2014 NHL Awards Results

Here are the results of the five major NHL awards that were handed out on June 24th in Las Vegas, as well as a brief analysis for each one:

Hart Trophy: Sydney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (Last Year: Alex Ovechkin)

Beating out Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks and Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers, Sidney Crosby won the NHL's most valuable player award.  This is his second career Hart Trophy, and he now becomes the only other Penguin with multiple MVP awards, as Mario Lemieux had three.  He also took home the Art Ross Trophy for leading the NHL in points with 104, and the Ted Lindsay Award for the "most outstanding player" as voted on by the NHL Players Association.  Crosby had 36 goals, 68 assists (league-leading), and totaled 104 points.  He never went more than two consecutive games without obtaining a point, earned multiple points in 30 games, and on November 29th became the sixth-fastest player in NHL history (fastest among active players) to reach 700 career points.

Vezina Trophy: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins (Last Year: Sergei Bobrovsky)

Beating out Semyon Varlamov of the Colorado Avalanch and Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Tuukka Rask won the NHL's award for the best goaltender in the league.  This is his first career Vezina Trophy, and is the second Bruins net minder in the past six years (Tim Thomas the other) to have won a Vezina.  Rask earned a 36-15-6 record this season as the Bruins led the Eastern Conference in team defense, allowing 2.08 goals per game.  He also was the only goalie to rank in the top five of each major statistical category for goaltenders, as he was first in shutouts with seven, second in save percentage with one of .930, fourth in goals-against average with one of 2.04, and fifth  in wins with 36.

Norris Trophy: Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks (Last Year: P.K. Subban)

Beating out Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators, Duncan Keith won the NHL's award for the best defenseman in the league.  This is his second career Norris Trophy, and is now the only active defenseman with multiple wins.  Keith had 55 assists last season, which led all defensemen, and had 61 points which was second among all defensemen.  He also played a team-high 24:38 minutes per game, which marks the ninth time that Keith has led the Blackhawks in time-on-ice.

Selke Trophy: Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins (Last Year: Jonathan Toews)

Beating out Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, Patrice Bergeron won the NHL's award for the best defensive forward in the league.  This is the second time in three years in which Bergeron has won the award, and tonight he also took home the NHL Foundation Player award for the NHL player who applies the core values of hockey to help the lives of people in his community, as well as the cover for EA Sports NHL '15 over rival P.K. Subban. Bergeron won 1.015 face-offs last year, which led the league and also was the most by any player over the past seven seasons, and the Bruins allowed the fewest goals per game at 2.08.  He had a plus-minus of +38 (a career high) and played 1:57 minutes per game shorthanded, which led all Bruins.

Calder Trophy: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche (Last Year: Jonathan Huberdeau)

Beating out Ondrej Palat of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tyler Johnson of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nathan MacKinnon won the NHL's rookie-of-the-year award.  The #1 overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft, MacKinnon scored 24 goals, had 39 assists, 63 points, 8 power-play goals, 5 game-winning goals, and took 241 shots, all of which either led all rookies or was tied for the lead.  He also broke Wayne Gretzky's record of 12 for the longest single-season point streak by a player age 18 or younger, with a 13-game streak of his own.