NHL 2009/2010- The Year of the Others

So here we are ladies and gents, another year of NHL hockey in the books, and what a year it was. From the highs to the lows, it was a year of fantastic hockey. From the beginnings in october, to the incredible olympics, to Chicago's Stanley Cup win last week, it truly has been a treat. 

There has been one thing that has characterized this year though, and that can be described as The Others. Our past few seasons have been dominated by the usual Crosby/Ovechkin dominance, and names like Brodeur, Luongo, Lidstrom, and Niedermayer, but something was different about 09/10. Henrik Sedin was the king of the scoring race, Steven Stamkos tied Crosby for the most goals, and on the back end, names like Keith, Doughty, and Weber dominated. Other names like Toews, Richards, and Cammalleri began to over shadow the usual stars. Even the franchises like Pheonix and Los Angeles showed some signs of life for the future. It was a year where the underrated superstars came out to be shown just how great they are going to be. We now see a future where the young names of Toews, Stamkos, Doughty, and Weber can be discussed in the same importance as Crosby and Ovechkin, and I love that sound. 

For me personally, the highlight of this year definitely had to be the olympic tournament. Some of the best hockey I have ever seen was played and it's only every 4 years that you get to see a checking line with the names Nash, Toews, and Richards on it. The tournament had everything you want to see from hockey in speed, skill, physicality, and fantastic story lines with underdog Slovakian and American teams, the realization just how good Drew Doughty actually is, and seeing Rick Nash show just how complete as player he is (Oh, and the Russian flop was great too!). To top it all off, an overtime winner in the gold medal game by arguably the best player in the world for the most hockey mad place on the planet, you don't write those kind of endings. 

As we look forward to the always interesting summer, I want to make my personal picks for the NHL's yearly awards:

Hart (MVP): Henrik Sedin (Vancouver Canucks)

Vezina (Best Goalie): Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres)

Norris (Best Defenceman): Drew Doughty (Los Angeles Kings)

Calder (Best Rookie): Matt Duchene (Colorado Avalanche)

Lady Byng (Sportsmanship): Martin St.Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Selke (Defensive Forward): Ryan Kesler (Vancouver Canucks)

Jack Adams (Best Coach): Dave Tippett (Pheonix Coyotes)

Well we've had ourselves a good run, check out other posts for summer speculation and we will keep you up to date leading up to the draft and free agency. Here's to a great year!