Toronto’s Auston Matthews won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player on Tuesday night, becoming only the third Maple Leaf to win the award and the first since Ted Kennedy in 1954-55.

The 24-year-old forward received 119 first-place votes in voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and finished well ahead of Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers for the honour presented during the NHL Awards Show.

“I can’t lie, it feels really good. … It’s pretty special,” Matthews said, though he conceded there were some bittersweet feelings about accepting the award in Tampa, where