This upcoming season in the NHL is going to be a good one because so many familiar faces are wearing new sweaters, and this year's 2021 NHL Draft was full with tons of superstar, young, talented athletes. For example, Luke Hughes and Owen Power are two great and young players. Players who just finished off their rookie season in the NHL and are looking to now have a role on their team. Quinton Byfield of the Los Angeles Kings and former first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere of the New York Rangers. So as you can see, there is much to look forward to in this year's season. And you can’t forget about the top players in this league. Connor McDavid or as they call him “McJesus”, Sid the Kid Crosby, and one of the best goal scorers to ever play the game, Alex Ovechkin who just resigned with the Capitals for the next five seasons half way through his thirties! Many people may ask, who will be the MVP this year? Who will be the rookie of the year? Who will win the Maurice Richard Trophy, Norris trophy, the Vezina, and what coach will win the Jack Adams award for coach of the year? I am here now to give you everything that I think will happen in this year's season of the National Hockey League. 

First of all, we have The Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. This trophy goes to the most outstanding player in the season. For this award, there are a ton of players that could compete for it. You have Connor McDavid, the previous winner Auston Matthews, the young and talented Kirill Kaprizov, the breadman Artemi Panarin, and Ovi. There are many reasons why any of these players can end the season with this award. But the person that I think will win the award is… Connor McDavid, and here is why. McDavid came off of this past year's season with outstanding numbers putting up 33 goals, 72 assists, with a whopping 105 points in just 56 games. That is outstanding! That also means that this past season, McDavid put up over 1.5 goals per game!  

Then comes the Norris trophy, which was previously won by Adam Fox of the New York Rangers. Fox demonstrated talent, IQ, and crazy defensive and offensive awareness last season. He led the NHL with 48 assists and was so dominant that when the season was over, he had an average of over twenty minutes on the ice PER GAME! But like every sport and every award, someone different has to win it. Not saying Fox couldn’t come back and win it in back-to-back seasons, but the chances of that are not insanely high. Throughout the NHL, there are so many talented defenseman that are all bound to win the Norris trophy this upcoming season. Some of those players include Victor Hedman, Cale Makar, Tyson Barrie, and Adam Fox. 

The Vezina trophy is special because it goes to the most outstanding goalie throughout the season, and anyone who watches hockey or any sport involving a goalie knows how important the position really is. Some contestants for the Vezina could be, Phillip Grubauer of the Seattle Kraken, the 2nd year star Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers, Andrei Vaselevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Semyon Varlomov of the New York Islanders, and Marc-Andre Fleury of the Chicago Blackhawks who previously won the award in the shortened 2020-21 season. Every one of these goalies is outstanding and always plays at the top of their game as each and every one of these netminders recorded a save percentage over .900 last season saving over nine tenth of the shots they faced as the season ended. But, the winner of this award will be… Phillip Grubauer, and here is why. Grubauer just finished an amazing season with the Colorado Avalanche as they lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Minnesota Wild. Grubauer was then selected in the Entry Draft by the Seattle Kraken as he was not a protected player by the Avalanche. I think Grubauer will have an outbreak of a season and will lead all NHL goalies in shutouts and wins in this upcoming season.

And for the final award, the Jack Adams award which goes to the best coach of the season. There are many coaches that could receive this award but I am going to mainly focus on one in particular. That coach is the newly acquired Gerard Gallant of the New York Rangers. Gallant led the Vegas Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup in their first season ever as a franchise in 2019. Unfortunately, they lost. Gallant was hired by the New York Rangers in replacement of David Quinn who before the Rangers, coached Boston College for the Men's Ice Hockey team. Gallant has been paired with a team that has a bunch of superstars like Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and the previous Norris Trophy winner, Adam Fox. The Rangers also have a ton of young, talented players such as Filip Chytil, Kaapo, Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere, and their newly acquired first round pick Brennan Ohtman. The Rangers also added a ton of physicality such as one of the top enforcers in the league, Ryan Reaves. Other tough and physical players added were Sammy Blais and Gregg McKegg. With all these players and additions to the New York Rangers, I believe that when the season ends and the awards are announced, Gerard Gallant will for sure win the Jack Adams Award.