Along with Kevan Miller, which Bruins will be finalists for NHL Awards this season?

Kevan Miller has not taken to the ice in an actual NHL matchup since way back in April 2019, with four procedures on the same knee — held over an 11-month span — grinding the rugged defenseman’s playing career to a halt.

But even after being dealt a tough hand, such misfortune hasn’t kept Miller away from the rink — as the veteran blueline has spent most of the past year grinding through rehab and on-ice work in an effort to rejoin his teammates.

For his continued drive toward getting back on the ice and putting these ailments in the rearview, Miller was voted as the Bruins' nominee for the 2019-20 Masterton Trophy as voted on by the Boston chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

The Masterton Trophy, introduced in 1967-68, is awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.

Miller was sorely missed during last spring’s Stanley Cup run, suffering a vertical fracture in Boston’s penultimate game of the regular season against the Wild on April 4. Despite a grim prognosis and a stint of intensive rehab, Miller actually managed to put himself in the conversation for rejoining his teammates during the Stanley Cup Final —  traveling down to North Carolina for Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Hurricanes. 

But while doing some off-ice rehab work, Miller’s progress was dashed when he suffered a vertical fracture to the same kneecap — ending his season for good and putting all parties back at the drawing board. 

Given the amount of damage sustained, Miller was not expected to get the green light to return at the start of training camp in September, but continued to make steady progress — with a potential return in December on the table before another setback prompted an additional procedure. 

Undeterred, Miller was once again back on the ice at Warrior Ice Arena just before the season’s pause, but yet another complication and surgery — this one held in March — ruined any chance of the veteran returning to the lineup following this extended break. 

“Kevan’s just had some setbacks,” Don Sweeney said of Miller. “I don’t believe at this time that it will be in his best interest to try and ramp up in a short span with the hopes of playing this year. Our intentions are for Kevan to be 100% healthy so he can resume when we start the next season.”

Speaking during a virtual town hall last month, Miller noted that he has been rehabbing from home since the season’s pause — but remained hopeful that he many more years left in the tank. The veteran skater will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this current campaign. 

“As far as far as hockey and rehab goes, I’m still rehabbing,” Miller said. “I was in on a good trajectory there, skating and whatnot and then I had a setback. I think Sweens kind of talked about a little bit, so I’m just coming off surgery that I had eight weeks ago. So timing-wise, things have been good for me. I’m off crutches now and walking around again. So things are good. Most of my rehab has been done in Boston. I’ve been here ever since."

Four Bruins have won the Masterton Trophy since its inception back in 1967 — Charlie Simmer (1985-86), Gord Kluzak (1989-90), Cam Neely (1993-94) and Phil Kessel (2006-07). 

Here’s the full list of Masterton Trophy nominees for the 2019-20 season: 

https://twitter.com/ThePHWA/status/1270340335240204288

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Miller will certainly not be the only Bruin that will be in the running to take home some significant hardware this season. Boston has already received a number of awards in 2019-20 with the regular season finally shuttered — with the club winning the Presidents' Trophy with the most points accrued (100) through 70 games played.

Individually, David Pastrnak and Alex Ovechkin (48 goals apiece) will share the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, handed out annually to the player(s) with the most tallies at the end of the regular season. Meanwhile, both Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak will take home the William M. Jennings Trophy — handed out each year to the goaltender(s) "having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it" during the regular season.

Pastrnak is the first Bruin to take home the "Rocket" Richard Trophy, while Rask/Halak are the first B's duo in net to win the Jennings Trophy since Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez took home the honors back in 2008-09.

Given that a pair of Bruins were projected as finalists for both the Hart and Selke Trophies during the PHWA's Midseason Awards list back in January, there stands a good chance for at least a couple more B's players will be represented at the NHL Awards — whenever the ceremony does in fact take place.

While we'll take a few deeper dives into these individual award races going forward, here's a quick look at which awards Bruins fans should be keeping tabs on.

Hart Trophy - to the player adjudged to be most valuable to his team.

Bruins player in the running: David Pastrnak
Likely finalist? 50%



There isn't a lot that hasn't already been said about Pastrnak — who has continued to develop into arguably the most dynamic goal scorer in the entire league. Pastrnak has the numbers (48 goals, 95 points) to stake his claim as a finalist, but Rangers star Artemi Panarin has started to generate plenty of momentum, and for good reason. At this point, I'd put Leon Draisaitl (110 points in 71 games) and Nathan MacKinnon (93 points in 69 games) as finalist locks — due to both the pure offensive production and MacKinnon's standing as the primary driver of the Avs' offense, especially with Mikko Rantanen sidelined for most of the year.

That final spot is ultimately going to come down to Pastrnak or Panarin — of which I'd give the slight edge to Panarin. While their scoring totals are equal at 95 points a piece, Panarin's production has transformed a New York club that was still expected to be a few years away from legitimate contention. Add in the fact that Panarin led all NHL players in 5v5 production (59 points) and primarily played a line away from the Blueshirts' other big guns up front in Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, and Panarin was a solitary force for a lion's share of his minutes this year.

Vezina Trophy - to the goaltender determined to be the best at his position.

Bruins player in the running: Tuukka Rask
Likely finalist? 100%

This one is easy — with both Tuukka Rask and Connor Hellebuyck all but locks to be finalists for the league's top goalie. The final finalist nod will likely go to either Andrei Vasilevskiy or Ben Bishop — with Arizona's Darcy Kuemper unfortunately the odd man out after missing two months of the regular season due to injury. This vote will be determined by NHL GMs, who could focus on Rask's stellar numbers across the board — whether it be save percentage (.929 - 1st), goals saved above average (22.56 - 1st) and high-danger save percentage (.849 - 2nd).

But Rask will face stiff competition from Hellebuyck, who continually propped up a pretty brutal Jets defense that a majority of its regulars ahead of the 2019-20 season. With close to 20 goals saved above expectation, 58 games played (to Rask's 41) and metrics that showcase a defense in front of him prone to surrendering quality chances, you could very well make the case that Hellebuyck warrants a Hart finalist nod as well.

Selke Trophy - to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.

Bruins player in the running: Patrice Bergeron
Likely finalist? 90%

As we noted yesterday, this might be the year that the Flyers' Sean Couturier takes home the Selke, but the reigning award winner in Ryan O'Reilly also has a legitimate claim, as he's once again one of the top faceoff men in the league (56.6%), logs 2:09 of PK TOI per game, ranks fifth among all NHL forwards in takeaways (57) and has a better expected goals-against average (2.01) than Couturier (2.08).

While Tampa Bay's Anthony Cirelli could be worthy of a nomination, I think Bergeron's reputation earns him yet another spot as a Selke finalist — with the B's top center validating his claim as one of the best two-way forwards ever with another impressive campaign (57.8 faceoff percentage, 31 goals, 1.86 expected goals-against average). This is going to be a close one.

Jack Adams Award - to the coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success.

Bruins player in the running: Bruce Cassidy
Likely finalist? 30%

Cassidy will likely never get the true credit he deserves for helping to steer this Bruins club into another Cup-contention window with this current core in place. While Cassidy's accomplishments this season are rather evident — guiding a team that fell in Game 7 of a Cup Final in 2019 to a Presidents' Trophy the following year — the B's bench boss might still be on the outside looking in at a finalist nod this season.

The two favorites here have to be Philadelphia's Alain Vigneault and Columbus' John Tortorella. Vigneault helped transformed a .500 Philly team last season into a club that appeared to be putting it all together at the time of the pause. Before Boston bested the Flyers in their last matchup of the regular season, Philadelphia had won nine games in a row and was within striking distance of the Capitals at the top of the Metropolitan Division.

The Blue Jackets, despite losing the likes of Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel — and leading all NHL clubs with 352 man-games lost to injury — managed to put themselves in playoff positioning, with many of these injured skaters expected back for the postseason. Pittsburgh's Mike Sullivan has had the luxury of having stars like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to turn to this season, but given the number of injuries the Penguins sustained this season, it wouldn't surprise me if the former B's coach gets a finalist nod as well — given that just seven skaters on Pittsburgh's roster have logged at least 60 games this season.