{"id":38007,"date":"2011-05-06T15:20:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-06T22:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=38007"},"modified":"2011-05-06T15:20:48","modified_gmt":"2011-05-06T22:20:48","slug":"2011-awards-preview-picks-handicapping-6511","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nhl\/2011-awards-preview-picks-handicapping-6511\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 NHL Handicapping – Awards Preview | Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

NHL Awards Preview & Picks – “Las Vegas Hosts The 2011 Show”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It’s NHL hockey betting season once again.\u00a0Hockey Gambling<\/a> fans sure are getting their money\u2019s worth from the\u00a0free nhl picks<\/a> we give out here at Capperspicks.com. <\/p>\n

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Arguably, no major pro sport is greater tied to its multitude of trophies than NHL hockey. There\u2019s the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the NBA Championship but, in hockey, you don\u2019t win the \u201cNHL title.\u201d You win the Stanley Cup. And the culture around the individual awards is similar. You win the Hart Trophy, not the MVP, the Norris, not the Defensive Player of the Year, and so on.<\/p>\n

Here \u2018s a look at the major award nominees for 2010-11 and my picks to take home the hardware.<\/p>\n

HART TROPHY (Most Valuable Player)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks
\nDaniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
\nMartin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n

The MVP race this season looks tight as can be this year. To me, Martin St. Louis is the one guy to whom you shouldn\u2019t hitch your wagon. The cagey vet is as deserving as anyone but he already has a 2004 Hart Trophy to his name and he\u2019s likely to split the invisible vote with Steven Stamkos, who narrowly missed out on a nomination.<\/p>\n

Voters may be tempted to give Daniel Sedin the award after his brother Henrik won it last year; it\u2019s only fair for each brother to get one, right? But I actually see the award going to Perry. He had less support on his own team than St. Louis and Sedin, with Ryan Getzlaf and Jonas Hiller both missing significant time to injury, and he dominated the league with 25 goals in his final 30 games.<\/p>\n

Pick: Corey Perry<\/strong><\/p>\n

VEZINA TROPHY (Best Goaltender)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks
\nPekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
\nTim Thomas, Boston Bruins<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no contest here. Tim Thomas set an NHL single-season record with a .938 save percentage and there\u2019s no better measure of a goalie than what percentage of the shots he stops. If he doesn\u2019t win his second Vezina, it\u2019s a travesty. By the way \u2013 how was Luongo nominated over Carey Price?<\/p>\n

Pick: Tim Thomas<\/strong><\/p>\n

NORRIS TROPHY (Best Defenseman)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
\nNicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
\nShea Weber, Nashville Predators<\/p>\n

Like his Preds in the second round of the playoffs, I see Shea Weber as the \u201chappy to be there\u201d nominee. Just getting his first recognition is enough. Ageless Nicklas Lidstrom could get some votes but he was a minus player this season. The Norris is Chara\u2019s to lose. The big Bruin led hockey with a plus-33 rating.<\/p>\n

Pick: Zdeno Chara<\/strong><\/p>\n

CALDER TROPHY (Best Rookie)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks
\nMichael Grabner, New York Islanders
\nJeff Skinner, Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n

With three very similar Calder Trophy nominees \u2013 Couture, Grabner and Skinner were all 30-goal scorers as rookies \u2013 I\u2019m looking for consistency. Couture did his damage in the first half; Grabner was lights-out After the All-Star break, notching 19 goals and 31 points over his final 31 games. To me, the 18-year-old Skinner was the most consistent year-round, so I like him to take the Calder. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pick: Jeff Skinner<\/strong><\/p>\n

SELKE TROPHY (Best Defensive Forward)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
\nRyan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks
\nJonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n

The three-time Selke winner Datsyuk can never be counted out \u2013 but what about Kesler? It feels like the award is a long time coming for the Canucks power forward. Then again, Jonathan Toews might be the political pick. The Chicago captain was viewed by some as a Hart Trophy snub and a Selke could partially make up for that.<\/p>\n

Pick: Jonathan Toews<\/strong><\/p>\n

JACK ADAMS AWARD (Coach of the Year)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dan Bylsma, Pittsburgh Penguins
\nBarry Trotz, Nashville Predators
\nAlain Vigneault, Vancouver Canucks<\/p>\n

How can you not give the Jack Adams to Bylsma? The Penguins lost Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby to season-ending injuries halfway through the season yet still managed their second-highest team point total in franchise history. Simply amazing.<\/p>\n

Pick: Dan Bylsma<\/strong><\/p>\n

CONFIRMED AWARD WINNERS<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Art Ross Trophy (top point scorer): <\/strong>Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
\nMaurice \u201cRocket\u201d Richard Trophy (Top goal scorer): <\/strong>Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks
\nJennings Trophy (fewest goals allowed): <\/strong>Roberto Luongo + Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks<\/p>\n

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Click HERE NOW To View Ray’s Handicapping Page Today! —–><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shea Matthews one of the top NHL handicappers and writers at Capperspicks.com weighs in with his look at the major award nominees for 2010-11 and picks to take home the hardware…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":23525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[48978,48974,48970,48786,3067,2996,48976,48980,628,48979,48981,48973,48977,3152,18103,2284,895,3207,48971,29905,48975,48972],"class_list":["post-38007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","tag-art-ross-trophy","tag-calder-trophy","tag-handicapping-nhl-awards","tag-hart-trophy","tag-hockey-handicapping","tag-hockey-predictions","tag-jack-adams-award","tag-jennings-trophy","tag-las-vegas","tag-maurice-richard-trophy","tag-nhl-award-odds","tag-nhl-awards-preview","tag-nhl-coach-of-the-year","tag-nhl-lines","tag-nhl-mvp","tag-nhl-odds","tag-nhl-picks","tag-nhl-predictions","tag-nhl-trophies","tag-norris-trophy","tag-selke-trophy","tag-vezina-trophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38007"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38014,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38007\/revisions\/38014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}