Chicago Blackhawks’ Panarin, Kane Win Big At NHL Awards

Without Stanley Cup, Blackhawks Still Take Home Hardware

On Wednesday night in Las Vegas, the newest NHL expansion city, the NHL Awards were held to recognize the achievements of some of the top players in the league. While the Chicago Blackhawks’ season came to an end before many would have wanted it to, the season wasn’t a wash for postseason hardware.

On the night, both Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane came away winners for Chicago, with Panarin taking home the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie Of The Year and Kane taking home the Art Ross Trophy (league leader in points), the Ted Lindsay Award (league MVP as voted by the players) and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player.

But outside of the accomplishments of Panarin and Kane, a few other Blackhawks were in the hunt for postseason awards as well. Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times provided the voting results for each award Wednesday night, showing where the Blackhawks ended up in final voting ranks.

Check it out: 10 Can’t Miss Games In 2016-17

While Corey Crawford was thought by some to be a snub for the Vezina Award (top goaltender), he finished fifth in voting behind Roberto Luongo and finalists Ben Bishop, Jonathan Quick and winner Braden Holtby:

Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz earned the Jack Adams Award for NHL Coach of the Year, while Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville garnered just one first-place nod:

In a more surprising result, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty took home the Norris Trophy for the NHL’s best defender, with both Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook earning votes:

While the sting of the way the year ended for Chicago is still taking time to heal for some, the strong showing at the NHL Awards is a slight consolation for what was a very intriguing season in 2015-16.

Kane Wins League MVP

The season that Kane had in 2015-16, and how it stacked up against those of Sidney Crosby and Jamie Benn, made it not too much of a surprise that the Hart Memorial voting was so lopsided.

Kane far and away had the best season of any player in the NHL in 2015-16. It could even be argued that without the level of play from Kane at key moments in the season, the Blackhawks could have been in a tight spot when it became Stanley Cup Playoffs time.

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Panarin Wins Rookie Of The Year

Another player who was critical to the success of the Blackhawks in 2015-16 was rookie Panarin, and in his first NHL season he helped elevate the level of play for Kane and for the Blackhawks as a whole.

Leading all rookies in scoring by a wide margin, Panarin was the easy and correct choice for Rookie of the Year:

What is more surprising is that Connor McDavid finished third in voting behind Shayne Gostisbehere.

Panarin, whether you agree or disagree about the legitimacy of his NHL rookie status, was undoubtedly the best first-year NHL player the league saw this last season.

Next: Blackhawks Aren't Done Making Moves

Now that the awards have been handed out, the cover of NHL 17 has been decided (Vladimir Tarasenko, yuck) and the NHL Entry Draft is upon us, it is time for the likes of Kane, Panarin and the rest of the Blackhawks organization to figure out where to go from here and how to, once again, make a run for the Stanley Cup.