With the announcement made by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday that the league would forgo the rest of the 2019-20 regular season amid the coronavirus pandemic, an announcement was made that the Boston Bruins along with several of their players earned end of the regular season awards.
While other awards such as the Vezina, Hart, and Selke will be announced at a later date, statistical based awards were given out by the league Thursday. As a team, the Bruins won the Presidents Trophy for the best record in the NHL going 44-14-12 for 100 points when action was suspended on March 12. It is the first Presidents Trophy for Boston since 2013-14. David Pastrnak will share the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Award with Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin, as both players finished with 48 goals. Goaltenders Tuuka Rask and Jaroslav Halak both won the William Jennings Trophy, both making the minimum of 25 starts and combining to have the lowest goals against average in the league at 2.39. Pastrnak is the first Bruin in history to win the Rocket Richard, while Rask and Halak are the third duo in history to take home the William Jennings. Also announced was the Art Ross Trophy winner which went to Leon Draisaitl from Edmonton, who had 110 points in just 71 games.
The NHL is still in a holding pattern to see if they can find sites to play games and institute a way to protect player safety for a 24 team playoff that was approved by the league that could start as early as the middle or late July. If the playoffs happen, play could go on into the fall and the start of the 2020-21 season would have a delayed start slated to begin in either November or December.
