(Las Vegas) There was the appearance of a race. Of a dilemma. The Tampa Bay Lightning even sent media representatives a selection of statistics to promote Nikita Kucherov’s candidacy. Ultimately, however, there was only one possible name.
Nathan MacKinnon won his first career Hart Trophy on Thursday, as well as the Ted Lindsay Trophy. The former is awarded to the team’s most valuable player as voted on by print journalists. The latter is awarded to the season’s most valuable athlete and is presented by the NHL Players’ Association.
In the 50-plus years of the two honours together, 15 players have received them in the same year. Lafleur, Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, Hull, Fedorov, Lindros, Hasek, Jagr, Sakic, St-Louis – in short, the greatest of their era. More recently, Matthews, Crosby, Ovechkin and McDavid have followed suit. And now MacKinnon.
What was shaping up to be a close vote never was. The Colorado Avalanche superstar received 137 of a possible 194 first-place votes for the Hart Trophy, well ahead of Kucherov (50). Under a scoring system based on first- to fifth-place votes, the Nova Scotian beat the Russian by 1,740 points to 1,269.
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Nikita Kucherov
Kucherov may have won the NHL scoring championship in 2023-24, but his opponent was a force to be reckoned with at five-on-five. That’s probably what made the difference.
At the end of a soporific, if succinct, gala, during which the Norris (Quinn Hughes, best defender), Calder (Connor Bedard, rookie of the year) and Vezina (Connor Hellebuyck, goalie of the year) trophies were also presented, the praise rained down on MacKinnon.
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Connor Hellebuyck won the Vezina Trophy.
Those awards speak for themselves. He’s a phenomenal player, he’s dominating the league. I think he continues to improve, and that’s what you expect from the best.
Connor Hellebuyck, about Nathan MacKinnon
“He never takes a presence lightly,” Hughes added. “He’s a special player.”
The last campaign, for MacKinnon, was “historic,” Bedard said.
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Connor Bedard won the Calder Trophy.
“He’s really a fun player to watch,” continued the young man. All we hear about him is how committed and motivated he is. It’s cool to see a guy like that get rewarded for his work. »
The winner, who is still not the most eloquent of speakers, did not hide his pleasure at seeing his name added to “all the players [qu’il a] admired while growing up.”
He said he “didn’t yet realise” the “connection” that now linked him to the greatest in his sport.
In his speech during the gala and then in front of journalists, he paid tribute to his current and past teammates. These honors “did not happen by magic,” he recalled.
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Nathan MacKinnon has scored 51 goals and added 89 assists this season for 140 points.
The Hart touches him because, when he was younger, he “never thought” he would even be selected – he wins it today after finishing among the finalists three times.
As for the Ted Lindsay, awarded by his peers, he sees it as a mark of “respect”, mutual by the way. “Every year, when I vote, I think about it for a long time,” he assured. “I’m happy if the other guys in the league like my game! I have a lot of respect for them.”
Who got their own vote in 2024? His teammate Cale Makar, he replied immediately, causing a burst of laughter around him.
“But I thought about it for a long time!” “, he repeated, smiling.
The other winners of the various NHL trophies had been revealed in recent weeks. Among the main winners, Aleksander Barkov won the Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) for the second time in his career, while Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks was awarded the Jack Adams Trophy as coach par excellence of the last season.
In the NHL
Canucks settle cases
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Ilya Mikheyev
The Vancouver Canucks aren’t idle. After trading Ilya Mikheyev on Wednesday to free up cap space, they re-signed forward Dakota Joshua (four years, $13 million) and defenseman Tyler Myers (three years, $9 million) on Thursday, after signing defenseman Filip Hronek and forward Teddy Blueger in the days before. Quinn Hughes was pleased with the show of confidence the club’s management has in the current core. “They’re doing everything they can to make us successful, and you can’t ask for more,” he said. With about $12 million left to spend in 2024-25, the Canucks still have to sign Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov or both will become unrestricted free agents next Monday.
The Sharks are active
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Macklin Celebrini
The San Jose Sharks don’t want to draw attention to the draft just because they have the No. 1 pick in the first round. They made their fourth and fifth trades in less than 10 days on Thursday. They first gave up No. 1 picks in the first round.er and 2e rounds (14e and 42e) to the Buffalo Sabers in order to advance to 11e overall. Then they acquired the negotiating rights to Carl Grundstrom from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Kyle Burroughs. If Grundstrom re-signs in San Jose, he will become the fourth new player to join the roster in just a few days, joining Ty Dellandrea (from Dallas), Barclay Goodrow (from New York) and Jake Walman (from Detroit). That won’t make the Sharks a competitive team next season, but they’ll obviously want to give rookies Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith some help.
Mangiapane in Washington
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Andrew Mangiapane
The Washington Capitals continue their surprising shopping spree. Days after acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings, they added winger Andrew Mangiapane to their roster, giving the Calgary Flames a 2025 second-round pick in return. Mangiapane, 28, will likely be looking to rediscover his offensive touch in Washington, having been limited to 17 and 14 goals after scoring 35 in 2021-22. He could become a very viable replacement for TJ Oshie if, as expected, Oshie is sidelined next season with a recurring back issue.