I have no problem with the fact that the NHL chose to omit Nickelback, Jay Mohr, Ron MacLean and terrible monologues and montages from their annual awards show...

But omitting it altogether was weird and then some, and, as Sportsnet's Chris Johnston suggests, the award-winners received the same kind of attention Milton did in Office Space--earning the opportunity to fly into Chicago and attend another team's Stanley Cup Final game (Ovechkin didn't need to fly from Moscow to Chicago for an acceptance speech), and then take part in a conference call whose highlight was Sergei Bobrovsky offering a, "We'll see" to a KHL question--that was worse than having to listen to Ron MacLean try to be funny.

The worst part? Well, like an office birthday party, the surprise factor was gone from the equation:

The players were also robbed of the surprise a winner would normally experience when his name is announced at the awards show in Las Vegas. Instead, they were each told about a week ago by team representatives — Huberdeau got a call from Panthers general manager Dale Tallon while Subban heard from Habs director of public relations Dominick Saillant.

That helps explain why the identity of each winner made its way into leaked media reports, which is something rarely seen in the NHL.

Subban’s trophy win was reported by Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos before the Stanley Cup final even started. The defenceman admitted that it was tough to have to wait a week before receiving his award.