I guess Toronto wasn’t what was holding back the NHL Awards.

The NHL Awards were held several days ago. Thursday, I think. It’s a mile marker on the course of the hockey season, but I have less and less interest in it every year.

First of all, I am not really into the awards myself. Every award is too fraught with debate. The Hart Trophy for the League MVP is just like all MVPs. Before you can even debate who deserves it, you have to debate what it means. Is it the best player in the league? The most important player to his team? The most important player in the league? Should a guy win it if his team doesn’t make the playoffs? What if they would have been much worse without him?

So then, even if you decide on a meaning, you have to pick a winner.

I think the awards are voted on by fairly lazy voters. But the thing is, there’s no way even a dedicated and careful student of the game and its players can watch all the players in every game.

That’s why the same players get nominated and win several years in a row. Lidstrom wins every year, but I bet a lot of voters this year picked Chara because they got tired of picking Lidstrom. They probably assume Lidstrom was great but just picked somebody else that seemed reasonable. Not that Chara didn’t deserve it. For all I know.

No Stars were nominated for anything this year, and this year is probably not a good example, but in the last few years we’ve had players we thought deserved a nomination. I would argue (to myself) that we get screwed because we don’t get the kind of attention other teams get. They don’t see Sergei Zubov night in and night out. On the other hand, I don’t see Nik Lidstrom play night in and night out. If I did, I might not be as offended that he wins it every year.

That’s why the same players get nominated and win several years in a row. Lidstrom wins every year, but I bet a lot of voters this year picked Chara because they got tired of picking Lidstrom. They probably assume Lidstrom was great but just picked somebody else that seemed reasonable. Not that Chara didn’t deserve it. For all I know.

My point is, I find it mildly interesting who wins, but I don’t actually care. When Lehtinen won his last Selke I was happy. But I was more disappointed that he wasn’t there.

Let’s talk about the show, though. It is AWFUL. Awful awful awful.

It was lit like Mr. Freeze’s lair. Everybody was blue. Except in the audience; those people were all red. The saturation was so high, the shadows on Bettman’s face in one shot became green-screen-like.The audience seemed very sparse. There were actually empty seats. The crowd was either poorly mic’d or even sparser than it looked because the applause was really weak.

Chaka Khan was the musical act! Their celebrity roster was pretty sad. No offense.

The kicker was Jeremy Roenick acting as a quasi-host. AWFUL. He so bungled his presentation speech at one point that he had to start over, and still didn’t get it right. He actually said, “And I’m good in front of a mic! You guys know that!” I hope whoever is thinking of hiring him for a studio show when he retires saw that. And I hope they saw Brett Hull’s attempt at the studio show. Just as a reminder that a player’s crazy comments in a media scrum do not equal biting commentary in a formal setting.

I did enjoy Zdeno Chara’s acceptance speech. It was very sweet and sincere. I thought his point about sticking with it even if you’re cut from teams was heartfelt.

And the speech by Tim Thomas was nice, too.

The NHL needs to hire a new company to produce that thing. No awards show will ever be art, but this one was wandering into MST3K territory.