Europeans thrive at 2006 NHL Awards

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006

By Lucas Aykroyd

Sometimes it’s all about quality instead of quantity. The number of European NHLers has declined from 300 (29.5%) in 2003-04 to 262 (27.2%) in 2005-06, but elite talent from the Old World still made a big splash at the 2006 NHL Awards in Vancouver, Canada.

At the June 22 gala, Europeans walked off with seven of the 13 available trophies.

The biggest winners were Russia and Finland, although no Finnish nominees attended in person. Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin claimed the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, and Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff won his first Vezina Trophy (top goalie) and Jennings Trophy (fewest goals against), while both men earned First All-Star Team berths. Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk captured the Lady Byng for his sportsmanlike play, while Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne was chosen for the Masterton for his perseverance and dedication to hockey.

Sweden’s Nicklas Lidstrom, nominated for the Norris Trophy in seven of the last eight years, won for the fourth time, more than any other defenseman after Bobby Orr (8), Doug Harvey (7), and Ray Bourque (5).

“Just being mentioned with names like those is an awesome feeling,” said the Detroit star who scored the winning goal for Sweden at the Olympics. “Staying healthy and playing a lot of minutes have been the key for me.”

“You see a lot of European players with bigger roles on teams than they had when I first broke in,” added Lidstrom, also named a First Team All-Star. “Today, the NHL has a good mix of European and North American players.”

San Jose center Joe Thornton got the Hart as NHL MVP and the Art Ross as leading scorer, and his playmaking helped Jonathan Cheechoo win the Maurice Richard with a league-best 56 goals. Consequently, Jaromir Jagr didn’t manage to win his second career Hart Trophy, but the legendary Czech forward claimed the Pearson after being voted league MVP by NHL players.

After posting all-star performances at the Olympics and World Championship, Ovechkin stole the show one more time in Vancouver. The spectacular 20-year-old Russian left wing won the Calder based on his 106 points with the Capitals. Ovechkin also became the first rookie since Ed Belfour (1990-91) to earn a First All-Star Team berth.

“Russian hockey has some of the best coaches and young prospects,” said Ovechkin. “It’s very important that I win.”

He got 124 first-place votes from journalists to four for runner-up Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh, but lauded his 18-year-old Canadian rival: “When Pittsburgh and Washington play, I’ve watched his game, and he’s a tremendous player. He does a great job. He takes the puck and he’s not scared. He goes to the net and tries to score goals.”

Those words could equally well have described Jagr with the New York Rangers. The healthy, motivated superstar was a revelation in 2005-06 after several sub-par seasons in Washington, and cracked the First All-Star Team.

The 34-year-old, whose 123 points placed him second in league scoring, pointed out that the European presence at the awards wasn’t an overnight phenomenon: “It’s not just this year. It’s been like this since the 1990’s. Hockey’s changed. Now everybody has a chance to play in the NHL. Before, that was impossible for players from Communist countries.”

Jagr also praised Rangers teammate Henrik Lundqvist, who was nominated for the Vezina in his rookie season: “I knew he was going to be good. He’s not 18 years old. He came in at 23 with a lot of experience in the Swedish League and international hockey. During the lockout, the best players played in the World Championship and he did excellent against them. The games in the World Championships and Olympics are harder than in the NHL because you don’t have a break. You don’t have third and fourth lines that just dump the puck in–there are goal-scorers even on those lines. If he could handle that pressure, I felt pretty confident that he could do good stuff for us.”

The 2006 awards didn’t feature quite as many European winners as 2003, the all-time peak. That year, Sweden’s Peter Forsberg captured the Hart and Art Ross with Colorado, while his Czech linemate Milan Hejduk earned the Rocket Richard. In addition, there was top defensive forward Jere Lehtinen (Selke), Nicklas Lidstrom (Norris), Markus Naslund (Pearson), Alexander Mogilny (Lady Byng), and Roman Cechmanek (Jennings).

Zdeno Chara of Ottawa and Sergei Zubov of Dallas formed the 2006 Second All-Star Team defense pairing, and Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson nailed down the right wing spot. Along with Lundqvist and Ovechkin, Slovak defenseman Andrej Meszaros of Ottawa made the All-Rookie Team.

Other 2006 winners included Rod Brind’Amour (Selke), Washington goalie Olaf Kolzig (King Clancy), and Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff (Jack Adams).