Tomorrow night is the annual awards show. Won't be watching due to scheduling conflicts (and the minor detail that I don't have Versus currently) . Makes sense that the NHL channel wouldn't air their own awards show. Of all the awards being handed out, the one I have the strongest opinion on is the Jack Adams. "Disco" Dan Bylsma has done alot with a little after the injury bug plagued the Penguins. Bylsma he coached a rag-tag team of AHL call-ups to play with grinders while his starting roster enjoyed a vacation on the IR. Any coach who can get a team with this variety of players to win any game, let alone make the playoffs should be a shoe in. The Penguins big 3 of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal played exactly 1 game together due to an assortment of injuries. And it was in that lone game (the Winter Classic) that seemed to have opened the injury flood gates, starting with El Captain and his head.
Leading up to the Winter Classic HBO followed the team around for the series 24/7 and showed the world why everyone wanted to play for Disco Dan. He made practices fun, losses bearable and never once seemed to think everyone else was the problem. The team camaraderie amongst the players and coaches made you think that they were invincible. Not a single piece of bad news seemed to register on Bylsma's radar. From the injuries to the suspensions to fight night with the Isles, nothing seemed to faze him and that to me is amazing. If I was allowed to vote, he'd have mine.
All the votes were tallied prior to the playoffs so nothing that happened since the regular season ended counts towards these awards. So even though now Tim Thomas would for sure be the Vezina winner, I still think Luongo has a shot at it for his during season performance. This is why it's probably good the awards are voted prior to the playoffs when someone decides to make up for a lackluster year with a Cup winning performance!
Till next time...
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