03-24-2020, 07:34 PM(This post was last modified: 03-25-2020, 06:49 AM by RomanesEuntDomus.)
S52 Award Nominations - MVP-Day (Damnian Littleton Award, Ron Mexico Award & Anton Razov Trophy)
Welcome to the last day of our new Award Nominations series! This one has already been informally dubbed as “MVP day” by one of my colleagues, because today we will be highlighting the Most Valuable contributors both on the ice, in the regular season and in the playoffs, and off the ice, when it comes to running this site. Before we get to these most prestigious Awards the SHL has to offer, I have one more announcement to make: We have now found a date for the Awards Ceremony where the actual winners will be announced!
The SHL S52 Awards Ceremony will be held on Friday, March 27th, at 12pm (noon) EST!
I hope to see as many of you there as possible and that you enjoy the show. Lastly, if you have missed any of the Awards Nominations so far, you can read up on them here:
Part 1 (Best Defensive Defenseman & Rookie of the Year) Part 2 (Best Two-Way Forward & Most Improved Player) Part 3 (Best Goaltender & Best General Manager) Part 4 (Best Defenseman & Best Coach)
Alright, let’s get to it…
Damian Littleton Award
We will start off with the Award that might be the most prestigious one out there, and definitely is the only that highlights the most important contributions to the league as a whole: The Damian Littleton Award. This is awarded to the most dedicated member of our site and is one of the awards that steps out of sim performance and allows us to really appreciate the wonderful members that give their time and effort to making this site and this community thrive. This past season was the last that we would use SimonT HockeySimulation as our game engine, and therefore much of the activity happening has been around preparing and ushering in the new FHM6 game engine to power our SIMs and all the work needed around the edges to make sure it all happens as smoothly as possible. to that end our three nominees have all been huge parts of those efforts to prepare us for the coming season. They are:
@DrunkenTeddy
DT has worked tirelessly to make the FHM6 transition happen, they have built the stats index to output and record the going-ons of FHM6 for everyone, and has been a constant source of reassurance and calm to GMs and HO alike in making sure the details and settings and everything else has been thought through and considered.
@golden_apricot
GA has been one of the major behind the scenes helpers for DT on actually making sure the transition was ready to happen. He build the Junior FHM6 file and also the IIHF one, slogging through long hours of data entry to enable us to enjoy this season. He did this on top of being an active member of the junior HO team and has since become the manager of the Anchorage Armada as well as one of the new SHL File updaters.
@nour
Nour has been a breath of fresh air to the HO team, arriving and injecting energy and action. He has since been appointed to being the leagues Co-commissioner and has continued to be a key part of the glue that keeps GMs the Site and the HO teams all pulling together in the same direction. Let’s not remember that he had to bail on hosting this season's draft, because even for the most dedicated of our members sometimes real life happens too.
Congratulations to all the nominees and a warm thank you to @”tomasnz” for helping me out with this write-up!
Ron Mexico Award
Now to the biggest prizes for on-ice performance… Next up is the Ron Mexico Award for Regular Season MVP. People can have very different definitions of what makes a player great and if “best” actually is the same as “most valuable” or not, and in a year like this one with no singular standout performance, we had a wide open field of equally great player. These players are…
We already talked a bunch about Peter Larson when discussing his McBride nomination and what is there not to like about his statline? He is leading the league in Save-Percentage and, by a very impressive margin, in shutouts while also sporting a strong goals against average and win numbers. This is enough to earn him a nomination not just for best goalie but overall MVP as well and as always, its gonna be interesting to see how voters rate a goalie’s performance to that of the league’s best skaters. Larson’s stats aren’t heads and above those of some of the other goalies however, so will that hurt him in the voting? The same can be said for our two nominated Skaters as well though, as we are looking at one of the closest MVP races in recent memory.
Aaron Wilson from the Hamilton Steelhawks @aaronwilson
Aaron Wilson has been one of the more controversial people in recent seasons but his performance on the ice has never left anything to be desired and he put in another strong Campaign in S52, finishing with 54 points which is good for 3rd in the league. His 25 goals rank 3rd league-wide as well and while all those third places might not sound too exciting, he did so in significantly less ice time than most of the people around him on the scoring list (less than 20 minutes compared to the 22-24 minutes that most other top-forwards averaged). Another interesting aspect to judge will be Wilson’s defensive performance, he sports one of the strongest Corsi-Percentages around the league but also is the only one of the top-forwards with a negative minus, despite playing on one of the strongest teams.
And last but not least we have this season’s top-scorer, Philipp Winter from the Los Angeles Panthers. Playing on a team that invested quite a bit prior through the season to bolster their roster only to go through a big rough patch midway through the campaign, Winter was one of the main factors that helped them claw their way back into the playoffs. He finished the season leading the league in both goals (27) and points (56) to go along with 128 Hits, a +17 and solid advanced defensive metrics, including a Corsi above 55%. Winter’s season was somewhat streaky however, which could work both for and against him in this voting: When he did well so did his team but when he struggled for a while around the 30-game mark the Panthers all but collapsed, only for Winter to bounce back with a huge last 15 games that both got him back into the lead in the scoring race and the Panthers back into the playoffs. Is that the definition of an “MVP” in the truest sense of the word, or just a sign of a player who isn’t reliable enough to carry his team through a whole season? We will find out soon how the voters answered that question…
Congratulations to all the players nominated for the Ron Mexico Trophy! The was a total of 11 players that received votes including multiple defensemen, even though none of them made it into the top-3 this year.
Anton Razov Trophy
For the very last Award of this season we also turn towards the very last part of the season, the playoffs! The Anton Razov Trophy is awarded to the Playoff MVP, the player who performed the best when it mattered the most. Just like with its regular season counterpart, people tend to interpret this one quite differently and one of the most frequent points of discussion is if the winner of this award has to come from the Cup-winning team or not. Let’s see how voters answered that question this year…
Oh hey look, it’s Peter Larson again! But at least this time we don’t have to re-hash the same set of stats for the third time but get to talk about his playoffs performance instead. And while he was already good in the regular season, Larson took his game to the next level in the playoffs, finishing with an amazing Save-Percentage of 93.2% and Goals Against Average of 2.31 to earn his team the 12 wins in 19 games that are needed for a Cup. All those marks are top among all playoff goalies but they aren’t the only ones, he also led the league with two shutouts (fun fact: no other goalie had more shutouts not just in the playoffs, but also in 40+ games of regular season play), had the most saves overall and even managed to add two Assists. A truly dominant all-around performance for a goaltender.
Luke Thomason from the Manhattan Rage @"luketd"
If Peter Larson carried the Rage defense then Luke Thomason carried the offense. The veteran forward led the league in playoff-goals with 9 and put up 22 points in 19 games, which puts him second in the league and first among all players who participated in the finals, distancing everyone else by at least three points. He also was a good physical presence and contributed 27 Hits. On top of that Thomason proofed to be a special teams expert, who played a lot of minutes on the penalty kill while also leading the league in powerplay points with 10. Oh and did I mention him scoring the goal that sealed the deal in the Championship game?
The third Razov-nomination goes to the third Manhattan Rage Player who is also a draftmate of the guy we just finished talking about: Alex Winters. Winters finished the playoffs third in scoring and second among all players who participated in the finals with 19 points, 8 of them goals. He also did some of the heaviest lifting for the Rage defensively with his amazingly disciplined game, not picking up a single penalty and blocking 13 shots, an insane number for a forward in such a small sample of games. Winters played the most minutes in shorthanded situations of all players in these playoffs and still found time to be one of the better offensive players in this postseason. And while Luke Thomason, as I just mentioned, scored the insurance goal in the Championship game to make it 6-4, guess who scored the actual game winner, breaking a tie with just two minutes two go in the third period?
Congratulations to all the players nominated for the Anton Razov Trophy! Unlike with many other Awards, the field for this one was rather small with only a total of 6 players receiving votes, but it was one of the most controversial discussions internally as well which required a run-off vote to determine our final list of three. And for some reason I wouldn’t be surprised to see the discussion continue here as well…
This concludes our series of articles highlighting this seasons Award Nominees. I hope you enjoyed the new approach that we took this season and enjoyed reading our pieces as we did writing them, and be sure to leave any feedback you might have in here or under any other of our articles. We will see you at the Awards Show on Friday!
Words: 1900 overall - 1500 by RomanesEuntDomus and 400 by tomasnz
51 Points
255 Hits, most by any non enforcer in this era
T-1 assists by a forward this season
I was only like 3-2 points behind these guys. Yeah I didn't have as many goals, but I have like half of Winters sh% . If I shot just average i'd lead the league in points ez.
4GWG/2GTG on 37% of goals
Awil had 4GWG/4GTG on 32% of goals
Winters had only 2 GWG on 7% of goals
CC2 makes it count. Egregious that the voting committee would rob me of an accolade that I deserve before we move over to a new system.
50+ points 200+ hits on historic number 200+ shots
03-24-2020, 08:29 PMBoomcheck Wrote: 51 Points
255 Hits, most by any non enforcer in this era
T-1 assists by a forward this season
I was only like 3-2 points behind these guys. Yeah I didn't have as many goals, but I have like half of Winters sh% . If I shot just average i'd lead the league in points ez.
4GWG/2GTG on 37% of goals
Awil had 4GWG/4GTG on 32% of goals
Winters had only 2 GWG on 7% of goals
CC2 makes it count. Egregious that the voting committee would rob me of an accolade that I deserve before we move over to a new system.
50+ points 200+ hits on historic number 200+ shots
03-24-2020, 08:29 PMBoomcheck Wrote: 51 Points
255 Hits, most by any non enforcer in this era
T-1 assists by a forward this season
I was only like 3-2 points behind these guys. Yeah I didn't have as many goals, but I have like half of Winters sh% . If I shot just average i'd lead the league in points ez.
4GWG/2GTG on 37% of goals
Awil had 4GWG/4GTG on 32% of goals
Winters had only 2 GWG on 7% of goals
CC2 makes it count. Egregious that the voting committee would rob me of an accolade that I deserve before we move over to a new system.
50+ points 200+ hits on historic number 200+ shots
League is a sham.
I actually had you on my ballot over Wilson but come on now, it's not like this decision is a complete travesty.
- You didn't even lead your own team in scoring.
- You had around 10 goals less than the other two nominees and about 3-5 points less.
- Your hitting numbers were indeed crazy impressive, but aside from them your defensive metrics weren't particularly great. Both Winter and Wilson had a better Corsi% by quite a bit for example and multiple other people on your own team had a significantly better +/- than you.
- These GWG-percentages are pretty meaningless given your low overall number of goals, of course they are gonna look in your favor if the total number is smaller. It's not gonna count FOR you that you scored few goals. Same goes for the 200 Shots, which isn't particularly impressive (Wilson and like half the scoring Top-10 have about the same), and if you don't hit on those shots then whats the point?
- You played significantly more minutes per game (25) than Wilson (19.6) and Winter (22.5), yet still produced less. In fact you have the lowest P60 of the entire top-ten because of that and there is only a single player in the top-20 with a lower one.
03-24-2020, 08:29 PMBoomcheck Wrote: 51 Points
255 Hits, most by any non enforcer in this era
T-1 assists by a forward this season
I was only like 3-2 points behind these guys. Yeah I didn't have as many goals, but I have like half of Winters sh% . If I shot just average i'd lead the league in points ez.
4GWG/2GTG on 37% of goals
Awil had 4GWG/4GTG on 32% of goals
Winters had only 2 GWG on 7% of goals
CC2 makes it count. Egregious that the voting committee would rob me of an accolade that I deserve before we move over to a new system.
50+ points 200+ hits on historic number 200+ shots
League is a sham.
I actually had you on my ballot over Wilson but come on now, it's not like this decision is a complete travesty.
- You didn't even lead your own team in scoring.
- You had around 10 goals less than the other two nominees and about 3-5 points less.
- Your hitting numbers were indeed crazy impressive, but aside from them your defensive metrics weren't particularly great. Both Winter and Wilson had a better Corsi% by quite a bit for example and multiple other people on your own team had a significantly better +/- than you.
- These GWG-percentages are pretty meaningless given your low overall number of goals, of course they are gonna look in your favor if the total number is smaller. It's not gonna count FOR you that you scored few goals. Same goes for the 200 Shots, which isn't particularly impressive (Wilson and like half the scoring Top-10 have about the same), and if you don't hit on those shots then whats the point?
- You played significantly more minutes per game (25) than Wilson (19.6) and Winter (22.5), yet still produced less. In fact you have the lowest P60 of the entire top-ten because of that and there is only a single player in the top-20 with a lower one.
1) What does it matter if I did not lead my team in scoring? I was behind by like 3 points but I lead my team in Assists/Shots/Hits/afew other stats
2) 10 goals less? My shots were comparable dude, I put on a bunch of shots on net top 10 in the league. I still put shots and nets. And do my 4 GWG and 2GTG mean nothing? It means I made my goals count and they were pretty valuable. Do my assist #s mean jack then? Clearly my shots weren't in vain there.
3) +/- when wilson was nominated with a -5 which is last on his team, i'm 4th highest on my team so i'm not sure why that's used as a point here. I get the minutes played thing but it's not something egregious. Wilson doesn't play regular PK mins so ofc his P/60 will be high.
I do feel slighted as I feel I have to remind everyone. CC2 had the most hits for any PPG player OF ALL TIME! THROUGH ALL ERAS!
Yup this all lines up here, just a good player being good. That’s why they earned the nomination.
Shout out to ml002, schultzy, slashacm, tedward!
I I I I
09-05-2018, 10:04 PMBeaver Wrote: Wow look what the PT affiliation has done to our pristine league.
12-19-2018, 12:31 AMBeaver Wrote: I personally blame the PT affiliation for handing out massive amounts of free TPE to all these players, inflating the TPE they're at when they get called up.
RomanesEuntDomus
@Tomasnz
@aaronwilson
@RomanesEuntDomus![[Image: bjobin2.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/277634797369556992/963247203244179456/bjobin2.png)
![[Image: 9tINabI.png]](https://i.imgur.com/9tINabI.png)
![[Image: c97iD9R.png]](https://i.imgur.com/c97iD9R.png)
![[Image: tuxpi-com-1618108119.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/C1x90XCp/tuxpi-com-1618108119.jpg)
![[Image: 3.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/220676773690605568/755130651430354995/3.png)
![[Image: blastmeaway.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/blastmeaway.gif)
![[Image: f4IDm9I.jpg]](http://imgur.com/f4IDm9I.jpg)
I ![[Image: specterspp.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/537644128066994197/593600679130431523/specterspp.png)
I ![[Image: czechup.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/454001889063862273/593632736833568769/czechup.png)
I ![[Image: gs89eGV.png]](http://i.imgur.com/gs89eGV.png)
I ![[Image: 0XJkcN5.png]](http://i.imgur.com/0XJkcN5.png)
![[Image: Capture21.PNG?width=400&height=90]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/472659919678603265/639207463412957185/Capture21.PNG?width=400&height=90)
![[Image: YQkXo45.png]](https://i.imgur.com/YQkXo45.png)
![[Image: nQDbTbM.png]](https://i.imgur.com/nQDbTbM.png)
![[Image: hA5o4UG.png]](https://i.imgur.com/hA5o4UG.png)
