NHL Awards: Crosby Misses Lindsay, Letang Gets 1st Place Vote, Fleury Wins Vezina

As the major NHL awards were handed out on Tuesday night, Pittsburgh Penguins center and captain Sidney Crosby on Tuesday missed out on the Ted Lindsay Award, which goes to the Most Outstanding Player as determined by a vote of NHL Players Association.

Crosby was one of three finalists for the Lindsay, along with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, who won, and Toronto’s Auston Matthews. Exact voting results were not announced.

The Ted Lindsay was the Penguins’ final shot at a major player or management award this season after the team won the East Division title. The league, in a televised event, named the winners of the final five NHL awards Tuesday. Other award winners were announced earlier.

Crosby, 33, got recognition from his fellow NHL players this awards season.

In addition to Crosby being a finalist for the Lindsay, in the annual survey of players conducted by the NHL Players Association released recently, Crosby and Boston’s Patrice Bergeron tied for the top spot in the category of most complete player.

That would seem to correlate to the qualities ascribed to the Selke Trophy, which goes to the top two-way forward, but Sidney Crosby was not among the finalists for that award, which is determined by a vote of members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. His two-way game has gotten a lot of attention in recent seasons, although it has always been strong.

Crosby also was not a finalist for the sister trophy to the Lindsay, the Hart Trophy, which goes to the league MVP in a PHWA vote. McDavid won the Hart, netting every first-place vote for 1,000 points. Crosby finished fourth in the voting with 223 points.

Pittsburgh Penguins Kris Letang Gets Norris Love

The Penguins’ Kris Letang finished ninth, including one first-place vote, in PHWA voting for the Norris Trophy for the top defenseman.

In 2020-21, Crosby led the Penguins and was 10th in the NHL with 62 points in 55 games, including 24 goals for his 13th season with at least 20 goals. Those who watched Crosby also easily noticed that he was dominant in most games, forechecking and backchecking with a vengeance, showing the precision backhand shots and passes he is known for and displaying the familiar attention to detail and high-level vision that have marked his career.

During his career, Crosby has won the Lindsay (formerly called the Lester B. Pearson) three times, the Hart twice, the Art Ross as league scoring champion twice and the “Rocket” Richard as the leader in goals twice.

All NHL player awards, except for the Conn Smythe that goes to the playoffs MVP, are decided based on regular season and not the postseason. Crosby has won that one twice, too.

Of possible interest to Penguins fans, former franchise goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, 36, now with Vegas, won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie for the first time in his career.

“I had a good team in front of me that always helped the goalie,” a grinning Fleury said during the NHL awards broadcast as he was interviewed by one of his idols, Martin Brodeur.

He also credited the Vegas trainers, then added, “I just love the game. I still have a passion for the game and have a lot of fun playing the game. I’m just lucky to do what I like to do.”

Fleury had 26 wins, a 1.98 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage, with six shutouts.