The Other Awards: Who should win the “heart” and “class guy” awards?

Last Wednesday, we at BSH looked at who we thought should win the team’s most valuable player award, or the Bobby Clarke Trophy. Yesterday, we said who we believed should win the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy for the most improved player on the team.

Today, we’ll look at the final two awards the Flyers will give out tomorrow. The first the Yanick Dupre Class Guy Memorial Award, for the player who “best illustrates character, dignity and respect for the sport both on and off the ice”, as decided by the Flyers media. The other is the Gene Hart Memorial Award, for the player “who demonstrated the most ‘heart’ during the season”, which is voted on by the Flyers’ Fan Club. (Not concidentally, this is around the time every year that I remember that the Flyers have a fan club.)

Unlike an award such as the MVP or most improved, where we can clearly evaluate a player’s on-ice performance when deciding the award, both of these are ones that are a bit more subjective. “Class” and “character” are things that are tough to really figure out for anyone who’s not with the team on a regular basis (which is to say, most of us voting here), and “heart” is pretty much impossible for anyone to see, given that we cannot literally open up a player’s chest and see their heart as they play hockey.

Basically, we’re sorta shooting the shit with both of these last two. So we’ll group them together into one post. (Last year’s winners were Jakub Voracek for the Dupre Award and Steve Mason for the Hart Award.)

***

Travis Hughes:

Dupre Award: Claude Giroux, just because he has to deal with this shit. He’ll never win because the media votes for this award and he’s not a “good quote” or whatever the hell, but fuck it. Protest vote.

Hart Award: Note that I think this award is a disservice to Gene Hart, because it’s arbitrary and meaningless and kind of silly, and The Voice was none of those things. How do you judge which players are playing with “heart” more than others? The Flyers’ fan club votes for this award, so it’s basically just a fan favorite award at the end of the day … so if we’re going by that, I’d say Steve Mason or Jakub Voracek have a good shot.

But I’ll pull a dark horse out here and say Ryan White, because an unsustainably high shooting percentage will probably be viewed as “playing with the most heart” by a lot of people.

Kevin Christmann:

Dupre Award: I’m going to go with Wayne Simmonds because everybody, media included, seems to love him. It also doesn’t hurt that he tends to speak his mind which is always appreciated by the media.

Hart Award: I’m casting my vote for Steve Mason here as well. I’m not sure if the fans are going to see it the same way, but this Flyers team was laughably bad at times this season and yet Mason still had an incredible year. Factor in Berube’s embarrassing handling of Mason’s injuries and the awkward termination of Jeff Reese and Mason really did deal with a lot this season; and he still excelled.

Charlie O’Connor:

Dupre Award: Nothing would be more hilarious than seeing Claude Giroux get this award, considering the criticism he received late in the season for not being very quotable. But most likely, this one is going to one of Mark Streit, Jakub Voracek or Wayne Simmonds, all of whom are open and honest with the media on a nightly basis. I’m going with Wayne Simmonds here, primarily because it was clear he made a major effort to step up after being given the “A” this year. Many nights, he took the Kimmo Timonen role, willing to be critical of the team’s performance and effort level, which is something that can only be offered by a player whose work ethic is unquestioned by those in the locker room. Also, he gets extra points in my book for vociferously defending his captain in the face of unfair criticism a few weeks ago.

Hart Award: To me, the no-brainer here is Wayne Simmonds, as he’s established himself as the ideal sandpaper player in the new NHL – a guy who can win a fight against a heavyweight, and then use that same tenacity later to bat home a rebound on the power play while being slashed and checked by half of the opposing team. Mason is a solid choice as well, as you have to respect his willingness to play through injuries for the good of the team. But to me, the Wayne Train is the most stereotypical “Flyer” that this team has, a hard-working guy who may not be as naturally skilled as teammates like Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek, but racks up the goals due to unmatched effort.

Kurt R.:

Dupre Award: It’s a tough call here, but I’m going to go with literally every member of the Flyers organization except for Claude Giroux. They all had to watch their “captain” — who, apparently, is “good” at “hockey” and “scoring” — go 75 games before scoring an even-strength home goal without once complaining about it! Credit to our team’s fantastic press corps for consistently reminding us of this fact and making sure everyone was on the _aptain’s case about it. I can’t imagine it was easy for the team playing with this guy as their “leader”. SMH. #_laude

Hart Award: I hate to do repeat winners except for the guys who REALLY deserve it, but we know that’s really the case on this one: Zac Rinaldo is not only this team’s MVP, but is also the winner of this award. I mean, come on here.

This team has one player with heart remaldo. That’s it

— Flyers Facebook (@FlyersFacebook) October 16, 2013

Al K.:

Dupre Award: This is a dumb award. It basically just goes to the one player who can deal with the horrible Philly press corps without justifiably getting pissed off. I know this is crazy, but I really don’t care who is the most willing to give Randy Miller a quote for whatever crappy article he’s writing. Maybe Wayne Simmonds will win it. I don’t care. My vote is for no one, because I don’t care.

Hart Award: Man, this award is also super dumb, and the fact that it’s chosen by the Flyers’ fan club makes it even more meaningless. I honestly don’t know exactly what heart is, but I guess it is exhibited by grinder types so maybe Wayne Simmonds will get it? Regardless, a stupid award deserves a stupid recipient, so I’m going with Zac Rinaldo.

Kelly Hinkle:

Dupre Award: My vote goes to Steve Mason, for having to put up with so much shit this year, particularly from Berube, and remaining calm while the mics were on.

Hart Award: Voted on by the fan club, so….I’ll go with Jakub Voracek. You have to figure this one will go either to the most clearly dominant player on the team (and this year that’s Jake by a mile, at least offensively) OR the guy that fits into the Rinaldo mold since Flyers fans are predictable. Ryan White wouldn’t be a shocker, nor would Simmer, but I’m sticking with Voracek as my pick.

Ryan Gilbert:

Dupre Award: Steve Mason. Mason has had to put up with a lot of shit this season, some of which I touched on above for his Hart award. Biting his tongue until March, and even then holding back regarding his team’s inconsistencies is just one of the things that makes Mason worthy of this honor.

Hart Award: Steve Mason won this award last season and will take it home again this year after a gutsy season full of grit and toughness. He has battled through multiple injuries and was even forced into a game by Craig Berube despite him not being nearly ready for game action. He has also shown some feisitiness in the crease, slashing and punching opposing players who take liberties with him, which the fans love. Mason barely beat out Zac Rinaldo for this award, but the time missed due to suspension was crucial in making this decision.

Meseret H.:

Dupre Award:

Vincent Lecavalier is one of the best at biting his tongue while answering questions about why he got scratched over career penalty minute takers and players who are not producing like Scott Hartnell would. Seriously though he’s been nothing but accommodating considering that EVERYONE hates his contract in Philly (and everywhere else?) and every other question thrown at him is “Why do we hate you/Why do you suck?” when all he did was accept $4.5 million a year until forever. YOU TELLING ME YOU WOULDNT DO THAT!?!

Hart Award:

***

So that’s that. See our summary of who we voted for in what award below before we find out who won each one tomorrow afternoon. And vote in the poll, where we try and accurately capture the sentiment of these last two awards.

Which Flyers character is the classiest and most heart-filled?