Philadelphia Flyers' Awards for the 1st Half of the 2014-15 Season

The Philadelphia Flyers have passed the halfway mark of the 2014-15 NHL season. With that in mind, here is a look at the Flyers' award winners for the first half of the current campaign.

The names of these awards are original and reflect on the history of the Flyers franchise. Whenever possible, they have been named after great players from the team's past.

An explanation for each award and the criteria for winning it is discussed on the page for that category.

Feel free to comment on any of the awards listed here, to nominate a new candidate or to add a new category not discussed here. As always, please indicate why you feel the way you do.

The Mark Howe Award is given to the team's best overall defenseman for the first half of 2014-15.

This category takes into consideration a player's overall performance in all three zones of the ice and his value to the team.

Thus far this season, the Flyers top defenseman has been Mark Streit. Through 42 games, Streit leads all defensemen on the club with 28 points. That places him third overall on the team behind only the dynamic duo of Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.

Streit has a plus-one plus/minus rating on a losing team. That number is even more impressive considering that 13 of his 28 points have come on the power play.

Streit also adds veteran leadership to the Flyers. He has served as captain of the New York Islanders and is presently an alternate captain for the Flyers. He has also been a leader for Switzerland in international competitions, including the Olympics.

The Flyers defense may not be very strong or very deep, but Streit is by far the best of the bunch.

The Tim Kerr Power-Play Award is given to the player who is most effective when the Flyers have the man advantage. Point production is a large part of it, but players who are particularly sharp when the Flyers have an extra attacker or help make the overall power play more effective are also given credit.

This was a close race, as Mark Streit, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek all received strong consideration, but Wayne Simmonds gets the award.

Simmonds is the cog that makes the Flyers power play go. Fifteen of his 26 points thus far this season have come while the Flyers are on the power play. He also leads the team with nine power-play goals, which puts him near the league lead.

Simmonds' nine power-play goals tied for second in NHL, one off lead.

— wayne fish (@waynefish1) January 8, 2015

Because of his size and willingness to go to the dirty areas in front of the opposing goal, Simmonds creates chances both for himself on tips and deflections and for his teammates on screens and rebounds. 

"Wayne’s always been a good player around the net but he has really taken the puck to the net on the PP for me," Flyers head coach Craig Berube told Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly.com. "He creates a lot of chances, rebounds and things like that.”

Simmonds also raises his game more on the power play than any of his teammates. That key difference earned him this award.

The Chris Pronger Award is given to the player who suffers a long-term injury that has the biggest impact on the team. The winner for the first half of 2014-15 is clearly Kimmo Timonen.

Timonen hasn't played all season as a result of blood clots that were diagnosed this summer. He may never play in the NHL again.

Last season, Timonen scored six goals and 35 points in 77 games. While he was not the player he was in his prime, Timonen provided leadership, experience and great hockey smarts to the Flyers lineup.

The Flyers also miss Timonen on the penalty kill, which has been at or near the bottom of the league for most of the season thus far.

"Kimmo is smart," general manager Ron Hextall told Randy Miller of NJ.com. "He knows exactly where to be, exactly where to put his stick exactly where rebounds are coming out. He just has that knack of knowing where the puck is gonna go to, so he was a big part of it."

The Flyers miss Timonen more than any other player absent from the lineup right now.   

The Ilya Bryzgalov Award is given to the player who is the most overpaid on the Flyers roster. This is the player who delivers the least value for the dollar. This category is judged on salary-cap number (as listed on Spotrac.com) rather than actual salary paid.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of candidates for this award this season. R.J. Umberger has been very ineffective, scoring only 10 points with a cap hit of $4.6 million. At least he's played in every game, although that may not be a blessing based on his performance.

Vincent Lecavalier has also struggled badly this season, scoring 12 points on the season while missing many games as a healthy scratch or due to injury. Lecavalier's cap hit is $4.5 million.

The award, however, goes to defenseman Andrew MacDonald. A-Mac has a cap hit of $5 million and is a third-pair defenseman at best. MacDonald has just two goals and nine points in 30 games and has a minus-three plus/minus rating.

MacDonald has been mediocre enough to be a healthy scratch three times this season on a team that needs help on defense.

For a $5 million cap hit, the Flyers should be getting a lot more return on their investment.

The Underdog Award goes to the feel-good story of the first half of the season. It is given to the player who makes the team and surprises everybody or produces an expected but feel-good moment.

This year's winner is goalie Rob Zepp. The rookie netminder made his NHL debut in December at the age of 33. That made him the oldest NHL goalie to earn a win in his first game since Hugh Lehman of the 1926 Chicago Blackhawks.

The Atlanta Thrashers drafted Zepp back in 1999. He spent the next 14 years playing in the OHL, ECHL, AHL, Finland and Germany. Zepp kept his career alive when many others would have given up.

His persistence finally paid off this season when injuries resulted in a call-up by the Flyers. He led Philadelphia to a 4-3 overtime win over the Winnipeg Jets in his first NHL game. 

Veteran forward Vincent Lecavalier was impressed by Zepp's performance. "He battled through his whole career," Lecavalier told Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly.com. "He brought his family to Europe and kept plugging away, plugging away and got his chance tonight. It was great to win like that for him. You could tell after the game how happy he was. He deserved it."

By far, Rob Zepp has been the feel-good story for the Flyers in the first half of 2014-15.

The Least Valuable Player Award goes to the Flyers player who has been the biggest disappointment this season.

While Vincent Lecavalier is certainly a contender, R.J. Umberger wins this award. Lecavalier showed signs of slowing down last season, while Umberger has been a bigger surprise and disappointment in 2014-15.

The veteran has just six goals and 10 points through the first 42 games of the season. His poor play goes beyond a lack of scoring. Umberger's overall game has suffered as well, and that has hurt the Flyers in a variety of ways.

Umberger has started to be more productive in the past week or so, but the man who was traded for Scott Hartnell last summer has a lot of work to do if he hopes to even have a below-average season. 

When the Flyers signed defenseman Nick Schultz before the start of the season, they expected the veteran to be their seventh defenseman. Instead, Schultz has quietly become one of the team's most consistent players.

He has 10 assists in 41 games and is a plus-seven on the season. He won't put up big offensive numbers or make flashy plays, but he's a reliable defenseman on a team that lacks dependable players at that position. He also leads the Flyers in blocked shots.

Just heard during the Flyers game..."Nick Schultz has been the Flyers' best defenseman this year". Things you never thought you'd hear.

— Inside Oilers (@InsideOilers) January 10, 2015

Schultz's coach has been pleased with his play. "He's a dependable guy," coach Craig Berube told Frank Seravalli of The Philadelphia Daily News. "He adds a lot of stability out there. He plays a role where his partner can really rely on him."

Schultz may not be a household name, but his reliable play makes him the Flyers' unsung hero of the first half of the season.

The Eric Lindros Award is given to the Flyers' best rookie of the first half of the season (Lindros still holds the club record for most goals scored as a rookie).

While Chris VandeVelde and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare have been steady contributors as bottom-six forwards, Scott Laughton is the top rookie so far this season.

Laughton has scored two goals and five points in 25 games so far for the Flyers, but he has impressed teammates and the coaching staff with his skill set and his work ethic.

"He works extremely hard,” Berube told Dave Isaac of The Delaware News Journal. “He’s a good skater. Good head on his shoulders for the game and plays with an edge...We love his energy and love his personality. He’s got a great head for the game.”

The best part of Laughton's game is that he has the ability to get so much better. He has yet to scratch the surface of his potential. 

The Bernie Parent Award goes to the Flyers' best goaltender over the first half of the season. The runaway winner is starter Steve Mason.

Mason has a mediocre 8-12-6 record, but that is due more to a lack of support than his own ability. He sports a 2.47 GAA and a .920 save percentage. Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider he plays in front of a team with a poor defense.

Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer explained that without Mason, the Flyers "might drop to the bottom in the division, conference, and league standings."

Mason is now out for a week with a knee injury, as reported by Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly.com. The Flyers may get by without their starting goalie for a few games, but over the long haul, they need Mason if they hope to keep their slim hopes of making a playoff run in the second half of the season alive.

It's tough to choose one MVP on the Flyers despite the team's disappointing overall play this season. Two players have been far and away the best players on the ice for the club—Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.

Through 42 games, Voracek leads the team with 16 goals and 50 points. Giroux is close behind with 46 points. Both players have been among the league leaders in points, with Voracek actually holding the league lead as of January 12.

Opponents have taken notice of the duo's success. "Those guys can change a game in one or two shifts," Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot told Ken Wiebe of The Winnipeg Sun. "So you have to be on your game and be sharp."

While Voracek has a slight edge in points, Giroux adds more leadership and intangibles to the mix. The two of them have been a dynamic duo for the Flyers this season, and so they will share the MVP award for the first half.