Auston Matthews wins Hart Trophy, becomes first Leaf to win Ted Lindsay Award

It’s the year of Auston Matthews.

With 60 goals, the Leafs’ sniper had already won the Rocket Richard Trophy, but he got two more pieces of hardware added to his collection at the NHL’s Awards Ceremony.

Matthews was voted by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association as the Hart Trophy winner for the league’s most valuable player, and he also won the Ted Lindsay Award for the most outstanding player as voted on by his peers.

The Hart Trophy goes to @AM34! #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/llGQ04vWZN

— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) June 21, 2022

This is the first time that a Leaf has won the Hart Trophy since Ted Kennedy did so in 1954-55 (yes, that’s 67 years). Babe Pratt is the other Leaf who’s won the Hart, as he did so in 1943-44. Matthews is also the first Leaf to ever win the Ted Lindsay (formerly the Lester B. Pearson Award) since its inception in 1970-71.

Matthews finished as the runner-up for the 2021 Hart Trophy to Connor McDavid, who won the award unanimously. Matthews also received votes for the Hart in his rookie season in 2016-17 and in 2019-20.

There were seven different players who received a first-place vote for the Hart Trophy. Matthews led with 119, Connor McDavid had 29, Igor Shesterkin had 24, Jonathan Huberdeau had 13, Roman Josi had five, Johnny Gaudreau had three, and Kirill Kaprizov had one.