Is Giroux a Hart Trophy finalist?
Daily News Flyers blog
Is Giroux a Hart Trophy finalist?
The ballot from NHL headquarters arrived in my inbox on March 29.
For the most part, it has sat there - unclicked - for the last two weeks because I haven’t exactly known what to do with it. As a voting member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association for the Hart, Norris, Calder, Selke, Lady Byng trophies and the All-Star teams, it is an honor I take seriously.
I put in at least three to four hours of research - carefully checking statistics, glossing over injury reports, reading through newspaper stories, just to make sure I’ve got the most complete picture possible.
But it’s always strange when a guy you cover on a daily basis could be up for an award.
As a journalist, you find yourself asking the question: am I inserting bias in my voting?
That’s what I’ve been wrangling with for the last two weeks with regards to Claude Giroux’s candidacy on the Hart Trophy ballot. Should Giroux be a finalist for the league’s top honor?
Evgeni Malkin is the hands down winner of the Hart. End of story. Tough to make an argument for anyone else. That might not be a popular opinion in Philadelphia this week. Just a hunch.
But what about everyone else?
For most of the season, I had Giroux pegged in the runner-up spot. Then, with a late season push by Steven Stamkos to 60 goals, I moved Giroux back to No. 4. This week, I had him at third at one point in my mind.
Does a goaltender belong in the Hart mix? Only 4 goaltenders have won the award in the last 47 years. Unbelievably, Jose “Five or More” Theodore was the last to win it, in 2001-02 with the Canadiens.
For me, that answer is yes. The actual criteria of the award is “the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.” Without Jonathan Quick, I’m 99 percent certain the Los Angeles Kings do not make the playoffs. With such strong defensive play, the Rangers probably make it anyway, even if Marty Biron starts most of the season ahead of Henrik Lundqivst.
Ultimately, it was the letter of the law that convinced me Giroux was worthy of the No. 2 spot behind Malkin.
Without Giroux's emergence last season, Paul Holmgren likely does not have the courage to trade away Mike Richards and Jeff Carter last offseason. With those moves, the keys to a franchise were handed over to a 23-year-old.
And the franchise could have gone two ways: to the cellar or to the top.
Instead, Giroux posted the Flyers’ best individual season since 1999 with 93 points. He made every player around him better, like Scott Hartnell. Somehow, the Flyers finished 5 goals better than they did last season and just 3 points off that pace in the standings.
Looking at their No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, it is easy to forget that the Flyers finished with the 6th most points in the NHL this season - 4 wins from a President’s Trophy. Is any of that remotely possible without Giroux?
Like a parent-coach who is tougher on his own son than any other player on the team, I make sure to put players I cover on a daily basis through a more stringent vetting process than any other vote to remove any hint of bias.
That’s why I feel comfortable sharing my ballot publicly. Giroux deserves to be in Las Vegas on June 20. Interestingly, I think a lot of players will feel the same way with voting for their own MVP in the Ted Lindsay Award.
HART TROPHY - most valuable player to his team
1. Evgeni Malkin (PIT)
2. Claude Giroux (PHI)
3. Jonathan Quick (LAK)
4. Steven Stamkos (TBL)
5. Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
NORRIS TROPHY - top defenseman
1. Erik Karlsson (OTT)
2. Shea Weber (NSH)
3. Zdeno Chara (BOS)
4. Alex Pietrangelo (STL)
5. Nicklas Lidstrom (DET)
LADY BYNG - gentlemanly conduct with high playing ability
1. Brian Campbell (FLA)
2. Matt Moulson (NYI)
3. Marty St. Louis (TBL)
4. Nicklas Lidstrom (DET)
5. Patrik Elias (NJD)
SELKE TROPHY - best defensive forward
1. Jonathan Toews (CHI)
2. Patrice Bergeron (BOS)
3. Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
4. David Backes (STL)
5. Ryan Kesler (VAN)
CALDER TROPHY - rookie of the year
1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM)
2. Gabriel Landeskog (COL)
(note: both players tied for the lead in points with 52 but Nugent-Hopkins played 20 fewer games)
3. Matt Read (PHI)
4. Carl Hagelin (NYR)
5. Sean Couturier (PHI)
----
I do not vote on these awards, but here are my thoughts:
VEZINA TROPHY - top goaltender (voted by GMs)
1. Jonathan Quick (LAK)
2. Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)
3. Mike Smith (PHX)
4. Pekka Rinne (NSH)
5. Brian Elliott (STL)
JACK ADAMS - coach of the year (voted by broadcasters)
1. Ken Hitchcock (STL)
2. Paul MacLean (OTT)
3. Kevin Dineen (FLA)
4. Dave Tippett (PHX)
5. John Tortorella (NYR)
GM OF THE YEAR - (voted by GMs, broadcasters, and select media)
1. Dale Tallon (FLA)
2. Paul Holmgren (PHI)
3. Doug Armstrong (STL)
4. David Poile (NSH)
5. Stan Bowman (CHI)
Feel free to send hate mail to seravaf@phillynews.com.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers
If you're going to make the argument for Nugent-Hopkins based on stats vs. games played, then Giroux's stats vs. games played (concussion) should also be considered. He has played beyond a point per game. He plays in all situations. Does Malkin kill penalties?
Putting Matt Read third? Why? Because of age? Points? Are the other two in the play-offs? Were they killing penalties? Read was a far more valuable rookie to his team than the other two players.— Chasev- Chasev....Malkin also missed several games at the start of the season. I am pretty sure he has more pts per game than any other player, inc Giroux. Malkin does not generally kill penalties, I hope you are not trying to say Malkin should not win the Hart? That would be a losing argument.— mikeinpgh
- Couturier should be #2 in the Calder list. He is more valuable to his team than any other player on that list.— flyers2thecup
- I wouldn't have put Stamkos on a ballot for Hart. He scored a lot of goals for a dreadful team. I would've voted for Mike Smith over Stamkos.
- How do you have Nugent-Hopkins for Calder? It's Read or Landeskog. Edmonton sucked and he missed a ton of games.
And Giroux deserves to be a finalist. He fits the "most valuable to his team" bill 100%. Without him the Flyers don't make the playoffs. And I completely disagree with the Lundqvist/Biron thing. Lundqvist put that team in the playoffs. If they don't advance it will be because of Lundqvist.— ragecage22 - I agree with the very first comment. We're getting short shrift because we're the Flyers.— WestonF01
Comment removed.- How could you put Dave Tallon in for GM? Winning a bad division isn't worthy of praise. They barely deserve to be in the playoffs, they have a losing record.— Pelti
- Malkin? The ONLY reason he's even on the list is because the NHL, NBC, the refs, Root Sports, ESPN, all love the Penguins and hate the Flyers. The only reason he won the Art Ross Trophy (other than scoring the most points) is because the game is rigged to let him score. Any time he has the puck the refs practically shield the goalie to help him score. It's all a big fix, just ask any Flyer fan on this board after the Pens win it in 5. Oh and you guys say the Pens cry, really?— hockeycoach
- Malkin is incredibly talented - no argument. There really should be a category for dirtiest/cheap shot artist - he would win unanimously, Crosby would be the runner up— Jersey Girl11
- hockeycoach? More like pocket ball player.— MikeWizowski
- At least the Flyers have one player that's won a Hart Trophy (of course unless your counting the one they made up named for Gene Hart) That would be Jags, of course he was a Penguin when he won it, but hey, it's something.
— hockeycoach - Eric Lindros won the Hart Trophy. Do you ever know what you're talking about?
http://sophia.smith.edu/~jeue/John/images/image31.gif - 1972-73
1974-75
1975-76
Hart memorial trophy...Bobby Clark !!!— mean mean pride,mean mean pride. - Why are Pens fans even on this board? Don't you guys have boards of your own? I know Pittsburgh is a loser of a city(I had to work there once for 6 months-it was torturous!)You guys really like stalking Flyers forums? Just creepy - like Malkin— Jersey Girl11
- Hey Jersey Girl aka Snooky, back at ya, I lived in Medford for 3 years, spent enough time in the cess pool you call home.
And Just recently banned: I was at or watched all the Pens/Flyers games, and ya, hated to see the Flyers win all but one of them. Those games are now meaningless just like in the 08/09 season. Flyers won every game that year, lost to the Pens in the play offs. my 5 game was just a prediction. Let's let the players decide. Goaltending will be the key to the series, and if I were a Flyer fan, that would make me damn nervous.
— hockeycoach - I spend quite a bit of time in Pittsburgh on business. I have to admit, if that's where you live, then you certainly do know your way around a cesspool.
— 1980 - hockeycoach: The Flyers did not win every game against the Pens in 2008-09. In fact, the Flyers only beat them twice that year: The Flyers won on Dec 13 6-3 and also beat Pittsburgh 3-1 on Mar 28. The Pens won the other 4 games and also won the season series.
http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/PIT/2009_games.html
It takes a lot of courage to insult a young lady on a message board about her home, you get my vote for man of the year. - Not much argument hnere except that Stamkos, to me, was simply the difference between TB out of the playoffs and TB way out of the playoffs. Even on the power play, G had more assists than Stamkos had points. Sorry, I've just always felt that Stamkos is a guy who makes a good team great, but doesn't help a bad team become good, and does almost nothing for the players around him. Also, Read has been a crucial piece of a playoff team, and should be no lower than #2 for Calder (personally, he'd get my vote).
Everybody needs to stop pretending that Malkin's season has been anything other than fabulous. There were long stretches when he and Fleury dragged that team from potential disaster to a top-4 seed. I don't care who he plays for, he's clearly the Hart winner and it shouldn't even be a contest. Come on, get real.— 1980 - Well Eric Lindros won the Hart while he was a FLYER even if it was the strike shorten season or not. Giroux belongs in the top[ three for the Hart as for rookie both Read and my boy Sean Couturier should be in the top 4 for the award yes I know only the top three are in it to win it but he is the most rounded rookie this year and will be part of the all - rookie team along with Matt Read. Our FLYERS ROOKIES ARE THE BEST IN THE LEAGUE. hOMER SHOULD GET A LOT OF VOTES FOR GM OF THE YEAR FOR ALL HE DID TO REMAKE THIS TEAM. HITCH IS COACH OF THE YEAR HANDS DOWN! BUT IT IS PLAYOFF TIME AND WE ARE GOING TO BEAT THOSE CRY BABIES IN PITTSBURGE IN 6 GAMES. LETS GO FLYERS!!!!— srcdaddy1216
- "I put in at least three to four hours of research - carefully checking statistics, glossing over injury reports, reading through newspaper stories, just to make sure I’ve got the most complete picture possible."
"Looking at their No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference....." um No. 5 seed -- nice work there stat boy.— bdoh - As a Pens fan I would have to say that Giroux is clearly one of the more talented players in the league and his line carried the Flyers for a lot of the year. Giroux does it all, kills penalties, scores, assists. I will be interested to see if he ups his game this summer to become more of a scoring threat. He certainly makes everyone around him better and puts up assists but to be in consideration for the Hart in the coming years he's going to have to put the puck in the net. His name should be mentioned in the same way Toews and Kesler are. I hate the fact that we will have to play this guy six times every year for a long time.— theeutmost
- Yeah, hockeycoach...the Penquins DO CRY!! Which you, too, will be doing in your stinkin' Iron City Light after this series.— doug1834
- Hey hockeycoach, if you're going to stalk us Flyers fans, have some class like theutmost. I wouldn't even dream about going on a pens site b/c I really don't care what you guys say about your whiny dirty team. Did your own fans disown you? If so, can't blame them for all the nonsense you post. But I digress. In reference to this article, yeah, Malkin is very talented (although his dirty antics really do take away from how his talent is viewed) and he has really helped his team big time. However, G is a lot more valuable in all aspects of the game, including being a classy, hard-working player both on and off the ice. Even if I weren't a Flyers fan, I would still vote for G as MVP.— Cali7
- Flyerfan4life, I was referring to players that will be skating in the playoffs. You forgot about Bobby Clarke.— hockeycoach
- To the point of the article Giroux has been largely overlooked. He's had a great year.— hockeycoach
- I hate the Pens with every fiber of my being, but Malkin deserves the Hart. You gotta love Pens trolls though- I mean if they want to talk hockey they have to come to another teams board since their own fans are clueless in the sport.— Fly Guy
- I'm missing something here... Holmgren makes a complete overhaul to this team and utilize a truck load of rookies, much like Florida's GM, except for the fact that the Flyers play in arguably one of the toughest divisions in hockey and still topped 100 pts for the season. Meanwhile the Devils, a 6th seed, are considered lucky because they get to play the Panthers in the 1st round. How is Holmgren 2nd on this list?— eburd983
