OT - NHL Awards [Spoiler]
SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WATCHING
ESPN has the winners posted before they've been announced.
Chara gets the Norris over Nick, Pavs wins the Bing and Selke but loses the Hart and Pearson to Ovechkin. I didn't expect Pavel to win either of those awards, but it would have been nice to see a two-way player like Pavel recognized, at least by the players association.
Chara winning over Nick is a disgrace. The writers must have been drinking the Bruins Kool-Aid.
Chara - 19 G, 31 A, 50 P, +23, 95 PIM.
Lidstrom - 16 G, 43 A, 59 P, +31, 30 PIM.
Come on, let's take off the red and white glasses. It's not all about the individual numbers. Boston was a better defensive team than the Wings all season long. Every Detroit defenseman - Saint Nick included - looked half asleep for stretches during the season. Chara deserved it. It would've been a disgrace if they had it given it to Mike Green.
My red and white glasses have been arc-welded to my face, so unfortunately I'll have to disagree. Nick deserves every Norris trophy until he retires based purely on this:
Lidström
That's right. Umlauts.
Watching Mike Green play in that Penguins series was like watching an infant playing against grown men. And Cindy.
I honestly believe the reason Nick didn't win was A. the writers wanted someone else to win for a change and B. the Canadians don't want to see Nick pass Orr.
Unless you watched every Bruins game, I really don't think you're in a position to compare who looked more asleep for however long, etc. I'm sure Chara had stretches where he didn't look superhuman. It came down to perception of how the two played, not the reality of their performance.
OH SHIT... still a disgrace to me. Lids deserved it. I'm pretty sure the award isn't given to the best defenseman on the best defensive team in the NHL. The team doesn't matter, so take that excuse out and all you have left is opinion. Well, IMO Lidstrom was an excellent defender all season.
LOL, you think so, huh? The team doesn't matter?
(Psst...it actually does. Whether it's fair or not, that's how it is. In all sports. For essentially all awards.)
I have to agree with you here. This was one of the worst seasons i've seen from Nick in awhile. Statistically he was still better than Chara, so maybe that's more a mention of how far and away better he was in previous years.
The Wings D sucked this year, Lidstrom was less-than-your-average-Lidstrom this year = Chara win. I don't have too much gripe with that.
Even strength numbers:
Lidstrom had a GAON per 60 minutes of 2.14, and was on the ice for 46 goals against this year. Chara had a GAON per 60 minutes of 2.23 and was on the ice for 54 goals against this year. And, Chara played for one of the best defensive teams in the league and in front of the league's best goalies. Lidstrom had Ozzie behind him. Despite this, Lids still had better defensive numbers and offensive numbers than Chara.
If the Wings overall D was better, Lids would have won the award again. He was hurt by Ozzie's awful play and the poor play of Stuart and Kronwall as our second pairing.
Despite incontestably being the most violently subjective Caps fan on this board, even I must admit that Mike Green was not a legitimate option for the Norris. If there were a Reverse Selke Trophy, it would be all his, but his actual defensive contributions to the team were negligible. Our best defenseman is probably Tom Poti or Shaone Morrisonn (!!!). John Erskine should be good eventually.
and if I may WOO OVECHKIN
As a fellow caps fan, I only have this to add:
YEAH OVECHKIN
a Wings fan, and I will die a Wings fan. I was a Wings fan before I was a Wolverines fan (blasphemy, I know - I did not like football until I graduated high school).
But Ovechkin's got game, I like him. YEAH OVECHKIN.
I was a wings fan from the age of six and on. It was only during my freshman year of college that I actually started paying attention to football.
Reverse Selke...that was good. LOL.
I didn't watch as many Wings games as I usually do (damn New York and its hockey teams!), but Lidstrom seemed a bit slow in the playoffs, and the little I saw of Chara makes me think his win is not some travesty. Plus, let's not forget that after a while, voters get bored voting for the same guy. That's why Charles Barkley and Karl Malone own MVP trophies, why the Heisman trophy has only been awarded to the same player once in the history of the sport (thought Saint Tebow may change that), and why Miss Universe and Miss World are not always the same women.
The man had surgery on his balls.
Then he played more hockey.
I know, unbelievable.
Patrick Sharp is a piece of shit.
That's amazing. I think Lidstrom is one of the 5 best defensemen in history. But the defense was down this year, and Chara is not chop liver either. I'm sure that Lidstrom will grab another Norris, maybe as early as next year.
^^^^^ This my friends, this.
Normally you don't have to put up a spoiler alert for sports, it's just assumed that you know the score of the game and the relevant stats for everyone. Weird. It makes sense in this case though.
Eh, I mainly clicked on this just to see how the word "Spoiler" was justified.