From Finland, Center Mikko Koivu played 16 years in the NHL, all but seven games with the Minnesota Wild.

Over his career, Koivu scored 711 Points (709 in Minnesota), and had three years (2008-09 to 2010-11) where he had at least 62 Points.  A solid playmaker, Koivu was equally adept at the defensive side of the rink.  Koivu enjoyed votes for the Frank J. Selke Award ten times, with four of them cracking the top ten in balloting.  Koivu might not have been an All-Star, but his contributions to the Wild are undeniable.

As we said with Jussi Jokinen, Koivu is unlikely to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but he could be a fringe candidate for the IIHF.  Koivu played in 77 Senior Games for Finland, winning medals at the Olympics, World Cup of Hockey, and World Hockey Championships.

Jussi Jokinen may not have been considered a star in terms of his National Hockey League performance, but the Finnish Center appeared in 951 Games, though he never had more than 288 for any team.

Jokinen suited up for Dallas, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Florida, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Columbus and Chicago, and scored 563 Points, a respectable number.  Five times, he had 50-Point seasons, his best being a 30-35-65 campaign as a Hurricane in 2009-10.  After the 2017-18 season, Jokinen returned to his first professional team, Karpat in the Finnish League, playing three more years before he retired.

Jokinen is not likely to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but Jokinen could be a dark horse candidate for the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame, as he played 99 Games for Finland, winning Silver in the Olympics and World Hockey Championships, and Bronze in the Olympics, World Hockey Championships (twice) and World Juniors (twice).                              

From Minneapolis, David Backes played the majority of pro career with the St. Louis Blues, a squad he plated the first ten years of his sixteen NHL campaign with.

Backes scored 45 or more Points seven times with St. Louis, with a peak of 62 in 2010/11/.  The Center was not a first line player, but was a very good two-way performer, who had five consecutive Frank J. Selke Trophy finishes (2010-11 to 2011-14), and was the runner-up in 2011-12.  Backes would also be an All-Star in 2011.  He also played professionally for Boston and Anaheim, finishing his career with 561 NHL Points.

Backes also represented the United States multiple times, most notably as a member of the 2010 Olympic Team that won the Silver Medal.

The process continues.

We here are Notinhalloffame.com have plans to create our own set of post-season awards, which we will look back and retroactively present from 1901 on.  That will take a while, but it has never stopped us before!

Our awards are not be league specific.

Now it is time for our 2021 positional awards.

We will be awarding a positional player of the year, but not only that, offer up the runner-up and second runner-up, meaning that we will have First, Second and Third All-MLB players.

Let’s work our way around the diamond and award the best of the best in Baseball!

*Please note that to qualify, a player must appear in that position at least 50% of the time.

First Team All-MLB: First Baseman of the Year:  Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays.  6.8 bWAR, 6.7 fWAR, 188 H, 48 HR, 123 R, 111 RBI, 4 SB, .311/.401/.601/1.002.

Guerrero lost weight entering the 2021 season, and the dedication to fitness yielded the best year of his young career.  Sharing the Home Run Title with Salvador Perez, Guerrero also led the AL in OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+ (169) and Total Bases (363), and was the most explosive offensive player in 2021.  Had it not been for Shohei Ohtani, he would have won our MVP.

Second Team All-MLB First Base:  Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals.  6.2 bWAR, 4.9 fWAR, 177 H, 31 HR, 102 R, 99 RBI, 12 SB, .294/.365/.514/.879.

This is Goldschmidt’s third year in St. Louis, and eleven over all.  Goldschmidt accrued his sixth 30-plus HR year and sixth .500 Slugging season.

Third Team All-MLB First Base:  Matt Olson, Oakland Athletics.  5.8 bWAR, 5.0 fWAR, 153 H, 39 HR, 101 R, 111 RBI, 4 SB, .294/.365/.514/.879.

Olson was an All-Star for the first time this year, and he posted career-bests in Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, Batting Average and On Base Percentage.

Look for more awards soon!