NHL Awards 2012: Claude Giroux and More Award Snubs Who Deserve Recognition

Every year, there are players who deserve to be finalists for a particular NHL award but are not given the recognition they deserve.

This year, Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux is arguably the biggest snub after he was not named a finalist for the Hart Trophy.

Let's look at three players who should have been finalists for an NHL award because of their remarkable 2011-12 seasons.

Norris Trophy

Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues

Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues is one of the best young players in the NHL and will be a superstar defenseman next season.

The impressive defensive skills that Pietrangelo showed throughout the season contributed to the Blues allowing the fewest goals in hockey this season.

He should have been a finalist for the Norris Trophy, but in a year where so many blueliners were worthy of being a finalist, some great players like Pietrangelo were going to be left out.

You can make a case that he should be a finalist over Ottawa Senators star Erik Karlsson, but Pietrangelo will get many more chances to win a Norris Trophy throughout his career, so being a snub this season isn't really a big deal.

Calder Trophy

Matt Read, Philadelphia Flyers

Matt Read is a future star in the NHL after an impressive rookie season in which the Flyers forward played a number of different roles to help his team win.

He was the leading goal scorer among rookies and finished fourth in points. There were four players with strong cases to be the Rookie of the Year, but in the end, the players chosen as finalists were Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gabriel Landeskog and Adam Henrique.

All were deserving, but I would have voted for Read over Henrique as a finalist.

Hart Trophy

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers

The biggest snub of all the 2012 NHL Awards is Claude Giroux, who has a strong case to be the MVP of the NHL yet wasn't even a finalist for the Hart Trophy.

Giroux's 93 points ranked third among all players, and he led the league in assists. The Flyers forward faced enormous expectations this season, and he exceeded them. Without Giroux, the Flyers would have been a far less dangerous team in the Eastern Conference.

Giroux is much more deserving of being a Hart Trophy finalist than Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos.