Photo Credit: Bob Frid/USA TODAY Sports

At the end of every regular season the Vancouver Canucks hand out their team awards. Four of the club’s major awards – the Fred J. Hume award, the Pavel Bure award, the Babe Pratt trophy and the Cyclone Taylor trophy – are selected by fan voting, and the ballot is open through Wednesday, April 8 over at Canucks.com.

Confused over to who to vote for? Need some help making your award selections? We’re here to help out with Canucks Army’s official guide to 2014-15 Canucks Team Awards voting.

The Fred J. Hume award is given annually to the player judged to be the Canucks’ “unsung hero.” 

The award is generally won by a stay-at-home defender or a bottom-six forward, though the reigning Fred J. Hume winner is goaltender Eddie Lack. When Lack won it last Spring he became the first goaltender in Canucks history to win the award.

The trophy is named after Hume, who was the mayor of Vancouver from 1950-1958, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962. Hume was the owner of the WHL’s Vancouver Canucks, and helped found the WHL as one of the major junior league’s original owners (as the New Westminster Royals). 

Known as ‘Friendly Fred’, Hume played a crucial role in bringing an NHL expansion team to the West Coast, even offering up $6.5 million of his own money to fund the construction of the Pacific Coliseum (ultimately that money wasn’t required). 

Among current Canucks players Lack, Alex Burrows, Kevin Bieksa, Jannik Hansen (two times), and Chris HIggins have all won the award in the past. So has current Canucks assistant coach Doug Lidster and Sportnet broadcast analyst Gary Valk.  

The term “unsung hero” should only ever be applied to Steve Bernier ironically. 

Eddie Lack – The affable 27-year-old goaltender is a fan favourite, and is plenty ‘sung’, but you still have to commend him for how he’s dealt with a reduced role and an entire season’s worth of trade rumours. That he stepped up and dragged the team to the playoffs when Ryan Miller went down with injury only strengthens his case for a repeat.

Yannick Weber – Weber’s play rarely merits praise, much less a song, but he’s leading all Canucks blue liners in goals scored and has stepped up into a regular top-four role. Thrust into a top-pair role for a fwe weeks when Vancouver’s blue line was throttled by injures in February, Weber paired ably with Dan Hamhuis and helped keep the club afloat.

Derek Dorsett – Dorsett has been asked to play out of position and push back on a nightly basis against heavy Pacific Division teams, and he’s done so willingly. The veteran tough is in the black by 5-on-5 on-ice goal differential despite playing in a fourth-line role, he’s pitched in 25 points, and as of Saturday morning he was second among all NHL players in total fights with 17 (he has 8-6-3 record, according to hockeyfights.com voters).

Alex Burrows – Burrows has bounced back from a miserable 2013-14 campaign, and has reinvented himself as Vancouver’s single best defensive forward. Actually he’s morphed into one of the single best defensive wingers in all of hockey, and the club has used him accordingly, as a two-way ace capable of stabilizing any forward line. 

As he’s aged Burrows’ impact has gone from loud (30 goal seasons!) to quiet (insanely useful two-way player), but he’s as useful now as he’s ever been, and he’s Canucks Army’s pick for “unsung hero”.

The Pavel Bure most exciting player award is given to the player judged by the fans to have been ‘the most exciting’ at the end of each and every regular hockey season. 

Bure is one of the most electrifying goal scorers in NHL history, and he won the award – back when it was simply called the ‘most exciting player award’ – five times during his tenure with the Canucks. In 2013 the award was renamed in his honour, at the same time that the organization retired his #10 sweater. 

Tony Tanti shares the club record – along with Bure – as a five time winner of the most exciting player award, while former Canucks power forward Todd Bertuzzi won the award on four occasions in the early oughts. 

Among former Canucks who have won the award Alex Burrows has won it on three occasions, while Zack Kassian (the reigning most exciting player) and Jannik Hansen have won it once apiece. Club president Trevor Linden won the award twice during his playing career, as did associate head scout Thomas Gradin. Canucks director of player development Stan Smyl is also a former winner.

David Booth must’ve been selected for his controversial Twitter hunting photos. There’s no other explanation.

Bo Horvat – It’s been a pleasure to watch a 19-year-old rookie in Horvat figure out how to make a difference at the NHL level. Physical and hard on the puck even when facing competition several years older, Horvat has gone from being something of a liability early in the year to being a helpful depth piece capable of helping the club control play in a prescribed bottom-six role. His line with Ronalds Kenins and Jannik Hansen has flashed excellent chemistry and a nails cycle game over the past eight weeks, and he’s the top-scoring fourth-line centre in hockey.

Shawn Matthias – Matthias is Vancouver’s most efficient even-strength goal scorer, and his combination of size, speed and finishing skill has allowed his regular salvos down the wing to become regular ‘get out of your seat’ moments. He’s also given the club their best against the grain attacker in several years.

Radim Vrbata – Unassuming and professorial, Vrbata has scored more pretty goals than any other Canucks player this season (or in recent memory). His touch around the net is sublime, and he’s made any number of opposing goaltenders look rather foolish. He’s probably the front runner and would be our pick for the Pavel Bure award were it not for…

Luca Sbisa – I remember at the very first NHL draft that I covered (back in 2012 in Pittsburgh) there was a ‘goals of the year’ highlight video that played over and over on the jumbotron at the Consol Energy Center. As I watched it, I started to notice that nearly every single one of the prettiest goals of the year was scored on then Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Dwayne Roloson, who was about to retire. Yeah the aging netminder couldn’t stop the puck that year, but it resulted in an insane number of exciting goals!

Sbisa isn’t quite at that level, but the same basic concept applies here. Among all NHL defenseman who’ve logged at least 1000 minutes this season no defender has been on the ice for goals against a higher rate than Sbisa has. Among all Canucks defensemen no defender has been on the ice for shots against at a higher rate than Sbisa has. 

Throw in his occasional heavy hit and his  saunters in the offensive zone – particularly in 4-on-4 situations – and this one shouldn’t be close. Simply put: no Canucks player has caused more hockey-related excitement this season than Sbisa has. 

The Babe Pratt trophy is awarded at the end of every regular season to the Canucks defenseman judged to have been the best during that year.

Originally called the Premier’s Trophy, the award for best Canucks defenseman was renamed in honour of Babe Pratt following his death in 1988.

Pratt was a Manitoba-born NHL defenseman who played 517 NHL games, before finishing his career with the New Westminster Royals and the Tacoma Rockets of the PCHL. Though he was briefly suspended from NHL action for gambling, Pratt’s defensive skills and his penchant for tough play resulted in his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966. 

Pratt ultimately settled in Vancouver where he worked as a broadcaster for the CBC and served as a goodwill ambassador for the Canucks franchise until his death at the age of 72.

Former Canucks defensemen Harold Snepsts (pictured above with the trophy), Matthias Ohlund, Jyrki Lumme and current Canucks assistant coach Doug Lidster are tied for the most Babe Pratt wins in franchise history with four apiece. Among current Canucks defenseman Bieksa, Alex Edler, and Dan Hamhuis – who was won the award in two consecutive years – are past recipients of the award. Also Canucks general manager Jim Benning won the award in 1988.

Most of the players who have won this award were capable NHL players at the very least. So… I guess Dana Murzyn? 

This is a two man race and the trophy will be won by one of Alex Edler or Chris Tanev. 

Chris Tanev – has arguably been the best defensive defenseman in hockey this season, so it’s tough to pick against him. 

Alex Edler – As excellent as Tanev has been this season, Edler is this club’s bona fide No. 1 defenseman and actually might be the club’s single most important player. 

What it comes down to for me is that Edler has played 300 minutes more than Tanev has this season, and almost three minutes more per game. Most of that is on the power play, which hasn’t been firing all that well this season, but did you notice how much difficulty the club had getting setup in the offensive zone when Edler was out of the lineup with injury? 

The Cyclone Taylor Trophy is awarded annually to the player judged by the fans to have been the Canucks’ MVP.

An award for the Canucks MVP has existed since the inauguration of the club in 1970, though the Cyclone Taylor Trophy was introduced for the 1979-80 season following the death of Taylor, a legendary Vancouver Millionaires forward. 

For a while the Canucks had two MVP awards, one selected by the fans and one selected by Canadian Airlines. The winners were usually the same, and in the 1995-96 season the club decided to go with just one trophy.

Markus Naslund is the all-time franchise leader in Cycle Taylor trophy wins, having won the award five times (thanks Alex Stojanov!), while current president Trevor Linden is second with four such wins. Among current Canucks who have won the award Henrik Sedin has won it twice – about three or four times too few for the best player in franchise history – while Daniel Sedin has won it once.  

Like this one is even close:

Shoutout to Alex Auld, also.

Radim Vrbata – Vrbata leads all Canucks players in goal scored, and has been crucial to the club’s offensive reinvigoration. He’s third in the entire NHL – behind only Alex Ovechkin and Joe Pavelski – in power-play shot rate, and has managed to score at an insane rate both with the twins and without them. 

Alex Edler – Edler has been Vancouver’s No. 1 defenseman and arguably their single most consistent player. While other players have performed well in fits and starts, Edler and Tanev have managed to win the territorial matchup against top competition on a nightly basis. There was a two-month stretch in midseason – December and January – where Edler and Tanev were the only Canucks regulars in the black by shot attempt differential, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Edler’s performance kept the club afloat.

Eddie Lack – Lack has been insanely good since Ryan Miller went down with injury and he’s helped to drag the club to a postseason berth. Starting nearly every game since February 22, Lack has managed an elite save percentage. He very probably saved the club’s season.

Henrik Sedin – In real terms Henrik Sedin should be the slam dunk choice for Canucks MVP every year until he’s no longer an elite first-line centre. 

Facing the toughest competition annually, Sedin is the force that allows the Canucks win the possession game against the top of opponent’s rosters on a nightly basis. The captain quarterbacks the Canucks’ power play and leads all Canucks skater in shot attempt differential, and watch him win battles in the neutral zone or throw his weight around down low because his two-way gave is hugely under-rated.  

The temptation every year – because Canucks fans seem to take what Henrik brings to the ice on a nightly basis for granted – is to give the Cyclone Taylor award to the best supporting piece on the club (be it Cory Schneider or Ryan Kesler). That’s likely to happen again with Vrbata being the likely front runner. Vrbata has been great but replace Henrik with an average first-line centre (say Mike Ribiero) and he’s not scoring 30.

That someone aside from Henrik will win another Canucks MVP award is insane because, once again, Henrik is probably the best player in franchise history and it’s patently absurd that he’s won as many team MVP awards as, say, Kesler has.