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There was some light at the end of the tunnel that was arguably the worst awards show in television history, as Henrik Lundqvist was named the Vezina Trophy winner as the league's best goaltender at the 2012 NHL Awards from Las Vegas.
Lundqvist, who was up for the award for the fourth time in his seven-year career, finished the regular season with 39 wins, a .930 save percentage and a 1.97 goals against average.
Lundqvist, who received 17 first place votes, defeated Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick (six votes) and Nashville's Pekka Rinne (four votes).
During his acceptance speech, The King dropped an 'F-bomb,' which seems to be becoming an epidemic after both Quick and Kings captain Dustin Brown both let the explicitives fly last week on air.
Lundqvist was unsuccessful in winning either the Hart Trophy for league MVP, or the Ted Lindsay Award for MVP as voted on by the players.
Both Ryan Callahan and head coach John Tortorella were also unsuccessful in bringing home hardware. Callahan lost to Phoenix's Shane Doan for the Mark Messier Leadership Award, and Tortorella lost to St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock for the Jack Adams award for best coach.
According to Tweets from Andrew Gross at Rangers Rants, Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi finished sixth in the voting for the Norris Trophy for best defenseman with two first place votes, while Callahan finished fourth in the Selke vote for best defensive forward with six first place votes. General Manager Glen Sather finished fourth as best GM.
How bad was that show? If Lundqvist didn't walk away with the Vezina, I would have demanded the NHL give me back the last two hours of my life. In all serious, the award is well deserved. People will cry for Quick and the 'East Coast Bias,' but that's B.S. Lundqvist deserved this one. Quick will have his day, and I'm sure he'll trade a Stanley Cup ring for the Vezina any day.
Great to see Girardi and Callahan finish in the running for the other trophies, as well as Sather, who has done a very good job over the last three years with this organization. He's drafted extremely well and has made signings that actually made sense.
Back to the show, though. That was nearly unwatchable. Poor joke after poor joke and just mid-level celebrities all around. Thank god for Will Arnett and Tracy Morgan that provided a few laughs, or this entire show would have been awful.
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