Multiple Oilers could be taking home hardware at this year's NHL Awards
The Edmonton Oilers have their eye on a Stanley Cup this season, but a few players may be picking up some other trophies at this year’s NHL Awards.
With a team boasting Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, seeing Oilers take home some of the league’s most prestigious trophies is nothing new. While McDavid will once again be in the mix, a few other Oilers could also be making an appearance.
Let’s break down what each one could be in the mix for.
Connor McDavid
The NHL’s reigning MVP will be up for an array of awards once again, with the Hart Memorial Trophy being the biggest one.
McDavid will be going for his fourth Hart Trophy win after winning it in 2023, 2021, and 2017. He will have some harsh competition in Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon and most likely one of Nikita Kucherov or Auston Matthews.
The Oilers captain is also in a fight for his sixth Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in points. He is the three-time defending champion of the award and is currently sitting with 126 points this season, two back of MacKinnon and Kucherov. If McDavid does end up winning it, he will become just the fourth player to win it six or more times, joining Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, and Mario Lemieux.
27 goals, 120 points for McDavid š„ pic.twitter.com/jRRztx4EFM
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 29, 2024
Lastly, being in contention for all these awards will mean that McDavid will likely be a nominee for the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the league’s best player as voted by fellow players. Once again, it’s an award McDavid has won numerous times, and winning another would make it five.
Evan Bouchard
The polarizing Evan Bouchard has exploded in his third full season with the Oilers. After putting up a torrid second-half and playoffs last season, the 24-year-old offensive defenceman is on the verge of nearly doubling his previous career-high in points.
Through 73 games, Bouchard has 15 goals and 76 points. That currently sits as the highest-scoring season by any Oilers defenceman outside of Paul Coffey. From a league-wide standpoint, Bouchard is third in goals by a defenceman and tied for third in points by a defenceman this season.
Evan Bouchard is now tied for the NHL lead among defencemen with 15 goals
He's on pace to becoming the first Oilers blueliner with a 20-goal season since Sheldon Souray in 2008-09 pic.twitter.com/iGKnLCApuU
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) February 27, 2024
His offensive chops have been supplemented by some good defensive results as well, including a 63.99 high-danger chances-for percentage and a 61.48 goals-for percentage, both of which are the top two on the team.
This will get him some votes for the Norris Trophy and fans should not be surprised to see him be named one of the three nominees once they are announced. He will have some very tough competition for the trophy as Vancouver Canucks’ captain Quinn Hughes and Avalanche superstar Cale Makar should also be in the mix.
His odds might not be the greatest, but the fact that he is in the conversation should be seen as a massive win for the Oilers.
Stuart Skinner
Skinner nearly had his first NHL award last season but came up just short, finishing second in Calder Trophy voting to Seattle Kraken forward Matt Beniers. After a horrible stretch to start the season, it looked like that was about as close as he was going to get to an individual award. Yet, the sophomore goaltender could wind up being a dark horse for this year’s Vezina Trophy.
Since November, Skinner has led the entire NHL in wins with 32 and holds a solid 33-14-5 record over the course of the season. It took him a month, but the Calder Trophy finalist from last season has shown up for the Oilers.
EDM WSH G64. March 13, 2024. Stuart Skinner save on Alex Ovechkin. š„: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/G4WL8dMa2M
— Nation Network Media (@NationNMedia) March 14, 2024
It may be another year of heartbreak for the Oilers netminder, as he will be up against Winnipeg Jets superstar Connor Hellebuyck and one of Thatcher Demko, Jacob Markstrom, or Sergei Bobrovsky.
He might not make the final cut for the nominees, but he will definitely have some votes down the ballot.
Kris Knoblauch
What head coach Kris Knoblauch has done for the Oilers since he was hired on November 12 has been nothing short of incredible.
At the time, the Oilers were in complete disarray. They had a 3-9-1 record through their first 13 games of the season and were on the brink of falling completely out of the playoff picture. Since Knoblauch has been behind the bench, the team has an amazing 42-14-4 record to help the Oilers get right back into the thick of things.
If you told someone that the Oilers would be challenging for the division when Knoblauch was hired, they probably wouldn’t believe you.
He could very well be a finalist for this year’s Jack Adams trophy and will be going up against Canucks coach Rick Tocchett and Philadelphia Flyers bench boss John Tortorella.
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