That is right, it is time to vote for the prestigious awards bestowed by our league. And unlike Barrack Obama, we won’t have Black Panther members sitting outside voting booths ready to beat the shit out of you if you vote the wrong way.
Lets get to the nominees
Jack Adams Award
This award is given to the GM adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success.
Cole Ballard is nominated only because he finds himself the owner of a team on an incredible run. Cole Ballard attempts to make his case, and I am not sure if I get there: “I drafted Backstrom over Stamkos, kept Grabner instead of Backstrom (the goalie), drafted Brodeur over Quick, and traded away Semin for a bag of rocks.” Voters will have to decide, should this award be for short term success or building a long term solid core? This team arguably doesn’t have six keepers and may be looking to the draft for a lot, I mean A LOT, of help next year. Luckily, GM Cole Ballard has got two first round picks in his back pocket.
Dave Kitchen has turned a bottom feeding team into a solid contender, but a team that didn’t have all the pieces to win it all. Still, it was an impressive turnaround, though without a draft pick until the fourth round next year, I am having a tough time seeing this team back in the playoffs next year.
Court Watson led his team to a President’s Trophy and an Anze Cup finals appearance, his first since 2008. The Everett Silvertips are the only team of all fourteen teams to never miss the playoffs, and in the process of building the team with the best record for the year, Court also has two draft picks in the first round and two draft picks in the second round of next season’s draft; the most of any team in the league. One would think this would give this team every opportunity to be in the playoffs again next year, but Court is known to be horrible at drafting a team so that is really a crapshoot.
Eugene Adams Award
This award is given to the GM who had the least to do with his team's success, or made the biggest impact in preventing them from being successful. Named after Jack's retarded step brother who couldn't say no to a cool glass of antifreeze.
The first is Ryan Schauble, who took his team from first in the regular season standings to easily the worst team this league has ever seen. Will one first round pick fix it? I doubt it. But, he held on to his keepers all season, so they should be back and finishing 14th again next year. Well timed, aggressive moves this year. Just awful
Pete Shpak or Pistol’s Hellcats traded away his best player for an average goalie behind a good, but aging hockey team. He then lost four of five goalie categories on his way to a first round exit. Pretty open and shut case.
Matt Meier had a team firing on all cylinders sitting atop of the standings. His actions subsequent to that remind me of the worst coach in the NFL, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, in that he did exactly what Pete Carroll does in at the half way point and ensures an easy, embarassing lose; he made zero adjustments. Meanwhile, the rest of the league adapted and evolved and as result, Me So Vyborny went from first to missing the playoffs. Just terrible.
Andy Kordyban Award (a.k.a "The Duke of Fantasy Hockey trophy")
This prestigious award can be given out for several reasons, because like its namesake, this trophy covers so many areas. Should it go to Jesse Cook or Bert Fong for their clusterfuck of trades that resulted in no real improvement in teams or draft picks? Or maybe to Ryan Schauble for the most amazing job of destroying a fantasy team ever? What about Crosby’s Concussions for the hilarious amount of injuries to a team that was actually pretty good, and the fact he trade raped the shit out of Pete Shpak? My personal choice maybe Scott Freeland, who traveled to Phoenix during the semifinals to cheer on Mike Smith and Keith Yandle. Why is that Duke like? Because of on key reason; he went by himself, a classic Duke move. The people shall decide.
Happy voting all.
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