‘Shocked': Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck wins both Hart, Vezina trophies
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is the first Winnipeg Jets player to ever win the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player to his team.
Hellebuyck pulled off the rare double, winning both the Hart and Vezina trophies as the league's top goaltender on Thursday.
Hellebuyck is just the eighth goalie and the first since Carey Price in 2015 to win the MVP award and only four other goalies have won both in the same season. It's the second straight year he's won the best goalie honour and it's the third Vezina of his career, also winning in 2020.
With 81 of the 191 first-place votes for 1,346 points, Hellebuyck edged Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl for the Hart. Draisaitl finished with 53 first-place votes for 1,209 points. Hellebuyck was a near-unanimous selection for the Vezina, receiving 31 of the 32 first-place votes.
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Hellebuyck couldn't have even dreamed he'd win a Hart Trophy.
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'As a goalie, kinda you have your own awards,' said Hellebuyck. 'You just watch forwards and D-men just rack them up all through the years and you kinda just get into your own world, the goaltending world. So when the Hart kinda drifts towards the goalie, you take notice and it makes you really feel like you did something special.'
The 32-year-old backstopped the Jets to the Presidents' Trophy (best record) and the William Jennings Trophy (fewest goals allowed by team), and led the NHL in wins and goals against average among usual starters in the regular season.
Typically the NHL presents their awards during a one-night awards show, but this year they handed them out individually. And Hellebuyck found out he won both when they surprised him after doing some fishing.
'It wasn't the most traditional way of doing things,' he said. 'I kinda came off the water and saw it all and really had no idea. Everyone around me did a great job of keeping it a surprise and I was just shocked. The whole morning I was just kinda jaw-dropped shocked cause the way it went down, it was just a really cool experience.'
Draisaitl and Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov were the other Hart Trophy finalists. Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy and Darcy Kuemper of the Los Angeles Kings were also nominated for the Vezina Trophy.
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Jets forward Kyle Connor was 17th in voting for the Hart, receiving two fifth-place votes.
Both Hellebuyck and Connor were voted to the NHL's first all-star team.
Members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association vote on the MVP award, while the NHL's 32 general managers vote on the best goalie honour. The voting is conducted before the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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