Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon brought home the hardware at Thursday’s NHL Awards show, winning the Hart Memorial Trophy, left, and Ted Lindsay Award.
L.E. Baskow | AP photo
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LAS VEGAS — Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was the big winner at Thursday’s NHL awards show, taking home the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP and the Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s most outstanding player as decided by the NHL Players Association.
MacKinnon, who helped lead the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup championship two years ago and was a finalist for the Hart for the fourth time and the second time for the Lindsay, had never won either award.
“Every player I grew up idolizing has their name on these things,” MacKinnon said. “To be a part of that company is surreal. It hasn’t really sunk in and it’s a special thing.”
Three other major awards where handed out earlier Thursday.
Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard was selected as the league’s top rookie, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy. Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets won the Vezina Trophy as the top goalie, and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks was named winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the top defenseman.
MacKinnon had a career-high 140 points this season. He opened the season with a 35-game point streak at home, second all-time only to Wayne Gretzky.
Gretzky, who won the Hart eight times and Lindsay five times, and Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby congratulated McKinnon after he won those awards. Crosby has won the Hart twice and the Lindsay three times.
“That’s always pretty cool to see Wayne Gretzky pop up on your phone,” MacKinnon said. “Seeing his name like 100 times on (the Hart Trophy).”
MacKinnon finished the season with 54 goals and 89 assists.
He beat out Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers for the Hart and Kucherov and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Lindsay.
MacKinnon received 137 first-place votes and 1,740 points in the Hart voting by the media. Kucherov was second with 50 first-place votes and 1,269 points.
“I think once you get there, you really want to win it,” MacKinnon said. “A couple of times I was nominated, it was never even close I was going to win it. I just wanted to enjoy my week here, and I didn’t know if it was going to happen.”
Bedard, one of the most-hyped prospects in recent years, was last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick by the Blackhawks and led all rookies with 61 points. He also was first with 22 goals and his 39 assists tied for the lead as well despite missing 14 games with a broken jaw.
Bedard, who turns 19 on July 17, is too young to drink legally to celebrate winning the trophy. He also isn’t experiencing with as much as attention as last year when Bedard entered the draft as the unquestioned top draft pick.
“It’s been more quiet this summer, which has been pretty nice,” Bedard said.
Brock Faber of the Minnesota Wild and Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils were the other contenders.
Hellebuyck, who also won the Vezina in 2020, allowed 2.39 goals were per game, had a .921 save percentage and recorded five shutouts. Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks were the other finalists.
Hughes, won the Norris Trophy for the first time, led all defenseman with 92 points and 75 assists. He also scored 17 goals. Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators and Cale Makar of the Avalanche were the other contenders.
Hughes has two brothers, Jack and Luke also in the NHL.
“I probably love watching my brothers play most, but you’re next on that list,” Hughes said of the other finalists.
DRAFT STARTS TONIGHT
San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier is trying to keep whom he’s selecting with the first pick in the NHL draft on Friday a mystery, even after he more than hinted at his intentions last month.
After excitedly noting the big opportunity it was for a rebuilding franchise to select Macklin Celebrini upon winning the draft lottery last month, Grier has since decided to play coy regarding college hockey’s top player, who has topped draft charts for more than a year and has ties to the Bay Area.
“We’ll see come Friday night,” Grier said this week.
And yet, the third-year GM gushed when asked what more he’s learned about the Boston University center over the past six weeks.
“We had dinner with him and he sat at a table with eight grown men and held the conversation, and was at ease and comfortable,” Grier said of dining with Celebrini at the combine three weeks ago.
“When you sit down with him for two minutes, you really feel his drive and competitiveness. It just seeps out of him,” he added. “He’s a driven kid. He’s an alpha.”
In other words, the just-turned 18-year-old is the type of foundational piece Grier can use to add to a deepening talented prospect pool in rebuilding a franchise in the midst of its longest playoff drought, now spanning five years.
At 6 feet and nearly 200 pounds, Celebrini finished second in the nation with 32 goals and third with 64 points in 38 games as college hockey’s youngest player. Though from North British Columbia, Celebrini spent a year playing for the Junior Sharks program after his father, Rick, was hired as vice president of player health and performance for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
With Celebrini likely going first, the intrigue revolves around the order of the next five picks; whether the two-day draft will feature a major trade or two with Toronto’s Mitch Marner and Columbus’ Patrik Laine being shopped; and the visual indoor and outdoor spectacle Las Vegas’ year-old Sphere will play in hosting its first sporting event.
Celebrini’s looking forward to enjoying the Sphere experience in more ways than one.
“I’ve never been,” he said, Wednesday. “From everything I’ve heard about it, it’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
As for his lengthy pre-draft process coming to a close, Celebrini said: “It’s a big moment, something that I’ve dreamed of ever since I was a kid. To get this opportunity, I’m excited, nervous, grateful.”
The draft also serves as a coming out party for the Utah Hockey Club, following the franchise’s offseason relocation from Arizona to Salt Lake City.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” GM Bill Armstrong said of which color jerseys will be donned by the team’s new group of prospects, with Utah currently having 13 picks through the seven-round draft, starting with No. 6.
The Chicago Blackhawks will influence how the draft unfolds in having the No. 2 pick, a year after choosing Bedard No. 1 last year.
Without saying whom the Blackhawks have identified at No. 2, GM Kyle Davidson said his staff enjoyed a healthy debate in reaching their decision.
“There’s great options. And so when you have great options, then you have to talk it through,” Davidson said Thursday. “If it was a no-brainer, then we probably would have known months ago or whenever the lottery was.”
The prevailing wisdom has Chicago’s choice split between two defensemen, Michigan State’s Artyom Levshunov and Russian Anton Silayev, and Russian forward Ivan Demidov.
While Levshunov left his native Belarus to play in North America two years ago, the Russian prospects raise questions because NHL teams are restricted from entering the country to scout and meet players since the war in Ukraine.
Davidson hasn’t yet met Silayev, who is listed at 6-foot-7 and 211 pounds, but did get a chance to meet Demidov at a player agent-run combine of Russian players in Florida last week.
“A really impressive young man,” Davidson said of Demidov. “It was a really great piece of information for us. And a great sort of button to put on the draft process that was necessary for everything to come in.”
Anaheim is scheduled to pick third, followed by Columbus and Montreal.
Other top prospects among the top five are Medicine Hat Tigers center Cayden Lindstrom and University of Denver defenseman Zeev Buium.
Central Scouting Director Dan Marr says the top of this year’s draft class is especially deep at defensemen who bring a variety of strengths.
“No two are the same. It’s like a smorgasbord,” Marr said.
A position not deep in talent is goalie, with some projecting the first goaltender coming off the board in the third round. The top-rated goalie is considered to be Mikhail Yegorov, who is from Moscow, played for USHL Omaha last season and is committed to attending BU.
The overcall uncertainty due to how teams rank Demidov and Silayev, leaves Armstrong having various different plans at No. 6.
“It’s a guessing game right now,” he said.
What is clear is how Salt Lake City has embraced its NHL franchise.
“People are waiving to me in the street, and it’s kind of weird because they know who you are in Salt Lake City. And when you’re in Arizona, you went undetected,” Armstrong said. “This is a big thing in the state of Utah and in Salt Lake, and you can feel that.”