It’s been a full year since our last entry in our NHL Saturday series, and since the league had its annual awards ceremony last month, we can now proceed with our latest entry in this never-ending column. The Vegas Golden Knights ended up winning their first Stanley Cup, as they defeated the Florida Panthers in five games to claim the championship. This is the second time the Panthers have lost in the Cup Finals.

2023 Hart: Connor McDavid (original, confirmed)

The top-five skaters in the league were Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (18.2 Point Shares), Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrňák (15.1), Oilers C Leon Draisaitl (14.2), Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson (13.9), and Colorado Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon (13.1). McDavid’s PS total is the highest one in the league since 2006—and the highest by a skater since 1989. It was a historic season. But …

Draisaitl’s presence on this list complicates things. Teammates, right? Normally, we’d cancel them both out. Let’s do that and see how the rest shakes out: Boston had a whopping 44-point cushion for the postseason, while Colorado (15) and Dallas (14) had smaller comfort zones. For the record, Edmonton had the same point total as the Avs did. By this measurement, Robertson would be our pick for the Hart. But …

The historic-season issue at hand here, and since there’s barely a different between the playoff margins for Robertson and McDavid, we have to look at the impressiveness of what the Oilers star did, even with a teammate who also had a great season. McDavid did something no forward has done since Mario Lemieux. The 153-point total also was the highest since Lemieux’s 161 points in 1996. We have to confirm.

For the record, McDavid won the Hart previously in 2017 and 2021—both times, we gave it to someone else (the same someone else, as it were). Maybe this goes to show that if you really want our Hart nod bad enough, you just have to do something really profound to get it. We don’t give it up easily.

2023 Norris: Erik Karlsson (original); Jared Spurgeon (revised)

Our top-five contenders for the Norris include Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm (10.9 PS), Avs star Devon Toews (10.0), Minnesota Wild veteran Jared Spurgeon (8.9), New York Rangers phenom Adam Fox (11.9), and Carolina Hurricanes legend Brent Burns (11.4). Somehow, though, San Jose Sharks captain Erik Karlsson (12.4) won the Norris vote. We can’t do that, as Karlsson’s team didn’t come close to the playoffs.

The Sharks actually finished 35 points out of the postseason, which is nuts. Carolina (22), New York (16), and Minnesota (9) finished with varying postseason margins, and we know where Boston and Colorado ended up. Therefore, we see Spurgeon as the winner here, as he also finished third in Defensive Point Shares (6.64). Without him, maybe the Wild stays home for Cup playoffs. He was the most-valuable blue liner.

He has spent his entire 13-year career with Minnesota, too, and this was his best defensive season ever. His overall PS mark was tied for the best in his career; the last time Spurgeon had such a good season was in 2017. For the record, he finished plus-32 for the year with a career-best 179 blocks as well. His team only posted a plus-21 scoring differential this year. Yeah, it’s hard to see the Wild in the playoffs without him.

2023 Vezina: Linus Ullmark (original); Connor Hellebuyck (revised)

Nashville Predators stalwart Juuse Saros (14.92 PS), Winnipeg Jets veteran Connor Hellebuyck (14.27), New York Islanders phenom Ilya Sorokin (14.05), Colorado acquisition Alexandar Georgiev (13.45), and Bruins journeyman Linus Ullmark (13.17) were the most-valued goaltenders in the sport. Ullmark was the Vezina vote, but we know Boston cruised to a huge postseason-berth cushion. What about these other guys?

Well, the Predators missed the playoffs by 3 points, so Saros—our winner the last two seasons—is out. The Jets made the postseason by just 2 points, while the Isles matched that. So this comes down to Hellebuyck and Sorokin, really. The Winnipeg goalie won our nod in 2020, by the way. He has a slight PS edge here, based on two more starts (64) than Sorokin (62). We’re going to go that way, for reliability and value.

2023 Calder: Matty Beniers (original); Stuart Skinner (revised)

Our top candidates here are Seattle Kraken C Matty Beniers (5.8 PS), Edmonton G Stuart Skinner (10.1), and Golden Knights G Logan Thompson (7.7). Skinner seems like the obvious choice here, although it was Beniers who somehow won the vote. The Kraken posted the slimmest postseason margin (6 points), but Skinner almost doubled up Beniers’ value. It’s hard to overlook that fact, despite the playoff cushions.

All three teams were in the Pacific Division, won by Vegas (111 points). Yet only 111 points separated the Golden Knights from the Kraken. We think voters were swayed by Seattle making the postseason in just its second of existence, and so that’s how Beniers won the vote. It’s clear to us that Skinner was the best rookie, by far, in terms of helping a team succeed. Yes, he had great scorers in front of him, but value is value.

2023 Conn Smythe: Jonathan Marchessault (original); Jack Eichel (revised)

With a 16-6 postseason record, the Golden Knights avenged their 2018 Finals loss with a title in 2023. C Jonathan Marchessault (13G, 12A) won the Conn Smythe vote, but he was just one of three skaters on the Vegas roster to post at least one point a game in the playoffs. In net, two goalies split time, with Adin Hill (11-4, 2.17 GAA, .932 S%) getting the most ice time. But that’s not enough to claim the hardware here.

Marchessault did notch three game winners, but so did C Chandler Stephenson—and the latter posted more PIMs, more ice time, and a much better shot percentage as he put up 20 points total. What stands out to us is C Jack Eichel and his 20 assists (and 6 goals). He topped the team in assists and points, and with a whopping 15 even-strength assists in the postseason, he was clearly the main distributor here. It’s his nod.