The NHL Awards take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 21st beginning at 8pm. The Columbus Blue Jackets will send goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, left winger Nick Foligno, defenseman Zach Werenski, and head coach John Tortorella. The four of them will be in the running for five awards.
Columbus Blue Jackets Well Represented at NHL Awards
Sergei Bobrovsky
Bobrovsky is the only Blue Jackets player nominated for two awards this year. The Columbus netminder is nominated for the Vezina Trophy and the Hart Trophy. Bobrovsky’s nominations for these awards is well deserving after his franchise record-breaking season.
Vezina Trophy
The Vezina Trophy is given out annually to the top goaltender in the NHL. This is an award Bobrovsky has already won once in his career back in 2013 win his first year with the Blue Jackets when he lead them to the postseason. Bobrovsky should leave this award show with his second Vezina trophy. Bobrovsky was top five in each statistical category for a goalie. In 63 appearances Bobrovsky won 41 games with a 2.06 goals against average, accompanied by a .931 save percentage. Bobrovsky also gave the Blue Jackets a fighting chance, even if the offense was struggling. Both these are reason enough that Bobrovsky should be a two-time Vezina Trophy winner after this year.
Hart Trophy
Bobrovsky is also up for the Hart Trophy, which is given out annually to the NHL’s most valuable player. This is the first time that Bobrovsky has been nominated for the award. The Blue Jackets would not have been where they were this year if it was not for Bobrovsky’s stellar play. It’s already been mentioned that Bobrovsky gave the Blue Jackets a shot in every game this season. Bobrovsky will very likely not be walking away with the Hart trophy, this is not because he does not deserve it. It simply has to do with the other two candidates having elite seasons. Both Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby should finish above Bobrovsky in the voting for the Hart Trophy.
Nick Foligno
Foligno is a finalist for the Mark Messier award. The award given annually to the “to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice during the regular season.” On the ice Foligno’s play was what they would expect from their captain.
However, how a nominee plays is just one part of this award, the other part is charity and taking part in the community. Foligno teamed up with Papa John’s for the second straight season in two different ways. The first being that portions of the proceeds from the “Defender” pizza will be donated to the Janis Foligno Foundation. The second way is that for every goal Foligno scored this season Papa John’s donated $500 to the Foundation. The foundation was created in honor of Foligno’s mother who lost her battle with breast cancer.
Foligno and his wife also donated $1 million divided between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. The donation will be in support of pediatric congenital heart care. This came shortly after their newborn daughter was diagnosed with the rare disease.
Foligno should bring home the Mark Messier Award based on the fact of what he has done for the charities and donated. Foligno is way ahead of the other two nominees in the off the ice category and should be enough to get him the trophy.
Zach Werenski
Werenski is a finalist for the Calder Trophy given annually to the top rookie in the NHL regular season. The Blue Jackets rookie defenseman is a long shot for the award but is very deserving. Whether it be because of his stats or the catalyst he was for the team, Werenski deserves to be on the list.
In his rookie campaign Wereski had an outstanding season scoring with 47 points. Werenski’s 47 points broke the franchise record for points by a rookie previously set by Rick Nash with 39 points. Werenski was also the quarterback of the Blue Jackets 1st power play unit for much of the season.
The reason Werenski is a long shot for the Calder Trophy is that this is such a deep class. Rookies Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine are the other two players nominated and rightfully so. Both Matthews and Laine have set the league ablaze with their play this season. So even though Werenski had a great season, he is very much a dark horse to win the award. Werenski will probably finish in third because of the other two’s great seasons.
John Tortorella
Columbus head coach John Tortorella is nominated for the Jack Adams Award for the second time in his career. Tortorella is considered by many to be the frontrunner to take home the Jack Adams for the second time with the turnaround campaign the Blue Jackets had.
This year Tortorella lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record breaking season. The Blue Jackets had a great turnaround, historic win streak, and made the playoffs this season. A lot of that has been contributed to Tortorella’s training camp and coaching. This team was also extremely young coming into the season, not to mention many did not have the Blue Jackets making the playoffs before the season began. What Tortorella did with this team is enough to get him his second Jack Adams Award.
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