BY: Chris Morgan

I only watched the NHL awards very briefly, but in those few scant moments I was treated to Gary Bettman bathed in this bizarre red lighting that looked like something from a 1970 Sci-Fi B-Movie and Mark Messier giving a speech about his leadership award. Maybe I'm just conditioned to feel this way, but I swear he was on the verge of tears. All in all, a rip roaring success! Here's a quick recap of the awards, my opinions on them, and some things about the actual event I picked up from hearsay and conjecture.

Pavel Datsyuk once again nabbed the Selke for best defensive forward and the Lady Byng for most gentlemanly player. It was his second Selke in a row, but more impressively his fourth Lady Byng. He now has the third most Lady Byngs of all time, behind only Wayne Gretzky and some guy named Frank Boucher, who has seven of them. Talk about a gentleman. I can only presume he played in a top hat and a monocle. Datsyuk's speeches apparently weren't quite as humorous as last year's. I've read some interviews with him in Russian, and he is actually quite a funny guy. It only comes across slightly with his horrifically broken English, but on occasion that only adds to his charm. Evgeni Malkin in the same way.

http://www.examiner.com/x-2503-NHL-E...L-awards-recap