Wrapping Up The NHL Season
The NHL season officially came to an end last night as the league handed out its awards in Las Vegas. Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin won the Hart Trophy, symbolic of the league’s MVP and New York’s Henrik Lundqvist was named winner of the Vezina Award, which celebrates the league’s top goaltender. TheSportsNotebook believes Phoenix goalie Mike Smith should have won both awards (goalies are eligible for the Hart, as Lundqvist was a finalist), but that had been water under the bridge for some time, as the finalists have been made public for several weeks. Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson was named top defenseman and Ken Hitchcock of St. Louis brought him Coach of the Year. These individual winners—along with several honors—take their place with the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in the history books for the 2012 season.