I'm guessing every winner of every award would trade it in about 5 seconds for the Cup.

When you consider that sports writers do most of the voting (GM of the Year is by GM's and some execs and some sports writers), you can always expect East Coast bias. That's just the reality of it. You can also usually expect some head-scratcher's. This year wasn't too bad. Any hockey knowledgeable person could make a compelling argument for all of the winners this year. Had the voting occurred after the playoffs, the Blues would have easily won some more hardware.

Voting at the end of the regular season is the right thing to do for most of the awards. Otherwise stars like Connor McDavid could have the best season of all players and not have a chance at an award because his team sucked. I think GM of the Year should be after the playoffs. How many times have we seen 100+ point season teams get bounced in the 1st or 2nd round? A great GM builds a team that can get to the playoffs and win in the playoffs. I've heard the GM of the Year voting is after a round or two of the playoffs but that is not what the NHL says in their description of the award. "An annual award presented to recognize the work of the league’s general managers, voting for this new award is conducted among the 30 club general managers and a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media at the conclusion of the regular season."

Still a little giddy just thinking about the Blues spending all next season being the "Defending Stanley Cup Champions"