May 1, 2022
NEW YORK (May 1, 2022) – The 2021-22 National Hockey League regular season concluded today with Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid capturing the Art Ross Trophy as the League’s scoring champion and Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s goal-scoring leader, both for the second straight campaign. They became the first tandem to earn the awards in consecutive seasons since Jaromir Jagr (w/ PIT) and Pavel Bure (w/ FLA) claimed the Art Ross and Richard Trophies, respectively, in 1999-00 and 2000-01.
McDavid, who won the Art Ross Trophy for the fourth time overall (also 2016-17 and 2017-18), registered a career-high 123 points (44-79—123 in 80 GP) – the second-most by any player over the past 15 seasons – to finish ahead of Calgary Flames left wing Johnny Gaudreau (40-75—115 in 82 GP) and Florida Panthers left wing Jonathan Huberdeau (30-85—115 in 80 GP) in the scoring race. McDavid became the seventh player to claim the Art Ross Trophy at least four times, joining Wayne Gretzky (10x), Gordie Howe (6x), Mario Lemieux (6x), Phil Esposito (5x), Jagr (5x) and Stan Mikita (4x), and just the third of that group to pick up four wins prior to his 26th birthday, after Gretzky (6x) and Howe (4x).
McDavid, who found the scoresheet in 63 of his 80 contests (78.8%), added to his hardware by also setting career highs and placing in the top 10 in the NHL in power-play assists (1st; 34), power-play points (1st; 44), assists (2nd; 79), shots on goal (5th; 314) and goals (7th; 44). The two-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner (2016-17 and 2020-21) has compiled 239-458—697 through his first seven NHL seasons (487 GP), an average of 1.43 points per game that ranks fourth in League history behind only Gretzky (1.92), Lemieux (1.88) and Mike Bossy (1.50) among players with a minimum of 100 appearances.
Matthews (60-46—106 in 73 GP), who captured his second Richard Trophy, became the 21st different player in NHL history to score 60 goals in a season and just the third to reach the milestone this century, following Alex Ovechkin (2007-08)and Steven Stamkos (2011-12). Matthews averaged 0.82 goals per game – the highest rate by any player in a single campaign (minimum: 50 GP) since Lemieux in 1995-96 (0.99) – to finish ahead of Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (55-55—110 in 80 GP), New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider (52-25—77 in 81 GP) and Ovechkin (50-40—90 in 77 GP) as four players reached the 50-goal mark for the first time since 2005-06.
Matthews (San Ramon, Calif.) compiled 15 multi-goal performances, highlighted by a quartet of hat tricks, and 10 game-winning tallies to break Rick Vaive’s Maple Leafs record for goals in a season (54 in 1981-82) as well as Jimmy Carson’s NHL benchmark for goals in a campaign by a U.S.-born player (55 in 1987-88). Matthews, now the first U.S.-born player to top the League in goals multiple times, has collected 259 markers in 407 contests since entering the NHL in 2016-17 – an average of 0.64 goals per game that only is surpassed by Bossy (0.76) and Lemieux (0.75) among players with a minimum of 400 appearances.
The NHL earlier announced that the Carolina Hurricanes tandem of Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta won this season’s William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltenders who played a minimum of 25 games for the team allowing the fewest goals during the regular season and that the Florida Panthers captured the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best overall record.
COURTESY NHLmedia.com
