San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns is a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, the NHLPA announced today. Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid and Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby were also named finalists.
I wrote yesterday about how Burns’ path to the Hart Trophy, the league’s “most valuable player” as voted on by the media, was difficult at best. His path to the Lindsay Award, somehow, may be even harder.
The award, presented each year to the league’s “most outstanding player,” is voted upon by the players. The players have only voted a defenseman as the league’s most outstanding player once, when Bobby Orr won the award in 1975.