TIG Roundtable: PWHL Awards – MVP, Rookie, Coach of the Year

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As the PWHL season winds down, awards season starts to ramp up. In its augural season, the PWHL introduced 10 awards.

Two of the 10 are based on stats – points leader and top goal scorer. One is based on off-ice activities, the Community Leadership Award which the league says will be “awarded to the player whose leadership extends beyond the ice to foster positive change in the community.” One is based on playoff play, the Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP Award – which is named after one of the league’s founding Advisory Board members – will be “awarded to the player considered most valuable to their team’s success throughout the playoffs.”

The final six are regular season awards, and those six are ones TIG figuratively gathered around virtual roundtable to give our thoughts on who will win each.

In the first portion of the our roundtable, our team shares their thoughts on who will win the Billie Jean King MVP, Rookie of the Year, and the Coach of the Year.

Billie Jean King MVP Award

Awarded to the player considered most valuable to their team’s success throughout the regular season

Natalie Spooner – Mike Murphy

So, if the word “success” wasn’t a qualifier here, I’d go with Alex Carpenter. Why? because PWHL New York would have been lost without Carpenter’s production. Of course, they have a lot of work ahead of them after being the first team in PWHL history to be eliminated from the playoffs, but Carpenter was outstanding for them.

My choice here has to be Spooner – and this is about so much more than the goals, but the goals really do help. This PWHL Toronto team wasn’t built around Spooner but they certainly play that way. She has scored pretty much one-third of Toronto’s goals and has led the team on and off the ice. Spooner’s scoring got Toronto back on its feet after a slow start and that is why she gets my MVP pick.

Natalie Spooner – Geremy

Toronto looked dead in the water to start the season. Their first seven games where they went 2-5 (one regulation win, one shootout win, five regulation losses) they managed a paltry 11 goals across that span for 1.57 goals per game. What happens in Game Eight vs New York changed Toronto’s fortune’s. Spooner scores the only two goals in a 2-0 win and Toronto goes on an 11-game win streak where Spooner posts 15 points in 11 games, 10 of those points being goals. Toronto needed a hero and Spooner put on her cape.

Looking beyond the 11-game win streak Toronto had, Spooner’s season as a whole has been fantastic. Leads the league in every goal category from the actual goals to goals/60 to goals/game to even-strength goals. She’s the only player in the league with a primary points/60 above 3.00. She leads the league in primary points and even-strength primary points. Spooner is also a shot generation machine with 91 shots on the year, good enough for second in the PWHL. Without her offense, we’re sitting here wondering if Toronto will make the playoffs. 

Natalie Spooner  – Angelica Rodriguez

I initially had Grace Zumwinkle in this spot, but honestly, how could you not completely anoint Spooner after this absolute treat of a season with Toronto? Spooner is one of those players that has seemed to just get better with age, and her stats are absolutely stellar for a Toronto team that looked down and out after a month of play. The way she was able to take this team onto her back and galvanize the offense, making already-excellent players like Sarah Nurse and Emma Maltais even better, is extraordinary, and she fully deserves this honor as a key part of the reason Toronto is tops in the league right now. 

Natalie Spooner – Maya Smith

Without Natalie Spooner, I don’t think we’d see Toronto in the playoffs this season. The way that she showed up this season is something we have never seen before. She leads the league in scoring, power-play goals,  and could finish at the top in points. Spooner also leads Toronto in goals, points, +/-, power-play goals, points per game, shots, shooting percentage, shootout goals, and shootout percentage. 

Oh yeah, and she’s 33 years old. 

But for me, MVP is more than just stats. She showed up consistently when her team needed her most, took on a leadership role without wearing a letter and literally changed the game for her team when it mattered. 

She reminded us all this season exactly what type of player she is. 

Rookie of the Year

Awarded to the player who showcases the most outstanding ability throughout their first regular season of professional play. Players eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award must be competing in their first season of professional hockey in North America and begin the season in their 25th birth year or younger. For the inaugural season, players born 1998 and later are eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award.

Grace Zumwinkle – Mike Murphy

If you weren’t blown away by Zumwinkle’s season and the highlight reel goals and passes you should check you pulse. Zumwinkle was electrifying for PWHL Minnesota and wasted no time claiming her territory as a top scorer in the league. Most impressive to me was how she played with Taylor Heise out of the lineup – her team needed her and she delivered. I also want to give a nod to Alina Müller and Sophie Jaques who looked like franchise players in their first years as pros.

Grace Zumwinkle – Geremy

Can I just copy and paste from above? It’s been a good rookie class this year and players such as Alina Müller have been very good. Zumwinkle, though is hanging around at the top of the league with the absolute elite talent of the game this season. There’s no argument for another player unless Müller or Maureen Murphy have a massive few games to end the season. Zumwinkle has been the best player on Minnesota and I don’t think another rookie can say the same about their rookies.

Maureen Murphy – Angelica Rodriguez

The others have already given Zumwinkle her moment, and to be honest I think she’s most likely to walk away with the honor. But I would love voters to give some due recognition to PWHL Montreal’s Murphy, who is currently just two points behind Zumwinkle in the stat lines and has displayed incredible playmaking ability and responsibility in all zones, as well as consistency when called upon in the faceoff circle. On a team full of offensive talent, her ability to stand out has been excellent, and I think she deserves due consideration right alongside Zumwinkle when it comes to this award.

Grace Zumwinkle – Maya Smith

Honestly, I forgot Zumwinkle was a rookie this season. The deciding factor for me here was the way that she supported Minnesota while they were without Taylor Heise. You would expect the team to miss a beat without one of their star players, but Zumwinkle took some of that load off. 

She also earned the first hat trick in PWHL history and leads her team in goals and points, despite playing with some big players like Kendall Coyne-Schofield and Kelly Pannek. 

Without the injury, I think we’d be putting Heise for this award but alas. I hope Zumwinkle gets some recognition for the great season she’s had. 

Coach of the Year

Awarded to the head coach whose contributions most impacted their team’s on-ice success throughout the regular season

Kori Cheverie – Mike Murphy

I am a big fan of PWHL Montréal’s style of play, the way their roster is constructed, and what that group represents as a whole. It did not take long for us to see what PWHL Montréal hockey looks like and a big part of that is Cheverie. Cheverie’s team is bound for the playoffs and they got there by sharing the workload between two goalies, not overplaying national team stars, and giving younger players like Maureen Murphy and Mariah Keopple the opportunity to shine. 

Troy Ryan – Maya Smith

I would just like to remind everyone that I had Toronto finishing first in the league in my preview. 

And yeah, that looked pretty stupid at one point in the season. But the team climbed out of last place on the back of an 11-game winning streak and some of that kudos has to go to the coach. 

The biggest change that I saw with Toronto this season was the confidence that the team played with as the season went on. Some of that comes from the production of big players like Spooner, Maltais, Nurse and Fast, but some of that has to come from leadership as well. So many of his players are playing with renewed confidence, especially Kristen Campbell, who was on her own massive winning streak this year as well. 

Honourable mention to Kori Chevrie as well. 

Kori Cheverie – Geremy

This was a tough one as both Kori Cheverie and Troy Ryan have had excellent seasons. If either coach won that’d be well deserved. The reason I give Cheverie the nod over Ryan is that Cheverie’s results have been more consistent over the season compared to Ryan’s. Toronto took about a month before the pieces started to fall into place while Cheverie had the team going from the jump. At the start of the season I pointed out that Montreal was taking gambles on its defensive core and they’ve really stepped up. We all knew Erin Ambrose was good and there were expectations for Kati Tabin but even she’s surpassed those. They’re just such a well structured team that it’s unsurprising they’ve avoided the roller coaster ride that has been every other team. 

Kori Cheverie – Angelica Rodriguez

I have to agree with my comrades who also voted for Cheverie. I was already excited beyond reason at the Montréal roster on paper, but the production on the ice is undeniable, and it seems like an excellent team culture overall. While both she and Troy Ryan are deserving, I think getting a whole team to buy in the way Cheverie has throughout an entire season is so special. No disrespect to Ryan either – he clearly knows his players and has been able to salvage what could have been a very bad season for Toronto. But getting a team with mostly new faces to compete at the level Montreal has for most of this season is something special. Moreover, her willingness to utilize every player on her roster has really paid off for this squad.  If Montréal ends up taking it all, I can’t see this going to anyone but her.