They did not win the trophy that was their ultimate goal in the 2009-10 season. But despite falling short of the Stanley Cup, the Capitals earned a few consolation prizes Wednesday at the annual NHL Awards in Las Vegas.
Alex Ovechkin won his third consecutive Ted Lindsay Award and finished runner-up in voting for the Hart Trophy, given to the league’s most valuable player. Goalie Jose Theodore, meanwhile, was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. For the second year in a row, Mike Green was runner-up for the Norris Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top defenseman.
Ovechkin’s fellow NHL players vote on the Lindsay Award, choosing the league’s most outstanding player. The Masterton goes to the player “who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”
Theodore, 33, showed that and more this season as he and his wife, Stephanie Cloutier, grieved the death of their two-month-old son, Chace, from respiratory complications in August. Theodore returned to the ice for training camp just weeks later and had a fine season. He posted a 30-7-7 record with a 2.81 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
Ovechkin, 24, is the first NHL player to win most outstanding player in three consecutive seasons since Wayne Gretzky won four in a row from 1982 to 1985. Ovechkin finished with 109 points and 50 goals in 2009-10. He also helped the Caps to a third straight Southeast Division title and the Presidents’ Trophy for the NHL’s best record. Ovechkin has topped 100 points and 50 goals each of the last three seasons.
He did not, however, win his third consecutive Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. That award, voted on by the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association, narrowly went to Vancouver center Henrik Sedin, who led the NHL with 112 points.
With 34 first-place votes, Green, 24, was a distant second in the Norris Trophy voting to Chicago’s Duncan Keith. Ovechkin and Green also were again voted first-team All-NHL. They are the first teammates to repeat as first-team selections since Gretzky and Paul Coffey did so for the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 and 1986.
