The LA Kings Take on the 2018 NHL Awards

The 2018 NHL Awards are just under a month away and this year, the LA Kings will be a major part of the ceremony.
Captain Anze Kopitar was voted as a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the league MVP, and the Frank J. Selke Trophy, given to the NHL's top defensive forward.

Hart Memorial Trophy

Kopitar will be facing some stiff competition for the Hart against New Jersey Devils winger Taylor Hall and Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon.
Hall's 93 points ranked sixth in the NHL. Plus, he had 41 more points than Nico Hischier's second-place total on the Devils. This was the biggest point differential between first and second place on a team in the league.
Hall's scoring was a big reason why the Devils surprised everyone with 27-point improvement from last season and qualified for the playoffs with 97 points. It was the first time New Jersey made the postseason since 2012 when they lost to the Kings in the Stanley Cup Final.
MacKinnon ranked second in the NHL with 1.31 points per-game and finished fifth in the league with 97 points.
Colorado made a 47-point improvement in the standings from the 2016-17 season and MacKinnon's emergence as a superstar was a big reason why. From March onward, he finished with 10 goals and 26 points in 19 games. In the Avs' last game of the season, a 'win and you're in' situation against the St. Louis Blues, he notched a goal and an assist.
Kopitar's finalist nod had a lot to do with his high level of both defense and offense and how he carried the Kings offensively without 2017 All-Star Jeff Carter for a majority of the season.

He spent 178:05 total on the penalty kill, while no other player in the top 10 in scoring spent more than 105 minutes on the PK. A total of 22 forwards recorded 165 minutes or more on the penalty kill, and while Kopitar recorded 92 points on the season, the other 21 forwards registered an average of 28.6 points. The next closest players to Kopitar were Mikael Backlund of the Calgary Flames and Mikko Koivu of the Minnesota Wild, who each had 45 points.

Kopitar's 92 points were 31 more than Dustin Brown's - the third highest point differential between first and second place scorers on a team in the NHL. He also led all league forwards in ice-time per-game at 22:05.

When the Kings needed a big performance from Kopitar, he delivered. Once the calendar turned to 2018, Kopitar never went back-to-back games without a point.
"It was indeed a monstrous bounce-back season for Kopitar, who finished in the top 10 in scoring after he had 12 goals in 2016-17," NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor Brian Compton said. "Let's face it - how many players are better in all situations in Kopitar? He's dependable regardless of what is happening on the ice, whether the Kings are two men up, two men down or playing at even strength."

Frank J. Selke Trophy

Kopitar has won the award once - finishing first for his 2015-16 season, preventing Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron from winning it three times in a row.

This year, Kopitar is up against Bergeron - who is a finalist for a record seventh-consecutive year - and Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier. This is Kopitar's fourth time as a finalist.
Bergeron, a four-time winner of the award, is considered the favorite despite playing in 64 games. He held a 57.3 faceoff percentage, which can sometimes be a stat that award voters look at for this trophy. He also held a plus-5.01 5-on-5 CF% relative- which means that his team possessed the puck more when he was on the ice relative to when he was off the ice - and a 57.68 5-on-5 CF% which means the Bruins held onto the puck more than the other team with him on the ice.
"The question is, will voters - who have become inclined to give the incomparable Patrice Bergeron the award almost by default - rightly exclude Bergeron from their ballots because he missed nearly a quarter of the season?" said Mark Lazerus, Blackhawks beat writer for the Chicago Sun-Times and PHWA voter. "That's the only hope for worthy players such as Kopitar, Sean Couturier, Mikko Koivu and Aleksander Barkov."
Couturier consistently drew tough match-ups all year and finished with a plus-34 rating. He led Flyers forwards with 1:53 of average shorthanded ice-time per-game. Couturier held a plus-5.33 CF% rel 5-on-5 and a 53.46 CF%. He also had 76 points despite starting in the defensive zone 37.31 percent of the time.
Kopitar averaged the most penalty kill ice-time (2:10 per-game) amongst forwards on the Kings - a team that had the highest penalty kill percentage and lowest goals against per-game in the NHL and had the highest shorthanded ice-time per-game amongst all the finalists for this award. He also won a career-best 54.1 percent of his faceoffs.

Kopitar held a 52.1 5-on-5 CF% rel and a plus-3.03 5-on-5 CF % relative and also started in the defensive zone a total of 35.28 percent of the time.
"His two-way game has always been among the NHL's best," said Sean Leahy of NBC Sports' Pro Hockey Talk blog, a PHWA voter. "His possession numbers were outstanding and his play in his own zone is worthy of praise."

James Norris Memorial Trophy

Doughty's Norris nod is the fourth of his career. He won the trophy for his 2015-16 campaign and is consistently regarded as the NHL's top all-around defenseman.

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and Nashville Predators blue liner P.K. Subban are the other finalists. Hedman has never won the award and Subban won it in 2013.
"This season, based on the chatter among the punditry, it sounds like it's been deemed Victor Hedman's turn. And he certainly deserves the recognition after years of outstanding play. But Doughty, as he is every year, is very much deserving, too," Lazerus said. "The three finalists were my top three, as well, with P.K. Subban on top."
Hedman finished tied for the defenseman lead in goals scored with 17 and notched 63 points in 77 games while garnering a plus-32 rating. His 25:51 of average ice-time per-game ranked sixth in the league and he averaged 2:35 of shorthanded ice-time per-game along with 3:24 on the power play. Hedman held a 0.38 5-on-5 CF% relative and a 52.23 5-on-5 CF%.
Subban bounced back from a 2016-17 marred by injuries with 59 points, 16 goals and a plus-18 rating in 82 games. He averaged 2:39 of shorthanded ice-time per-game and 3:05 of power play ice-time. Subban was able to put up these numbers, despite starting in the defensive zone 37.28 percent of the time - the highest total amongst the Norris finalists.
Doughty anchored the league's top defense while notching a career-high 60 points. He led the NHL with 26:50 of ice-time per-game and finished second with 30.6 shifts per-game while holding a plus-23 rating. He held a plus-4.39 5-on-5 CF% relative and a 52.67 5-on-5 CF% while starting in the defensive zone 33.51 percent of the time and always playing against the opponents' top offensive lines.
Doughty picked up his game when it mattered most for the Kings. From March 1 onward he had 17 points in 18 games while averaging 26:58 of ice-time per-game.

"Drew Doughty was my pick at NHL.com to win the Norris Trophy, a selection I didn't take much time agonizing over. It's not a slight against any others who are certainly worthy of recognition, but more that Doughty, in my view, is the best defenseman in the National Hockey League," Compton said. "For starters, he's always on the ice; he averaged nearly 27 minutes per game this season and consistently shut down the opposition's best. He did more than chip in offensively too, with 60 points in 82 games."

The races for the Norris Trophy, Hart Trophy and Selke Trophy have no clear-cut front-runner and it wouldn't be a surprise if Doughty and Kopitar swept all three or got shut out.
But no matter what it's still an honor that both, along with Quick, are being recognized. And at very least they all have a chance to go to Vegas for a few days during the summer, which is always a fun trip.