Matthew Ross, the host of the Team990’s Game Points tweeted the NHL Awards to a tee,”..dated, low budget and amateur. Sad.” Even the bright lights and d-list celebrities can not glitz up an awards show that has never had success on television.
I mean seriously, Donny Osmond awarding the Jack Adams Trophy? Just a few years ago, the late Pat Burns managed to make the trek to present Claude Julien with the trophy. Was no other past Adams winner available?
I think what makes it even worse for television is the fact that CBC was yet again tape-delaying the ceremony, while still billing it as “live.” Meanwhile anyone on the internet already knew who was winning.
A few bright spots were the Hanson Brothers/Phil Pritchard Stanley Cup and Ryan Getzlaf/Bobby Ryan bits that provided more humor than host Jay Mohr.
The winners were rather predictable, and I never realised that Niklas Lidstrom’s last name was really pronounced Lindstrom.And Bob Gainey’s four straight Selke Trophy record remains intact, after Pavel Datsyuk‘s injury shortened season placed him third.
What surprised me was that no Vancouver Canucks winners congratulated the Boston Bruins on winning the Stanley Cup, yet Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas did the right thing by acknowledging them.
The Montreal Canadiens were nowhere near the hardware, although Carey Price did finish 7th and and a very distant 5th in Hart Trophy and Vezina Trophy voting respectively. The Habs netminder picked up two first-place votes for the league’s top individual award.
For those of you keeping score on the Adams and GM awards, Jacques Martin finished 13th and Pierre Gauthier received a single third-place vote to pland in a three-way tie for 14th.
The one bright spot for the Habs was the inclusion of rearguard P.K. Subban on the All-Rookie Team. Subban was sixth in Calder voting, 143 points ahead of Brad Marchand.
With the awards swept under the rug for another year, the next big discussion will not be the NHL Entry Draft, but rather the announcement of the 2011-12 schedule. The official posting will be made at 2pm EST, but word is already leaking out that the Habs will be the visiting opponent in the Winnipeg franchise home opener.
With the Bell Centre already booked until October 11, it looks like the Canadiens will start out on the road yet again.
Other links
CJAD loses out on bidding on Habs radio broadcast rights to TheTeam990.
Draft prospects have a day on the town.
Mike Cammalleri needs a caddy
