NHL Award Races Hart turning into runaway for Sidney Crosby

More NHL: | | | | | With the end of this week approaching, most people are focusing on the Olympic break as well as the player movement that might be affected by it and rightfully so, but it almost obscures the fact that the NHL season is now right about 3/4 of the way through. Truly, the stretch run begins when the players are back from Sochi (or wherever they spend their breaks). With that, of course, also come the individual races for the awards. And as it stands now, the MVP is pretty much a one-man race. is well on his way to the scoring title and like the Hart, being listed recently by Bovada as a 2-13 -- yes, 2-13 -- favorite to win the Hart. He's well on his way to the trophy; but how do the others stack up right now? Glad you asked.Award watchHartVezina Sidney CrosbyAt this point it's getting really hard to envision anybody else even getting close to Crosby in George Bell Jersey the end-of-season voting. He holds a double-digit lead on the rest of the league in points and he's done it with so many teammates injured. With the on cruise control to the East's top seed, it should be a formality with Crosby winning only his second Hart.Big Ben continues to look like a clear favorite for the Vezina as he has maintained his excellent level from start until now this season, helping the to what has been a somewhat surprising season, especially without Steven Stamkos. His .933 save percentage is tops among goalies with 25 games and his 1.98 goals against average is phenomenal.If there's any competition for Crosby it's likely to be Getzlaf, who has been at his best all season long for a team that is still atop the NHL standings even with some struggles of late. He and do the heavy lifting for Anaheim and it shows with Getzlaf second in the NHL in points with 64. If Anaheim can win the Presidents' Trophy then he could get a longer look.What more can the ask from Rask other than to be the steady netminder that he is? Rask wasn't at his best in the month of January and that still only resulted in a save percentage of .912, bringing his season mark to .929. Definitely he benefits from a great defensive team in front of him but don't think it doesn't go the other way too; he makes the team in front of him look like a better defensive group.A big i sue facing Toews and any other member of the that could be in the conversation such as is the simple fact that they others exist and having a few potential candidates on one team can hurt everybody's chances. Toews is just third on the team in points with 55 but he plays more minutes than any forward on the Blackhawks, and tough minutes to boot. His Selke candidacy helps him here, too.Varlamov doesn't have the best numbers in the NHL but his 28-10-5 record with a .924 save percentage and 2.49 GAA hardly qualify as shabby. The give up their fair share of shots and ask Varlamov to stand tall and he very often has this season. To put it into better perspective, the Avs are 25th in the NHL in shots against per game but 13th in goals against per. Credit Varlamov. Ben BishopYes, we're going to put a goalie in the conversation right now (it really isn't much of a race though to be fair) because Bishop has been that important to the Lightning. They have transformed into a strong defensive team and he is a part of that, a very big part. For years in Tampa it was a situation of if they get adequate goaltending they'd be a playoff team. With stellar goaltending they are a Stanley Cup contender.Just like Varlamov, the rely a lot on Bernier, except much more. Bernier sees more rubber than just about any goalie, definitely seeing more on most nights as the Leafs are last in the league in shots against and by a fair margin. Without his goaltending, it's hard to imagine their leaky defense would be good enough to be in playoff position right now. Considering the action he gets, his 2.63 GAA is pretty outstanding.For many, the league's leading goal scorer will appear in the top five but with the ' struggles and the Maple Leafs' recent surge, why not Ke sel? He was a major catalyst in their recent 9-1-1 run with nine goals and 12 a sists in that time. His 30 goals are second, 61 points are fifth and he the Leafs are in somewhat comfortable playoff position. He's not an amazing all-around player but neither is Ovechkin.Harding has become a forgotten man in this conversation as he has been out for a while as he undergoes changes to his MS treatment but he should be back for the post-Olympic rush for the and if he picks up where he left up, he could sneak back into the conversation. His .933 save percentage is equal to Bishop's mark for goalies with more than 25 appearances. If Harding isn't the same, isn't far off the radar.Award watchNorrisCalderKeith is having quite the season for the Blackhawks, playing more than 24 1/2 Toronto Blue Jays Blank Jersey minutes per game this season and coming out on the positive side of po se sion rather clearly. Not to mention his offensive abilities have been on full display as he sits second in the league for defensemen points with 48 in 58 games thanks to 45 a sists.While the Calder isn't a complete runaway like the Hart and Vezina are shaping up to be, it might not be that far behind. The No. 1 overall pick in this last draft, MacKinnon has been showing people why the Avalanche went with him as he leads rookies in goals (20), a sists (22) and thus points (42). Half of his points have come on the power play. One knock if you wanted to find it could be he plays somewhat sheltered minutes but that's getting picky.If Suter is still able to stand by the end of the season, it will be miraculous. He is averaging a mind-blowing 29:44 of ice time per game. On Tuesday night he played a whopping 34:31 and the game didn't even go to overtime. As you'd probably gue s Eric Sogard Jersey at that rate, he's the defenseman who gets the bulk of the top competition as well and evidenced by the Wild are 10th in goals against, he's been pretty effective.The Lightning's little secret isn't so secret anymore. Johnson is second in rookie scoring with 17 goals and 18 a sists this season and part of what makes that so impre sive is how the Lightning have relied upon it. Without Stamkos they needed help filling the scoring void and Johnson has done that. At 18:59 per game, he leads all rookie forwards in time on ice by almost two minutes.The best defenseman on one of the league's best defensive teams, Pietrangelo is one of those players who frequently gets the "he'll win a Norris someday" label. Why not now? He plays the most minutes on the team against the best opponents (with ), is a positive po se sion player and is six back of the team lead in points with his -best 33 a sists to go with six goals.There are a handful of defensemen who could make their way into the race such as or but Trouba has been very good for the since returning from injury. He is playing more than any rookie at 21:47 per game, and has produced 22 points in just 41 games for a Winnipeg team that is surging. The longer their run goes, the more consideration he'll get.At times it's to the point where voters want to recognize somebody else for the award and kind of choose to forget about Chara but the fact remains, there are few defensemen if any that impact and alter a game that way Chara does. Teams try to gameplan around him more than anybody but he still manages to face the best competition of anybody on the Bruins by a fairly substantial margin, plays in all situations and is simply a force.Another defenseman, Krug has been putting up points to the point that he can't be dismi sed considering it's the easiest way to quantify a player's ability and sometimes a lot of voters will go for ease. He has been great for a power play that hasn't been so great in recent years, picking up 22 of his 30 points on the man advantage. He plays very protected minutes but when you're doing exactly what you're asked to do, it shouldn't matter, same with MacKinnon.It will be interesting to see what voters will do with Karl son, he's putting up points like they're going out of style. He leads the Vladimir Guerrero Jr Jersey in points by 10 with his 14 goals and 39 a sists in 57 games and he's one of only three defensemen to average more than 27 minutes per game (27:22 to be exact). The defensive knocks against him persist but voters overlooked that before. and are right here, too.A second Jet, the days of people scratching their heads about the Jets selecting Scheifele in the draft are gone. He has been one of the players that have seemed to benefit from the coaching change with four goals and five a sists in the last 11 games for a hot Winnipeg team. In total he has 11 goals and 21 a sists, most all of that at even strength.Award watchAdamsSelke Jon CooperIt could be the Bolts show when it comes to the awards this season with Cooper a strong candidate for the Jack Adams. What's going to go a long way and help him against Patrick Roy is the team's succe s without their star player for much of the season and that he has overseen a change to a team that is finally defensively sound while remaining potent on offense. Unle s they fall down the stretch, which doesn't seem likely, Cooper will be a finalist. Jonathan ToewsToews won the Selke last season and there's little reason why he shouldn't win the trophy again. According , Toews plays the toughest competition in the NHL, he has 45 takeaways, is stout on faceoffs at 55.8 percent and is a po se sion monster while also scoring 55 points in 59 games and we all know Selke winners have to be two-way players anymore. Patrick RoyRoy has quite the compelling arguments in his favor, too, turning a team that picked No. 1 overall last season into a team that's closer to the West's top seed than the West's last playoff spot. The fact that he's a first-time NHL head coach only adds to the cred in this case. He could certainly surpa s Cooper if the Avs continue their winning ways down the stretch.Bergeron is another who has cemented himself in this conversation as a regular. What's so impre sive about Bergeron is that he starts the majority of his shifts in the defensive zone vs. top players. Still, he is the player on the Bruins that has the best percentage of shot attempts for, more than the guys who predominantly start in the offensive zone. And he remains the premier faceoff guy in the league, winning 60 percent. His 35 points won't hurt either. Bruce BoudreauRight now, Boudreau is facing his first bit of adversity this season as the Ducks have finally hit a slump. Fortunately for them, it is coming right before the break. But before this, the Ducks were running over the NHL with their high-flying ways and Gabby has them excelling with depth that before the season looked somewhat thin. Not so much anymore.Arguments could be made for any one of the Blues' trio of Backes, and as they are hardly ever separated and play equally brutal minutes, though Backes does have a slightly higher percentage of defensive zone starts. All three also get a good dose of PK time but in the end we'll admit some positional bias and take the center in Backes who has improved in the dot this season and is slightly above 50 percent. Dan BylsmaWhat Bylsma has working for him is one of the same things working for Crosby; their team thrived while going through some big injuries to key players. We've seen many times before how that factors in on coaching awards in any sport. He does have an enviable position with Crosby and leading the way but he's kept the ship afloat and has juggled responsibilities with Team USA where he'll be the head coach.Kopitar does it all for the ; he is their go-to player among forwards in any situation, is their leading scorer 46 points in 56 games and like most of his teammates, generates play in one direction; the positive direction. He also is the forward who plays the most, getting nearly two minutes more per game of Billy McKinney Jersey ice time than . Maybe this is the season he becomes a finalist. Paul MauriceWhat's going to ultimately hinder Maurice is the very short sample size he's going to put together but if the Jets can finish strong enough that they make the playoffs, you better believe that Maurice will get a lot of votes. Since Claude Noel was fired, the Jets have gone 9-2-0. Voters love a good turnaround and Maurice, at least so far, has turned the Jets around in a huge way. Henrik ZetterbergSimilar to the Blues trio, there are arguments you can make for either Zetterberg or teammate but we'll take the captain. He might not excel in the takeaway department like Datsyuk but at this point, Zetterberg is much more likely to be the center Mike Babcock turns to in the defensive zone and he faces the same level of competition that Toews does, which is to say the best.