The 2009 NHL Awards Preview: Who Ya Got?

If there were an NHL Award for "Best Looking," Steckel would be my pick!

UPDATED:  I’m watching the Awards Show, so I’ll be updating the winners as they’re announced.  See how you did in your predicitions!

Award season is upon us.  Well, at least the NHL Award season.  The Stanley Cup has been awarded, so the NHL Award Show is our mini hockey fix until September rolls around.  This year there is some excitement surrounding the nominees.  Some new faces have popped up in unexpected places, and some old faces have fallen out of contention.  I’ve always viewed the NHL Awards as some type of high school awards assembly only with nicer threads.  Some awards sound like a superlative right out of your high school yearbook, while others are pretty standard.

I thought I would give you a little blurb on each nominee and my pick.  I’ve even let you all get in on the action!  I’ll tell ya who I got if you tell me who ya got after the jump.

The Playoff Beard Awards

Marc-Andre Fleury may have beat Cam Ward on the ice, but his beard doesn't hold a candle to Cam's.

Now that we are getting closer to the Stanley Cup Finals, I figured it was time we took a look at the one tradition that all teams seem to have: playoff beards.  The playoff beard has grown from a traditional hockey practice to now a charitable cause, but that won’t stop us from critiquing how they look on the guys.  As you’ll see, some of the boys (emphasis definitely on boys) should probably try to avoid the tradition, while others take it to a whole new level.

After the jump, help me hand out a different kind of postseason hardware.