It didn’t take long for the Red Wings to get on the board in Las Vegas, as Nicklas Lidstrom won his 7th career Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman. Lidstrom finished ahead of both Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara, riding his 62 points and 23+ minutes a game to another piece of hardware on the mantle. Lidstrom did win the award despite finishing with a -2 rating, much to the chagrin of Ryan Lambert and other “fans” everywhere. Despite that, Lidstrom’s quality of competition rating remained one of the highest in the league and his continued excellence makes him a worthy recipient of the Norris, at least in this blog’s eyes.
Congrats Nick!
UPDATE #1: Lidstrom’s attempt at an awards hat trick has come to an end early, as Zdeno Chara takes home the Mark Messier leadership award. Damn. I was hoping for curly fries.
UPDATE #2: “Livonia native” Ryan Kesler has finally ended Pavel Datsyuk’s three year run of winning the Selke Award for best defensive forward. To nobody’s surprise, Kesler (and his awful hair) finally de-throned Pasha, and with it prevented one of the great NHL traditions: giggling incessantly throughout a Datsyuk acceptance speech.
UPDATE #3: With Pavel Datsyuk taking his name out of the running with a fight in the first game of the season, Nick Lidstrom was the Red Wings only hope in dethroning Martin St. Louis as the nicest player on the ice. Alas, it was not meant to be, as St. Louis picked up his second consecutive Lady Bing Trophy for gentlemanly play.
That’s it from Las Vegas. Check back tomorrow for coverage of the release of the full NHL schedule, as well as some more “Pro/No” fun from Petrella.