Joe Thornton and Brent Burns didn’t come away with individual NHL awards on Wednesday night in Las Vegas. But both Sharks players can say the honors went to deserving winners.
Thornton was a finalist for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which was won by New York Islanders goalie Robin Lehner. Burns was a finalist for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which was won by Mark Giordano of the Calgary Flames in overwhelming fashion.
The Masterton Trophy is given to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey, and the Norris Trophy is awarded to the NHL’s best defenseman.
Nikita Kucherov was the night’s big winner, as the Tampa Bay Lightning forward captured the Hart Trophy as the player adjudged most valuable to his team.
“I’m not ashamed to say I’m mentally ill, but that doesn’t mean mentally weak."
Robin Lehner's Bill Masterton Trophy acceptance speech was powerful. 👏 #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/BuhJE7UBz4
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 20, 2019
In a vote among NHL Players Association members, Kucherov also won the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the player deemed to have had the most outstanding regular season in the NHL. Kucherov had already won the Art Ross Trophy after he led the league with 128 regular season points.
Each of the prior two seasons, Thornton had to go through painful and exhausting rehabilitations after he tore both the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee in April 2017 and his right knee in Jan. 2018. The leader among active NHL players in career assists (1,065) and points (1,478) in 1,566 games played, Thornton, 39, finished his 21st NHL season with 51 points in 73 games. He announced Tuesday that he would be back with the Sharks next season.
This was the first time Thornton had been nominated for an NHL individual award since 2006, when he won the Hart and the Art Ross trophies.
Lehner finished the season with a 25-13-5 record and a .930 save percentage, as he and teammate Thomas Greiss won the William M. Jennings Trophy this season as the goaltenders on the team allowing the fewest regular-season goals. His career-best NHL season came after he revealed addiction and mental health issues in a self-penned article for The Athletic during training camp.
“I’m not ashamed to say I’m mentally ill,” Lehner said Wednesday after he accepted the award. “But that doesn’t mean mentally weak.”
A record-setting season wasn’t enough to give Burns a second Norris Trophy, as Giordano, 35, received 165 of 171 first-place votes. Burns had two first place votes and finished second in voting.
Giordano had career highs of 57 assists and 74 points in 78 games, ranking second among all NHL defensemen in scoring behind Burns. Giordano also topped all NHL skaters with a +39 rating.
Burns, who won the Norris in 2017, led all NHL defensemen and established career highs with 67 assists and 83 points in 82 games this season. Burns’ point total was also the most by a blueliner since 1995-96 when Brian Leetch had 85 points with the New York Rangers.
Erik Karlsson, despite missing 27 of the Sharks’ final 33 regular season games, finished 15th in Norris voting.
For the second time in his career, though, Burns was named to the NHL’s first all-star team. He joined Giordano, forwards Kucherov, Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Voting for the Hart, Norris, Calder, Lady Byng, Masterton and Selke trophies is done by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
St. Louis Blues center Ryan O’Reilly won the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward and Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov won the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded “to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic finished 12th in Lady Byng voting.
Vasilevskiy captured the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie in a vote among NHL general managers, and the Islanders’ Barry Trotz was selected by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association as the league’s coach of the year.
Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins was named the NHL’s General Manager of the Year. Sharks GM Doug Wilson finished fourth in voting, which is conducted among league GM’s and a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media at the conclusion of the second round of the playoffs.
