Midseason NHL Awards: Best Team, MVP, Goal, and More

The 2024-25 NHL season has been a wild ride so far. Some teams have exceeded expectations, while others have fallen short. Here are the midseason awards for the best team, player, goal, and more.

Best Team: Winnipeg Jets The Jets have been the best team in the NHL this season. They started the season with 15 wins in their first 16 games, setting an NHL record. While they haven't been able to keep that pace up, they've still been one of the best teams in the league. They lead the Central Division by a good margin and are in the top three teams offensively and defensively.

Most Disappointing Team: Nashville Predators The Predators have been a disappointment this season. They were expected to be one of the best teams in the NHL, but they've been one of the worst. They're last in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals and have a.407 points percentage.

Most Valuable Player: Leon Draisaitl Draisaitl has been the best player in the NHL this season. He's leading the NHL in expected goals above replacement and has added 4.3 wins to the Oilers in the standings. He's also been a key part of the Oilers' offense, skating with the likes of Vasily Podkolzin, Viktor Arvidsson and Kasperi Kapanen.

Least Valuable Player: Jeff Skinner Skinner has been a disappointment this season. He was signed by the Oilers as a value signing, but he hasn't lived up to expectations. He has seven goals and eight assists in 40 games and has been a defensive liability.

Greatest On-Ice Achievement: Alex Ovechkin Ovechkin has been chasing Wayne Gretzky's career goals record this season. He's currently at 873 goals and is on pace to shatter the record by the end of March. He's also been one of the best players in the NHL this season, leading the Capitals to a playoff spot.

Best Trend: The Rarity of Shootouts Shootouts are a pox on the NHL, but they've been a rarity in the first half of the season. 76.5% of games that went beyond regulation were ended in the 3-on-3 overtime, the highest rate of OT goals in NHL history.

Worst Trend: Deferred Money Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe, Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis and Anaheim Ducks forward Frank Vatrano signed contract extensions that featured a significant amount of money being deferred until after their playing days are done. That allowed teams to massage their salary cap numbers.

Most Inspirational Story: Columbus Blue Jackets The tragic death of Johnny Gaudreau is still being felt around the hockey world. His memory continues to be honored, like when the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints -- where he played and was a minority owner -- recently retired his jersey. But perhaps the greatest tribute to his spirit as a player has been the resiliency of his Columbus teammates.

Most Important Rookie: Dustin Wolf Center Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks and defenseman Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens have moved into their own tier in the Calder Trophy race for the class of 2024-25. But the Calder is given for the best rookie performance, and I think Celebrini and Hutson are putting on a show. It's not necessarily given for the most important rookie performance; although if it did, there would be a clear winner: Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Flames.

Most Forsaken Player: Connor Bedard The last thing you want to see from your franchise player in his second NHL season is the kind of vacant stare that Bedard has when discussing the trajectory of the Blackhawks, which at this point is akin to a malfunctioning bottle rocket. Even in those moments when he should be able to celebrate personal achievement -- like reaching 100 career points faster than any other teenaged player in NHL history -- his thoughts circle back to how bad the Blackhawks have been.

Goal of the (Half) Year: Nazem Kadri The 1992 romantic comedy "The Cutting Edge" -- written by "Andor" show runner Tony Gilroy! -- asks what would happen if a hockey player became an Olympic figure skater. Well, this Kadri goal from December is what it might look like if a figure skater became a hockey player: the Calgary Flames center leaping over a sprawled-out J.J. Moser, keeping his balance when hitting the ice, doing a 360-degree turn, dragging the puck back and then somehow beating Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Save of the (Half) Year: Jacob Markstrom It's not often you get two save-of-the-year candidates in the same game, but that was the kind of night Markstrom had against the Seattle Kraken on Jan. 6. This gloved rejection of a sure-thing Eeli Tolvanen goal was good:ANOTHER SAVE OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE FROM JACOB MARKSTROM!! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/09yIKJrb9j— NHL (@NHL) January 7, 2025 This chaotic hand-eye coordination clinic -- watch Markstrom stare at the puck before swatting it away -- was absolute mastery.JACOB MARKSTROM FOR A THIRD TIME. 😱 We have no words. pic.twitter.com/RjatOwP4GH— NHL (@NHL) January 7, 2025 He even had a third save in the game that would have been the best of the night for most goalies. But not for this goalie on this night.

Coach of the (Half) Year: Spencer Carbery In his first 125 games as a head coach, Carbery has a.608 points percentage. He coached the Capitals to an unlikely playoff spot last season, and has had them at or near the top of the NHL this season. While last season was impressive, this season established him as a coaching star. He has kept the ship steady despite not having Ovechkin for 16 games due to injury, gotten the most out of young players and integrated veteran additions to the lineup seamlessly.

Best Glow-Up: Colorado Avalanche Goaltending The Avalanche began the season with a specious goaltending trio: Alexandar Georgiev, Justus Annunen and Kaapo Kahkonen, the latter of whom they claimed off waivers after the other two were both lit up on opening night. Rather than watch his talented team dragged down by mediocre goaltending, general manager Chris MacFarland got aggressive and nuked the crease.

Most Shocking Move: The Jim Montgomery Migration The Boston Bruins firing Jim Montgomery was something I called before the season, considering he was in the last year of his contract and the team had diminishing returns. That it happened 20 games into the season was a surprise, but what occurred after that was the real stunner.

Most Ruthless Front Office: New York Rangers For all the obituaries written about the Rangers this season, they remain within spitting distance of the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, among a nine-team pileup of middling contenders.

Best Feud: J.T. Miller vs. Elias Pettersson This season hasn't lacked for locker room drama. Boston Bruins stars Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak recently had to shut down a Boston radio report about a rift between them, with Marchand dumping a dozen photos on Instagram to show how tight they are, which is very "celebrity tabloid scandal" of him.

Best Comeback: Patrik Laine For the first time in a long time, Patrik Lane is healthy. Not necessarily on the ice, where a knee injury and an illness have limited him to 15 games this season, but off the ice. Laine went through the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program last summer before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens, prioritizing his health and well-being. In August, he and fiancée Jordan Leigh launched From Us to You, a mental health initiative inspired by the many people who shared their stories with Laine.

Best in (Utah Hockey) Club: Logan Cooley The Utah Hockey Club started strong, fell off, dealt with some unfortunate injuries and is now hanging tough in a wild-card race.

Most Likely to Continue an NHL Record Playoff Drought: Buffalo Sabres Unless something dramatic happens in the second half, the Sabres will miss the playoffs for a 14th consecutive season, extending their NHL record. They haven't made the playoffs since 2010-11.