There was no questioning who the best player in the National Hockey League was this past regular season. That happened to be Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid.
McDavid was honored by the NHL on Tuesday as he took home the Hart Trophy, recognizing "the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team," as selected by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. It is the second time in his NHL career that he's been named as the league's Most Valuable Player.
What made this season's honor much more significant, though, is McDavid was named the unanimous winner of the Hart Trophy, earning all 100 first place votes as league MVP. McDavid becomes just the second player in NHL history to be named the unanimous winner of the Hart Trophy, joining Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, who won the award in 1982 after earning all 63 votes following his 212-point campaign with the Oilers.
The 24-year-old ended his 2020-21 season as the league's leading scorer with an impressive 105 points in 56 games, while also leading the league with 72 assists. His 105 points landed him his third-career Art Ross Trophy as the league's top point scorer.
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If he had played a full 82-game season, McDavid would have been on an incredible 154-point pace. His 1.88 points per-game pace this past year is the best season production rate the NHL has seen since Jaromir Jagr averaged 1.82 points per-game in the 1995-96 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
McDavid finished the year 21 points ahead of the next closest scorer in the NHL, who happened to be teammate Leon Draisaitl, who was the recipient of the Ted Lindsay Award, Art Ross Trophy and Hart Trophy last season. 15 points behind Draisaitl was the next-highest scorer in the NHL, Brad Marchand, who scored 69 points (29+40) in 53 games with the Boston Bruins.
By winning the Hart Trophy, McDavid becomes the fifth player in NHL history to win the award multiple times before turning 25-years-old. Meanwhile, the Oilers also become the second team in NHL history with different Hart Trophy winners in back-to-back years. The only other team with that distinction is the Bruins with Phil Esposito winning in 1969 and Bobby Orr winning in 1970.
McDavid also came away with the Ted Lindsay Award on Tuesday night, honoring the "most outstanding player in the regular season, as judged by the members of the NHL Players' Association."
Here is a look at the rest of the regular season award winners from the 2020-21 campaign:
Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year): Kirill Kaprizov - LW - Minnesota Wild
After playing professionally in Russia for five seasons after being selected in the fifth round (135th overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft, Kaprizov made his long-awaited NHL debut this past season and generated rave reviews among many in the league.
In 55 games played with the Wild this season, the 24-year-old managed to score 27 goals and add 24 assists for 51 points. Kaprizov finished the year leading the NHL in rookie scoring, while his 27 goals were 10 more than the next closest rookies in the league.
On top of leading the league in rookie scoring, Kaprizov became an offensive leader for the Wild in his first season in Minnesota. The Russian winger led the team in scoring, as he helped push the Wild back to the playoffs with a 35-16-5 record and 75 points in the Pacific Division.
Other Calder Trophy finalists: Alex Nedeljkovic - G - Carolina Hurricanes; Jason Robertson - LW - Dallas Stars
Vezina Trophy (Goalie of the Year): Marc-Andre Fleury - Vegas Golden Knights
Fleury wins the Vezina Trophy after being named a finalist for the award for the first time in his 17-year NHL career.
The 36-year-old netminder put up the best stats of his career in the COVID-19-shortened season, amassing a 26-10-0 record in 36 games played with a 1.98 goals-against average, a .928 save percentage and six shutouts. Along with goaltender Robin Lehner, Fleury went on to win the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltending duo in the NHL that allowed the fewest goals during the regular season.
Fleury was able to finish the regular season ranked third in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts among goaltenders who played at least 20 games in the 2020-21 season.
In his fourth season with the Golden Knights, Fleury helped lead Vegas to a second place finish in the Pacific Division, posting a 40-14-2 record and 82 points in 56 games.
Other Vezina Trophy finalists: Andrei Vasilevskiy - Tampa Bay Lightning; Philipp Grubauer - Colorado Avalanche
Norris Trophy (Defenseman of the Year): Adam Fox - New York Rangers
Fox followed up an exceptional 2019-20 rookie campaign with a breakout year on the Rangers blue line. The 23-year-old finished second in league scoring among defensemen with 47 points (5+42) in 55 games, finishing one point behind Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie for the league lead.
If Fox had played in a full 82-game season with the Rangers this year, he was on pace for 69 points (7+62) in 81 games played.
Following his rookie season, Fox just missed out on being a finalist for the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year, coming fourth in league voting. In Year 2 with the Rangers, he ends up being a Norris Trophy winner.
Fox becomes the first Rangers defenseman to win the Norris Trophy since Hall of Famer Brian Leetch did so for a second time in 1997. He also becomes the fourth defenseman in franchise history to take home the Norris.
Other Norris Trophy finalists: Cale Makar - Colorado Avalanche; Victor Hedman - Tampa Bay Lightning
Here are some other NHL honors for the 2020-21 regular season:
- King Clancy Memorial Trophy: Pekka Rinne - G - Nashville Predators
- Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: Oskar Lindblom - LW - Philadelphia Flyers
- Selke Trophy: Aleksander Barkov - C - Florida Panthers
- Lady Byng Trophy: Jaccob Slavin - D - Carolina Hurricanes
- Jack Adams Award: Rod Brind'Amour - Carolina Hurricanes
- Jim Gregory Award: Lou Lamoriello - New York Islanders
- Mark Messier Leadership Award: Patrice Bergeron - C - Boston Bruins
- Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award: Kevin Hodgson
G - Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL)
D - Adam Fox (NYR)
D - Cale Makar (COL)
LW - Brad Marchard (BOS)
C - Connor McDavid (EDM)
RW - Mitchell Marner (TOR)
G - Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK)
D - Victor Hedman (TBL)
D - Dougie Hamilton (CAR)
LW - Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA)
C - Auston Matthews (TOR)
RW - Mikko Rantanen (COL)
G - Alex Nedeljkovic (CAR)
D - K'Andre Miller (NYR)
D - Ty Smith (NJD)
FW - Kirill Kaprizov (MIN)
FW - Josh Norris (OTT)
FW - Jason Robertson (DAL)