Rethinking the NHL Awards From Top To Bottom
The NBA's plan to redesign and rename their top league awards has us thinking the NHL should do the same
Change is inevitable in every walk of life and it’s no different with professional sports leagues like the NBA and the NHL.
The National Basketball Association is embracing change by switching up the design and names of their traditional end-of-season awards to reflect the great players of the last 75 years rather than continue traditions with names that no longer carry any sort of additional meaning.
It’s high time that the National Hockey League did the same thing with their traditional awards, expanding the collection of awards handed out and changing the names to honor more recent players as the standard-bearers. Certainly, a reconsideration of the traditional awards is required in a different day and age of the NHL, but a carefully planned overhaul is something that could bring new energy to the awards themselves, and to the way they are presented by the league following the season.
The NHL can sometimes be loathe to change anything, but it’s high time for something different in this department. Here’s one humble hockey writer’s view: