The 2023 NHL Awards show is set for Monday night in Nashville at Bridgestone Arena. The 2023 NHL Draft will take place a few days later on Wednesday at the same location. The show is expected to begin on Monday at 8 p.m. ET on TNT, TVA Sports and Sportsnet. Here we’re going to give our predictions for how we think each category will go.
2023 NHL Awards predictions
GM of the Year
Jim Nill, Dallas Stars
Don Sweeney, Boston Bruins
Bill Zito, Florida Panthers
My feeling is the voters award Zito for acquiring Matthew Tkachuk. There’s also the fact this category is voted on after the second round of the playoffs, which could give Zito and the Panthers’ playoff run some recency bias.
Lady Byng Trophy
Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning
This is nothing but nepotism for my son Jack Hughes. Hoping he takes home some hardware and builds on his incredible season in the future.
Selke Trophy
Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
Mitchell Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
It’s annoying that Bergeron is most likely going to win again. He’s deserving but is also the candidate with the weakest two-way case. Marner was a top-15 scorer in the NHL with 99 points. Hischier also had a solid offensive season and helped the Devils finish top-5 in penalty killing this season.
Jack Adams Award
Dave Hakstol, Seattle Kraken
Jim Montgomery, Boston Bruins
Lindy Ruff, New Jersey Devils
It’s hard to argue with Montgomery here. The Bruins had arguably the best regular season of any team in the history of the NHL.
Calder Trophy
Matty Beniers, Seattle Kraken
Owen Power, Buffalo Sabres
Stuart Skinner, Edmonton Oilers
This category could be tighter than we think. Beniers is the favorite and should end up winning, but it wouldn’t surprise us if Power or Skinner won. Power was a mainstay on the blue line for the Sabres and had strong SAT numbers. In terms of impact, the Sabres didn’t make the postseason and weren’t very good at preventing goals. Skinner had 29 wins in 50 games for the Oilers with decent peripheral numbers. He doesn’t really pass the eye test as a Calder winner. Beniers posted 57 points in 80 games as a top-6 center for the Kraken, who were not only able to make the playoffs but upset the defending champs in the first round.
Ted Lindsay Trophy
Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
No reason this isn’t McDavid but the players could throw us a curveball. It’s happened in the past.
Vezina Trophy
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders
Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins
This should be Ullmark and he ran away with this in terms of odds. If we look deeper, there’s a case for it being Sorokin or Hellebuyck. Ullmark had some historic stats, leading the NHL in GAA (1.89), SV% (.938) and wins (40). If you look, backup goalie Jeremy Swayman was also pretty good, also finishing top-5 in the NHL in GAA and SV%. So was it Ullmark’s play or the Bruins just being insane on defense?
Helly had 37 wins and a .920 SV% playing mostly behind a weak defensive team. He saw the third-most shots in the NHL. The Jets were still able to sneak into the postseason on the back of Hellebuyck. As for Sorokin, he posted better stats than Hellebuyck, also helping the Islanders get to the playoffs. You could argue what Sorokin and Helly did was just as impressive as Ullmark.
Norris Trophy
Adam Fox, New York Rangers
Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
To me, this is one of the weaker seasons for the Norris. Karlsson put up a ton of points playing almost 26:00 minutes of ice time on a very bad Sharks team. It’s not necessarily his fault but it’s not like Karlsson and San Jose displayed any actual defensive prowess. Fox had a fine season and won the Norris back in 2021. You could argue Fox was better the previous two seasons. Makar is the reigning Norris winner and had 66 points in 60 games. That pace is very impressive but the missed games are big to me. He played about 75% of the season, which to me should have meant he was left out of the finalist pool.
Hart Trophy
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
There’s not much to say here. McDavid scored 153 points, 25 more points than Leon Draisaitl, who finished second in the NHL. The last time anyone scored this many points was back in 1996, when Mario Lemieux had 161 for the Pittsburgh Penguins.