NHL Awards ready to hit high note in Nashville with mix of music, hockey

NASHVILLE -- Jack Hughes went to see Dierks Bentley in concert just three weeks ago. The New Jersey Devils center had returned home to the Detroit area for the offseason, and he and some friends sat about 20 rows from the stage in the pavilion at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan.

"He's one of my favorite singers in country," Hughes said.

Now Bentley will host the 2023 NHL Awards at Bridgestone Arena on Monday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS), and Hughes will get to see him again with some of the brightest stars in the League.

"We'll have some fun here," said Hughes, a finalist for the Lady Byng Trophy, which goes to the player who best combines sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and ability. "I love Nashville. It's a great city."

Nashville knows how to combine music, hockey and big events. It did it for the 2003 NHL Draft, the 2016 NHL All-Star Game, the 2017 Stanley Cup Final and the 2022 NHL Stadium Series, not to mention Nashville Predators games.

Calgary Flames center Mikael Backlund said he tells his buddies back home in Sweden that if they want to come to see him play in the NHL, "You gotta come to Nashville."

"It's such a special city, so different than Sweden," said Backlund, a finalist for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which goes to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community. "So, yeah, it's a city I really enjoy being in."

But this is the first time the city will host the NHL Awards.

It's also the first time the NHL will hold the NHL Awards and the NHL Draft in the same venue in the same year (and the first time it will hold both events in the same city in the same year since it did it in Vancouver in 2006).

The first round of the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS). Rounds 2-7 will be there Thursday (11 a.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS).

"I'm excited," said Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, a finalist for the Norris Trophy, which goes to the best defenseman. "Obviously, Nashville's a good spot. It's good what they did this year with the Draft being right after too. I know I'm excited to be here."

RELATED: [Complete list of NHL Awards finalists]

Bentley is a huge hockey fan. When the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022, they held a team party with the Cup at Dierks Bentley's Whiskey Row bar in Denver, and Bentley made an appearance. So having him host the NHL Awards in Nashville seems natural. He will perform as part of the show, including a couple of music parody pieces.

"Probably couldn't find a better guy to do this for us," Makar said.

The Nashville feel will continue throughout the show. The Predators will be represented among the presenters by legendary goalie Pekka Rinne, outgoing general manager David Poile and incoming GM Barry Trotz. John Bohlinger will perform with his house band, JB and the Lady Byngs, and local artists like Kidd G, Brett Kissel, MacKenzie Porter and Alana Springsteen.

The NHL is shutting down Broadway, the main drag of honkytonks outside Bridgestone Arena. Brothers Osborne and Mitchell Tenpenny will play on stage for the crowd in the street, and portions of their performances will air as part of the show.

"Listen, when we're doing an award show in Nashville, we've got to lean into Nashville," NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer said. "We're going to really do as much as we can with regards to the show and country music and Nashville. There's way more music in this show than there's ever been in one of our award shows."

The NHL Awards were held in various locations in Las Vegas from 2009-19. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020.

In 2020, the NHL rolled out the award winners daily during the conference finals and the Cup Final. In 2021, the League aired a 30-minute TV show to reveal the winners of five awards after announcing the others earlier.

In 2022, the players returned to the NHL Awards in person in Tampa, but the show aired during the Cup Final. Even though COVID-19 protocols had eased, the schedule had still been pushed back due to the pandemic.

This year, the NHL Awards finally will be back to normal -- in the sense that the players will attend in person and the show will air between the Cup Final and the Draft -- but it will be unique.

Mayer said he started to get excited when went through the rundown of the show Saturday night.

"It feels very different from what it has been in the past," Mayer said. "This one definitely has a real country music feel."

NHL.com senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke contributed to this report