The 2019 National Hockey League Awards took place in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday evening. Among the winners included Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano of Toronto, Ontario (Norris), St. Louis Blues center Ryan O’Reilly of Clinton, Ontario (Selke), and New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz of Winnipeg, Mantoba (Jack Adams).
Giordano beat out San Jose Sharks blueliner Brent Burns of Barrie, Ontario and Tampa Bay Lightning blueliner Victor Hedman for the award presented to the best defenseman. Giordano had 165 of the 171 first place votes. A major reason why Giordano was presented with the award was because he led the NHL with a +39.
O’Reilly, meanwhile was also a solid +22 for the St. Louis Blues. However the statistic that stands out the most was his remarkable takeaway/giveaway ratio of +61. O’Reilly had 94 takeaways and only 33 giveaways in 2018-19.
Trotz meanwhile completely turned around the New York Islanders. They went from seventh place to second place in the Metropolitan Division in one season, and a 23 point improvement. However, more impressively is that the Islanders surrendered exactly 100 fewer goals in 2018-19 compared to 2017-18. Other Canadians to win NHL awards on Wednesday were Nashville Predators right winger Wayne Simmonds of Scarborough, Ontario (Mark Messier Leadership Award) and Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney of Saint Stephen, New Brunswick (general manager of the year award).
