My S93 VHL Award Ballot

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MY SEASON 93 VHL AWARD BALLOT

 

Oh hello again, I finally have a home that I can live in again (that sounds worse than it is, but basically been on the move a lot lately and only just settling in now) and I wanted to get back to writing some articles.  With the Awards conversation going on over the last week or so in the Board of Governors, I thought it would be a good chance to be transparent and unveil my award ballot.  For the record, this isn’t for me to argue my side on things, but rather just to show my reasoning and what I was thinking when I made my selections.  I also want to note that I actually found a few of these votes very difficult, and the Board of Governors was pretty split on quite a few of these, so I will try and bring forth some of the other names talked about that I debated on as well.  So ultimately, I do hope you enjoy and try not to claw my eyes out okay? OKAY. LETS GO!

 

DAVID KNIGHT TROPHY (TOP GM) - BLAKE CAMPBELL [SEA] @Banackock
Let’s get this out of the way so Bana can stop reading after this first award.  I made this vote prior to Bana creating his article on why he feels he deserves it, but ultimately I also agreed.  Even if you want to ignore the playoffs, which they won the Continental Cup of course (congrats btw), they were also the best team in the North American Conference and the second best in the entire VHL with 103 points (only trailing Malmo’s 106).  The interesting thing about his season is that he went from being a young decent team to making moves at the deadline that transformed his squad into a juggernaut, one that went into their eventual successful playoff campaign with an eight game winning streak to end the season.  They were not expected to be a top team going into the season (were picked to finish 7th in the NA), but the acquisitions of a number of players including Daryl Dixon and Fuukka Rask propelled them along the way.  We can argue the in’s and out’s of his moves, but results matter and for me, he is the easy winner of this award.

 

DUSTIN FUNK TROPHY (MOST IMPROVED) - KING KISSLINGER [WAR] @Kisslinger
I always dislike this award because it has by far the most people on the ballot, and usually has at least two or three players that are right around the same from an improvement side of things.  Frankly, this year's vote was no different.  I looked at Wann Kerr who saw an improvement of 21 goals and 47 points, going from excellent forward to one of the best in the entire league.  He even improved his physicality, posting his best hits season yet and showed a knack for scoring big goals, with eleven game winners (good enough for second in the VHL).  I really felt Spanish Moon Moth was an excellent candidate as well, seeing a 30 goal and 62 point increase on his freshman campaign.  He played a lot in Season 92, so can’t really argue that his role took a massive increase, and it's pretty impressive to see a player go from an incredibly low total in points to being a 40+ goal scorer that was well over a point per game.  Ultimately though, while I was leaning towards Moon Moth, I ended up going with King Kisslinger who saw a 24 goal and 61 point increase.  He would do this while also becoming a more physical player, going from 49 hits to 140.  This was a really tough vote, and I think it could end up being a pretty split vote, but I ultimately did decide with Kisslinger on this one.

 

CHRISTIAN STOLZSCHWEIGER TROPHY (TOP ROOKIE) - LOGAN NINEFINGERS [VAN] @Scurvy
This was another difficult award as while there is usually a very obvious winner, I actually felt we had three very solid candidates on this ballot.  For me, it mainly broke down to Theo Allard and Logan Ninefingers.  A quick shout out to James MacAvoy on a 31 goal and 70 point campaign which is frankly….awesome!  Theo Allard was the only rookie that was above a point per game, and that is not an easy task at all.  Finishing with 28 goals and 70 points, he was the more disciplined yet less physical player between him and Ninefingers.  I flipped a coin and ultimately felt it was a little more impressive that Ninefingers was able to be such a strong power forward, leading rookies in goals with 32 and also being an absolute tank on the ice.  This really is one I went back and forth on probably more than any other award, and even as I write this, I am not fully sold on who I went with.  I did go with Ninefingers here though (and I do genuinely think I may be in the minority on this one). 

 

SCOTT BOULET TROPHY (TOP TWO-WAY FORWARD) - JOHN JAMESON [PRG] @Frank
I do actually enjoy that a lot of the awards that I was most back-and-forth on are some of the first ones we are discussing (spoiler that I am pretty locked in on the rest of these), but this one was another absolute struggle for me.  Again too, this is not an award I usually have such a hard time voting on.  I definitely could see myself being in the minority on this one as three specific names got brought up just as much as this name, and I did submit my vote while toiling between a few of them.  Wayne Kerr had a 58 goal, 127 point and 247 hit campaign while being an absolute force in every zone on the ice.  Vincent Laroche-Gagnier had only 205 hits but blocked an impressive 66 shots (the most of any player on the ballot) and finished with a tremendous 55 goals and 109 points himself but more impressively finished with just 67 PIM, meaning he was on the ice for more shorthanded situations than some of the other top players on this ballot.  I ultimately went with John Jameson though, who tied Kerr for the most points on the ballot with 127, finished with 250 hits (second most on ballot) and an impressive 63 blocked shots as well.  The knock on Jameson, and the thing I admittedly didn’t consider as much as I am now, is that he finished with 187 PIM.  Although one could note that he did also have nine fights, so at least he wasn’t always putting his team shorthanded in these situations I guess.  Whether that matters to all of you? Yeah, I don’t know either but there are a few guys that have legitimate cases to get votes here.  This would be Jameson's second Scott Boulet Trophy of his career, if the votes go his way.

 

AIDAN SHAW TROPHY (TOP GOALIE) - LACHLAN SUMMERS [WAR] @kirbithan
Lets get to some of the easier votes, as while Matt Murdock (41 Wins, .930 SV%, 2.56 GAA) had an impressive season, and Ash Sparks was one of the driving factors behind Malmo’s Victory Cup, Lachlan Summers stood tall above all of his competition.  In a year where goalies were effectively nerfed, Summers dominated with a 40-23-2 record and a blistering .935 save percentage and 2.61 GAA.  While Murdock specifically had a backup who actually had similarly impressive numbers in their very short sample size, Warsaw’s backup (Pipo Popa) finished with a .908 Save Percentage and 2.92 GAA, showing the significant difference in quality that Summers displayed when he was between the pipes.  This would be Lachlan's second Aidan Shaw Trophy if he gets the votes that I expect him to (you think he would have more with a .931 career save percentage in the VHL). 

 

BLAKE WYLDE TROPHY (TOP DEFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN) - SKOR MCFLEURY [PRG] @Alex
The biased person in me wanted to vote for my boy Jacob Stone (and he was incredible and second for me in this vote), but it’s pretty hard to argue against McFleury when he recorded 263 hits, 227 blocked shots and was a +39 in addition to all of his offensive accomplishments.  Tord Tvel deserves a shoutout for an awesome campaign that saw him record 185 blocked shots and 149 hits, while Phil Strasmore was a physical monster that also recorded a ton of blocked shots (161).  

 

ALEXANDER VALIQ TROPHY (TOP OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN) - SKOR MCFLEURY [PRG] @Alex
David Jokinen did lead all defenders in points this year with 103, but I do think the argument against him is that he did it while being the major offensive presence on a not very good team.  Mark Calaway was definitely my candidate. I looked at the most alongside Skor McFleury, as he did have an impressive 32 goals and 85 points for the DC Dragons.  Ultimately, I went with the 17 points over the 8 goals, but this is the only award that I think McFleury may not end up winning of the three major defenseman awards.  This would be McFleury's second Alexander Valiq Trophy if he was to win this award.

 

STERLING LABATTE TROPHY (TOP DEFENSEMAN) - SKOR MCFLEURY [PRG] @Alex
This one really is ultimately a no-brainer for me as I went with McFleury for both Top Defensive and Offensive, and he was without a doubt the most well-rounded defenseman in the VHL this season.  A lot of great seasons from players I have already mentioned like Calaway, Stone and Jokinen, but this was Skor’s season on top to say the least.  If he is able to pull it off, this will actually be McFleury's first time winning the elusive Sterling Labatte Trophy, despite an incredible seven season career thus far.

 

DAISUKE KANOU TROPHY (PLAYOFF MVP) - LLOYD BRAUN [LDN] @Toast
Y’all ready for the hardest Playoff MVP vote in league history? I am not sure if that’s necessarily true but quite a few of us acknowledged how it was an incredibly weird year for this role.  Seattle really won their Continental Cup on a complete team effort with all eleven of their skaters recorded double digits in points during their nineteen game run.  Fuukka Rask was impressive in their playoff run, but ultimately not even sure he was a top two or three goalie during the playoffs overall.  I will be up front in that I considered three players for this award in Severus Targaryen, Wann Kerr and Lloyd Braun.  Targaryen recorded 9 goals and 23 points in 19 games (34 goals, 87 points and 125 hits over a 72 game pace) on route to a Seattle Continental Cup win.  Kerr had 12 goals and 27 points and an impressive 57 hits over their 16 playoff games (57 goals, 122 points and 257 hits over a 72 game pace), and while London did not win the Continental Cup, they ultimately lost in seven games and I am not going to hold that entirely against them with that kind of performance.  And while yes, that is similar to his regular season performance, that’s actually sorta wild to see that kind of production against only playoff teams.  I ultimately went with Lloyd Braun though because I felt he dominated his position more than anyone else and really set the standard for elite defenders over the playoffs.  He finished with seven more points than Mina (in three less games) and was the only defender that played at least ten games that was able to hit a point per game.  Ultimately, he finished with 23 points, 53 hits and 41 blocked shots (good enough for an insane 31 goals, 103 points, 239 hits and 185 blocked shots over a 72 game pace……and only 72 PIM btw!).  Again, yes they did not win the Continental Cup, but this was a bit of a weird year for the winner, and I really did feel that Braun was the most impactful overall player.

 

SCOTTY CAMPBELL TROPHY (LEAGUE MVP) - LACHLAN SUMMERS [WAR] @kirbithan
For me, Wann Kerr and John Jameson were absolute forces and in almost any other year, I think they could walk away with the Scotty Campbell Trophy, but summer is on its way and Lachlan got an early start.  Warsaw did finish just fifth in the European Conference, but it is important to note that they would have tied D.C. for the third most points if they were in the North American Conference.  More importantly, when looking at the quality of Warsaw…while they had a few tremendous contributors, it was Summers who really stirred the drink and considering the dominance over his own position and how great his year was despite the nerfs that goalies took, I went with Summers overall.  Again, some great campaigns by these three guys, but that is the route I ultimately went.  I wouldn’t blame anyone for going with any of the three.  Admittedly I am running a bit out of steam so while I would like to give you a few other reasons, I did go into a bit about Lachlan's season earlier on.  

 

 

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Media Review: Wow this was well written and a great case was made for all these candidates. I think Bana has a very strong case for the DAVID KNIGHT TROPHY for sure. I don't fully agree with KING KISSLINGER but he had a solid case as I would Spanish Moon Mot for the sheer amount of improvement in performance. The one trophy I struggled myself voting is the playoff MVP. I still believe this award should have gone to someone in the championship Seattle and agree on how hard it was to find a standout from the team. Just an overall excellent article and hoping we get more!