Auston Matthews Wins Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award To Headline 2022 NHL Awards

There was a changing of the guard at the 2022 NHL Awards in Tampa on Tuesday night.

Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs emerged as the big winner, taking home the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player as voted by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association and the Ted Lindsay Award as MVP voted by the players.

It’s the first win in both categories for the 24-year-old. Matthews finished second in Hart voting in the 2021 season, and won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2016.

Matthews became the first player in a decade to hit the 60-goal mark in 2022, collecting his second-straight Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer. As just the fifth repeat winner since the award was introduced in 1999, he joins Pavel Bure (2000, 2001), Steven Stamkos (2010, 2012) and Sidney Crosby (2010, 2017) as a two-time Rocket Richard recipient. Crosby and Stamkos tied with 51 goals each in 2010.

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has won the award nine times since 2008.

It’s positive to see the players and the writers aligned in their support of Matthews — whose scoring prowess and importance to his team is undeniable. But Tuesday’s wins may come as a bit of a surprise to the casual hockey fan.

After posting a league-leading 105 points in the shortened 56-game campaign in 2020-21 and taking home his second Hart and Ted Lindsay, Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers repeated as scoring champion with 123 points in this regular season, but finished second to Matthews in Hart voting. the NHL Players’ Association does not reveal the voting details for the Ted Lindsay Award.

Last season, McDavid swept the Hart voting, collecting all 100 first-place votes. This year, Matthews earned 119 first-place votes and a total of 1,630 voting points. McDavid was the runner up with 29 first-place votes and a total of 1,111 voting points. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers finished third with 24 first-place votes and 738 points.

Shesterkin, 26, finished fifth in voting for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year last season. This year, he was the runaway winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender, which is voted by the league’s 32 general managers.

Shesterkin received 29 first-place votes and 154 voting points. Runner-up Jacob Markstrom of the Calgary Flames received 53 voting points and third-place Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators was third with 32.

In 2021, the Calder was a slam-dunk win for Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild, who captured 99 of 100 possible first-place votes.

This year, Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings became the second defenseman in three seasons to be lauded, after Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche took home the award in 2020. A surprise selection at sixth overall in the 2019 draft, Seider’s 50 points ranked him fourth among all rookies this season, and third among all first-year blueliners in the past 30 years.

Decked out once again in his signature bow tie, Seider admitted to not having a speech prepared and gently chided his parents for not being on hand in Tampa to see him collect his award, as they had been on vacation in Croatia. In the end, his win was assured. He collected 170 first-place votes and 1,853 voting points, well ahead of second-place Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks (15 first-place votes and 1,191 points) and third-place Michael Bunting of the Toronto Maple Leafs (seven first-place votes and 877 points).

In the closest race of the night, Makar edged out Roman Josi to capture his first Norris Trophy. He landed as runner-up to Adam Fox of the New York Rangers last season, and was named rookie of the year just two seasons ago.

Makar, 23, hit a career high with 86 regular-season points, finishing second to Josi (96 points) in scoring by defenseman. And while Norris voting is based on regular-season performances only, Makar has gone on to further showcase his value as the Colorado Avalanche have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.

With his team leading 2-1 in their best-of-seven series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Makar is tied with Nikita Kucherov of Tampa Bay for third in playoff scoring with 26 points, and is the betting favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP if the Avalanche prevail.

Josi, 32, is the Nashville captain and won the Norris in 2020. His 96 points this season were a career high for him, and the most by a defenseman since Phil Housley put up 97 with the Winnipeg Jets in the 1992-93 season. Despite his position as a blueliner, Josi also led his team in scoring for the third-straight year.

In the end, the voters from the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association gave Josi the edge with 98 first-place votes. Makar received 92, but polled higher in top-five ballots. He eked out the victory by a margin of 1,631 to 1,606 points.

Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2018 Norris winner, finished third in Norris balloting for a fourth-straight season.

With a live awards ceremony for the first time in three years, the NHL opted for a scaled-down, more intimate event. Actor Kenan Thompson from the ‘Mighty Ducks’ movies and Saturday Night Live reprised his hosting duties from the last live event in 2019. Once again, he was on point, showing off his razor-sharp wit and deep hockey knowledge.

In keeping with many modern awards shows, the league chose to roll out a number of winners before the actual ceremony. Previously announced winners:

• Mark Messier NHL Leadership 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 presented by MassMutual – Noel Acton of Baltimore, Md.
• Frank J. Selke Trophy – Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
• Lady Byng Memorial Trophy – Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
• King Clancy Memorial Trophy – P.K. Subban, New Jersey Devils

On Tuesday, fans also learned that there will be a first-time winner for the 2022 Jim Gregory Award as the NHL’s general manager of the year. The three finalists as voted by a panel of league executives and media members at the end of the second round of the playoffs are Stanley Cup Finalists Julien BriseBois of the Lightning and Joe Sakic of the Avalanche, along with first-year general manager Chris Drury of the Rangers.

The general manager of the year award was first introduced in 2010. It will be presented this year at the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal on July 7-8. Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders was the back-to-back winner in 2020 and 2021.