TAMPA, Fla. – Toronto Maple Leaf star striker Auston Matthews won the HartL Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player and the Ted Lindsay Award as the NHLPA’s Most Outstanding Player at the NHL on Tuesday night.
Matthews, 24, scored 60 goals and led the NHL for the second season in a row. He set a Maple Leaf franchise record and one-season record for the most American-born player. He led the NHL in equal goals (44), goals in a game (0.82) and strokes (348). He was in sixth place with 106 points, the highest total in his career.
Matthews earned 119 first place votes for the Hart Trophy, which is voted by the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA). Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers was second in the vote and New York Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterk was third.
Matthews was the first Maple Leaf player to win the NHLPA’s Outstanding Player Award, which players vote for and was first awarded in 1971. McDavid and Nashville Predators defender Roman Josi were second to Ted Lindsay. Matthews is the second American-born player to win the award with Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane in 2015-2016.
“The fact that the players you face every night will respect you,” he said, “it just means a lot to me.”
The closest vote of the evening was given by the Norris Trophy, which the PHWA gave to the NHL’s best defender. Colorado Avalanche defender Cale Makar won his first Norris and 92nd first-place vote with 1,631 votes. Josi was second (1606), gaining more first place votes than Makar (98). The top five ballot papers will be divided into 10-7-5-3-1 points. Makar was named on 195 ballot papers and Josi on 194 ballot papers.
Tampa Bay Lightning defender Victor Hedman was third behind Norris.
“We have (Wednesday) some important things to do,” Makar said, referring quickly back to the Stanley Cup final. “But for the boys, it’s okay for them.”
Šesterkin won the Vezina Trophy as the best goalkeeper to be voted on by NHL head coaches. The other finalists were Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames and Juuse Saros of Nashville Predators.
“It’s a great honor to be here,” Shesterkin said at the ceremony. “It’s good to play for the New York Rangers, it’s an incredible feeling.”
Shesterkin led the NHL with 53 games with 2.07 goals and a defeat of 0.935, scoring 110 points in the Rangers’ main season, the highest in franchise history. He was nominated for Vezina for the first time and joined Henrik Lundqvist and John Vanbiesbrouck as Rangers, who won Vezina since the current award criteria were established in 1981-82.
Some assumed he could be the unanimous choice, but first place went to Carolina Fredrik Andersen, Tampa Bay goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevski and New York Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin.
Detroit Red Wings defender Moritz Seider won the Newcomer of the Year title in the PHWA-voted Calder Memorial Trophy. He played all 82 games for the Red Wings and averaged 23:02 ice times per game, the highest of any newcomers. He led all the newcomers in terms of points (50), the highest in the first 30 years for the first year of blueliner. He led all the newcomers with productive passes (43) and power points (21).
“It’s a real honor, I wasn’t much prepared for a speech, so I’m just going with it,” he said. “Detroid is a great organization, Red Wing is a lot of fun.”
Seider received 170 first place votes. Anaheim Ducks striker Trevor Zegras, who scored several goals this season, was second with 15 first place votes. Third in the vote was Michael Bunting, a newcomer to the Toronto Maple Leafs who stood out at the age of 26.
Julien BriseBois of Tampa Bay Lightning, Chris Drury of the New York Rangers and Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche are the three finalists for the 2021-2022 Director General Jim Gregory Award. The winner will be announced at the NHL draft in Montreal next month.
The NHL Awards ceremony took place on the day between the 3rd and 4th games of the Stanley Cup in Tampa Armature Works. The league has previously announced several awards during play-offs: Mark Messier NHL Leader Award: Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings; Jack Adams Award: Daryl Sutter, Calgary Flames; Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens; Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award: Noel Acton of Baltimore, MD. Frank J. Clear Trophy for Best Defender: Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins; Lady Byn’s Memorial Cup for the Most Gentlemen: Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets; King Clancy Memorial Trophy for Community Work: PK Subban, New Jersey Devils.
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