In the latest edition of The Hockey News, the magazine presents its awards to NHL players, its version of the NHL Trophies, as it were. There’s only one Montreal Canadiens amongst the winners, which is, of course, Lane Hutson for the Teemu Selanne award, as the best rookie.
I’ve decided to use those awards and grant them to the most deserving Canadiens’ players. Without further ado, here are the winners of the THN awards, Canadiens edition!
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Mario Lemieux Award (Best player): Nick Suzuki (THN winner: Nathan MacKinnon)
There wasn’t much of a choice here. The captain scored 89 points this year and carried his team to the playoffs. After being challenged by Kent Hughes to stay put and not sell at the deadline, he became a force of nature, spending a considerable amount of time on the ice and even playing on both power play units.
Wayne Gretzky Award (Most valuable player): Nick Suzuki (THN Winner: Leon Draisaitl)
For the same reasons mentioned above, I have no choice but to go for the captain here. Without him, there would have been no playoffs, and the season wouldn’t have been a resounding success.
Bobby Orr Award (Best defenseman): Lane Hutson (THN Winner: Cale Makar)
Given the incredible season he had, there wasn’t room for much discussion (with me) here. His 66 points speak volumes about what he’s able to do, but what’s even more impressive is the fact that he has spent an average of 22:44 on the ice. For a rookie to be able to have that kind of impact on a team and to do it as consistently is nothing short of amazing. When players turn pro, consistency is what they usually struggle with, but not Hutson. What you see is what you get, all the time.
Patrick Roy Award (Best goaltender): Samuel Montembeault (THN Winner: Connor Hellebuyck)
Samuel Montembeault is alone on the running here. Of course, Cayden Primeau and Jakub Dobes also played with the Canadiens, but Primeau lost his confidence and ultimately played his way out of Montreal, and Dobes had too small a sample size. Meanwhile, Montembeault appeared in 62 games and won 31 of them, posting career-high numbers in wins (31), goals-against average (2.82), and shutouts (4).
Cam Neely Award (Breakout player): Emil Heineman (THN Winner: Dylan Holloway)
I know, this could have been Hutson, but Heineman’s season was impressive. Not so much from a points-producing standpoint (10 goals and eight assists in 62 games), but because of how efficient he was on the ice as a forechecker. That side of his game was a key cog in the trade that sent him to the New York Islanders in return for Noal Dobson. After Matt Martin retired, the Isles needed some more grit. Had it not been for his freak injury in Salt Lake City, chances are he would have put up more offensive numbers as well.
Bob Probert Award (Toughest player): Arber Xhekaj (THN Winner: Mathieu Olivier)
Even though he doesn’t lead the team in hits with 180, 14 behind Juraj Slafkovsky, he still deserves the award. He played in just 70 games, compared to 82 games for the Slovak, who was receiving significantly more ice time as well. Xhekaj also led the team in penalty minutes with 118 and earned five fighting majors. Josh Anderson was a close second here.
Teemu Selanne (Best rookie): Lane Hutson (THN Winner: Lane Hutson)
This topic has been discussed at length on this page. Hutson has had an incredible rookie season, giving us a glimpse of what he could become. He was the only one in the running here.
Guy Carbonneau Award (Top penalty killer): Jake Evans (THN Winner: Jacob Slavin)
Evans takes the cake ahead of Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia for me here. The center had the most productive season of his career with 36 points, scoring three shorthanded goals and adding three assists when down a man. With a 52.9% success rate at the playoffs dot, he’s been incredibly useful to the team, and he also scored five game-winning goals, the third highest total behind Suzuki and Cole Caufield. With Dvorak and Armia’s departure, he’ll need to keep up the good work on the penalty kill if the Canadiens are to be successful this season as well.
Rod Langway Award (Top defensive defenseman): Kaiden Guhle (THN Winner Jacob Slavin)
This one was a no-brainer. Even though he’s only seventh on the team in hits with 104 and third in blocked shots with 124, he deserves the award, especially since he could only play 55 games because of injuries. His bone-crushing hits are becoming a genuine part of the Canadiens’ identity, and Caufield summed it up nicely last season when he was asked what Guhle does for the team. He replied: “he kills people”. That was a bit of an overstatement, but everyone knew what it meant. He’s a general back there and can give his troops both confidence and energy when he lays the boom and obliterates an opponent.
Shame there wasn’t a comeback of the year award; that one would have been split between Anderson and Brendan Gallagher. There could also have been an Alexander Ovechkin award for best goal scorer, which would have been awarded to Caufield no contest.
Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
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