Nashville Predators: Handing out player awards on the season so far

With the season at a pause, let’s take a look at the Nashville Predators and hand out some awards for the 2019-20 season.

Currently, the NHL season is at a pause due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. This is as good of a time as any to take a look back at this season and see who stood out for the Nashville Predators. Though their season didn’t start off the way they expected it to, they’ve been better under new head coach John Hynes.

Should the season get back underway, they’ll most likely qualify for the postseason. Considering where they were as recently as January, that’s a huge accomplishment. Let’s take a look back at the Predators this season and hand out some awards.

We’ll hand out the traditional awards like the Hart Trophy (team MVP), Norris Trophy (team’s best defenseman), Vezina Trophy (best goaltender), Selke Trophy (team’s best two-way forward), and Calder Trophy (best rookie). On top of that, we’ll hand out some other fun awards too.

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Stats provided by Evolving Hockey, NHL.com, and Natural Stat Trick.

Calder Trophy

Finalists: Dante Fabbro, Yakov Trenin

Winner: Fabbro

Only two rookies have played more than 10 games for the Predators this season, so the pickings are slim. Going into this season, Fabbro was the heavy favorite. After all, he was virtually guaranteed a regular spot in the lineup.

Though Fabbro is in the lead by a comfortable margin, Trenin deserves some credit for making it at least somewhat interesting. Among Predators forwards with at least 200 minutes played, only Colin Blackwell has a higher WAR/60 (wins above replacement per 60 minutes). Had Trenin played in more games, this race might have gotten interesting.

Fabbro has 11 points this season while playing 19:02 per game. His possession stats haven’t been impressive, but he’s been a constant member of a veteran lineup.

Vezina Trophy

Finalists: Pekka Rinne, Juuse Saros

Winner: Saros

This race wasn’t particularly close. For years, Rinne has owned the Nashville Predators net. This season, Saros has made it his. Not only has he played more games than Rinne, he’s also outperformed him by every metric.