While the NHL has already revealed many of its award winners, there are still five awards being handed out today. The first of those is the Ted Lindsay Award which the league announced was won by Avalanche winger Nathan MacKinnon. The award is presented annually to “the most outstanding player in the NHL,” as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA.
This was the third time that the 28-year-old was a finalist for the award (2017-18 and 2019-20 were the others) but he is a first-time winner. MacKinnon blew past his previous career bests this season, scoring 51 goals and 89 assists; his 140 points were second-most in the NHL while setting a franchise record in the process. Not surprisingly, he led all Avalanche forwards in ice time.
MacKinnon had a 35-game home point streak, the second-longest streak in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky. He also led all scorers in even-strength points (92) and shots on goal (405), also new career highs. He becomes the second player in franchise history to win the award, joining Joe Sakic, who won back in 2000-01.
The other finalists for the award were Toronto’s Auston Matthews (who led the NHL in goals) and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (who tied for the league lead in assists while recording the most points).
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid won the award last year, but didn’t quite make the top three in player balloting.