With the season winding down and the hockey world talking about the playoffs, Montreal Canadiens fans are again left out of the conversation. Another conversation Habs fans won’t be interested in is the NHL awards. With only Joel Armia being considered for the Bill Masterton Trophy — awarded for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey — there isn’t much hope anyone else will be nominated for an award or that Armia will win the Masterton. So, let’s look at the Canadiens and see which player would win which NHL award if the league gave the awards to each team instead of one player for the entire NHL.
The Art Ross and Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophies
Let’s get the easy ones out of the way first. The Art Ross is given to the player with the highest point total, and the Richard Trophy is given to the player with the most goals scored. The Art Ross was first handed out at the end of 1947-48, and the first recipient was Montreal’s own Elmer Lach. The trophy has been awarded 70 times to 29 players, the most recent being Connor McDavid. The Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy was donated to the NHL by the Canadiens at the end of the 1998-99 season and awarded to the Anaheim Ducks’ Teemu Selanne. Alexander Ovechkin has won the award nine times. The last player in Montreal to win the Art Ross was Guy Lafleur in 1978, and no Hab has ever won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy.
If the awards were given to a Canadian player, the clear winner would be Nick Suzuki. Suzuki leads Montreal with 74 points and 33 goals, well ahead of the second-highest scorer in both categories, Cole Caufield, with 24 and 59 points. Suzuki is having a spectacular season and has recorded the most points in a season by a Habs player since Alexi Kovalev had 84 in 2007-08. A few games remain in the season, and Suzuki can still add to his totals.
Winner: Nick Suzuki
Calder Memorial Trophy
The Calder Memorial Trophy is given out to the season’s top rookie and was first awarded in the 1932-33 season to Carl Voss of the Detroit Red Wings. The last Canadien to win a Calder trophy was Ken Dryden in 1971-72, and they have since had three runners up: Chris Chelios lost to Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux in 1984-85, Michael Ryder was robbed of the award in 2003-04 in favour of the Boston Bruins’ Andrew Raycroft, and finally Brendan Gallagher lost to Florida Panthers’ Jonathan Huberdeau in 2012-13. John Quilty was the first Hab to win the award in 1940-41. He beat out Johnny Mowers of the Red Wings (not to be confused with Johnny Bower of the Toronto Maple Leafs).
This was a tough one, and you would think Joshua Roy would win because he was the only rookie. However, the winner is Cayden Primeau. According to the eligibility rules, a goaltender can not play 25 games or more in a single season or more than six games in two preceding seasons. Before this season, Primeau had only played 21 games in the NHL and 12 games in 2021-22 but only three in 2022-23. Therefore, he technically meets the requirements for the award. I will add he technically doesn’t either because the six games part of the eligibility also states in any major professional league. Although a professional, the American Hockey League (AHL) is considered the highest-level minor league.
Winner: Cayden Primeau
Frank J. Selke Trophy
The Frank J. Selke Trophy is presented to the best defensive forward in the NHL. It was first awarded in 1977-78 to Canadiens legend Bob Gainey, who won it four seasons in a row. The last Montreal player to win the trophy was Guy Carbonneau in 1991-92. Patrice Bergeron, formerly of the Boston Bruins, has won the award six times, the most of any player in the NHL, and is the latest recipient of the trophy. Although the Canadiens have not been a finalist for the award since 1991-92, a team member has won it seven times, tying the Red Wings and Bruins for most in the NHL.
Related: Likeliest Canadiens to Win NHL Awards in 2023-24
The Canadiens were horrible defensively this season, but there were some bright spots. Suzuki, of course, played an excellent 200-foot game, Armia was solid at killing penalties, and Jake Evans was outstanding in the face-off dot and any situation he was put in. Suzuki played against the top line in the NHL and was very productive, but in my opinion, another forward was the best defensively and that’s Evans. He averaged more than three minutes on the penalty kill and started 75.8% of his shifts in the defensive zone with an overall face-off percentage of 51.8%. A solid argument can be made for Suzuki, but I will give it to the forward who is most used in defensive situations.
Winner: Jake Evans
James Norris Memorial Trophy
The James Norris Memorial Trophy is given to the defenceman with the most outstanding all-around ability. It has, in reality, been generally given to the defenceman who scored the most and is not necessarily great defensively (that’s a discussion for another article). The Norris was first awarded in the 1953-54 season, and the recipient was the Red Wings’ Red Kelly. Canadiens legend Doug Harvey won the trophy in eight of the next nine seasons and shares the record with the Bruins’ Bobby Orr for most won. The last player in Montreal to win the award was PK Subban in the 2012-13 season. The most recent winner is Erik Karlsson.
There is no doubt who the most all-around defenceman on the Canadiens is: Mike Matheson. Matheson is third on the team in points and plays in all situations, averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time a night. He is also ninth in scoring for defencemen in the entire NHL and fifth in time on ice. Matheson has led the Habs’ blue line offensive attack and is still responsible defensively, making him a much-deserving recipient of this trophy for Montreal.
Winner: Mike Matheson
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player for sportsmanship within the game. The trophy was first awarded in the 1924-25 season to Frank Nighbor of the Ottawa Senators (1917). Anze Kopitar won the award last season, and the last Canadian player to win was Mats Naslund in 1987-88. This season, Cole Caufield has shown he can be a top offensive player but still plays within the game’s rules and shows high sportsmanship, with just 16 penalty minutes.
Winner: Cole Caufield
Vezina Trophy
The Vezina Trophy is awarded to the top goaltender in the NHL. It was first awarded in the 1926-27 season. Montreal’s George Hainsworth created it in honour of Canadiens great Georges Vezina, who died of tuberculosis in March, 1926. In 1964-65, the criteria for the award changed, and instead of being given to the top goaltender, it was awarded to the goaltending team with the least amount of goals against. In 1981-82, it again became the award for top goaltender when the league created the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is presented to the team with the lowest goals against. Bill Duran, Jacques Plante of the Canadiens, and Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabrers have won the award six times. Last year’s recipient was Linus Ullmark of the Bruins. Carey Price was the last Hab to win the prize, capturing it in 2014-15.
The clear winner for the Canadiens this season is Sam Montembeault. He is 14th in the league in goals saved above expected (GSAx). He has a 16-15-7 record with a 3.10 goals against average (GAA) and .904 save percentage (SV%). Montembeault won the starting job even when the Habs were running a three-goalie system, which was a huge reason why the Canadiens won almost half of their games. If Primeau played more games, there might have been more of an argument, as Primeau has a better SV% and GAA than Montembeault but has played only 21 games.
Winner: Sam Montembeault
Hart Trophy
The Hart Trophy is awarded to the most valuable player. It was first handed out in the 1923-24 season, and Frank Nighbor of the 1917 Senators was the winner. The great Wayne Gretzky won the award a record nine times, including eight in a row in the 1980s. The last Canadien to win the MVP was Carey Price in 2014-15, the year he pretty much won every award that didn’t include scoring. Last year’s winner was McDavid.
Related: Canadiens’ Armia an Expected Masterton Candidate but Unlikely Winner
When a team is near the bottom of the standings, picking an MVP can sometimes be challenging. The easiest route would be to choose the guy who scored the most. For the Canadiens, there is an actual argument to be made for their scoring leader, Suzuki. He leads the team in almost every offensive category, he plays in all situations, and is a huge reason for any success the Habs have had.
Suzuki, however, is not the main reason for Montreal’s little success this season; that distinction in my mind goes to Montembeault. Montembeault has helped the team gather 39 of their 78 total points this season, meaning he is directly responsible for half of the team’s points and a huge reason why they could finish closer to 10th in the standings than the bottom five. Suzuki has been an excellent source for the Canadiens in scoring, but Montembeault has proved time and time again he can steal points in games they probably don’t deserve to get any.
Winner: Sam Montembeault
This covered most of the major awards given out by the NHL annually. The Canadiens haven’t had the most outstanding season, but they have had some bright stars shine. Suzuki is the highest-scoring player the team has had in over a decade. Juraj Slafkovsky emerged as the first overall pick everyone hoped he would be, and the team had quality goaltending from Montembeault and Primeau. Not everyone will agree with these picks, and that’s okay. Let us know in the comments who you think would win these awards.
