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Draisaitl, Makar headline major NHL award winners

In a flurry ahead of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, the NHL announced the major award winners from its elongated 2019-20 season.

Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl won his first Hart Trophy, beating out finalists Nathan MacKinnon and Artemi Panarin. Draisaitl set the high-bar for production in the pandemic-shortened season, counting 43 goals and 110 points in 71 games. Panarin and MacKinnon led their respective teams into the postseason with massive individual campaigns and perhaps without the same level of superstar help, but weren’t able to convince voters to overlook the considerable production discrepancies after finishing with 95 and 93 points, respectively.

Kicking off the string of announcements, Cale Makar won a decision over fellow star defenseman Quinn Hughes for the Calder Trophy and the league’s top rookie. Makar had 50 points in 57 games, which was three less than Hughes, who appeared in 11 more games than the Colorado Avalanche star. It was expected to be a narrow vote between the two, but Makar did wind up securing the trophy in reasonably convincing fashion, securing 116 first-place votes compared to 53 from Hughes.

EDMONTON, ALBERTA - AUGUST 07: Leon Draisaitl #29 of the Edmonton Oilers warms up before Game Four of the Western Conference Qualification Round at Rogers Place on August 07, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
Leon Draisaitl was named NHL MVP after a hugely productive regular season, while the league also announced its Calder, Norris and Vezina Trophy winners. (Getty)

Roman Josi won his first Norris Trophy as a first-time nominee for the league’s top defenseman, edging Washington Capitals blueliner John Carlson and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Josi did not have quite the same offensive numbers as Carlson, but finished second in both goals and points in his ninth season with the Nashville Predators, and commanded 109 first-place votes.

Finally, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets captured his first Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender, taking the vote over Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins and defending winner Andre Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Hellebuyck had the most shutouts, second-most wins and the seventh-best save percentage among qualified netminders in support of a Jets team that was decimated on defense before the season began.

The NHL also released its All-Star first and second teams, as well as its all-rookie squad.

First team

Leon Drasaitl, David Pastrnak, Artemi Panarin
Roman Josi, John Carlson
Connor Hellebuyck

Second team

Nathan MacKinnon, Nikia Kucherov, Brad Marchand
Victor Hedman, Alex Pietrangelo
Tuukka Rask

All-Rookie team

Dominik Kubalik, Victor Olofsson, Nick Suzuki
Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes
Elvis Merzlikins

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