The Blackhawks missed out on the NHL’s big awards a year after Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin took the Hart and Calder, respectively. What will happen this season? Let’s dig into our staff’s predictions for hockey’s biggest annual individual honors.
Connor McDavid won his first Hart Trophy in 2017 with an impressive 30-goal, 100-point campaign. His ability to make plays at dizzying speed is unparalleled, and at age 21, he’s unsurprisingly the favorite to win league MVP again. It would take a monster year from someone like Kane or Sidney Crosby to get voters to look elsewhere.
There are lots of other familiar faces among the picks. Patrice Bergeron remains in his prime as the league’s premier two-way center. Carey Price is still a popular choice for anyone trying to figure out who will be the league’s top goaltender. Picking a coach of the year is still more or less looking at which team you predicted to break out.
Here are the full picks for our writers, including myself. Please share your picks in the comments!
2017-18 NHL award predictions
| Voter | Hart | Norris | Calder | Selke | Vezina | Jack Adams | Art Ross | Rocket Richard | GM of the Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Satchel Price | Connor McDavid | Victor Hedman | Clayton Keller | Patrice Bergeron | Corey Crawford | Ken Hitchcock | Connor McDavid | Vladimir Tarasenko | Ron Francis |
| Brandon Cain | Connor McDavid | Victor Hedman | Dylan Strome | Patrice Bergeron | Carey Price | Paul Maurice | Connor McDavid | Nikita Kucherov | John Chayka |
| Brad Repplinger | Auston Matthews | Brent Burns | Dylan Strome | Ryan Kesler | Pekka Rinne | Todd McLellan | Auston Matthews | Connor McDavid | Lou Lamoriello |
| Dave Melton | Connor McDavid | Erik Karlsson | Alex DeBrincat | Patrice Bergeron | Carey Price | Claude Julien | Sidney Crosby | Connor McDavid | Lou Lamoriello |
| Jenna Wills | Connor McDavid | Brent Burns | Dylan Strome | Patrice Bergeron | Carey Price | Mike Babcock | Connor McDavid | Sidney Crosby | Lou Lamoriello |
| Liz McNeill | Connor McDavid | Erik Karlsson | Nolan Patrick | Patrice Bergeron | Braden Holtby | Dave Hakstol | Connor McDavid | Auston Matthews | Lou Lamoriello |
| Mario Tirabassi | Connor McDavid | Erik Karlsson | Alex DeBrincat | Patrice Bergeron | Braden Holtby | Todd McLellan | Connor McDavid | Nikita Kucherov | Lou Lamoriello |
| Carolyn Horne | Auston Matthews | Erik Karlsson | Alex DeBrincat | Patrice Bergeron | Corey Crawford | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Peter Elliott | Connor McDavid | Victor Hedman | Charlie McAvoy | Patrice Bergeron | Braden Holtby | Mike Babcock | Connor McDavid | Connor McDavid | Lou Lamoriello |