Brett Hull Joins His Dad as an NHL MVP : Hockey: Gretzky gets Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly play. Taylor wins two awards.
Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues became part of the first father-son team to win the Hart Trophy when he was named the NHL’s most valuable player at the league’s award ceremony on Wednesday night.
Hull, son of Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, beat out scoring champion Wayne Gretzky of the Kings and Chicago rookie goaltender Ed Belfour, who won two other awards, in the balloting by selected members of the Professional Hockey Writers Assn.
The third-year St. Louis right wing scored 86 goals last season, the third-highest total in NHL history, in leading the Blues to the second-best overall record in the league. Hull’s 29 power-play goals were the most in the NHL, as were his 11 game-winning goals and his 389 shots.
Bobby Hull, a longtime star with the Blackhawks, won the Hart in 1965 and ’66.
Belfour won the Vezina Trophy as the top goalie and the Calder Trophy as the top rookie. Gretzky won the Lady Byng Trophy, given for skillful and gentlemanly play, for the second time, beating out Hull and Quebec’s Joe Sakic.
Belfour’s teammate, Dirk Graham, won the Frank Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward. Another member of the Kings, Dave Taylor, was honored with the Bill Masterton Trophy, given for sportsmanship and dedication to hockey and the King Clancy Award for his humanitarian contributions to hockey.
Boston’s Ray Bourque won the Norris Trophy, the fourth time in five years he has been recognized as the NHL’s top defenseman. St. Louis’ Brian Sutter won the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach, beating out Chicago’s Mike Keenan and Tom Webster of the Kings.
Belfour, who led all goaltenders in wins (43), goals-against average (2.47) and save percentage (.910), beat out two-time Vezina winner Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens and Mike Richter of the New York Rangers in voting conducted by the league’s 21 general managers.
He topped Sergei Fedorov of Detroit and Boston’s Ken Hodge Jr. to win the Calder, the first time since 1984 that a goaltender was voted the league’s top rookie.
The Blackhawks, sparked by Graham, allowed the fewest goals (211) to win the Jennings Trophy. Chicago’s Steve Larmer and Edmonton’s Esa Tikkanen were the other finalists for the Selke Award.
Gretzky, the NHL’s all-time scorer, first won the Lady Byng in 1980 and finished second six times. He won his ninth scoring title while taking only 16 penalty minutes.
The other Norris nominees were 1989 winner Chris Chelios of the Blackhawks and Al MacInnis of the Calgary Flames.
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