The Bruins have garnered the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time in five years, and won back many of the wayward fans that deserted the Spoked B hockey club when the Harry Sinden and Mike O’Connell-led ship splintered into the rocks following the NHL lockout.

It’s been an exciting blend of responsible defense and eye-opening offense, backed by airtight goaltending through the course of the season. The expectations have built so high headed into the playoffs that anything less than a conference finals berth would have many calling this season of rebirth something else entirely: a disappointment.

While the steady, reasoned approach of GM Peter Chiarelli and the structured, disciplined Old School coaching methods employed by Claude Julien have been major factors in this season’s breakout campaign, it all comes back to the Black and Gold-clad players on the ice.

The won-loss record and overall point totals wouldn’t be quite so gaudy, and the playoff expectations wouldn’t have climbed to a Mt. Kilimanjaro-type loftiness, if the players — almost to a man — hadn’t performed well above and beyond expectations going into this season.

While the nominees for the various NHL Awards won’t be announced until after the playoffs have begun and the winners won’t be named until the NHL Awards event scheduled for this June in Las Vegas (at the Palms, no less), there are several Bruins’ up for some of the most prestigious trophies associated with NHL greatness. Many of them even have a snipers’ chance of taking home some hardware after such a compelling season of hockey in the Hub.

Here’s a list of some of the favored Big Bad hopefuls, along with some thoughts on how realistic their chances are of taking home a little shiny something for the trophy case to go along with their prized mementos from their Pee Wee hockey days. When applicable, I’ve also indicated who I’ll be voting for on my ballot:

Tim Thomas, goaltender. Prize: Vezina Trophy.

Chances of winning the award: should be pretty good with Martin Brodeur out of the running.

Breakdown: Tank has the best save percentage and goals against average in the NHL this season, nabbed his second straight All-Star appearance and played so well down the stretch this season that Bruins management felt compelled to hand the soon-to-be 35-year-old goaltender a four-year, $20 million extension that admittedly may come back to haunt them in this Brave New salary cap era. The trophy is “adjudged to go to the best at his position,” and there really isn’t a case to be made for any other NHL netminder this season.

The one caveat is that Thomas won’t finish in the Top 5 in wins this season, largely because he shared time with Manny Fernandez during the first half of the year, and so he hasn’t shouldered the 60-plus game workload that more celebrated names like Cam Ward, Evgeny Nabakov, Henrik Lundqvist and Niklas Backstrom have. There have actually been some pretty ludicrous stories written lately saying Thomas shouldn’t be the frontrunner for the hardware. But the award isn’t about games played or being an Iron Man capable of wearing a painted mask 75 times a year, it’s about stopping the puck and Thomas has clearly been the best of class and show this season. Thomas has gone from P-Bruins journeyman to Vezina Trophy winner in five years.

Not too shabby.

Why Thomas will win: Because the league’s GM’s, who vote on the award, can’t give it to New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur as they have in four out of the last five seasons dating back to before the lockout. Brodeur missed most of the year after tearing a biceps muscle early in the season, and has left the door wide open for somebody like Thomas to slide in and snag the trophy.

What could trip Thomas up: The riptide of momentum from Columbus Blue Jackets rookie goaltender Steve Mason, who is another feel-good story like Thomas and is the odds-on favorite for the Calder Trophy after leading the league with 10 shutouts. Mason has also pushed the underdog Blue Jackets to their first playoff berth in franchise history, but Thomas should be the hands-down favorite for this award.

Zdeno Chara, defenseman. Prize: Norris Trophy.

Chances of winning the award: Solid, but the award traditionally has gone to the best offensive D-man in recent years.

Breakdown: Quite simply, Chara is the most valuable player on a Bruins’ team that rests their foundation on unbreakable defense in the D-zone and the intimidation factor that wouldn’t be nearly as present without the 6-foot-9 behemoth.

Chara routinely takes the difficult challenge of hopping on the ice and shutting down the opposition’s best, and this season he’s been especially memorable in the way that he’s “contained” the NHL Eastern Conference elite in 5-on-5 play. To wit: NHL leading scorer Evgeni Malkin (two assists and a -2 in four games against the Bruins), Alex Ovechkin (2 goals and 2 assists in four games with a 0 rating), Sidney Crosby (3 assists in four games and a -1 against the Bruins during 5-on-5 play), Zach Parise (1 goal and 1 assist in four games with a -2), Ilya Kovalchuk (2 goals and 3 assists in four games with a -4 rating, but only one of those points came during 5-on-5 play when Chara was out on the ice “chasing” him) and Nicklas Backstrom (1 assist in four games with a rating of 0 during 5-on-5 play) have all been less than themselves when they’ve been on the ice facing Big Z in non-power play situations against the Bruins.

In addition, the 32-year-old defenseman has a career-high 19 goals and 11 power-play strikes this season while utilizing both his 105-mph slap shot from the point and his growing ability to sneak in backdoor against teams during the PP. Chara is only two points away from a career-high in terms of offensive production, but he may be rested over the final weekend and have to “settle” for a 50-point season. The defensive abilities and offensive numbers clearly place Chara as the best all-around, two-way defenseman in the NHL this season, and my fellow hockey writers would do well to recognize that.

I’ll let fellow D-man Aaron Ward continue pleading Chara’s case, because he’s the son of a lawyer and a touch more eloquent than your humble hockey chronicler could ever hope to be:

“Sometimes after a while the best compliment is when people don’t talk about you and it’s just an assumed thing that you’re going to go out there and do it. In this locker room, day in and day out, [Chara] is driven. He shows his drive in the way that he’s in the weight room every day and he’s out on the ice surface. Since I came here three years ago I have seen the complete evolution of Zdeno Chara as a hockey player. He’s more laid back now and he knows that 24 hours a day you can’t lay it on the line to win hockey games. He’s done beneficial things for other guys, because somebody like me — who can be too laid-back at times — he really challenges me to pick up my intensity level and pick up my focus level when I need it.

“The one thing that encompasses the Norris Trophy is what the player means to his team. I know that Mike Green means a lot to his team, but if you talk about a well-rounded defenseman fulfilling every role as a defenseman — and I’m not saying Green doesn’t do that for his team — but in terms of value if you take Zdeno Chara from our team then the intimidation factor drops greatly. Take him out of our lineup and the defensive reliability comes down greatly. When you look at him now he’s like Bobby Orr coming down on the power play and going back door: it’s his new little office out there on the ice. He’s always getting better on and off the ice, so he’s got my vote.”

After watching him as a dominant force in both zones all season, Chara has got my vote as well.

Why Chara will win: If Big Z can snag one more goal in the last two games and get to the 20-goal mark for a defenseman while matching his career-high in points, that will put a little more finish on his Norris resume compared to a fourth forward on the ice like Green is in Washington. In the end it shouldn’t matter, but it could be icing on the cake. Chara should be the argument that the Norris is still about best all-around defenseman rather than best offensive defenseman, and he is — without argument — the best shutdown D-man in the league.

What could trip Chara up: Green has a league-best 31 goals and 72 points for a defenseman and has a slightly better +/- than Chara with a +25 for the season skating with scorers in Washington. He also brought more attention to himself when he scored goals in eight consecutive games this season to break a longstanding NHL record. This might not be his Norris year this season, but the day is certainly coming for the 23-year-old blueliner.

Claude Julien, head coach. Prize: Jack Adams Trophy.

Chances of winning the award: After what Julien and the Bruins have accomplished over the last two seasons, it should be a slam-dunk achievement award.

Breakdown: There’s been a great deal of national sentiment that San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan — or Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock — should be the odds-on favorite for the award this year. The McLellan candidacy is particularly difficult to understand given that the rookie coach took over a talent-rich hockey team in San Jose that’s finished either first or second in the Pacific Division over the last four years and has been a perennial contender since No Show Joe Thornton arrived on the scene. Giving McLellan huge plaudits for steering the Sharks to the President’s Trophy is akin to giving someone the keys to a brand new Lamborghini and then showering them with praise when they’re able to hit 100-mph on the highway. There’s a better argument to the way Hitchcock has helped guide the Blue Jackets through the difficult Western Conference and to their first playoff berth in franchise history.

But Julien is quite simply overdue after what he’s accomplished in Boston the last two years. He’s managed to take a collection of talented, individual parts that were nothing more than a hockey heap in the season before his arrival, and helped hone the talent into a responsible, intimidating unit that snuck into the playoffs last year. After an entertaining first-round exit, Boston has obliterated modest expectations on their way to becoming a force of hockey nature in the Eastern Conference this season. The job he’s done the last two seasons essentially defines what the spirit of the Jack Adams is all about, and the national broadcasters — the voters for Jack Adams — would do well to put some thought into this particular category.

Why Julien will win: In two short years, the Bruins have transformed from NHL laughingstock to Stanley Cup hopeful, and the credit for this goes to both the players and to Julien and his staff of Craig Ramsay, Doug Houda, Bob Essensa and Geoff Ward. They’re brought defense and structure to a growing talent level of youngsters along the roster, and it’s been mixed together into a perfect hockey storm this season. Julien showed a masterful hand when he eased off the whip during the B’s swoon in March, and the players responded by snapping back into dominant form with renewed vigor. That’s all about coaching and putting players in the position to succeed without needless pressure or look-at-me histrionics from the bench.

   

What could trip Julien up: If the voters somehow forget just how far the Bruins have come from in the last two seasons, then he could get passed by for an award that he is extremely deserving of. Remember what the Bruins were only a season ago: a team that used grit and physicality to force their way into the postseason as the only playoff-worthy squad with more goals allowed and goals scored. This season they’ve become a dominant offensive and defensive force that’s simply dominated their way through the regular season and stacked up their best team season point-wise since the Bobby Orr Era Bruins of the early 1970’s. That is the definition of an award-worthy accomplishment.

Other Bruins hopefuls — Calder Trophy or All-Rookie Team: Blake Wheeler and Matt Hunwick. Masterton Trophy: Patrice Bergeron. Hart Trophy: Marc Savard.  

 

Joe Haggerty covers the Bruins for WEEI.com.