With the Stanley Cup Playoffs moving along, the NHL is continuing the process of announcing the finalists for each of its major awards for the 2024-25 season.
During the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery, the league announced the finalists for the Calder Trophy, which honors the top rookie. The three finalists for the honor are Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks), Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens) and Dustin Wolf (Calgary Flames).
Hutson became just the fourth defenseman in the modern era (since 1943-44) to lead all rookies in points (66). He joined Bobby Orr (41), Brian Leetch (71) and Quinn Hughes (53) as the only blue-liners to earn that honor. His 60 assists matched Larry Murphy (Kings, 1980-81) for the assists by a rookie defenseman in NHL history. If he wins the Calder Trophy, he’d become the third Canadiens player to win the award in the expansion era (since 1967-68) along with Brendan Gallagher (2012-13) and Ken Dryden (1971-72).
The league also recently announced the finalists for the Selke Trophy, which honors the top defensive forward. The three finalists for the award are Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), Anthony Cirelli (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers).
Barkov will be seeking the third Selke Trophy of his career after earning the honor for his performance in 2023-24. The Panthers star, who is a finalist for the fourth time in the past five seasons, helped the Panthers rank among the NHL’s top 10 in goals-against per contest (seventh, 2.72), while also ranking tenth with an 80.7% penalty-killing percentage.
Barkov also blocked 54 shots, while dishing out 87 hits during the regular season. If he wins the award, he’d become just the fourth player to accomplish the feat in back-to-back seasons along with Patrice Bergeron, Pavel Datsyuk, and Rod Brind’Amour.
The remainder of the NHL Awards will be announced on a daily basis through mid-May. The 2025 NHL Awards will take place in June 2025, but an exact date has yet to be announced.
Vezina Trophy
The Vezina Trophy is awarded