76 games through Monday), but also a solid plus player.

Honorable mentions: Blackhawks centre Patrick Sharp, who had a career-high 36 goals; Blues right winger Brad Boyes, career-high 41 goals; Avalanche defenseman Jeff Finger; Panthers left winger David Booth; Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller; Blue Jackets goalie Pascal Leclaire, Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman, who had a career high in goals (12) and points (35) and was a plus player for the first time.

Best future among the 2007-08 rookies: Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks. Although injuries likely will derail his Calder candidacy, Toews - a two-way centre who scores, hits, wins faceoffs and leads - has an extraordinary upside. Patrick Kane, his superb rookie linemate, might win scoring titles, but Toews will be the backbone when Chicago finally ices a Stanley Cup contender.

Honorable mentions: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price :hlogo: , whose progress allowed them to trade veteran Cristobal Huet at the deadline; the aforementioned Kane.

Best acquisition via trade: Brian Campbell, Sharks. Campbell, plucked at the deadline, was the missing piece for the aimless Sharks: a defenseman who can move the puck smartly to the forwards and run the power play. Considering how emotional he was when the Sabres moved him to the Western Conference, Campbell also is in the running for Lachrymose Valuable Player.

Honorable mention: Ilya Bryzgalov, Coyotes; Huet, Capitals; Joe Corvo, Hurricanes.

Stepping into the breach: Evgeni Malkin, Penguins. No one pulled off a star turn with more élan than Malkin, who thrust himself into the Hart debate with his scoring and virtuosity while captain Sidney Crosby was down due a high-ankle sprain.

Honorable mentions: Colorado's role players in the absence of Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth and Stastny; Carolina's Eric Staal; Pittsburgh's Ty Conklin.

Comeback player: Jeremy Roenick, Sharks. This should be unanimous. Roenick didn't merely return from a sub-par season, as did Montreal's Alexei Kovalev :hlogo: , he returned from quasi-retirement to become a significant contributor to a Cup contender. Roenick embraced a fourth-line role, played with energy, tamped down his massive ego, and scored important goals. He had 10 game- winners -- the same number as Alexander Ovechkin -- among his 14 as he crashed the 500-goal mark.

Honorable mention: Sergei Samsonov, Hurricanes

Most perseverence: Mathieu Darche, Lightning. After kicking around the minors since 2000-01, the 31-year-old left wing, who had played just 28 NHL games, finally earned a regular job, even jumping to the second line on occasion. Darche is a rarity: a product of Canadian university hockey (McGill) who became an NHL player.

Honorable mentions: Bruins centre Glen Metropolit; Capitals left wing Quintin Laing; Predators goalie Dan Ellis; Penguins goalie Conklin.

Best coaching by an assistant: Montreal's Doug Jarvis :hlogo: decided that rather than cobble together a power play unit as the Canadiens had in the past, he would recommend going with the standard line combinations. Despite losing departed free agent Sheldon Souray's scary shot from the point, the Habs led the NHL in power play percentage.

Honorable mention: Ulf Samuelsson, Coyotes.

Versatility: Todd Fedoruk, Wild left wing. With his career stalled because of concussion problems, the Fridge -- a career 17-goal scorer heading into the season -- reinvented himself as a mucker with requisite toughness and the requisite dollop of skill that allowed him to play at least sometimes on the No. 1 line.

Honorable mention: Mark Streit :hlogo: , forward-defenseman, Canadiens.

Underachiever: Patrick Marleau, Sharks. Until his post-trade deadline surge, the Sharks captain (17 goals, 43 points in 76 games) had been a cipher, a shadow of a centre who should have been providing San Jose with a formidable one-two combination up the middle with Joe Thornton.

Dishonorable mentions: The Rangers' power play; Senators goalie Ray Emery; Predators goalie Chris Mason; Senators centre Mike Fisher, (minus 10); Sharks right wing Jonathan Cheechoo.

Player most likely to sue for abandonment: Mats Sundin, Maple Leafs. Basically left to fend for himself every night because of scant help from Toronto's other forwards, Sundin scored 32 goals and averaged more than a point per game. The captain was also abandoned by most of the city, which first wanted him gone at the trade deadline as part of the rebuilding process and then thought he should have skipped the final few weeks because of his partially-torn groin. (If his absence happened to help the Leafs' drafting position -- nudge, wink -- well, so be it.)

Honorable mentions: Every goalie who manned Tampa Bay's net.

Best performance: Alex Ovechkin, Capitals. After being cut by a stick in the first minute and later having his nose broken by a check, Ovechkin, the stud left winger, scored four goals, including the overtime winner, and added an assist in a 5-4 win against Montreal on January 31.

Honorable mention: The Wild's Marian Gaborik, who scored five goals against the Rangers on Dec. 20. Wild teammates carried him off the ice, a nice change from players like Boston's Patrice Bergeron having to be wheeled off.

Dumbest play: Donald Brashear, Capitals. He took six minutes worth of penalties -- a double high-sticking minor and a roughing minor -- with fewer than seven minutes to go last month in Boston. The Bruins wound up scoring on a pair of five-on-three power plays to pull off a stunning comeback win, robbing desperate Washington of two points. The follow-up question is why coach Bruce Boudreau had Brashear, a fourth liner, on the ice so late in a close, pivotal game. Sure, Washington played Pittsburgh the following afternoon and Boudreau was nursing his lineup -- this was to be Brashear's last shift -- but you have to win the first game before worrying about the second.

Dishonorable mentions: Flyers rookie Steve Downie, for his preseason hit that concussed Ottawa's Dean McAmmond; Islanders (now Wild) enforcer Chris Simon for stomping on Jarkko Ruutu of the Penguins two months after returning from a 25-game suspension.

Creepy statistic of the year: In March, merely one point separated the scoring totals of Vancouver's Henrik and Daniel Sedin. This was hardly surprising considering that they play on the same line. The eerie thing, however, was the nearly indistinguishable identical twins were tied in penalty minutes, with 44 apiece. Cue the Twilight Zone theme. (Don't numbers like that just get your zygote?)

Honorable mention: The seven goalies used by the Kings.

[JoeLassister]

...and no best coach award ?

Now the moment you have been waiting for, On the Fly's end of season awards -- with a twist.

Versatility: Todd Fedoruk, Wild left wing. With his career stalled because of concussion problems, the Fridge -- a career 17-goal scorer heading into the season -- reinvented himself as a mucker with requisite toughness and the requisite dollop of skill that allowed him to play at least sometimes on the No. 1 line.

Honorable mention: Mark Streit :hlogo: , forward-defenseman, Canadiens.

I don't get why you give this to Fedoruk over Streit, the guy has more points than Markov playing on 1rst line, 4th line, power play at the point. I'd give this award to Streit.

Underachiever: Patrick Marleau, Sharks. Until his post-trade deadline surge, the Sharks captain (17 goals, 43 points in 76 games) had been a cipher, a shadow of a centre who should have been providing San Jose with a formidable one-two combination up the middle with Joe Thornton.

Dishonorable mentions: The Rangers' power play; Senators goalie Ray Emery; Predators goalie Chris Mason; Senators centre Mike Fisher, (minus 10); Sharks right wing Jonathan Cheechoo.

Don't forget Matt Carle ALSO from San Jose... ruined my fantasy pool...

Dumbest play: Donald Brashear, Capitals. He took six minutes worth of penalties -- a double high-sticking minor and a roughing minor -- with fewer than seven minutes to go last month in Boston. The Bruins wound up scoring on a pair of five-on-three power plays to pull off a stunning comeback win, robbing desperate Washington of two points. The follow-up question is why coach Bruce Boudreau had Brashear, a fourth liner, on the ice so late in a close, pivotal game. Sure, Washington played Pittsburgh the following afternoon and Boudreau was nursing his lineup -- this was to be Brashear's last shift -- but you have to win the first game before worrying about the second.

Dishonorable mentions: Flyers rookie Steve Downie, for his preseason hit that concussed Ottawa's Dean McAmmond; Islanders (now Wild) enforcer Chris Simon for stomping on Jarkko Ruutu of the Penguins two months after returning from a 25-game suspension. Jim Vandermeer who left his position to take on Gorges when the play was going other way and Bouillon scored his 1rst of the season on that coast to coast play.

[ShortHanded]

Great thread. lots of fun to read...

[TheAussiePosse]

Appreciate the thought, but it's illegal to post entire articles.

In future, please post the link and the first paragraph or two, and that's it. Else we get caught for copyright infringement, and all the unhappy Habs fans who want to complain about their team (myself included) will find themselves without an outlet, and may in fact take it out on your inbox.

Some good calls in there, although I disagree about altering the Gordie Howe hattrick - it's a physical thing, unlike passion or humility. You can't compare puppy-dog eyes and gritted teeth.

[Habsfan84]

Interesting read for sure.