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Buffalo Sabres History: Ted Lindsay Award Winners

By Melissa Kania |

The National Hockey League will hold its annual year-end awards ceremony this year on June 24 in Las Vegas. The league will celebrates its top players in both on-ice and off-ice performances, rewarding representatives from the top scorers to the best goaltenders and everything in between. As the NHL continues to announce its nominees for the yearly awards, we’ll take a look back at the history of each award and when – if ever – a member of the Buffalo Sabres franchise has won it.

Some of these awards have been given out for 90 years, while others are newer. Regardless, it’s a true honor for any player to receive these awards.

Today, we’ll look at the NHL’s Ted Lindsay Award.

The Ted Lindsay Award is presented annually to the league’s most valuable player, as voted on by members of the NHLPA. Formerly known as the Lester B. Pearson Award, the Ted Lindsay Award has been handed out since 1972.

Historically, many players have won this award more than once, beginning with Wayne Gretzky, who got it five times in his career – including four consecutive times from 1982 until 1985.

Mario Lemieux won it four times in his career, while Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr, Guy Lafleur and Alex Ovechkin have all won it three times.

Another interesting thing about the Ted Lindsay Award is its relation to the Hart Memorial Trophy.

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According to NHL.com, thirteen players have the won both awards in the same season, including both Crosby and Ovechkin.

Now — let’s look at the Buffalo Sabres connection.

Twice in history, a member of the Buffalo Sabres has won the Ted Lindsay Award.

Both of those times, it was goaltender Dominik Hasek who took home the honor in consecutive seasons, both 1997 and 1998.

Hasek also won the Hart Trophy both of those years.

Hasek’s 1996-97 season found him with a .930 save percentage, 2.27 GAA and season record of 37-20-10. He came close to that the next season as well, going 33-23-13 with a 2.09 GAA and .932 save percentage.

Hasek is the only goaltender to win the Ted Lindsay Award twice, and only one of two goaltenders to ever win it. Mike Liut of the St. Louis Blues took it home after the 1980-81 season.

This year’s nominees are Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price.

Historically, it’d be neat to see Price win it, since he’d be the first netminder to win the award since Hasek took it in 1998. Ovechkin has three Ted Lindsay awards under his belt, while, like Price, it would be the first for Benn.

Who do you think is going to get the Ted Lindsay Award at the annual NHL Awards, being held in Las Vegas next month?

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