For the third straight year, the Professional Hockey Writers Association has asked its members to vote on Midseason Awards. This continues the revival of a tradition from the 1950s and 1960s.
The PHWA selects seven NHL awards: The Hart, Lady Byng, Calder, Norris, Conn Smythe, Masterton and Selke. For this special occasion, we also voted on things like Defensive Defenseman, Comeback Player of the Year and some year-end awards that we don’t participate in. This mid-season ballot is unofficial, but makes for fun talking points.
This was my ballot:
HART TROPHY (“to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team”)
I tried to balance team success and “where would they be without this guy?