Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane was a finalist for the 2018-19 Ted Lindsay Award, which is given annually to the NHL’s most outstanding player as voted on by members of the NHL Players’ Association.
But the award went to Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov, who also won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer with 128 points, took home the Ted Lindsay Award for the first time in his career Wednesday at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas. He’s the first Russian-born player to win the award since Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin in 2012.
Oilers center Connor McDavid, who won the Ted Lindsay Award in 2017 and 2018, was also nominated. Kucherov (128) and McDavid (116) both had more points than Kane (110), but the Chicago star scored three more goals (44) than each of them.
Kane made history in 2016 when he was the first Blackhawks player and American-born player to win the award.