The first quarter of the season is in the books, and with that comes an incredibly important moment: handing out ESPN.com's trophy hardware. Do you agree or disagree with our picks? Oh, we know you've got an opinion.
HART TROPHY
(most valuable player)
We all like fresh faces and love being the one to bring up a new name to get the conversation going, but don't fix what ain't broken. The reigning Hart Trophy winner leads the league in scoring and is doing his usual thing. Sidney Crosby is the pick at this point, and if he stays healthy, the biggest factor that might derail his bid to win back-to-back MVPs will be from what kind of vote-splitting occurs if teammate Evgeni Malkin stays healthy and right there with him in the scoring race. The top challenger to Crosby for the Hart right now? It has to be Mark Giordano, who is wearing his Superman cape once again in Calgary. More on him later. Other Hart candidates for the opening quarter: Steven Stamkos, Claude Giroux, John Tavares, Jonathan Toews, Pekka Rinne, Tyler Seguin, Vladimir Tarasenko and Carey Price. Side note: No question Seguin has been terrific and he's got a shot at both the Art Ross and Rocket Richard the way he's going. But as long as Jamie Benn is on that team, nobody is ever going to make me believe that the Stars captain is not the straw that stirs the drink in Dallas. I'm sure Seguin will gets lots of Hart talk if the Stars move into a playoff spot later in the season, but I'm just saying it's hard to single out a player ahead of Benn on that team. Our pick: Crosby.
NORRIS TROPHY
(top defenseman)
To me this is a four-man race between Drew Doughty, Shea Weber, Giordano and Ryan Suter. All four play huge minutes in all kinds of situations. My sense is this might very well be a 1-2 race between Doughty and Weber by season's end. But the nod for the opening quarter goes to Giordano. At the heart of the Calgary Flames' surprising start, his impact on that underdog team is deserving of MVP talk, never mind the Norris so far. That he leads all defensemen in scoring is a bonus, but it just fractionally represents what he brings to that lineup. If the Flames fade out of the playoff picture like many believe will be the case, it will hurt both his Hart and Norris chances. If Bob Hartley's men stay in the race, oh my, it could be a special year for Giordano indeed. Our pick: Giordano.
VEZINA TROPHY
(top goalie)
Let me start by giving honorable mention to terrific opening-quarter performances by Corey Crawford, Marc-Andre Fleury, Craig Anderson, Jimmy Howard, Brian Elliott and Frederik Andersen; they all deserve some love. But the Vezina at this point is a three-player race between Price, Rinne and Jonathan Quick. Quick's .932 save percentage in 18 starts is a huge reason the Los Angeles Kings are 12-6-5 through 23 games. Price has been the backbone of the Montreal Canadiens' surprising perch atop the league standings. He's got his best shot ever at winning his first Vezina this season. But at this point, the slight edge goes to Rinne, whose return to health is certainly no coincidence in the Nashville Predators' sizable improvement in the standings from non-playoff team last year, when he missed most of the season with a hip injury to now battling for the Central Division title. Rinne is back, baby. Our pick: Rinne.
CALDER TROPHY
(top rookie)
The Predators' Filip Forsberg ran away with the opening-quarter Calder honors. It wasn't even close. With 22 points (9-13) in 21 games, he is seven points clear in the rookie scoring race, but it's so much more than points here with the impressive 20-year-old Swedish winger. He's plus-18 and leads all rookies with 63 shots. Aaron Ekblad and Johnny Gaudreau would be my two runners-up, although Damon Severson, Tanner Pearson and Jake Allen also deserve mention. But by the time we do the midway-point awards in January, will we be talking about a new challenger? John Klingberg has been out of this world since his call-up, putting up eight points (3-5) in eight games and having a tangible impact on the Stars' transition game. His passing skills are unreal. The dude has been mesmerizing. If he keeps it up the rest of the season, I don't think missing the opening month should count against him. Our pick: Forsberg.
SELKE TROPHY
(top defensive forward)
This is a no-brainer for so many reasons at the opening-quarter mark. The Boston Bruins' Patrice Bergeron is our pick not just because the two-time Selke Trophy winner is always a good choice, but especially so far this season he's faced quite the challenge with No. 1 center David Krejci in and out of the lineup, as well as top defenseman Zdeno Chara out for a big chunk. It means awfully tough matchups for Bergeron as other teams see him as the top (and only real) threat. But he's remained a top player while also taking a ton of defensive-zone faceoffs, killing penalties and, well, doing it all other than driving the Zamboni. He's the runaway leader right now for the Selke. But I will say this: I miss the days when this award went to the non-star players, the guys in the trenches. I only mention that because when I look at the work that Manny Malhotra is doing killing penalties and winning key faceoffs for the Canadiens -- he's the NHL's faceoff leader -- it just screams what this award was originally designed to do decades ago. But that ship has sailed long ago, I guess. Other honorable candidates: Toews, Anze Kopitar, David Backes, Tomas Plekanec, Andrew Ladd, Ryan Kesler and Joe Thornton. Our pick: Bergeron.
JACK ADAMS AWARD
(top coach)
As always, trying to narrow down the list for this award is next to impossible most years, with so many deserving candidates. Honestly, any team sitting in a playoff spot can make the argument its coach should get a look. No question among the deserving candidates are Bruce Boudreau, Mike Johnston, Jon Cooper, Ken Hitchcock, Mike Babcock and Paul Maurice. But if I had to narrow it down to the top five guys, I'd go right now with Michel Therrien of the Montreal Canadiens, Willie Desjardins of the Vancouver Canucks, Jack Capuano of the New York Islanders, Bob Hartley of the Calgary Flames and Peter Laviolette of the Nashville Predators. Their teams have been the most notable surprises so far this season, and let's face it, that's what this award has become, rewarding the coach whose team surprised the most. But that shouldn't take away from what these five coaches have done -- far from it. Therrien's Habs got younger in the offseason, but he's got them challenging for the top overall spot in the standings. Desjardins and Laviolette in their first seasons behind their respective benches have teams that were out of the playoffs last season sitting pretty right now. Capuano has the Islanders surging before our eyes as a bona fide contender. But in the end, is there really any argument? Hartley has the Flames in a playoff spot through the opening quarter, which is nothing short of sensational for a team that was picked to challenge for a lottery draft pick. Since the day he arrived in Calgary, Hartley's approach to a rebuilding roster had been so impressive. Losing was never accepted. The work ethic on that team is through the roof. If the Flames hang on and make the playoffs, Hartley will win the Jack Adams hands down. Our pick: Hartley.