Vote for the 2009-10
Fan Awards

The Blues official web site, stlblues.com is currently running a poll where fans can vote in a variety of categories in this year’s edition of the Fan Awards. Read on to see what the categories are and what players made my list.

To complete the poll head here and vote in categories such as:

Team MVP
Best Forward
Best Defenseman
Unsung Hero
Biggest Surprise
Most Popular Player
Best Moment

My votes:

Team MVP: Alex Steen – I made him my 2009-10 MVP back in a post a little ways back due to his work ethic, speed and increased nose for the goal as the season wore on. It’s tough to picture what the end of the year would have looked like without Steen, but one has to imagine it’d be ugly.

Best Forward: The vote could be given to Steen again here, but I decided to go a different route and acknowledge Andy McDonald’s season. McDonald led the team in scoring with 57 points but fans often overlooked his efforts, focusing on other skilled skaters like T.J. Oshie and David Perron.

Best Defenseman: Erik Johnson will likely receive the bulk of votes here due to his talent on the offensive side of the game, but I’m giving my vote to Mike Weaver. Similar to McDonald, Weaver quietly had a solid season and is a player the Blues would be wise to keep in their ranks.

Unsung Hero: Tough to pick one here. The roster was filled with more disappointments than anything, and the two easy choices (Weaver/Steen) have already been named and I’m trying to spread the votes around. My vote here is going to Ty Conklin. Conklin was supposed to come in and provide stability when Chris Mason struggled, and for the most part he did just that – though he performed extremely poorly at home. For the year, Conklin had a 2.48 GAA, a great mark for a backup. Just imagination what things would have been like had Mason been asked to appear in more games, or if we were still using the backup by rotation system.

Biggest Surprise: It didn’t take long to throw my one vote per player system out the window. Alex Steen, come on down. When you came over I thought you’d make positive contributions, but I (like many others) had no idea you’d rattle off 24 goals and a total of 47 points. Well done sire.

Most Popular Player: The teenage girls out there will band together and give T.J. Oshie the win here, with David Perron likely just trailing. Don’t get me wrong – these are two great players, and Perron in particular has done some amazing things for the community and interacts with fans regularly. My vote however is going to David Backes. Backes emerged as the face of the Blues as the Olympics approached due to his quest to single-handedly punch Canada’s roster into pieces.

Best Moment:
Back-to-Back Season-Opening Wins vs. Detroit in Sweden
Playoff Payback: Blues Beat Canucks 6-1 on Nov. 10
David Perron Coast-to-Coast Goal vs. Islanders on Nov. 21
Brett Hull Hall of Fame Night on Dec. 11
David Backes & Erik Johnson Win Silver Medals at Olympics
Keith Tkachuk’s Final Game on Apr. 9
Other

Above are the choices given, as well as an option to write in your own vote. I’m going with Tkachuk’s final game. The season had few high points, but seeing Tkachuk sent off in memorable fashion and hearing him pledge his allegiance to St. Louis was one that will last a lifetime.

Get your votes in now! Feel free to add in your own comments below.