Sharks' Organizational Awards: 2023-24 Edition

Sharks contributor Alex Hutton joins to discuss the team MVP, surprise player of the season and much more!

The San Jose Sharks’ 2023-24 season is now in the rearview mirror and although it wasn’t a season that fans would love to forget, let’s talk about some of the positives and negatives of the season with the 2023-24 season awards. Fellow Sharks contributor Alex Hutton joined me for this one, so let’s get into it!

San Jose Sharks Team Awards (The Hockey Writers)

Alex’s MVP: Mackenzie Blackwood

When Mackenzie Blackwood made 51 saves in his Sharks debut, only for the Sharks to lose to the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout, it set an unfortunate tone for his entire season. Time and time again, Blackwood put up incredible efforts for a team that put him in incredibly difficult positions. He made a team-leading 41 starts, and in more than a few of them, he either single handedly kept the Sharks in the game or was the primary reason they came out with the win. For as bad as the Sharks were this season, it’s easy to imagine how much worse they could have been had Blackwood not been showing out in net so often.

William’s MVP and Best Forward: Mikael Granlund

Although there were a couple of other impressive forwards on the team this season, Mikael Granlund was in a league of his own in my eyes. He put up a very impressive point total considering the state of the team with 60 points in 69 games and held down the first line center role after the departure of Tomas Hertl. If he had taken a step back in terms of production, nobody would’ve blamed the Finnish forward. Instead, he bounced back and showed he still has what it takes to be a key player in the NHL.