The votes are being tallied for the 2015-2016 Vancouver Canucks team awards. Here are our choices.
Fan voting recently closed for the Vancouver Canucks team awards for the 2015-2016 season.
There are four different awards that fans could vote on:
- Cyclone Taylor Award — Most Valuable Player
- Walter “Babe” Pratt Award — Best Defenceman
- Pavel Bure Award — Most Exciting Player
- Fred J. Hume Award — Unsung Hero
The awards will be handed out during the Canucks’ last home game — their season-closing tilt against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, April 9.
True, this year has not been kind to the Canucks. At the same time, last year’s 101-point campaign was far from perfect; likewise, this year has not been entirely negative.
Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin remained leaders, carrying the team’s offence for large parts of the season. Daniel leads the team with 28 goals and 61 points while Henrik is second with 11 goals and 54 points.
Youngsters Jared McCann, Jake Virtanen, and Ben Hutton all made the team out of training camp, kick-starting the youth movement in Vancouver.
They have been joined in the last few weeks by Andrey Pedan, Nikita Tryamkin, Brendan Gaunce and Alex Biega. Several other Canucks players have made their NHL debuts this season and played a brief stint with the big club.
Sven Baertschi rewarded Jim Benning‘s faith in him with a breakout year, recording 15 goals and 28 points this year, and becoming a reliable top-six forward.
There are many players who have put up noteworthy performances this season. But which players have stood out the most? Several of our writers have made our picks for the year-end awards.
For the record, here are the winners from last season:
- Most Valuable Player — Radim Vrbata
- Best Defenceman — Christopher Tanev
- Most Exciting Player — Radim Vrbata
- Unsung Hero — Derek Dorsett
What a difference a year makes.
Spoiler Alert: Radim Vrbata and Derek Dorsett do not feature heavily in our picks for this year’s awards.
Next: Cyclone Taylor Award -- MVP