TAMPA, Fla. — Toronto’s Auston Matthews won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player on Tuesday night, becoming only the third Maple Leaf to win the award and the first since Ted Kennedy in 1954-55.

The 24-year-old forward received 119 first-place votes in voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and finished well ahead of Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers for the honor presented during the NHL Awards Show.

“I can’t lie, it feels really good. … It’s pretty special,” Matthews said, though he conceded there were some bittersweet feelings about accepting the award in Tampa, where the two-time defending champion Lightning and Colorado Avalanche will meet in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday.

“There is some angst, wishing you were still playing,” Matthews said.

Shesterkin claimed the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender. Colorado’s Cale Maker took the Norris Trophy, presented to the league’s best defenseman, and Detroit’s Moritz Seider claimed the Calder Trophy as the top rookie.

Matthews became the first player to score 60 goals since Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos did it 10 years ago, helping the Maple Leafs (54-21-7, 115 points) set franchise records for wins and points. Toronto lost to the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.

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The Maple Leafs star, who posted career bests with 46 assists and 106 points, also took home the Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player in the regular season, an honor determined by voting by members of the NHL Players Association.

Shesterkin became the third Rangers goalie in the past 40 years to win the Vezina, joining Henrik Lundqvist (2011-12) and John Vanbiesbrouck (1985-86). He went 36-13-4 with an NHL-best 2.07 goal-against-average and .935 save percentage before leading a playoff run that ended against Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference final.

Seider is the first Red Wings player to win the Calder Trophy since goalie Roger Crozier during the 1964-65 season. He led all first-year defensemen with 50 points and finished ahead of Toronto’s Michael Bunting and Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras in balloting for the award.

Maker is the fifth defenseman to win Norris within his first three regular seasons, joining Adam Fox, Erik Karlsson, Denis Potvin and Bobby Orr (twice). He led all defensemen with 28 goals while helping the Avalanche finish with a Western Conference-best 119 points (56-19-7).

The 2019-20 Calder Trophy winner beat out Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman and Nashville’s Roman Josi.

“They are such incredible players,” Maker said of the other Norris finalists. “They pushed me hard all season.”

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Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom and Nashville’s Juuse Saros were finalists for the Vezina.

STARS: The Dallas Stars announced they have hired Peter DeBoer as their new coach, a month after he was fired by the Vegas Golden Knights.

DeBoer, who previously led New Jersey and San Jose to the Stanley Cup Final in his first season with both of those clubs, was let go by the Knights after they missed the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s five-season history. He had been their coach for 2 1/2 seasons after replacing Gerard Gallant, who took Vegas to the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural 2017-18 season and back to the playoffs in 2019.

Dallas was in the Stanley Cup Final two summers ago with Rick Bowness as their interim head coach before he got a two-year contract that went through this season. Bowness was 89-62-26 with two playoff appearances in his nearly three seasons.

“Pete brings a wealth of experience to our dressing room, and we’re thrilled to name him our next head coach,” Stars General Manager Jim Nill said. “Every team that he has taken over has not only shown immediate improvement but has been ultra-competitive in the Stanley Cup playoffs. … His resume displays the high standards he sets and his ability to get his team to play up to that level consistently.”

This will be the fifth head coaching job for DeBoer, who over the past 14 seasons has coached Florida (2008-11), New Jersey (2011-15), San Jose (2015-20) and Vegas. He has a 513-379-123 record in 1,015 regular-season games. His 68-55 playoff record includes the Stanley Cup Final with the Devils in 2012, and three years later with the Sharks.

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DeBoer will be the fifth coach for the Stars since Nill became general manager in April 2013. DeBoer follows Lindy Ruff, Ken Hitchcock, Jim Montgomery and Bowness.

OILERS: The Edmonton Oilers have given Coach Jay Woodcroft a three-year contract extension for taking over the team in February and leading them to the NHL Western Conference final.

Woodcroft was named the interim coach on Feb. 10 after Dave Tippett was fired following a 7-13-3 run that had the Oilers sitting fifth in the Pacific Division.

The Oilers underwent a rapid turnaround under the 45-year-old Toronto native, winning their next five games by a combined score of 22-8.

Edmonton went 26-9-3 with Woodcroft at the helm for the final 38 games of the regular season to finish second in the division. It was the second-best record in the NHL over that span.

The Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings in seven games to open the playoffs, then dispatched the archrival Calgary Flames in five games to reach the conference final for the first time since advancing to the Stanley Cup final in the 2005-06 season.

Edmonton was swept by Colorado in the conference final.

Woodcroft had been head coach of the Oilers’ AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, since 2018 before being promoted to Oilers head coach.


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