No: 17264 Friday, June 23, 2017

43

S p o r t s

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2017

LAS VEGAS: Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers poses with the Art Ross Trophy, left, the Hart Memorial

Trophy, center, and the Ted Lindsay Award after winning the honors during the NHL Awards. —AP

LAS VEGAS: Connor McDavid won his first Hart Trophy.

Hardly anybody in hockey believes it will be his last. The

Edmonton captain claimed the award as the NHL’s most

valuable player Wednesday night at the league’s postsea-

son awards show at T-Mobile Arena, the new home of the

expansion Vegas Golden Knights.

McDavid also won the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the

league’s most outstanding performer in a vote of his fellow

players. He already knew he would win the Art Ross Trophy

as the NHL scoring champion. “To see the trophies up

close and personal, touch them, get your picture with

them, it makes it a little more real,” McDavid said. “Today is

a very special day in my life, for sure.”

The honors capped a remarkable sophomore season

for the 20-year-old center, who won his first scoring title

and led the Oilers back to the Stanley Cup playoffs after

an 11-year absence. The former No 1 pick beat out fellow

finalists Sergei Bobrovsky of Columbus and Pittsburgh’s

S i d n e y   C r o s b y .   “ I ’ m   s o   p r o u d   t o   b e   i n   E d m o n t o n , ”

McDavid said. “I’m so proud to be an Oiler, and so proud

to play with the guys.”

Third youngest player 

McDavid is the third-youngest player to win the award.

Only Crosby and Wayne Gretzky claimed the Hart as

teenagers. Boston center Patrice Bergeron won the Selke

Trophy for the fourth time as the NHL’s best defensive for-

ward, and San Jose’s Brent Burns won his first Norris

Trophy as the top defenseman.  Toronto center Auston

Matthews easily took the Calder Trophy as the league’s top

rookie, and Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky won his

second Vezina Trophy.

Nashville’s David Poile was named the NHL’s top execu-

tive after the Predators’ first Western Conference title, and

Columbus’ John Tortorella won the Jack Adams Award as

the top coach. Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson won the Bill

Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and

dedication to hockey. Anderson left the Senators during

the season to support his wife, Nicholle, in her fight

against throat cancer, but returned to become Ottawa’s

career victories leader.

Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau won the Lady Byng Trophy

for sportsmanlike play. The league also revealed the results

of the Golden Knights’ expansion draft during the show,

with former Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury getting

wild cheers from an arena filled with new fans of the NHL’s

31st franchise. While Crosby didn’t claim the Hart, the

back-to-back Stanley Cup champion won the Richard

Trophy as the NHL’s top goal-scorer. “I haven’t even

thought about that, to be honest with you,” Crosby said.

“Been a lot of things going on.”

Crosby was sorry to part ways with Fleury, his longtime

teammate in Pittsburgh. “I’ll let him know how weird it was

seeing him in a jersey like that,” Crosby said. “I know that

he is going to do great things here.” Bergeron also won the

Selke in 2012, 2014 and 2015. The two-way Bruins star beat

out Anaheim’s Ryan Kesler and joined Bob Gainey as the

only players to win the Selke four times.

‘The right position’

Bergeron paid tribute to Gainey after the Montreal

great presented the award to him. “I think it’s the way

that he played the game hard and was always in the right

position,” Bergeron said. “Not only him on the ice, but

also him off the ice as a role model, as a person, I’ve

always respected him for that. It was special to receive

that award from him, because he was such an important

player for the NHL.”

Bobrovsky got 25 of the 30 first-place votes to outdis-

tance Braden Holtby and Carey Price after leading the

league with a 2.06 goals-against average and a .931 save

percentage. Bobrovsky, the first Russian to win the award

twice, and Tortorella played major roles in the Blue

Jackets’ revival for the best season in franchise history.

Burns beat out Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson for the Norris in a

duel of two 70-point scorers. Burns doesn’t think offensive

numbers alone determine the Norris winner.

“That’s the way I play the game,” Burns said. “For me to

be successful, to help the team, I’ve got to help create

offense and get into the plays. If I’m not doing that, if I’m

not skating and creating things, then I’m not really doing

much out there.” Matthews was the no-brainer choice for

the Calder after his 69-point rookie season for the Leafs,

who hadn’t had a Calder winner since Brit Selby in 1966.

The Arizona-raised center was grateful to accept the

award in Las Vegas, where he hopes more desert kids will

be inspired by the Golden Knights. “I think it’s going to be

great,” Matthews said. “For myself, when the Coyotes

moved (to Phoenix), that’s how I got into hockey. Seeing

the teams in California kind of encouraged kids growing

up to pick up the stick and start playing. (The Golden

Knights) will definitely grow the game.” —AP

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid 

wins Hart Trophy as NHL MVP

NBA draft intrigue 

begins after Fultz

NEW YORK: Markelle Fultz is still expected to be the No 1

pick, though the destination has changed. Lonzo Ball

wants to stay home with the Los Angeles Lakers at No 2,

and it seems surer than ever he will. The intrigue, then,

starts with the No 3 pick in the NBA draft. That’s where

the Boston Celtics are scheduled to pick after moving

down two spots in a trade with Philadelphia, giving the

76ers the right to select Fultz with their second No 1 pick

in two years.

Forwards Josh Jackson of Kansas and Jayson Tatum

of Duke are two players frequently mentioned as possi-

bilities at the No 3 spot, and Celtics president Danny

Ainge said Boston could get the player there they might

have taken at No 1 Jackson never thought that would be

him, so he said he didn’t work out for the Celtics. “Me

and my agent talked and we just didn’t feel like they had

much interest in drafting me at No 1, so we felt like it

would be sort of a waste of time for me to go out and

work out if they were really not considering drafting

me,” Jackson said. “After they got the third pick, we tried

to schedule something for me to get out there. But it

was just scheduling issues and it was a little delayed for

me to get out there.”

He said he had been open to working out for the

Celtics and said it was possible they might draft him, any-

way. Tatum and the Celtics seem to have more familiari-

ty, with the 6-foot-8 swingman believing he’d be a good

fit on the roster of the team that had the best record in

the Eastern Conference. “I talked about that with coach

Brad Stevens,” Tatum said. “He just said guys that are my

size and are versatile offensively and defensively, it’s hard

not to play those guys. That’s what we talked about.”

Other things to watch from Barclays Center:

IT’S GOT TO BE THE SHOES: When Fultz walks on

stage to shake hands with NBA Commissioner Adam

Silver, he recommends you check out his feet. “Pay atten-

tion to my footwear,” the Washington guard said. “I’m

going to have some custom-made shoes that I think

nobody ever had before.”

LOVING LONZO - AND LAVAR: Ball acknowledged

that there might be a “target” on him entering the draft

because of all his father’s comments. But if the Lakers

want Lonzo - and it seems they do after trading point

guard D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn - they won’t be

turned off by LaVar. “They were just open arms,” Lonzo

said of his Lakers workout. “They said they love my dad

and left it at that.”

THEIR TIME TO SHINE: With so much trade specula-

tion about All-Stars such as Paul George and Jimmy

Butler, there hasn’t been as much focus as usual leading

into Thursday on the players who are in the draft. “We

don’t need that attention,” Kentucky guard Malik Monk

said. “We’re going to get ours tomorrow.”

FRESHMAN FUN: The record of 14 freshmen selected

in the first round might last just one year. Of the 20 play-

ers expected to be in the green room, 13 were college

one-and-dones.

DULL DRAFT: Neither Golden State nor Cleveland,

who met in the NBA Finals, has a pick in the two-round

draft. The Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies

also are without a pick, while Houston, New Orleans and

Washington don’t have one in the first round.

INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE: A year after nearly half

the draft - a record 27 of the 60 picks - were international

players, French guard Frank Ntilikina and Finnish forward

Lauri Markkanen, who played a year at Arizona, are two of

the top international players. Both have met with the New

York Knicks, who scored well two years ago when they

went overseas with their pick of Latvian Kristaps Porzingis

- to whom Markkanen has been compared as a 7-footer

with perimeter shooting skills. Markkanen was asked

about potentially playing with or replacing Porzingis, who

team president Phil Jackson told MSG Network on

Wednesday the Knicks are taking calls about after he left

New York without attending his exit interview. “I try not to

think about it too much,” Markkanen said. “I’ve been

doing my work here and I’m just waiting for tomorrow

night and whatever happens, happens.” —AP

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