(Las Vegas) It looked like 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 the first Hart Trophy of his career on Thursday, as well as the Ted Lindsay Trophy. One crowns the most useful player to his team following a vote held among journalists from the written press. The other rewards the outstanding athlete of the season and is awarded by the NHL Players’ Association.
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.
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, albeit brief, gala, during which the Norris (Quinn Hughes, best defenseman), Calder (Connor Bedard, rookie par excellence) and Vézina (Connor Hellebuyck, goalie of the year) trophies were also presented. , praise rained down on MacKinnon.
“He never takes a presence lightly,” said Hughes. He is a special player. »
The last campaign, for MacKinnon, was “historic”, said Bedard.
“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 tribunes, did not shy away from his pleasure at seeing his name added to “all the players [he] admired growing up”.
He said he “does not yet realize” the “connection” that now links him to the greatest of his sport.
In his speech at the gala and then to reporters, he paid tribute to his current and past teammates. These honors “didn’t happen by magic,” he recalled.
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, given by his peers, he sees it as a mark of “respect”, which is also mutual. “Every year, when I vote, I think about it for a very 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 received their own vote in 2024? His teammate Cale Makar replied straight away, 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.