Kucherov nets MVP award
LAS VEGAS — Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov won the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award on Wednesday night, receiving the NHL’s highest honors for his 128-point regular season for the Lightning.
The Russian right wing also formally picked up the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s top scorer at the hockey world’s annual Vegas ceremony, held this year at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kucherov’s Russian teammate in Tampa Bay, won his first Vezina Trophy as the top goalie in another bittersweet recognition of the Lightning, who won 62 regular-season games before getting swept by Columbus in the first round of the playoffs.
Calgary’s Mark Giordano won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, earning the award for the first time at 35 years old. Vancouver forward Elias Pettersson won the Calder Trophy given to the league’s top rookie, and Ryan O’Reilly added his first Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward to the Blues’ Stanley Cup victory.
Barry Trotz of the New York Islanders won his second Jack Adams Award as the best coach while Boston’s Don Sweeney was named the league’s top general manager.
Kucherov, who turned 26 on Monday, received 164 of 171 first-place votes in a runaway victory over two-time MVP Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh, who finished second in the voting, and 2017 Hart winner Connor McDavid of Edmonton. Kucherov, who posted the NHL’s highest-scoring individual season since 1996, also won the Lindsay Award as his fellow players’ choice for the league’s most outstanding player.
After winning the Stanley Cup and subsequently leaving the Capitals last summer, Trotz engineered an impressive one-season turnaround for the Islanders. New York went 48-27-7 for a 23-point increase from 2018.
Wild forward Jason Zucker won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership and humanitarian contributions to hockey. Zucker, who is from Las Vegas, has done extensive fundraising for children’s causes in Minnesota.
Florida center Aleksander Barkov won his first Lady Byng Trophy as the player best combining sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and ability. Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds won the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award.
Vasilevskiy beat out Dallas’ Ben Bishop and Lehner for the Vezina. The Russian goalie led the NHL with 39 victories.
