"We on Award Tour..."

"...with Muhammad my man" Hello to all of the Tribe fans.

As the Caps continue to improve as a whole, I find myself caring less and less about individual trophies; let's get the draft started, already.

Still, I have a duty to at least maintain the appearance of an interested party. Prime the BS meter, and put on your waders.


The Hart
Nominees: Alex "The Russian Express" Ovechkin, Evgeni "The Snake" Malkin, Pavel "The Datsyukian Deke" Datsyuk

Who should win: Ovie
Who will win: Ovie. Whatever talk there may have been about Malkin and Datsyuk's superior defensive play, the fact remains that everyone on the planet is second to Ovechkin as a game changer and clutch player. The league's premier offensive talent is only the fourth player in the history of the game to score both 200 goals and 200 assists in his first four seasons. The others? Bossy, Gretz, and Lemieux.

The Vezina
Nominees: Tim Thomas, Niklas Backstrom, Steve Mason
Who should win: Tim Thomas
Who will win: Steve Mason seems to be the sexy pick. I admit that I think the Vezina voting should be a gut decision. Goalies as a whole have made prodigious strides in the last decade. The margin between the best and worst will continue to shrink as the butterfly is perfected. With half of the league saving 91% of their shots against, a stellar GAA and S% no longer cut it. Alex Semin is the only one who can penetrate Thomas with the game on the line.

The Norris
Nominees: Nick Lidstrom, Mike Green, Zdeno Chara
Who should win: Mike Green. If Leetch can win it... If Coffey can win it... Green should bag this with no apologies
Who will win: Chara. It's his time. It may not be fair, but that's just the way it is.

The Calder
This trophy hasn't been as much fun this year. We're spoiled by the recent super-rookies. Mason will deservedly win this, but Ryan's contributions are underrated.

I'll be down at JP's little shindig, tonight. If you see a 6'9'' goof with a stupid grin on his face, buy that man a drink.