Washington Capitals Team Awards 2014-2015
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Capitals had a very successful season in 2014-2015. They saw themselves return to the playoffs. Several Washington Capitals players had career years. Several Washington Capitals players ended their respective season among the league’s elite. Today, let’s honor those players with our Washington Capitals team awards.
These awards are just like the NHL awards. There’s an award for the most valuable player, the best defenseman, the best rookie, the best goaltender, the best defensive forward, the most “gentlemanly” player (whatever that means) and the player who did the most for the community. We’ve put a Washington Capitals spin on it too.
Instead of the most valuable player winning the “Hart Memorial Trophy”, he wins the “Peter Bondra Memorial Trophy”. Instead of the best defenseman winning the “Norris Trophy”, he wins the “Rod Langway Trophy”. Instead of the best rookie winning the “Calder Memorial Trophy”, he wins the “Alex Ovechkin Memorial Trophy”. Instead of the best goaltender winning the “Vezina Trophy”, he wins the “Olaf Kolzig Trophy”. Instead of the most gentlemanly player winning the “Lady Byng Memorial Trophy”, he wins the “Barry Trotz Memorial Trophy”. Instead of the player who did the most for the community winning the “NHL Foundation Player Award”, he wins the “Olaf Kolzig Foundation Player Award”, since he’s the only Washington Capitals player to ever have won that award. The best defensive forward will win the “Sergei Fedorov Award” as opposed to the Selke Trophy.
Please hold your applause until the end of the article.
Next: Best Goalie and Best Rookie
Washington Capitals Team Awards: Best Goalie And Best Rookie
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
These two awards were won completely unanimously. There were no other contenders for these two awards. The winner of the Olaf Kolzig Trophy for being the best Washington Capitals goaltender is none other than Braden Holtby. Holtby had one of the greatest seasons that a Washington Capitals goaltender has ever had. He tied the team records in games played (73), shutouts (9) and wins (41). He set the team records in shots against (2,044) and saves (1,887). His 2014-2015 featured the second best save percentage (92.3%) and third best GAA (2.22) of any Caps goaltender ever in a single season.
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The winner of the Alex Ovechkin Memorial Trophy is none other than playoff superstar Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov had a very successful rookie season that was lost in the awesome rookie seasons of other players. Quietly, he had 37 points (11 goals and 26 assists) in 80 games during the regular season. He played especially well after the All-Star Game, scoring 22 points in 36 games. He came into his own in the month of March with 10 points in 14 games. Kuznetsov shined for the Washington Capitals during the playoffs with seven points in 14 games. He averaged three shots on goal per game during the playoffs. Kuznetsov proved that the wait for him to come to the NHL was well worth it and he has solved the second line center problem for the extended future.
Next: Barry Trotz Memorial Trophy
Washington Capitals Awards: Barry Trotz Memorial Trophy
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The Barry Trotz Memorial Trophy is the Washington Capitals equivalent of the Lady Byng Trophy, which goes to the player who demands a trade over being snubbed from his team’s preliminary Olympic roster “player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability“. There were several contenders for this award. Kuznetsov was quite gentlemanly other than his goal celebrations and only had 24 penalty minutes. If Joel Ward isn’t gentlemanly, I don’t know what gentlemanly is. Karl Alzner was a strong contender, but he grew a rugged beard instead of his usual gentlemanly mustache. That left one gentlemanly player: Marcus Johansson.
Marcus Johansson exhibited great sportsmanship throughout the season, only committing five minor penalties. If I recall correctly, two of them were of the bogus “delay of game” variety. Since the “delay of game” penalty was basically only created in a desperate attempt to create more scoring, I don’t really consider delay of game to be a penalty. Johansson is so gentlemanly, I bet he’s sipping tea with his pinkie finger up in the air while wearing a monocle and top hat as you read this.
Johansson also set a high standard of playing ability for the Washington Capitals this season. He had a career year. He had a 20 goal season and proved that he could have success away from Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. He was a very important part of the second line and was often their most reliable player. He had 138 shots on goal, which was a HUGE improvement over what he did in 2013-2014.
Next: Olaf Kolzig Foundation Player Award
Washington Capitals Team Awards: Community Service
Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Capitals have always been a team that has focused heavily on community service, so this award was hard to decide. If you’re interested in reading about some of the community programs, click here. Jay Beagle is incredibly nice to fans and has always been heavily involved in community service. Michael Latta, Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson helped lead the “Pray for B-Man” movement which was just incredible to see. Mike Green was also involved and he is famous for being heavily involved in the DC community in a variety of ways.
However, one player off the ice stood out as much as he does on the ice, which is really saying something considering how great he is on the ice. That player? Alex Ovechkin.
Not only was Ovechkin heavily involved in the Pray For B-Man movement, he visited B-Man with the rest of the Washington Capitals that I mentioned and later on that day, went back to Kettler for another community service event. First, there was the time that he went on a date with a beautiful 10 year old girl named Ann. Ann has Down’s Syndrome and Ovechkin was (and I’m certain still is) her favorite player. They met at a community skate event. Ann asked Ovechkin on a date, and he obliged. He took time out of his day to make her day.
Ovechkin did something similar with a girl with diabetes. I could go on and on about the many things that Ovechkin does to brighten people’s days off the ice, but I think everyone is aware of how he’s not just an incredible player. He might be an even more incredible person.
Next: Rod Langway Trophy
Washington Capitals Team Awards: Rod Langway Trophy
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Rod Langway Trophy goes to the best overall defenseman on the Washington Capitals. The Washington Capitals had an impressive blue line this year so this one was very difficult to decide. Brooks Orpik took on the toughest minutes and was a fixture on the Caps penalty kill. He might have been the best defenseman from a pure defensive standpoint. However, he contributed virtually nothing on offense. Karl Alzner was extremely reliable on defense and even had a career year on offense. However, he still didn’t contribute that much on offense. Mike Green looked like the Mike Green of old with a 45 point season. However, he struggled defensively at times and I hate pointing fingers, but he was fairly responsible for the Washington Capitals losing in game seven against the Rangers. Matt Niskanen was quietly very steady and had a 30 point season. However, he struggled mightily in the playoffs. The one Washington Capitals defenseman who was elite both on offense and defense was John Carlson.
Carlson had a breakout year for the Capitals. He set career highs in several categories.
- Points (55)
- Goals (12)
- Assists (43)
Carlson had his highest even strength CorsiFor% since 2010-2011 with a 50.8% CF%. Considering the tough minutes that he had to play and his partner (Orpik) is generally known as a possession anchor (though he wasn’t bad this sesaon), that’s pretty impressive. Carlson played a heavy role on the Washington Capitals special teams, as he was a regular member of the power play and penalty kill. Carlson had an outstanding season for the Washington Capitals. The scary part? He’s only getting better from here on out.
Next: Sergei Fedorov Trophy
Washington Capitals Team Awards: Sergei Fedorov Trophy
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The Sergei Fedorov Trophy goes to the Washington Capitals forward who exhibits the most skill defensively. There were several contenders. Eric Fehr did a brilliant job on the third line, which consistently saw tough minutes and defensive zone starts. Nicklas Backstrom was an excellent two-way player this year. Troy Brouwer was stellar on the penalty kill. However, one player stood out as being the most reliable defensively: Jay Beagle.
I’m Jay Beagle’s harshest critic, but he changed my mind about him this season. When people called him “defensively responsible” before this season, I usually laughed. This season, Beagle was exactly that. His possession numbers weren’t great (50.94% even strength score adjusted CF% with him on the ice, 52.07% without him on the ice), but that is largely due to Beagle’s low offensive zone start percentage. Beagle drew some tough minutes and zone starts for the Washington Capitals this season and he had success while doing so. His 47.74 CorsiAgainst per 60 minutes at even strength was the second lowest among all Washington Capitals forwards (only Latta’s was lower). He was brutally efficient at slowing down the game and letting the Capitals wait it out until their stars got scoring chances.
Of all the Washington Capitals centers who faced at least 350 face-offs this season, Beagle had the highest face-off win percentage (56.51%). Only Brouwer had a higher face-off win percentage among forwards.
Next: Bondra Memorial Trophy
Washington Capitals Team Awards: Bondra Memorial Trophy
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Bondra Memorial Trophy goes to the Washington Capitals player who is deemed to be the most valuable to the Washington Capitals. There are three finalists for this award and you could make a darn good case for each one.
- Holtby
- Backstrom
- Ovechkin
Braden Holtby was stellar between the pipes for the Caps. He stole games for them on a regular basis during the regular season and post-season. It’s a crime that he wasn’t named as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. Backstrom was the stirrer to the Capitals coffee, quietly and efficiently making the hot beverage better no matter how much cream and sugar were in it. Continuing with that analogy, Ovechkin was the coffee grounds of the Capitals coffee cup, the most important part of the coffee. Without coffee grounds, you have no coffee. That’s how valuable Ovechkin was to the Washington Capitals this season.
I already wrote a post about how valuable Ovechkin is to the Capitals. Simply put, without him, the Washington Capitals would most likely be the owners of a top five draft pick at the NHL Draft.
What do you think? Did I get the awards right? Let me know in the comments!