Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews named 2021-2022 Hart Trophy winner

Auston Matthews has been named the 2021-22 Hart Trophy Trophy winner as the NHL's most valuable player, beating out Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin for the award.

Matthews had a historic season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, setting a franchise record with 60 goals. He's the first player to reach the lofty goal-scoring milestone in more than a decade, and did so while repeating as the Rocket Richard winner. He started the season a little slow after recovering from offseason wrist surgery but scored 51 goals across a 50-game stretch during the season, and finished with 0.82 goals per game — which marks the best scoring rate in the salary cap era. He also established a new career high in points with 106.

McDavid had the most productive season of his career, winning the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top point getter with 123 points, or third-most in the salary cap era. McDavid won the award unanimously last season, which was certainly his most impressive individual campaign. His points per game dropped from 1.88 in his Hart Trophy season one season ago to 1.54 this year.

Shesterkin transcended his category with a brilliant season for the New York Rangers. In 52 starts, the Vezina Trophy winner posted a 36-13-4 record with a .935 save percentage and a league-best 44.83 Goals Saved Above Average. The NHL's next-bnest GSAA belonged to Ilya Sorokin, who stopped just short of 30 goals above expected in all situations.

Matthews was also named the Ted Lindsay award winner, as the NHL's most outstanding player as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA.

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