NHL Awards Buzz: Rinne primed for Vezina, Keller excited about Galchenyuk

Welcome to the 2018 NHL Awards presented by Hulu. The best players, coaches and executives in the NHL will be honored at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN). But before the hardware can be handed out, the nominees participated in NHL Awards Media Day at Encore at Wynn on Tuesday.
Here is the latest from Las Vegas:

#

Rinne primed for win

Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy for the fourth time in his career. He thinks this time he might finally win it.
Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets are the other finalists.
"You see the guys who have won this trophy, the Vezina Trophy, those guys are legends to me," Rinne said. "I feel like this year I have a good chance."
RELATED: [Complete NHL Awards coverage]
Rinne finished second behind Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins in the 2010-11 season, third behind Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2011-12, and second behind Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens in 2014-15.
He fell short of saying this was without a doubt the best season of his NHL career, but Rinne said he considers it one of his best.
Rinne went 42-13-4 with a 2.31 goals-against average, a .927 save percentage and eight shutouts. He had two fewer wins than Hellebuyck and Vasilevskiy (44 each) but more shutouts and a better GAA and save percentage.
The Predators won the Presidents' Trophy for the first time in their history, finishing with 117 points.
"I'd be disappointed if he didn't take it home," said Predators defenseman P.K. Subban, a finalist for the Norris Trophy. "He had a really good year. He's had a lot of good years in the League. He deserves it. And we're the Presidents' Trophy-winning team, the best team in the regular season, and he's a big part of that, so I don't see why he wouldn't win it."

Galchenyuk will be perfect fit: Keller

Clayton Keller saw one of his best friends on the Arizona Coyotes traded away Friday, when forward Max Domi was sent to the Montreal Canadiens for forward Alex Galchenyuk.
But the 19-year old center, who is a finalist for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the top rookie in the NHL, thinks his new teammate is just what the Coyotes need.
"It's great to see Galchenyuk come in," said Keller, who had 65 points (23 goals, 42 assists) this season, second among NHL rookies and most by a Coyotes rookie since the franchise relocated from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996. "He's a really skilled player. He can play the middle, he can play the wing. I think he's going to fit in perfectly with us."
The Coyotes finished 29-41-12 with 70 points this season, the third worst record in the NHL. But 47 of those points came in the final 41 games of the season (20-14-7), giving Keller hope for 2018-19.
"We learned how to play the right way," he said. "It's good to see us get some momentum at the end of the year, and we are going to try to take that into next year. I'm really looking forward to it."

McDavid excited for Dahlin

If there is anyone who knows what Rasmus Dahlin is feeling these days, it's Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid. Dahlin, an 18-year-old defenseman from Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League, is the overwhelming favorite to be selected by the Buffalo Sabres with the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS).
McDavid, 21, was the clear-cut choice to be the No. 1 pick by the Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft.
"It's such an exciting time," said McDavid, who is hoping to win the Ted Lindsay Award, which is given to the most outstanding player in the NHL as voted by the NHL Players' Association, for the second straight season. "I'm sure he's really looking forward to Friday, looking forward to getting started. It's a fun process, it can be a long process, but I'm sure he's excited."
McDavid, who is up against New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall and Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon for the award, said he has no doubt Dahlin can handle the expectations being put him on as the expected No. 1 pick in the draft.
"I think whatever pressure the outside is putting on him, he's putting it even more on himself," McDavid said. "He knows how good of a player he is, and he's expected himself to do great things as well."

Tough interview

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman had fun at media day. Really. And it was all because of Alec Cabacungan.
Hedman, a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL, spent some time with Cabacungan, a 16-year-old from Chicago who dreams of becoming a sports broadcaster.
Cabacungan was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disorder that causes bones to break easily. His mother said he has broken more than 60 bones, but that wasn't slowing him down as he grilled Hedman.
"Hopefully I stumped him," said Cabacungan, the national spokesperson for Shriners Hospital for Children. "We were talking about soccer, we were talking about food.
"It was fun. I've interviewed a couple of athletes before, but this is probably my biggest hockey athlete."
Hedman, who is up against P.K. Subban of the Nashville Predators and Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings for the Norris, had a blast.
"I was very happy to have him here. It was the funnest interview I did today," Hedman said. "He asked my favorite food, or restaurant. He had some great questions."
Cabacungan said it was the first time he has been at the NHL Awards, calling it "the coolest thing I've ever been to."
He said he was happy the Lightning gave him the opportunity.
"I'm living out my dream, and it's all thanks to the Lightning and Shriners Hospitals," he said.

And the winner is ...

Bruce Cassidy has no illusions about who's going to win the Jack Adams Award as the top coach in the NHL.
Cassidy, who completed his first full season as Boston Bruins coach, is a finalist for the Adams with Gerard Gallant of the Vegas Golden Knights and Jared Bednar of the Colorado Avalanche. Each is a first-time finalist.
"I'm going to say that Gerard is a strong, strong favorite, and rightfully so," Cassidy said of Gallant, who guided the expansion team to the Stanley Cup Final after winning the Pacific Division. "Good for him. I'm happy for him. He's a terrific person, he deserves it."
And then, with a laugh: "After that, if it's not Gerard, I'd like it to be me. Why not?"
Cassidy had kind words about Bednar though.
"A great guy I watched coach in the American Hockey League. He had a tough year in Colorado (in 2016-17, when the Avalanche went 22-56-4). I'm very happy that he was able to enjoy a little success this year (43-30-9, good for a Stanley Cup Playoff berth).
"I'm very honored to be nominated. It's the ultimate team honor, a team award. When the awards are over on Wednesday night, we're going to Dallas to the NHL Draft to start getting ready for next year, but we can enjoy it for a couple of days. And my wife, Julie, is here having a great time, so what the [heck]."