Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and the Vezina Trophy as the best goaltender, the league announced Thursday.
Hellebuyck is the first American netminder and the eighth goaltender to be named MVP. Carey Price was the most recent goalie to win both awards in one season (2015). Hellebuyck is the first player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise history to win the Hart.
The 32-year-old posted a .925 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average in 63 games this season. He went 47-12-3, leading the Jets to their first Presidents' Trophy. He became the seventh goalie to record 45 or more wins in a season and the first since Braden Holtby in 2016.
Hellebuyck won his second consecutive Vezina Trophy and the third of his career. He received 31 of 32 first-place votes from general managers.
No goalie had won back-to-back Vezinas since Martin Brodeur in 2007 and 2008, and Hellebuyck is only the 13th netminder to win on three occasions. All but one of the goalies in the exclusive club are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Hellebuyck joins Dominik Hasek (six), Brodeur (four), and Patrick Roy (three) as the only goalies to win the Vezina at least three times since the league changed the voting process prior to the 1981-82 season. The Vezina previously honored the goalie(s) who had a minimum of 25 games played on the team that allowed the fewest goals.
Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl and Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov were the other Hart finalists. Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and Los Angeles Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper were finalists for the Vezina.
