Sabres Regular Season Awards: The Hart

As the regular season ends tonight, it is time to give out regular season awards to members of the Blue and Gold. I decided to take the Selke, Hart, Calder, Norris, etc. awards and poll DBTB'ers on who (among the Sabres players) Should have won them. I will try to do one a day or two a day, so that all the major awards are covered. We will start with with the mother of all individual awards, the MVP, the Hart Trophy. I can only think of several reasonable candidates for the Hart so here are the resumes for the candidates.

P.S. I'm writing this now because I don't want tonight's game to heavily influence voting, and I really am in a good Sabres mood

Thomas Vanek: It should come as no surprise that Vanek's name is on this list, as he had a great bounce back year for the Sabres, beating last years points total by 20 and really improving his game. Vanek's 41 assists tie for a career high and the "Vanek for Captain" movement seems to have gained a lot of steam. Atlas also played well in the clutch, seemingly scoring goals when they we most needed.

Drew Stafford: Drew had a breakout season this year, and transformed into the player that was expected when he was drafted 13'th overall in 2004. Stafford had a knack for the hat trick this year, notching four, scoring 30 goals while only playing 61 games. Stafford also finished 10'th in the NHL with a 169 shooting percentage.

Ryan Miller: Miller did not have a remarkable season to follow up the Vezina campaign last year, but it seems like a tradition to give the G at least a consideration for team MVP. Miller finished with a 916 sv %, the 3rd best in his NHL career, which may not be Vezina material, but considering the start he got off to, is impressive nontheless.