Jamie Benn Up For Ted Lindsay: One Last Look At Candidates

The NHL Awards Show will go live on the air tonight at 7:00 PM EST as some of the most talented NHL stars hit the stage to accept some of the most coveted awards.

For the first time in a long time, a member of the Dallas Stars will be present. This will be Stars captain and first-line forward Jamie Benn.

Benn will be there for one assured reason and two potential reasons. The definite reason is in regards to his winning of the Art Ross Trophy. This award is given to the player who tallies the most points among all players in the NHL in an 82-game season. Benn tallied his career-high 87th point with just 8.5 seconds remaining in the final game of the year to clench the award for 2014-2015.

Jamie Benn will receive this award for sure. No doubt about that. He is also a candidate for the EA Sports NHL 16 cover! This one is purely speculation, but it would be pretty rad if Benn could take that distinction as well.

But the main award Benn is in the running for is the Ted Lindsay Award. This award is given to the “most outstanding player in the league as voted on by the NHLPA (in other words, the players).”

Benn is in tight competition though, as he is in the running with Capitals forward and the Rocket Richard winner Alex Ovechkin and Montreal Canadiens goaltender and Vezina Trophy favorite Carey Price.

Before the award is announced, I thought it would be a good idea to take one last look at the candidates so we can go into tonight’s ceremony prepared!

Jamie Benn:

As we all know, the Dallas Stars captain had a season that record books drool over. In his second season as the captain of the Stars, Benn truly thrived under the role of leader. After breaking his own career highs in goals, assists, and points during his freshman term as captain, he shattered his own records for a second straight season. Tallying 35 goals and 52 assists which combined for 87 points, Jamie Benn won the Art Ross Trophy with seconds to go in the final game of the regular season. The Art Ross Trophy is awarded to the NHL player with the most points at the end of the regular season, and Benn edged New York Islanders captain John Tavares by a primary assist with 8 seconds remaining in regulation against the Nashville Predators. He did this in front of a Dallas crowd in sheer disbelief.

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With 87 points in 82 games, Benn played his second complete 82 game campaign with the Dallas Stars. He did all of this with a faulty hip, which won’t filter into the voting process, but is still a noteworthy point to make. Since becoming captain, Benn has only missed one game, being the final game of the 2013-2014 season when he was a healthy scratch to reserve himself for the playoffs. Benn picked up the slack when prior leading scorer Tyler Seguin went down with a knee injury and carried the team along. Nothing gets in his way, and he proves his worthiness and leadership every time he steps out on the ice.

Alex Ovechkin:

Alex Ovechkin continues to be one of the most entertaining and productive players in the NHL. Coming off of an 81 game season in which the only game he missed was the final game due to a healthy scratch, the Capitals captain helped lead his team to their best record in the past five years and to a playoff berth. The Capitals are currently in the second round after beating the Islanders in seven games, and are currently flirting with knocking off the defending Eastern Conference Champions after taking a 2-1 series advantage over the New York Rangers.

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With 53 goals, Ovechkin led the league and earned himself the Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals in the NHL. He led the Capitals in goals, with second place being 33 goals back. Ovechkin totaled 81 points on the year, and currently has eight points in ten playoff games, though postseason statistics are not included in the judging process. Ovechkin must have moved on to a second trophy shelf by now, considering he already has 12 NHL awards, with his newest Rocket Richard bringing the total to 13. Ovechkin is a known and feared player league-wide and knows how to score.

Carey Price:

So after two forwards, it’s only fair that they nominate a goaltender as well. And Carey Price must be the man for the nomination.

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Carey Price is coming off the best season of his career, just like the other two finalists. With a final record of 44-16-6, Price led his Montreal Canadiens to a third straight playoff berth. Price was magnificent in net, finishing the season with a new franchise-high in wins. Price finished the year with a .933 save percentage and a 1.96 goals against average, both new career highs. It was his first time past .927 and his first time under 2.30 for the two statistics. So, as you can see, some major improvement from an already stellar goalie. Along with this award, Price is also in the running for the Hart Trophy (league MVP) and the Vezina Trophy (best goaltender). He also co-won the William M. Jennings Trophy with Corey Crawford for a goaltender with at least 25 games played that totaled the least amount of goals against.

So, as you can tell, Jamie Benn is in a dogfight. His chances of winning this award are as good as the chances of the other two, and there is no really wiggle room between any of the three candidates.

We’ll hope Benn walks away with three awards at best tonight! Make sure to tune in to the ceremony on NBCSN starting at 7 PM EST. In regards to the EA Sports NHL 16 cover reveal, their official snapchat made an announcement that the big reveal would be at 4:00 pm. Since it was a picture of a banner in Las Vegas, my guess is that it is 4:00 PT, which would be 6:00 CT. So it will be during the awards show, if the facts line up as they have.

Next: Dallas Stars Open Season At Home For 5th Year In A Row vs. Penguins

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