Goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck is the first Winnipeg jets Player to win the Hart Memorial trophy as the most precious player in the NHL to his team.
Hellebuyck succeeded in the rare double, winning the Hart and Vezina trophies as a league goalkeeper on Thursday.
Hellebuyck is only the eighth goalkeeper and the first from Carey Price in 2015 to win the MVP Prize and only four other goalkeepers won both in the same season. It was the second consecutive year that he won the best honor as a goalkeeper and it is the third Vezina in his career, also winning in 2020.
With 81 of the 191 votes in first place for 1,346 points, Hellebuyck was ahead of the EDMONTON Leon Draisaitl Oilers striker for the Hart. Draisaitl finished with 53 votes of first place for 1,209 points. Hellebuyck was an almost unanimous selection for the Vezina, receiving 31 of the 32 first place votes.
Hellebuyck could not even have dreamed that he would win a Hart trophy.
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“As a goalkeeper, you have a bit of your own prices,” said Hellebuyck. “You just look at the attackers and the D-Men accumulate them throughout the years and you simply enter your own world, the world of goalkeepers. So, when the Hart drifts a little towards the goalkeeper, you take a remark and that really gives you the impression that you have done something special.”
The 32 -year -old man interrupted the Jets of the Trophy of Presidents (best record) and the William Jennings trophy (less goals authorized by the team), and led the NHL in victories and goals against the average among the usual beginners in the regular season.
As a rule, the NHL presents their prices during a night price exhibition, but this year, they gave them individually. And Hellebuyck discovered that he had won the two when they surprised him after making a fishing.
“It was not the most traditional way of doing things,” he said. “I sort of out of the water and I saw everything and I really had no idea. Everyone around me did a great job to keep it a surprise and I was shocked. All morning, I was just shocked by the jaw because the way it took place, it was just a really cool experience. ”
Nikita Kucherov of Draisaitl and Tampa Bay were the other finalists in the Hart trophy. Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tampa Bay and Darcy Kuemper of the Kings of Los Angeles were also nominated for the Vezina trophy.
Jets striker Kyle Connor finished 17th by voting for the Hart, receiving two fifth place votes.
Hellebuyck and Connor were both elected to the first NHL Stars team.
The members of the Professional Association of Hockey Writers vote on the MVP Prize, while the 32 general directors of the NHL vote on the best honor of goalkeeper. The vote is led before the STANLEY Cup qualifiers.
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