An AAtJ Open Post for the 2019 NHL Awards Show

The Stanley Cup has already been won and awarded to Patrick Maroon and the St. Louis Blues. Tonight, we will learn who won individual trophies for the 2018-19 regular season. Unfortunately, this year’s ceremony will not include any New Jersey Devils. No one on the 29th place team in the NHL last season was named a finalist for any of this year’s awards.

That said, it is a major ceremony and it is the last 2018-19 event of the NHL calendar. After this, it is all about next season and beyond. In a few days later, the 2019 NHL Draft will begin, pending free agents are allowed to discuss terms with other teams, the 2019-20 NHL schedule will be released, and free agency will begin in a frenzy on July 1. So why not have an open post for this final event of 2018-19?

The Time: 8:00 PM ET

The Place: Mandelay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Broadcast: TV - NBCSN and Sportsnet

The Event: The 2019 NHL Awards

The Devils: N/A.

The Host: Kenan Thompson. This will be another feather in the SNL’s star cap for the month of June. He is an executive producer of revived sketch comedy show, All That; which debuted last week. As far as whether the show will be entertaining, well, your mileage may vary.

The Finalists for Each Award: In no particular order:

Selke (Best Defensive Forward) - Patrice Bergeron, Ryan O’Reilly, Mark Stone

Lady Byng (Most Gentlemanly Player) - Aleksander Barkov, Sean Monahan, Ryan O’Reilly

Masterton (Dedication to Hockey) - Nick Foligno, Robin Lehner, Joe Thornton

Vezina (Best Goaltender): Ben Bishop, Robin Lehner, Andrei Vasilevskiy

Norris (Best Defenseman): Brent Burns, Mark Giordano, Victor Hedman

King Clancy (On/Off Ice Leadership & Humanitarian Contribution): Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Henrik Lundqvist, Jason Zucker

Messier (NHL Leadership) - Mark Giordano, Wayne Simmonds, Justin Williams

Calder (Best Rookie): Jordan Binnington, Rasmus Dahlin, Elias Pettersson

GM of the Year: Doug Armstrong, Don Sweeney, Don Waddell

Jack Adams (Coach of the Year): Craig Berube, Jon Cooper, Barry Trotz

Lindsay (NHLPA MVP): Patrick Kane, Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid

Hart (MVP): Sidney Crosby, Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid

The AAtJ Picks: The SBN NHL blogs got together and voted on six player awards: the Hart, Norris, Calder, Lady Byng, and Masterton trophies. It was an open ended vote; we did not stick with the announced finalists. However, those who won by SBN could win an actual award tonight. Some (four) of us took part. Just for kicks, here is who we picked by majority (of four, so take a grain of salt) and who won in our network vote.

Masterton - AAtJ & SBN: Lehner

Lady Byng - AAtJ & SBN: Barkov

Selke - AAtJ & SBN: Stone

Calder - AAtJ & SBN: Pettersson

Norris - AAtJ & SBN: Giordano

Hart - AATJ & SBN: Kucherov

There was no difference who the majority of us (four) picked and the larger network. Will it mean these six will actually win tonight? We shall find out.

So If No Devils Are Involved, Can We Use The Comments to Discuss Anything Devils Related?: Sure. General Manager meetings took place earlier in the day. If anything came out of that, you can discuss it too. Draft stuff? OK. Other news? You bet.

Your Time: This is the post where you can discuss the NHL Awards show - or anything else Devils related - as it happens. All rules still apply as usual. No swearing, no streams, no trolling, no beefs, and nothing inappropriate. Thank you for reading and commenting.