What if the Toronto Maple Leafs did their own NHL Awards?
In a normal year, it’s a fun exercise to look at the nominees for all of the top NHL Awards, and arguing why certain Toronto Maple Leafs players could have easily been nominated.
This year, clearly, things are different. It’s early July, the Stanley Cup hasn’t been awarded (and may or may not, given the currently fluid situation), there’s no free-agent frenzy, and (thankfully) there’s been minimal talk from mainstream pundits as to which players the Toronto Maple Leafs will have to give away for free to stay cap compliant.
With not much else at this current point in time to talk about, let’s take the exercise one step further: what if every NHL team did its own internal version of the NHL Awards? And in this hypothetical world, which Leafs walk away with all the major prizes?
We’ll be leaving out anything that’s redundant (Ted Lindsay Award, William M. Jennings Trophy), impossible to award (Conn Smythe Award) or gets awarded by default (GM of the Year: Kyle Dubas)