There were plenty of winners at the 2021 NHL Awards Night on Tuesday.
In-between Games 1 and 2 of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Final, the NHL hosted their annual Awards Night and there was some notable hardware handed out, including the Norris Trophy and the Vezina Trophy.
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Some awards were already announced prior to Tuesday night with the NHL staggering some of the announcements, but the main trophies were handed out last night in addition to the All-Star and Rookie Teams being revealed.
We will delve into this a bit deeper after Game 2 but, for now, we are going to run through all the awards dished out in the National Hockey League on Tuesday.
The main winners from the 2021 NHL Awards Night
Calder Trophy – Kirill Kaprizov
This was a no-brainer. While there were plenty of outstanding rookies in the National Hockey League during the 2020-21 regular season, none made the same impression as Kirill Kaprizov, who quickly proved to be the legit star that the Minnesota Wild have long craved.
A little older at 24 having plied his trade in the KHL for a few years, Kaprizov needed no adjustment to the NHL and he made the Wild an exciting team to watch again, dazzling with his mind-boggling array of skill and jaw-dropping ability to make sublime plays happen with the puck.
His highlight-reel of incredible plays could probably run for over 15 minutes given how many unbelievable moments there, and if the Wild can sign their stud to a new contract then the future looks very bright indeed.
Kaprizov finished the regular season with 27 goals and 24 assists for 51 points in 55 games while averaging 18:18 of total ice time, and he also displayed excellent instincts in the defensive zone with 18 blocked shots, 29 hits and 27 takeaways, so it was no surprise that the forward ran away with voting for the Calder Trophy.
Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson finished second in voting, and Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic finished third.
Vezina Trophy – Marc-Andre Fleury
It has been a long time coming but Marc-Andre Fleury, at the grand old age of 36-years-old, finally won the Vezina Trophy for the first time in his long and storied career – and it was richly deserved.
After what was a weird offseason for the future Hall of Famer after falling out of favor in Vegas with the Golden Knights anointing Robin Lehner as their new No. 1 starter, Fleury did his talking on the ice and any frustration he had at the situation was channeled into his performances.
👋 your 2021 Vezina Trophy winner 😁 pic.twitter.com/YKESPBbK45
— 🏆 - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) June 29, 2021
It translated to a vintage 2020-21 regular season for the three-time Stanley Cup winner, who went 26-10-0 with a 1.98 Goals Against Average and a .928 Save Percentage to go along with six shutouts.
Fleury carved out arguably the best season of his career and, although he had a few shaky moments in the Playoffs, the veteran proved that he’s still got plenty left in the tank and he may well add another championship to his resume before he calls it a day.
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won the award in 2018-19, came second and Philipp Grubauer of the Colorado Avalanche finished third in voting.
Norris Trophy – Adam Fox
The New York Rangers are no strangers to producing Hall of Fame defensemen, and they may have another one on their hands in Adam Fox, who became the fourth player in franchise history to win the coveted award after Doug Harvey (1961-62), Harry Howell (1966-67) and Brian Leetch (1991-92).
Allowed to leave both the Calgary Flames and the Carolina Hurricanes – don’t they look stupid now – Fox morphed into a bona-fide top-four defenseman in the NHL in 2020-21, one who can produce offense as well be responsible in his own zone.
Winning the Norris Trophy was already surreal enough. Receiving it from his childhood idol? On another level.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) June 30, 2021
More from the NHL’s best defenseman: pic.twitter.com/zgCPTsQxHn
Paired with stay-at-home defenseman Ryan Lindgren allows Fox to do what he does best, and the 23-year-old finished the season with 47 points (5 G, 42 A) in 55 games, which was second among all NHL defensemen.
Fox led the Rangers in average ice time per game (24:42), power play time (3:45) and shorthanded time (2:36), and he also scored 23 power play goals, had 102 blocked shots and finished third in takeaways with 38.
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar finished second in voting, while Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning finished third.
Hart Trophy / Ted Lindsay Award – Connor McDavid
It was clean up time for Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid who won both the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player in the NHL, and the Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s most outstanding player.
That probably doesn’t come as a surprise given just how special a player McDavid is, but he did make history by becoming just the second player in the 97-year history of the Hart Trophy to be voted for unanimously, following in the footsteps of the great Wayne Gretzky who earned each of the 63 first-place votes in 1991-92 after recording a 212 point season.
While McDavid didn’t crack 200 plus points, he did lead the entire NHL with 105 points (33 G, 72 A), and he also led the league in even-strength points (68) and power play points (37), while he was second in both goals and game-winning goals (11).
ICYMI: @cmcdavid97 became the second unanimous winner in the 97-year history of the Hart Memorial Trophy and also received the players’ vote for the Ted Lindsay Award during 2021 #NHLAwards presented by Bridgestone.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 30, 2021
All the #NHLStats: https://t.co/PWe5IaR7ZF pic.twitter.com/YMBeKLoHD4
McDavid had 33 multipoint games and 18 with at least three points, and those kind of stats are exactly why he won both the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews came in second in voting for the Hart Trophy and Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon finished third, while Matthews and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins were the other finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award.
All-Star / All-Rookie Teams
These were the 2020-21 NHL All-Star and All-Rookie Teams:
2020-21 NHL All-Rookie Team
G: Alex Nedeljkovic – Carolina Hurricanes
D: K’Andre Miller – New York Rangers
D: Ty Smith – New Jersey Devils
F: Kirill Kaprizov – Minnesota Wild
F: Josh Norris – Ottawa Senators
F: Jason Robertson – Dallas Stars
2020-21 NHL First All-Star Team
G: Andrei Vasilevskiy – Tampa Bay Lightning
D: Adam Fox – New York Rangers
D: Cale Makar – Colorado Avalanche
F: Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers
F: Mitchell Marner – Toronto Maple Leafs
F: Brad Marchand – Boston Bruins
2020-21 NHL Second All-Star Team
G: Marc-Andre Fleury – Vegas Golden Knights
D: Victor Hedman – Tampa Bay Lightning
D: Dougie Hamilton – Carolina Hurricanes
F: Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs
F: Mikko Rantanen – Colorado Avalanche
F: Jonathan Huberdeau – Florida Panthers
It is fair to say that there wasn’t any great surprises in any of the award categories, and the NHL got it pretty spot on with the All-Star and Rookie Teams too. Now we wait to see who will win the most important prize of them all.