Carolina Hurricanes Mid-Season Awards The All-Star break is the unofficial midway point for the NHL season and so since we're a little over halfway through, we decided to take a look at some midseason awards candidates. The Hockey News' team sites have each selected the top candidates from every team for nine of the league's end-of-year awards. While these players may not necessarily be favorites or even likely to win these awards, this is simply the best candidates from each team for each award. So without further adieu, here are my picks from the Carolina Hurricanes and be sure to check out the other team sites for their picks as well. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Art Ross (Most Points) C - Sebastian Aho (54 points) The Carolina Hurricanes are, for the most part, a team by committee, so you don't usually get one guy blowing past everybody else, but this year is a bit different. Sebastian Aho has cashed in a monstrous past two months to not only put some real distance between him and the rest of his teammates, but also to be 15th in the league in scoring. Odds are nobody in Carolina will even get close to passing his point total this season. Rocket Richard (Most Goals) C - Sebastian Aho (17 goals) All that stuff I said about Aho before, still applies here. The Finnish centerman has been so dynamic for Carolina and has been finding success scoring whether at even-strength, on the power play or even shorthanded. You can find him either snapping a quick wrister or redirecting a puck in front. But to be honest, between you and me, I think if he can come back soon and stay healthy, Andrei Svechnikov may pass Aho before the season's done. Hart (MVP) C - Sebastian Aho (17goals, 54 points) Again, Sebastian Aho is the franchise cornerstone of the Carolina Hurricanes. He's a three-zone player, who plays in every situation. He's a two-way player while also being the team's leading scorer. What more could I say? Aho is the Hurricanes' MVP. No questions asked. Norris (Top Defenseman) D - Brady Skjei (7 goals, 27 points) Hear me out on this one. The Norris trophy has long been hotly debated. For one, people question all the time if it ends up being a reputation or legacy award, so perhaps I should lean into that. Because Brady Skjei has not only been good this season, but he was also tremendous last season as well. Skjei had an 18 goal campaign last season while also being on a shutdown pairing, and now has seven more while still being in that same role. Only six defenseman have had more goals than him over the last two seasons combined and four of them are previous Norris winners. And you may question whether a team with Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns should be passing them by for Skjei, but I also would like to point out that Skjei averages the most even-strength ice time on the team and routinely gets harder assignments. Again with all that offensive production as well. So I say, why not him? Vezina (Top Goaltender) G - Pyotr Kochetkov (11-7-3; 0.900 Sv%) When you take a look at Kochetkov's numbers, they don't look great. Sure, he's still the best statistical goaltender on the team currently, but you probably aren't impressed by his results at a glance. So let's take a better look at them. Since Carolina's disastrous 4-game losing streak through Western Canada in December, Kochetkov has a 7-1-2 record with a 0.924 save percentage. He's allowed two or fewer goals in eight of those games and he's only had a single bad game in the bunch. Kochetkov was well on his way to cementing himself as Carolina's clear-cut starter and heir apparent until he was concussed against the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 11. He's since been cleared though and is expected to return to game action following the All-Star break. Selke (Top Defensive Forward) C - Jordan Staal (6 goals, 15 points) You'd be hard pressed to find a forward with as much of a defensive impact for his team than Jordan Staal. The Canes' captain has been a defensive stalwart for over a decade now and he routinely shuts down the league's best night in and night out. He's a dominant faceoff man, he plays hard and he can make superstars turn invisible whenever they visit Raleigh. And he's still doing it just as well today at 35 years old. He should actually be a legitimate candidate for this award too. He isn't just propping up his numbers against weak competition like a lot of other "shutdown" centers around the league either. Staal gets the hardest assignments nearly every night. The one thing that holds him back though is that the award has become more of a two-way forward award rather than just defense and Staal simply has never had the offensive statistics to support his claim. Calder (Top Rookie) G - Pyotr Kochetkov Crazy enough, Kochetkov is still considered as a rookie by the NHL despite pretty much being in his second season. That's because he played in only 24 regular season games last year, one short of the cutoff. All the things that I said in the Vezina category for Kochetkov? Yeah, apply those here as well. Masterton (Dedication to Hockey) The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is award to a player who exemplifies perseverance and dedication to hockey. There's a lot of ways nominations for this award go. From players who came back from a season ending injury to those that have suffered a great tragedy to simply just those who have been in the league a long time. I think for the Hurricanes, a player who has exemplified that commitment and dedication to the game of hockey even when things haven't gone his way is Stefan Noesen. Noesen has played in the NHL for parts of 10 different seasons. He's been on six different NHL clubs and spent a lot of time going back and forth between the NHL and AHL. He was a first-round pick too, but he never believed he was owed anything. He kept his head down, continued to work hard and is now having back-to-back career seasons in Carolina. Lady Byng (Most Gentlemanly) D - Jaccob Slavin (6 PIM) Despite averaging nearly 21 minutes a night pitted against the NHL's best shift in and shift out, Slavin has only taken three penalties all season. A trip, a hold and a delay of game. On top of being perhaps the best defensive defenseman in the game, he's also just the most wholesome person you could ever know. He's a true class act, does not curse ever, and is essentially everything this award says it stands for. I mean, there's a good reason why he's won it before. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recent Articles Carolina Hurricanes Netminder Frederik Andersen to Resume On-Ice Activities [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/news/frederik-andersen-to-resume-on-ice-activities] Carolina Hurricanes Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov Activated Off IR [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/news/carolina-hurricanes-goaltender-pyotr-kochetkov-activated-off-ir] Multiple Carolina Hurricanes Prospects Nominated for Hobey Baker Award [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/news/multiple-carolina-hurricanes-prospects-nominated-for-hobey-baker-award]
