NHL Awards 2023: Ceremony Date, Start Time, Candidates and Predictions
With the 2023 NHL draft scheduled for Wednesday, the league's attention will soon officially shift to the offseason. Before it does, though, the NHL is set to take one last celebratory look back at the season that was.
The annual NHL awards ceremony is slated to take place on Monday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The event will kick off at 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on TNT, Sportsnet and TVA Sports. Hosting duties will be handled by country musician Dierks Bentley, and 11 awards will be presented throughout the evening.
The General Manager of the Year award is set to be announced on the opening night of the draft.
Five major awards will be announced on Monday, including the Hart Trophy, which is given to the most valuable player deemed most valuable to his team, as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.
Below, you'll find a look at the finalists for each of the five major awards, along with predictions for each.
Finalists
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
Prediction
It feels like it will be an easy decision for the Hart Trophy this year, as Connor McDavid had a simply incredible campaign for the Edmonton Oilers.
David Pastmak of the Boston Bruins had an MVP-worthy campaign, with 61 goals and 52 assists, while Matthew Tkachuk (40 goals, 109 points) helped power the Florida Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final.
However, McDavid appears set to win the Hart Trophy for the third time (2017, 2021) in his career. He had a splendid season, highlighted by a league-leading 64 goals, a league-best 89 assists and an NHL-high 153 points. He also led the league in goals created (59.0), according to Hockey Reference. He also showcased his leadership throughout the year.
"He's always encouraging his teammates on and off the ice," Oilers winger Zach Hyman said, per Chris Lomon of NHLPA.com. "He is the ultimate captain."
It's hard to argue that anyone was more valuable to his team than McDavid.
Finalists
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders
Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins
Prediction
The Vezina Trophy, which is given to the league's best goalie, has three strong candidates this year.
Connor Hellebuyck was superb for the Winnipeg Jets, starting 64 games, notching 37 wins and helping take the Jets to the postseason. Ilya Sorokin, meanwhile, was instrumental in getting the New York Islanders to the playoffs.
Sorokin recorded 31 wins in 60 starts and led the NHL with six shutouts.
However, the Boston Bruins' Linus Ullmark had a year to remember. He helped lead Boston to a record 65 wins and 135 points. He finished the season ranked first in both save percentage (.938) and goals-against average (1.89), while recording 40 wins in 48 starts.
Boston had a historic campaign, Ullmark was a big part of that, and he'll get his individual recognition for it on Monday.
Finalists
Adam Fox, New York Rangers
Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
Prediction
The race for the Norris Trophy, given to the league's best defenseman, is an interesting one, as all three finalists have won the award before.
The Rangers' Adam Fox won it in 2021, while Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche won the Norris Trophy last year. Erik Karlsson has won it twice, in 2015 and 2012 with the Ottawa Senators.
All three candidates had worthy campaigns, though it's worth noting that Makar was limited to 60 games by injuries. If voters factor in that, we're probably looking at a two-player race between Fox and Karlsson—and, of course, there's no guarantee they will.
This is perhaps the hardest award to call, but the pick here is Karlsson. The 33-year-old played all 82 games and led all defensemen in goals (25), assists (76) and points (101 points). The argument against Karlsson is that the San Jose Sharks didn't make the postseason and won a mere 22 games, though that's hard to hold against an individual.
Finalists
Matty Beniers, Seattle Kraken
Owen Power, Buffalo Sabres
Stuart Skinner, Edmonton Oilers
Prediction
The competition for the Calder Trophy, given to the NHL's best rookie, is just as interesting as the Norris field, if not more so.
Here, we have three outstanding rookies who have played vastly different roles. Matty Beniers of the Seattle Kraken is a scoring forward, Owen Power of the Buffalo Sabres is a defenseman, and the Oilers' Stuart Skinner is a goalie.
This feels like a two-player heat between Skinner—who stepped in for Jack Campbell and delivered 29 wins in 48 starts—and Beniers.
While it would be no shock to see Skinner become the first goalie to win the award since Steven Mason in 2009, the prediction here is that Beniers takes home the hardware.
The 20-year-old tied for the most goals among rookies (24) and led all rookies with 57 points. Along the way, Beniers may have established himself as the future face of the Kraken.
"You're seeing a young player that has a lot of ability that's going to grow into a leader and a great player, I believe, in this league," Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol said in December, per Hailey Salvian of The Athletic.
Beniers helped spark Seattle to a playoff berth in its second season, and that's reason enough for him to win the award.
Finalists
Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Prediction
For some, the Ted Lindsay Award may be more prestigious than the Hart Trophy. This is because the Lindsay Awards is voted on by members of the NHL Players' Association, making it a recognition of greatness from the winner's peers.
As a player-driven award, this one can be difficult to predict. However, it should be noted that the winner of the Hart Trophy has also won the Lindsay Award in each of the past four years.
If that trend holds in 2023, we have to predict that McDavid will win it here. If the 28-year-old is indeed named the league's most valuable player, one can only assume that many players will deem him its most outstanding too.
And it's hard to argue against that sentiment. McDavid helped push the Oilers into the second round of the playoffs while producing one of the best regular-season stat lines in recent memory.
As Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs did last year, McDavid will pick up both the Hart Trophy and the Lindsay Award on Monday.
