Continuing our wandering through the NHL Awards pre-season, today we look at the Norris Trophy. Awarded annually to the league's top defenseman, it likely should just be renamed the Nicklas Lidstrom Trophy and given to him on a permanent basis, even after retirement.

This year, the NHL's finalist are Zdeno Chara, Shea Weber and Erik Karlsson. Seventy-eight points from the blue line is something few teams can even dream of, let alone realize. Karlsson certainly made his case. Is it a good enough case to win over the writers here at Hockey Wilderness? Cast your vote, then read our choices.

You can also see who the folks over at the NHL hub picked.

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Ladies and gentlemen... we got him.

Via Wild.com:

Via Russo on Twitter:

With potential performance bonuses, Mikael Granlund's annual cap hit is $2.1 million -- per sources .... #mnwild

The Wild have finally inked top prospect Mikael Granlund, bringing to an end a two year wait that has had Wild fans freaking out and asking when he will sign so often even his mom wanted to yell at people. OK, not really, but it was pretty annoying. Today, all of that ends, and the Granlund era in Wild history begins. The Finnish Jesus is born to you, this day.

Other hyperbolic statements here!

The Wild, of course, avoid losing their top prospect back into the draft, or being forced to trade his rights for far less than market value. On the flip side, the hype machine has built the kid up so high that any small stumble is going to have fans in meltdown mode.

For now, he's in the fold. Now comes that little word that HWSRN was afraid to accept. Development.

Party on, Wild fans. They got him.

UPDATE 1:28 PM: Granlund's agent, Todd Diamond, said "Coming over may be a relief for him [Granlund]. He can be like Lennon or McCartney over there. He was the most Googled athlete in Finland the last two years."

Also, Granlund will, indeed, wear #64. The Wild's Twitter account says Granlund sweaters will be available Friday at all three Hockey Lodge locations. Post your pictures when you get yours.

UDPATE 2:56 PM: Missed this in the original press release, but the first 64 fans to purchase new Wild season tickets will get a signed #64 sweater.

We learned a few things from yesterday's vote. One, it's Teuvo, not Tuevo. Second, Ducks fans do not flock to vote in polls on sites about the Minnesota Wild. Flock. Get it? Is this thing on?

We received the fewest votes in the history of our community mock draft, but there were enough to determine that the Ducks are going to go for a big defenseman to shore up their blue line. The fans chose Matthew Dumba for the Ducks, leaving the home town team with a bevvy of other choices to choose from.

Are you ready for this? It's time to pick for your Minnesota Wild.

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Yesterday, the folks over at the SBNation NHL hub selected their winner for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to best goaltender in the NHL. The winner at the hub was Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings, a guy who took the 29th rated offense to the playoffs. Impressive feat, well qualified, and with great numbers.

Today, we look at how the Hockey Wilderness staff voted. A couple of us even give you the reasons behind our votes, something that would be nice to have when the awards are done in Vegas. Imagine a hockey writer, broadcaster or GM being required to justify why they chose who they did?

Who wouldn't want the head of the Pittsburgh PHWA to explain their selection of Matt Cooke for Masterton?

Cast your vote for you pick for Vezina, then check out how we voted.

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Hey all! The Wild may be out, but the Yelnats aren't over. We've got two series left to cover in the first round. We have game 7 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Colorado Avalanche and we have game 7 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Carolina Hurricanes. I've watched both games this time around, so we're getting our first look into the Canes-Leafs matchup. What we know about that series is that the Leafs' first line, Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and Joffrey Lupul, have dominated. Each one of them are in the top 5 in points in the NHL. However, Cam Ward has been lights out. He's been one of the best goalies in the playoffs and is the reason the Canes are still alive. Meanwhile, the Colorado-Edmonton series has been as tight as can be, with mostly low-scoring affairs.

Make the jump for the Round 1 conclusion.

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Yesterday, Maple Leafs fans were a bit surprised that Mikhail Girgorenko was still on the board, and they overwhelmingly selected him as their pick. That, or bitter Habs fans stopped by to do so, one of the two. Regardless, Grigorenko's slide stops at five, and we move on.

The Anaheim Ducks were a team that everyone thought could make a good run. Then they fell flat, fired their coach, hired a fired coach, turned their season around, but still fell short. Their reward is the sixth overall pick, and a shot (at least in our draft) at one of the top defensemen available in the draft.

Will the Ducks look to shore up their blue line, or will they take a shot at one of the "lesser" forwards?

You get to decide.

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We do a few different contests a year here at Hockey Wilderness. We have the bracket challenge, the Yelnats Cup bracket challenge, and something here or there to keep people interested. Today, that all changes. Today, we offer up a contest with... wait for it... an actual prize.

You see, we want to see which of you out in the Wilderness has the ability to predict the first round of the draft. What better way to do that than to offer up a prize and ask each of you for your mock drafts? We couldn't think of a better way, other than maybe getting you all drunk and using having you try to mumble through Alex Galchenyuk without losing it on us.

Instead, we're going to run a contest, offer up our space to you, and hopefully be able to crown someone the winner of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Mock Draft Fan Post Contest. Make the jump for what we want, and the rules.

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Our mock draft jumps back into gear as we come out of the weekend. While we were away, the New York Islanders Filip Forsberg, sending Mikhail Grigorenko further into his expected fall. Next up are the great and powerful Toronto Maple Leafs, the organization everyone wants to be and no one seems to want to make successful.

Imagine the meltdown that would occur online if the Leafs won the Cup. Good lord, it would be beautiful.

That is for another day. Today, we need to choose who Brian Burke would pick with the fifth overall pick. We are left to wonder if there is a chart somewhere of which potential draft picks have the highest truculence ratings. Guess we'll just have to wing it and hope we pick the right kid.

Good luck all. The hockey world is watching today.

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