Jonathan Toews: Hart Trophy Candidate?

Jonathan Toews is performing in his best season ever by leading the Blackhawks in goals (17) and points (32). His play has earned him recognition throughout the NHL as a possible Hart candidate with a projection of 50 goals this season to go along with the intangibles he brings to the team and league.

The captain has given the Blackhawks life in several games this season, putting the team on his back with a team-leading four game winners (tied for 2nd in the NHL). Not to mention, his face-off percentage is another dominant factor in his game, leading the league with 339 wins and an unbelievable 62.3% success rate.

Joel Quenneville tends to agree [via Brian Hedger]

"Johnny is a top player in our game, and I think as the years go on he just gets better and better and better," said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville, "In all areas of his game he's rock solid -- offensively, defensively, faceoffs, (power play), (penalty kill), important minutes … and he leads by how bad he wants to be the best player and how bad he wants to help our team. It's a great position to be in from a coaching perspective, and organizationally we're lucky to have him."

Avoiding his usually early year slump might just give him enough momentum to run away with the Hart trophy in the last 2/3rds of the season. Last year, Toews posted 57 points in the final 54 games of the season with only 19 points in his first 28 games. This year has been a much different story, nearly doubling his production in the first 1/3rd of the season Jonathan sees himself in a much different position to shatter his career-high totals and potentially grab a few personal awards.

Here are a couple awards Toews might be up for by the end of the season:

HART MEMORIAL TROPHY

"The Hart Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association in all NHL cities at the end of the regular season."

Toews certainly has been one of the most valuable players this season, his 17 goals tie him with Phil Kessel for the league lead, 2nd in points and along with his stellar face-off percentage; it would be hard to vote against him. If he continues to lead the Blackhawks into a top seed with his timely momentum shifting goals and game winners, he could end up with another trophy to place in his personal cabinet.

His competition: Phil Kessel, Claude Giroux, Tim Thomas

FRANK J. SELKE TROPHY

"The Frank J. Selke Trophy is an annual award given to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the end of the regular season."

Perhaps an underrated asset of Toews game is his defensive prowess. Tied for 6th in NHL forwards with a plus-minus rating of plus-11 doesn't do justice to his effectiveness at the defensive end of the game. He is tied for 4th in the league with 30 takeaways while leading the league in face-off wins.

Although he may not be a front runner for this award at the moment, knowing his uncanny ability to turn up the intensity in the last 2/3rds of the season could boost his stock and propel himself into accepting his first Selke trophy.

His competition: Tyler Seguin, Pavel Datsyuk, Stephen Weiss

TED LINDSAY AWARD

"The Ted Lindsay Award is presented annually to the "most outstanding player" in the NHL as voted by fellow members of the National Hockey League Players' Association.

It honors Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay, an All-Star forward known for his skill, tenacity, leadership, and for his role in establishing the original Players' Association. The players' accolade will continue to be presented annually to the "Most Outstanding Player" in the NHL, as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA. "

Lets face it, any award that exemplifies skill, tenacity and leadership has to have Jonathan Toews at the top of the list to remain credible. There's no question that Toews is one of the top Captains in the NHL and has used his explosive talent to demonstrate why he can continue to be a game-breaker and tenacious in his pursuit to be the best in the game.

His competition: Sidney Crosby, Steve Stamkos, Pavel Daystuk

MARK MESSIER LEADERSHIP AWARD

"The Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award presented by Bridgestone has been awarded since 2006-07 and is awarded to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice during the regular season."

The more you read these definitions, the more it describes the Captain. This kid didn't earn the moniker "Captain Serious" on accident. Winning the Cup in 2009-10 along with being a key leader in winning a Gold medal in the same year has proven that Johnny one of the best leaders in the game. He's carried that leadership into each season and seems to have blossomed into the most valuable asset to the Blackhawks organization. This year he has not only bloomed into a dominate force on the ice but his ability to will the team to win on any given night is a strong indicator that he has to lead this category.

His competition: Zdeno Chara, Nick Lidstrom, Ryan Callahan

MAURICE "ROCKET" RICHARD TROPHY

"The Maurice Richard Trophy is an annual award given to the National Hockey League's top goal scorer by the NHL Board of Governors."

If the season ended today, Toews would share the cake with Phil Kessel. He's tied with his competition and that probably won't change any time soon. If he can continue to gain a head of steam there's no reason to believe he can't win this one.

His competition: Phil Kessel, Steven Stamkos, Claude Giroux

ART ROSS TROPHY


"The Art Ross Trophy is an annual award given to the player who leads the League in scoring points at the end of the regular season."

Only three points behind the league-leader in Phil Kessel, he has a great chance at winning this one if history repeats and he can have a dominant effort the rest of the season. He's produced at a 1.14 points per game clip which ties him for 5th in the league. He'll need to have his best year ever to sniff this trophy and push himself to the next level for the remainder of the season.

His competition: Phil Kessel, Claude Giroux, Daniel Sedin

Will Toews take home any individual hardware this season? Let us know below!