Last night was the NHL’s annual awards ceremony. The evening’s big winner was, as predicted, Alexander Ovechkin. Here’s a breakdown of the award winners (and my pre-show predictions!)

Hart Trophy (MVP)

Predicted Winner: Alexander Ovechkin
Actual Winner: Alexander Ovechkin

What can you even say about this kid? 65 goals, 112 points — he’s just unbelievable. He never stops moving, seems to be a part of every play, and is one of the most passionate players I’ve ever seen. His leadership and determination was one of the major reasons for the Capitals late-season playoff push. While they ultimately didn’t make it past the first round, the team’s turnaround would not have been possibly without the presence of “Alexander the Great”. While Evgeni Malkin and Jerome Iginla’s contributions to their teams cannot be ignored, Alex was just too good this year.

Vezina Trophy (Best Goalie)

Predicted Winner: Evgeni Nabokov
Actual Winner: Martin Brodeur

That’s right, I’m a Devils fan and I picked against Marty. I thought for sure the voting would go in Nabakov’s favor this year. Both goalies have nearly identical numbers, played in front of struggling teams at the start of the season, and were unbelievable down the stretch. Apparently, the voters agreed — Brodeur barely edged out Nabokov, finished with 113 points to Nabokov’s 106. Making at least one Devils’ fan extremely happy, Lundqvist finished with a measley 13 points. You can’t argue that Marty kept the Devils in the game this year, so he is more than deserving of his fourth Vezina in the last 5 years, placing him second all time in career wins behind the recently retired Dominic Hasek, who won the award 6 times.

Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman)

Predicted Winner: Nicklas Lidstrom
Actual Winner: Nicklas Lidstrom

This award was a no-brainer. Lidstrom has won the award 6 times in the last 7 seasons. He is the best defenseman in the game right now, hands-down. You can’t beat his presence on the ice and his skill on both ends of the ice. The Wings are lucky to have had him on their bench for the last 15 years.

Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year)

Predicted Winner: Patrick Kane
Actual Winner: Patrick Kane

The three kids up for this award this year had absolutely unbelievable seasons. Kane and Jonathan Toews were part of the turnaround in Chicago that saw them on the brink of a playoff spot for the first time in years. Unfortunately for Toews, he spent a chunk of time this year injured, which most likely killed his chances at winning the award. In spite of the injuries, he still led all rookies in scoring — leading me to wonder what he would have been capable of if he had been healthy all year. Backstrom, playing on a line with Ovechkin, benefited from playing with one of the most talented players in hockey — but that makes his accomplishments seem less impressive. Kane — at 5′9″, 160 — was the best of the three. Finding a way to be productive at that size, and adjusting as quickly as he did, made him more than deserving of the award.

Lady Byng Trophy (Sportsmanship Award)

Predicted Winner: Pavel Datsyuk
Actual Winner: Pavel Datsyuk

Datsyuk has won this award in the past, and given his style of play, for him to take as few penalties as he does is truly an accomplishment. He plays the game the way it should be played — clean defense, not chippy. This award really could have gone to any of the three — St. Louis and Pominville play in a similar manner, but their numbers are not nearly as staggering, and I think that makes Datsyuk much more impressive.

Selke Trophy (Defensive Forward)

Predicted Winner: Pavel Datsyuk
Actual Winner: Pavel Datsyuk

I wanted John Madden to win this more than anything, but I knew it wouldn’t happen. Datsyuk was the runaway winner in this category, with Madden finishing second. 31 goals, 97 points, and +41. You just can’t beat those kind of numbers. He and Zetterberg were dominant this year on both ends of the ice, and were continually the type of pairing that opponents hated to play against.

Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year)

Predicted Winner: Bruce Boudreau
Actual Winner: Bruce Boudreau

Back in November, the Capitals were tanking. They’d only won a handful of games, and were in last place in the Eastern Conference. On November 22, management hired Bruce Boudreau to his first-ever NHL coaching job. Boudreau lead the Capitals to a 37-17-7 record, a Southeast Division title, and became the fastest coach to 20 and 30 wins in franchise history. I can’t think of a more deserving man for this award. Not to take anything away from Guy Carbonneau or Mike Babcock, but Boudreau’s record and the turnaround in Washington was amazing to watch. Congrats to him.

Masterston Trophy (Dedication to Hockey)

Predicted Winner: Fernando Pisani
Actual Winner: Jason Blake

I think both of these men deserve this award.  I think Blake won because people hear “cancer” and immediately assume the worst.  I have the utmost respect for Blake for playing every single game this year after his diagnosis with chronic myelogenous leukemia.  That is everything this award is about - perseverance and dedication to hockey.  However, I think similar can be said about Fernando Pisani.  He suffers from ulcerative colitis, and had a terrible flair up this summer.  He was in and out of the hospital, lost something like 30 pounds, and thought he may never be able to play again.  By December, he was back in game shape, and never missed another game.  To me, that’s just as impressive.  I think the dedication of both men is something worth being honored.

Lester B. Pearson Award (Player’s MVP)

Predicted Winner: Alexander Ovechkin
Actual Winner: Alexander Ovechkin

The players always say that this is the award they take the most pride in winning because it is voted on by their peers.  That they voted on Ovechkin as well came as no surprise to me.  As I wrote above, he had an unbelievable year and led his team farther than anyone expected from them.  It is only fitting that his peers recognize him for these accomplishments.

Additionally, Alex Ovechkin became the first player in NHL history to win the Hart, Pearson, Art Ross (most points) and Rocket Richard (scoring title) all in the same year. At 22 years old, that is quite an accomplishment.

Congratulations to all the winners!

I have returned from the wild world of Europe, and it sounds like I missed one hell of a series. Congrats to the Detroit Red Wings on being the 2008 Stanley Cup Champions.

I will be watching the games in the coming weeks, and will post a more detailed review of the series after I’ve watched them. As of right now, all I can say is that Detroit was simply the better team. Kudos to Pittsburgh for putting up one hell of a fight, and pushing the series as long as they did, but it seemed from game 2 that it was only a matter of time.

In other news, Dominic Hasek, Trevor Linden, and Mattias Norstrom all announced their retirements this week. After his collapse in the playoffs, it was only a matter of time before the announcement from Hasek. His level of play has been slowly declining over the past few season, but its hard to argue his contributions earlier in his career. He will certainly be a Hall of Famer.

Most of the Vancouver community knew Linden would not be returning, so his announcement was also not surprising. The team’s last home game ended in an uplifting tribute to the man who spent 16 of his 19 seasons with the club. He has always been one of the classier players in the game and I hope he continues to stay involved in the NHL.

The NHL awards ceremony is tonight at 7PM EST on VS. I’ll take a closer look at the winners tomorrow!