The historic season of the National Hockey League is over, but its echoes still coming from North America. And to be more precise — from Las Vegas. The draft ceremony will take place there in the coming days, and another important event took place before it. Today the league announced the winners of individual awards based on the results of the regular season.
The winners in a number of categories were already known. Some were announced today, but their victory was also predictable. For example, Connor Bedard had no competitors in the fight for the title of best rookie in the league, and Quinn Hughes had no competition for the award for the best defensive player of the season. All the intrigue reigned around the other three prizes.
The Vezina Trophy is among them. The top three contenders for the NHL's best regular season goaltender award included newly minted champion and Florida Panthers hero Sergei Bobrovsky, as well as Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets and Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks. Alas, Bobrovsky was unable to become a three-time Vezina winner. The Russian goalkeeper took only third place in the voting, in which general managers of league clubs took part. Only one of them put Bob in first place, which is why Sergei only scored 40 points. The remaining 31 general managers put Hellebuyck in first place, with 158 points. Demko, whom none of the voters chose first, ended up in the final second place (70 points).
Just statistics: in 58 championship games, Bobrovsky won 36 times and saved 91.5% of shots, Hellebuyck won 37 times in 60 games with a save percentage of 92.1, Demko won 35 times in 51 games and saved 91.8%. However, Sergei Andreevich is unlikely to be too upset. He already has two Vezinas, and now he also has the long-awaited Stanley Cup and universal recognition as a great hockey player.
The results of two other awards — the Ted Lindsay Award and the Hart Trophy — look much more controversial. The first prize is awarded to the most outstanding player of the regular season, and its owner is chosen by members of the league's players union (NHLPA), the second — to the most valuable player of the championship, which is determined by representatives of the league's journalists' association in each of the cities where there are NHL clubs. Nathan MacKinnon took home both awards. The Canadian star of the Colorado Avalanche became second in the list of top scorers of the regular season. In 82 games, he scored 140 points (51 goals and 89 assists).
MacKinnon had a really strong season, was the clear leader of his team and set a club record for scoring in the regular season. But his victory can hardly be called obvious. After all, there is Nikita Kucherov. Tampa's Russian striker performed even brighter than his opponent; for almost the entire season he led the scoring race and eventually won it, scoring an insane 144 points (44+100) in 81 games. Kuch became only the fifth player in the history of the league to reach 100 assists in one NHL championship game, and also rewrote a lot of personal records, club records, league records, and among all Russian players in history. But he did not receive due recognition.
In the voting for the Hart Trophy, the Russian came second and scored 1269 points, while MacKinnon scored 1740. This could be expected. Especially after the All-Star Game in Toronto, where Kucherov pointedly disdained the competitions that the NHL came up with. The attitude of North American journalists towards Nikita was already not the warmest due to his manner of communication, and after that “performance” representatives of the local media literally took up arms against the Tampa star. It is somewhat predictable that the Americans made a choice not in his favor.
But the selection of NHL players also looks surprising. Yes, they are more competent than journalists, but this makes their decision to nominate MacKinnon, not Kucherov, for the award no less strange. The whole situation looks like an ordinary robbery. Kucherov deserved at least one of the awards for which he was nominated. And it's unfair that he didn't get anything. At the ceremony itself, Kuch spoke in his own style; he answered the host’s questions rather coldly.
How are you? You don't look too good.
— Everything's fine.
— You might have your second Hart Trophy in your career. Where will you take the first one?
— He’s in my office.
— So much enthusiasm! What about next season? What would you like to get from him?
— I’ll try to win the Stanley Cup.
The presenter tried to get Nikita to talk, but he had no chance.
The only positive moment of the ceremony for Kucherov was his inclusion in the symbolic composition national team. And the first of two. Artemiy Panarin also entered there: the leader of the New York Rangers also had a phenomenal regular season, in which he scored a historic 120 points in his career (49+71). In the Hart voting, the Russian came only fifth (175 points), behind Connor McDavid (845) and Auston Matthews (756).
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