Where Did Philadelphia Flyers Players Rank In 2019 NHL Awards Voting?

One former Philadelphia Flyers player won an award while others received votes in their respective categories.

The 2019 NHL Awards were on Wednesday evening, and while only one former Philadelphia Flyer was actually nominated for an award, that doesn’t mean others didn’t obtain votes in different categories. Some were able to finish Top-10 in voting while others barely cracked the Top-50.

Starting off with the lone victor, former Flyer and Nashville Predators forward Wayne Simmonds won the 2019 Mark Messier Leadership Award. This honor is given to a player “who exemplifies great leadership qualities on and off of the ice and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey.” Simmonds has long been a board member of the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and helped the planning committee to host the Willie O’Ree Skills weekend, writing welcome letters to each of the participants. Putting his on-ice production with the Flyers last season aside, fans have always known that Simmer is a great guy away from the rink. This award was well deserved, and it was nice to see Simmonds finally win it after being a nominee in 2018.

Carter Hart finished ninth in Calder Trophy voting for his 2.83 Goals-Against Average, and .917 save percentage season with the Flyers. Hart received one third-place vote, two fourth place votes, and seven fifth place votes which totaled to 18 points. Do I think he was slightly underrated by the voters? Sure, but it’s not something I’m going to lose sleep over.

Sean Couturier ranked sixth in Selke Trophy voting this year after finishing second for his 2017-18 campaign. Coots collected two first-place votes (smart people), eight second-place votes, 11 third-place votes, 13 fourth-place votes, and 24 fifth-place votes. He finished with a total of 194 points and was far behind Aleksander Barkov, who got fifth. Couturier’s season was likely hampered by the Flyers missing the playoffs, and I have little-to-no issue with Barkov being ahead of him since I think he’s underrated. Couturier and fellow Flyers forward Claude Giroux also tied for 45th in Lady Byng Trophy voting with both getting a single fourth-place nod.

Couturier is going to win the Selke at some point in his career because he’s that good in both zones.  Whenever that happens remains to be seen. Congratulations to the Wayne Train, though, as winning the Messier Trophy is well-deserved.