The 2022-23 NHL season comes to a conclusion this week with a number of festivities. Last night came the announcement of the various NHL awards in a festive ceremony held in Nashville. The whole hockey crowd will stay on in Tennessee for a couple more days with the 2023 NHL Entry Draft coming up on Wednesday and Thursday.
A lot of the awards went pretty much as expected with the flashiest names and gaudiest stats acknowledged much as a lot of these kinds of ceremonial titles do -there’s so many legendary hockey players who are yet to get into the NHL Hall of Fame, Steve Tasker is still not in the NFL Hall of Fame, as well as the number of incredible bands that miss out on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is pretty indicative of what hype can do for you.
There were 13 trophies handed out last night at the Bridgestone Arena. Here is the full list of winners. You can click the highlighted text for explanations on what the individual awards are given for.
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins
Other finalists for this year’s honor were Clayton Keller of the Arizona Coyotes and Alex Stalock of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Calder Memorial Trophy: Matty Beniers, Seattle Kraken
E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence: Connor Bedard, Regina Pats (WHL)
Frank J. Selke Trophy: Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
Hart Memorial Trophy: Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Jack Adams Award: Jim Montgomery, Boston Bruins
James Norris Memorial Trophy: Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
King Clancy Memorial Trophy: Mikael Backlund, Calgary Flames
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Ted Lindsay Award: Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Vezina Trophy: Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins
Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award (U.S.): Jason McCrimmon, Detroit Ice Dreams Youth Hockey Association
Note: The Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award will be announced on June 28 at the 2023 NHL Draft.