I have to say I was taken aback on Saturday night when the league basically said, "Oh yeah, Sasha Barkov won the Selke. Enjoy Game 6 between the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers."

Apparently, I missed a memo that major awards will be handed out with absolutely no fanfare via a press release in the middle of the playoffs.

I think it's all well and good to treat the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award as not being important, or any of the 14 other "you won't believe how nice this guy is" trophies they give out. Just announce those winners on Feb. 16 for all I care. (Seriously, we now have the Messier Award, the King Clancy, the Lady Byng, two Willie O'Ree awards, and the EJ McGuire Award of Excellence. And I think they might have put a couple in the mothballs in recent years. It's insane.)

F