Captain Quinn Hughes has done something else no other Vancouver Canuck has done before.
Thursday in Las Vegas, the first Vancouver Canucks defenceman to ever record more than 90 points in a season, also became the first Canuck ever to be named the NHL’s top defenceman.
Hughes led all defensemen with an NHL career-high 92 points (17 goals, 75 assists) in 82 games on his way to being awarded the James Norris Trophy.
“I think that thing when I know I’m doing really well is I always get two or three really good scoring chances a game,” Hughes said earlier this season. “I might not get on the board every game, but I’m going to have one look where I go home, or two looks when I go home, and I’m like, ‘[Darn], I could have [scored]; what should I have done there?’ I don’t know when that’s going to come in the game, but I’m going to have a couple of looks.”
Accordin to nhl.com, Hughes had the most even-strength points (54), second-most power-play points (38) and was fourth in plus/minus (plus-38) among defensemen. Hughes was tied for 10th in the NHL in ice time per game (24:41) and led the Canucks in SAT percentage with the team controlling 56.4 percent of shot attempts at 5-on-5 when he was on the ice.
He also helped the Canucks win the Pacific Division with a record of 50-23-9, breaking a string of disappointing seasons for the franchise.
“I’m obviously biased, but he’s had a [heck] of a year and we’re in the position we are because of him, so that’s usually what they vote for, guys that impacted a team,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet told nhl.com. “I don’t how many points we are, 20 or 30 points more than last year, he’s a big reason why.”
Meanwhile, Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was the big winner at Thursday’s NHL awards show, taking home the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP and the Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s most outstanding player as decided by the NHL Players Association.
Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard was selected as the league’s top rookie, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy and Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets won the Vezina Trophy as the top goalie.
MacKinnon had a career-high 140 points this season to win both awards for the first time. He opened the season with a 35-game point streak at home, second all-time only to Wayne Gretzky.
MacKinnon finished the season with 54 goals and 89 assists.
He beat out Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers for the Hart and Kucherov and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Lindsay.
Bedard, one of the most-hyped prospects in recent years, was last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick by the Blackhawks and led all rookies with 61 points. He also was first with 22 goals and his 39 assists tied for the lead as well.
Brock Faber of the Minnesota Wild and Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils were the other contenders.
Hellebuyck, who also won the Vezina in 2020, allowed 2.39 goals were per game, had a .921 save percentage and recorded five shutouts. Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks were the other finalists.
Hughes edged Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators and Cale Makar of the Avalanche for the Norris.
Awards announced earlier include:
— Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov won the Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward for the second time in four years.
— Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, awarded for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct. He also won it in 2021.
— Tocchet received the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year. He led the Canucks to the Pacific Division title.
— Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill was named the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award winner.
READ ALSO: Coach of the year finalist Tocchet’s personality paying off with Canucks