Florida Panthers Zito, Huberdeau snubbed at NHL Awards

The Florida Panthers had their best season in franchise history and ended the season with the best record in the NHL. On Tuesday, the team — more specifically Jonathan Huberdeau and Bill Zito — were snubbed on NHL Award night in Tampa.

Huberdeau ended this season second in the league in scoring and we already knew he was not one of the three finalists for the Hart Trophy which goes to the league MVP.

Auston Matthews, as expected, won in a landslide.

Huberdeau placed fifth in the voting which was announced Tuesday.

He also did not make the All-NHL team despite setting the record for most assists by a left wing as Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau took that honor.

Huberdeau did make the second team.

The biggest surprise of the evening was reserved for Zito who, after losing the Jim Gregory GM of the Year award to Lou Lamoriello last season, is not even a finalist in this one.

So, the guy who completely remade the Florida roster in two years is not a finalist for GM of the Year?

The explanation, if there is one, is this: The GM of the Year Award is voted on by the league’s general managers and is voted on after the second round of the playoffs end.

The three finalists all had teams in the NHL final four.

Zito’s Panthers, well, were not part of that club. Getting swept by the Lightning certainly affected the vote.

Aside from that, the Panthers did OK; Anton Lundell finished sixth in the Calder Trophy vote but did not make the all-rookie team.

Aaron Ekblad finished sixth in the Norris Trophy voting despite missing the final month of the season due to injury.

Sasha Barkov was previously announced to have finished third in the Selke Trophy voting after winning it last season. He also finished fifth in voting for the All-Star team, getting a vote for second and 16 for third.

Coach Andrew Brunette previously finished second in the Jack Adams Award voting — which is voted on by the league’s broadcasters.

We have links to all the awards handed out on Tuesday — some had previously been announced).

On awards voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, my complete ballot is listed below.

Here is a complete list of all the awards — including the ones announced earlier.

Each award which was voted on by the PHWA is linked below with my selections following the link.

George Richards’ 2021-22 PHWA NHL Award Ballot

HART TROPHY (Pick 5): 1. Auston Matthews, Toronto; 2. Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida; 3. Connor McDavid, Edmonton; 4. Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary; 5. Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers

NORRIS TROPHY: 1. Roman Josi, Nashville; 2. Cale Makar, Colorado; 3. Charlie McEvoy, Boston; 4. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay; 5. Adam Fox, New York Rangers

CALDER TROPHY:  1. Moritz Seider, Detroit; 2. Trevor Zegras, Anaheim; 3. Michael Bunting, Toronto; 4. Anton Lundell, Florida; 5. Lucas Raymond, Detroit

LADY BYNG TROPHY: 1. Kyle Connor, Winnipeg; 2. Cam Atkinson, Philadelphia; 3. Josh Bailey, NY Islanders; 4. Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota; 5. Victor Olofsson, Buffalo

SELKE TROPHY: 1. Patrice Bergeron, Boston; 2. Aleksander Barkov, Florida; 3. Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis; 4. Elias Lindholm, Calgary; 5. Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay

NHL All-Star Team

CENTER: Auston Matthews, Toronto; Connor McDavid, Edmonton; Aleksander Barkov, Florida 

RIGHT WING: Mitch Marner, Toronto; Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary; Mikko Rantanen, Colorado

LEFT WING: Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida; Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary; Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota

DEFENSE: Roman Josi, Nashville; Cale Makar, Colorado; Charlie McEvoy, Boston; Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay; Adam Fox, New York Rangers; Jaccob Slavin, Carolina

GOALTENDER: Igor Shesterkin, NY Rangers; Jacob Markstrom, Calgary; Frederik Anderson, Carolina

First team as voted on by PHWA

Second team as voted on by PHWA

NHL All-Rookie Team

FORWARD: Trevor Zegras, Anaheim; Michael Bunting, Toronto; Anton Lundell, Florida

DEFENSE: Moritz Seider, Detroit; Timothy Liljegren, Toronto

GOALTENDER: Jeremy Swayman, Boston