With the 2019-20 NHL regular season officially over, the league has announced the winners of four awards.
Edmonton Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl has won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer. Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak have each won the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal scorers. Bruins goalies Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak will share the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goalies on the team that allowed the fewest goals, while the Bruins have won the Presidents’ Trophy for the best overall record in the regular season.
Draisaitl, 24, is the first German-born player to lead the NHL in scoring after posting 43 goals and 110 points in 71 games. He finished the season 13 points ahead of teammate Connor McDavid in the scoring race and the duo have now won the Art Ross in three of the past four seasons. Draisaitl had a league-leading 33 multi-point games and had a pair of five-point games. He also led the league in assists (67), power-play points (44) and game-winning goals (10, tied with Pastrnak).
Ovechkin has led the NHL in goals for a record nine times and three times consecutively. He finished the season with 48 goals and 67 points in 68 games. The highlight of Ovechkin’s season was his 700th goal, which was scored on Feb. 22 against the New Jersey Devils. At 34 years, 158 days, he was the second-youngest player to score 700 goals.
Pastrnak’s 48 goals have earned him the first Rocket Richard trophy of his career and he is the fifth Bruins player ever to lead the league in goals. Pastrnak led the league with 20 power-play goals and tied with Draisaitl for the most game-winning goals with 10. He also had four hat tricks, one four-goal game and eight multi-goal games this season. At 24, he’s the youngest player to lead the NHL in goals since Steven Stamkos did at 22 in 2011-12.
Rask and Halak combined to allow a league-low 174 goals in 70 games this season, three fewer than the Dallas Stars, who allowed 177 in 69 games. Rask led the league with a 2.12 goals-against average and was second in both save percentage (.929) and shutouts (five). Halak, who also won the Jennings Trophy with the St. Louis Blues in 2011-12, was sixth in the NHL with a 2.39 goals-against average and posted three shutouts.
The 2019-20 season marks the third time the Bruins have won the Presidents’ Trophy since it was introduced in 1985-86. It’s the 14th time overall the club has led the league in points. The Bruins posted a league-best 44 wins, with 22 each coming on home ice and the road. This season was the seventh consecutive 40-win campaign for the Bruins and the team also led the league with a plus-53 goal differential.
The NHL announced on Tuesday that the regular season had ended officially on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NHL plans to resume play with 24 teams later this year to award a Stanley Cup. The NHL has not said yet how or when it will hand out the remainder of the annual awards.
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