Carey Price, John Tortorella headline a surprising group of early NHL awards contenders

Oddly, the 2016-17 NHL season is a quarter of the way through.

That was quick. Funny how a condensed schedule lets these things sneak up on you.

So it’s time to gaze across the hockey landscape and figure out who’s making runs at the NHL’s biggest awards right now. We’ll check in after each quarter of the season and see where things stand and what’s changed.

After you read this, be sure to take a look at our SB Nation preseason predictions and laugh at how wrong we all were.

Here’s what the NHL awards races look like with a quarter of the season done with. Remember: If your favorite player isn’t mentioned it’s because I hate your team and I don’t watch the games. I look forward to your emails.

We were among the vast consensus of hockey pundits that predicted McDavid would break out and make a run at the Hart Trophy this season. And he’s delivered: As of Nov. 28, the young Oilers captain leads the NHL with 29 points in 23 games. Without him, the Oilers aren’t leading the Pacific Division right now.

But he’s not running away with the award like Patrick Kane was at this point last year. Not yet, anyway.

Apparently the days of Crosby starting the season with a slump are gone; the Penguins captain is scoring at a clip we’ve not seen from him before with 15 goals (the most in the NHL) and just five assists in 16 games. Crosby’s never been a goal-per-game player, and yet he’s on pace to eclipse his goal total from last season (36) by the All-Star break. And his team has needed that production — no one else in Pittsburgh has more than nine goals.

Kucherov shouldn’t be overlooked, either. Tampa Bay is fighting off injuries again this season: Jonathan Drouin missed some time and Steven Stamkos is likely done for the year. Kucherov has made up for their absences with a phenomenal season, trailing only McDavid for the points lead with 26 in 22 games.

Also in the running: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens; Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets

I know that Price is the goalie of the NHL’s best team (so far) and has a ton of skins on the wall.

But Dubnyk is lapping him for the Hart Trophy right now.

The Wild goalie leads the league in shutouts (four), quality starts (15), quality start percentage (.882), and has Price beat in goals-against average (1.66). It’s no secret why the Wild lead the NHL in goals against per game (1.95) while giving up an average 31 shots against every night. Dubnyk has been sensational.

Price is merely phenomenal, with 11 quality starts and a terrific .946 save percentage. The Canadiens and the Wild top the league in goals against, and both netminders are leading the charge towards the Vezina, if not a Hart Trophy.

Also in the running: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins, Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings

Weber is at the heart of Montreal’s much-improved offense, sitting at or near the top of the league in goals (eight), points (18), power play goals (seven), and power play points (10). Impressive stuff, but not enough to pull away from his competition.

No, the nod has to go to either Ryan Suter or Brent Burns. Burns has more points than Weber, as many goals, and a ridiculous 52.39 CF%. Burns is simply better defensively right now than Weber. And though Suter’s possession numbers aren’t as good as either of them, he’s not being overworked anymore and should improve on his already gaudy numbers:

Currently, Suter has a CF% of 46.51%, which is the 17th best on the Wild, 7th best among Wild defensmen (although, Prosser and Reilly have only played 8 games), and 184th among all league defensemen. While that’s certainly not great, the Wild didn’t start the year off well in terms of Corsi and they have been improving recently. With better team and personal play, his possession numbers should rise to more respectable levels.

Also in consideration: Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators

You’d think this would be Laine’s to lose.

The Finnish rookie wonder has 18 points in 24 games and more goals (12) than Alex Ovechkin, McDavid or Kucherov. For comparison’s sake, at this point last year no rookie had more than eight goals. Here’s some fun stats that Illegal Curve dug up after Laine hit the 14-game mark:

- Patrik Laine (18 years, 203 days) is the youngest player with 4 points in a game since Sidney Crosby (18 years, 171 days) on January 25, 2006 against the Capitals

– Patrik Laine is the 1st rookie in NHL history with multiple hat tricks through 14 team games.

– Patrik Laine is the first rookie with at least 11 goals through 14 team games since Alexi Yashin had 11 in 1993-94

Flash forward to the end of November. With 12 tallies, Laine has scored the most goals through 24 games by a player younger than 19 in NHL history.

And yet, Zach Werenski is hanging around the conversation.

The 19-year-old Blue Jackets defenseman is among the league leaders in possession among all defensemen with at least 340 minutes of ice time. He’s the quarterback on the best power play in hockey on one of the most surprising teams in the NHL. And he’s almost a point-per-game player.

He’s a stud, and he’ll give Laine a run for the Calder all year.

Marner is hanging around the edges of the Calder race right now with 18 points in 21 games. He’s as electric as any rookie, but not outshining Laine or Werenski just yet.

Also in consideration: Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs

And that’s it.

Oh, sure, you could lump the coaches of the Devils or Hurricanes in there. But both of those teams impressed last season. That they’re doing OK again isn’t much of a surprise.

But what the Blue Jackets have done so far is truly remarkable. Keep in mind that Tortorella was coming off one of the lowest lows of his career when this season began. And now Columbus isn’t just in the mix for a playoff spot, they’re on pace to become one of two or three teams to eclipse the 100-point mark.

If that happens, Tortorella will have earned every ounce of praise leveled at him.

Also in consideration: John Hynes, New Jersey Devils; Bill Peters, Carolina Hurricanes; Guy Boucher, Ottawa Senators; Todd McLellan, Edmonton Oilers