Each year, the Philadelphia Flyers hand out a few team awards, as voted on by the media, and this year, we have the honor of holding a ballot. We’re passing our vote along to you. We’ve already voted on the Barry Ashbee Trophy and the Yanick Dupre Class Guy Memorial Award.
Today, it’s the last vote — for Team MVP, or the Bobby Clarke Trophy.
After the jump, we’ll go over some of the top nominees. The poll is also after the jump.
Very quietly, Carter is having the season he’s been known for. 35 goals is already the second best season he’s ever had in terms of goal production, and we still have six games to go in the regular season. Sure, if he didn’t miss 106 shots so far this season he’d probably be closer to his best season ever (46 goals), but that’s just an unfortunate truth with Carter at this point. He’s not that accurate. Aside from that, there’s not much to gripe about.
He’s a goal scorer. He scores goals. Without him, where are the Flyers?
If you take G out of the Flyers lineup, you don’t only lose his 25 goals, but you also lose a sizable chunk of offense from all the other players. He leads the team with 46 assists, and if he wasn’t around, it’s unlikely that James van Riemsdyk would be having such a strong season either.
He’s one of those guys that makes everybody around him better (cliche, sorry). Where would the Flyers be without him?
His addition to the third pairing has been extremely valuable. Without him, that unit isn’t anywhere near the level of play that they’ve performed at all season. Sean O`Donnell does cover up for his mistakes at times, but we’d be lying if we said Mez wasn’t the more versatile player. He hasn’t replaced Chris Pronger during No. 20’s two injured reserve stints this year, but his presence in the lineup has certainly cushioned the blow.
Chris Pronger
Just going to re-post this chart from Eric’s story the other day.
Yeah, he’s important.
Mike isn’t having one of the better offensive years of his career, but he still has 21 goals and 41 assists. Not a slouch at all. And of course, he’s always strong in his defensive zone. Without him, Andreas Nodl might not still be on the team. Without him, there is no shutdown line to … um, shutdown the opposition’s best.
Richards can score here and there, but that’s not where his real value comes from. It might not be flashy, but where would the Flyers be without Richie?
Simply put, Timonen has been the best defenseman on the team by just about every metric this season. He’s a work horse, he plays injured just about every single night and he’s a hell of a leader (intangibles!). He plays tough minutes, in all situations and is certainly the most underrated player on the team. Where would the Flyers be without him, especially in the wake of the Pronger injuries?
Who should get our vote for the Bobby Clarke Trophy?
| Sergei Bobrovsky | 3 |
| Danny Briere | 15 |
| Jeff Carter | 28 |
| Claude Giroux | 261 |
| Ville Leino | 2 |
| Andrej Meszaros | 20 |
| Chris Pronger | 14 |
| Mike Richards | 21 |
| Kimmo Timonen | 82 |
