Lightning’s Kucherov a 3-time winner at NHL awards show

Louis Blues' first Stanley Cup championship was a team effort, that
was proven Wednesday night when the NHL handed out its annual individual
honors at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

While the Blues' Ryan O'Reilly won his first Frank J. Selke Trophy as the
NHL's top defensive forward, the winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy as the
league's most valuable player went to Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay
Lightning. He beat out finalists Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and
Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers for the honor.

After producing 128 points in the regular season, the Russian right wing won
the award for the first time. Kucherov, 26, also won the Ted Lindsay Award,
which goes to the league's outstanding player as selected by his fellow
players, and the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in scoring with a
career-best 41 goals and 87 assists.

O'Reilly, who was the Blues' top scorer with 77 points, beat out four-time
winner Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins and Mark Stone of the Vegas
Golden Knights for the Selke Trophy. O'Reilly had previously won the Conn
Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs during St.
Louis' title run.

Other major awards that were handed out included:

Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie: The Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy beat
out Ben Bishop of the Dallas Stars and Robin Lehner of the New York Islanders.
Vasilevskiy, winning the award for the first time, recorded an NHL-leading 39
victories.

Calder Trophy as the NHL's best rookie: Center Elias Pettersson, 20, of the
Vancouver Canucks beat out goalie Jordan Binnington of the Blues and
defenseman Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres. The fifth overall pick in 2017
by the Canucks, Pettersson collected a rookie-best 28 goals and 38 assists.

Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman: Mark Giordano of the Calgary
Flames. Giordano, 35, beat out the 2017 winner, Brent Burns of the San Jose
Sharks, and last year's honoree, Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman. Giordano, the
Flames captain, scored a career-best 74 points and led the league with a
plus-39 rating.

Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach (based on regular-season
performance): The Islanders' Barry Trotz, who beat out the Lightning's Jon
Cooper and the Blues' Craig Berube. Under Trotz, who won the award with the
Washington Capitals three years ago, the Islanders finished 48-27-7, a
23-point increase from 2018.

Lady Byng Trophy as the player best combining sportsmanship, gentlemanly
conduct and ability: Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, who beat out
O'Reilly and the Flames' Sean Monahan. A Lady Byng finalist for the third time
in four seasons, Barkov totaled a franchise-record 96 points while committing
only four minor penalties for the Panthers.

King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership and humanitarian contributions to
hockey: Forward Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild, a first-time winner of the
award, beating out finalists Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes and
Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers.

Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy to the player exemplifying the qualities of
perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey: Lehner, who has
struggled with addiction and bipolar disorder while becoming the third
Islanders player to win the award. Nick Foligno of the Columbus Blue Jackets
and Joe Thornton of the Sharks were the other finalists.

Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award: Wayne Simmonds of the Nashville Predators,
though most of his work off the ice during the regular season was with the
Philadelphia Flyers.

NHL's General Manager of the Year: Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins, the team
that lost the Stanley Cup Final in seven games to the Blues. Other finalists
were the Blues' Doug Armstrong and Don Waddell of the Carolina Hurricanes.

--Field Level Media