Ranking each NHL award from most important to pointless

NHL Awards That Simply Should Not Exist

15. Mark Messier Leadership Award

Come on. It’s just an award Mark Messier gets to vote on. What’s the point of it? The Messier Award doesn’t reward anything that is not already rewarded. It rewards leadership, but isn’t this covered by the King Clancy Memorial Trophy? Just scrap it and tell Messier he can hand out his own unsanctioned award.

Also, why does Messier get to have his own award? Where’s Wayne Gretzky’s award? What about Ilya Bryzgalov’s award?

16. Jim Gregory General Manager Of The Year Award

Look, I’m all for honoring Jim Gregory. He had a significant impact on the NHL and it’s tough to imagine where the league would be right now without his contributions as an executive. But the GM of the Year award is a pointless award to give out. And here’s why.

First of all, it’s clear only the last 12 months are considered. Most of a general manager’s best moves can’t be judged in merely 12 months. Secondly, consider this year’s winner, Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders. A healthy portion of his roster was built by Garth Snow.

Also, there’s a non-zero chance the Islanders could lose Mathew Barzal and/or Ryan Pulock this offseason. Hypothetically, let’s say a team signs one of them to an offer sheet (I know teams are too cowardly to do that but bear with me). With not a lot of cap space, it’s feasible the Islanders could lose one of their best players because the Islanders are overpaying several players.

This award should be scrapped because, frankly, a general manager shouldn’t be judged by just a 12 month span. So much of what they do is about helping their team long-term, not short-term.