LATEST | LeBrun names trio of Canucks as his award winners at holiday break
The holiday break is officially upon us as the last games before Christmas were played on Saturday night, including the Canucks who defeated the San Jose Sharks 7-4.
The Canucks moved into first place in the National Hockey League standings with 23 wins in their first 35 games of the 2023-24 season and a big reason for that is the play of their top players including goaltender Thatcher Demko, defenceman Quinn Hughes and forward Elias Pettersson, along with the impact head coach Rick Tocchet has made.
This morning, in a post on The Athletic, TSN's Pierre LeBrun highlighted his award winners at the holiday break and named a trio of Canucks in his article - Rick Tocchet for the Jack Adams, Quinn Hughes for the Norris and Thatcher Demko for the Vezina.
Of course, there are cases to be made for Peter Laviolette, Todd McLellan, Jim Montgomery, Bruce Cassidy, John Tortorella and Rick Bowness, among others. But at the break, the transformation of the Canucks from last season's disaster is nothing short of brilliant. I get it, it helps to have a healthy Thatcher Demko in net. But there's structure, discipline and now true confidence in the bones of this Canucks team.
It's an amazing story so far. And yes, Tocchet is your coach of the year through 40 percent of the season." LeBrun said about Tocchet as his choice for the Jack Adams Award.
For the Norris Trophy as best defenceman in the National Hockey League, LeBrun chose Quinn Hughes, who is having a fantastic season on the blueline, putting up 44 points (ten goals, 34 assists) in 35 games.
As for Thatcher Demko between the pipes, who is LeBrun's choice to win the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender, he has a record of 17-7-1 in 25 games along with a 2.46 goals against average, a .917 save percentage and three shutouts.
Which Canuck mentioned by Pierre LeBrun do you think has the best chance to win the award in their respective category? Let us know what you think in the poll below!
| POLL | ||
Which Canuck has the best chance of winning the award in their respective category? | ||
| Rick Tocchet - Jack Adams | 401 | 50.6 % |
| Quinn Hughes - Norris | 218 | 27.5 % |
| Thatcher Demko - Vezina | 114 | 14.4 % |
| See Results | 60 | 7.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
