NHL awards watch: Hart belongs to Stamkos in stellar comeback year

At the quarter point of the 2017-18 campaign, theScore's NHL team identifies the front-runners to bring home some hardware. This installment was put together by editors Sean O'Leary and Josh Wegman.

Hart - Steven Stamkos

The Tampa Bay Lightning turned heads last season even without their captain, but Stamkos has made them nearly unstoppable.

The Lightning have lost just three games in regulation, and Stamkos leads the NHL with 35 points in 20 games, owning a 1.75 per-game average that projects him to shatter career highs in points and assists. - O'Leary

Vezina - Sergei Bobrovsky

Bobrovsky leads all starting goalies in save percentage (.933) and goals-against average (2.02). He also leads all starters in high-danger save percentage, per Corsica, as he already has a season's worth of highlight-reel saves to his name.

Both Andrei Vasilevskiy and Corey Crawford should garner some consideration here, but Bobrovsky is a clear-cut choice for the quarter-season award. - Wegman

Norris - Erik Karlsson

While Alex Pietrangelo and John Klingberg have started strong, only one elite defenseman is producing at least one point per game.

Despite missing the first chunk of his season to recover from offseason foot surgery, Karlsson sits two points off the league lead in points among defenseman with one goal and 16 assists in 14 contests. While he's not logging his usual standard in ice time, he still averages more than 25 minutes per night, and it doesn't look like there's anything that can stop him from snapping his brief, inexplicable two-year Norris drought. - O'Leary

Calder - Will Butcher

While there may be no Auston Matthews or Patrik Laine in this rookie class, there's certainly no shortage of Calder-worthy players.

Butcher, a defenseman for the Devils, has a slight edge at the quarter mark. He has 16 points in 20 games and a plus-7 rating, and has his team atop the Metro Division standings.

Coyotes winger Clayton Keller (23GP, 11G, 9A, 20P), Islanders center Mathew Barzal (20GP, 4G, 15A, 19P), and Canucks winger Brock Boeser (17GP, 7G, 10A, 17P) made this an incredibly tough selection. - Wegman

Selke - Mark Stone

This award is generally reserved for Patrice Bergeron, but since the perennial gold standard of defensive forwards has missed some time this season, he hasn't established himself as the early leader.

It's rare that the Selke ever goes to a winger, but Stone should be in the mix. The 25-year-old is tied for second among all forwards with 24 takeaways, and has been on the ice for 17 goals for at even strength, compared to just nine against. - O'Leary

Jack Adams - Gerard Gallant

The no-brainer above all no-brainers. Gallant has his expansion team sitting second in the Pacific Division with 25 points in 19 games, despite having to start a fourth-string netminder.

Though Vegas' success may not be sustainable, it's far and away the NHL's most surprising team this season. Gallant has to be given credit for getting his players to compete every night. - Wegman

General Manager of the Year - Doug Armstrong

There's lots of time left to see which GM can orchestrate a move to push his team over the top, but Armstrong is a worthy candidate to this point.

The Jori Lehtera-Brayden Schenn trade has been highway robbery for the Blues, helping to rejuvenate a lineup now perched atop the Western Conference. - O'Leary

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)