Center Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs is the 2021-22 recipient of the Hart Memorial Trophy, presented “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
Matthews, a Hart Trophy finalist for the second straight year after finishing second in voting in 2020-21, is the third Toronto player to win the award and first since Ted Kennedy in 1954-55.
The Maple Leafs star scored a decisive win by attracting 119 first-place votes and 49 second-place tallies among the 195 ballots cast en route to collecting 1,630 voting points. Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, the two-time and defending Hart Trophy winner, received 29 first-place votes and 1,111 points in finishing second in the voting. Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers, the 2021-22 Vezina Trophy recipient, placed third with 738 points (24 first-place selections).
Matthews, who captured the 2021-22 Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s leading goal-scorer and earlier this evening was honored with the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player in a vote by the NHLPA, posted career highs in goals (60), assists (46) and points (106) in 73 games to power the Maple Leafs to a fourth-place finish in the League standings as well as franchise records for wins (54) and points (115) in a campaign. Matthews became the 21st different player in NHL history – and first in a decade – to register 60 goals in a season, breaking Rick Vaive’s Toronto record (54 in 1981-82) and Jimmy Carson’s League benchmark for U.S.-born players (55 in 1987-88). He did so by averaging 0.82 goals per game – the highest rate by any player in a single campaign (minimum: 50 GP) since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96 (0.99) – and scoring 19.23 percent of the Maple Leafs’ total goals (60 of 312) – the fourth-highest such mark in 2021-22 behind only Chris Kreider (20.8% w/ NYR), Leon Draisaitl (19.3% w/ EDM) and Alex DeBrincat (19.25% w/ CHI).
2021-22 Hart Trophy Voting
Points (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
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Auston Matthews, TOR 1630 (119-49-15-6-4)
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Connor McDavid, EDM 1111 (29-66-56-20-19)
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Igor Shesterkin, NYR 738 (24-26-41-29-24)
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Johnny Gaudreau, CGY 617 (3-19-44-66-36)
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Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA 506 (13-21-21-31-31)
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Roman Josi, NSH 241 (5-8-10-19-28)
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Kirill Kaprizov, MIN 126 (2-4-4-13-19)
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Cale Makar, COL 48 (0-1-3-5-11)
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Leon Draisaitl, EDM 28 (0-1-1-3-7)
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Alex Ovechkin, WSH 10 (0-0-0-2-4)
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Steven Stamkos, TBL 6 (0-0-0-0-6)
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Aleksander Barkov, FLA 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
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Jason Robertson, DAL 3 (0-0-0-0-3)
- Points allocation: 10-7-5-3-1 (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)